MT4 allows the following timeframes: 1, 5, 15, 30 min; 1 hr, 4 hrs; daily; weekly; monthly.
However, you can use the periodcon.mq4 indicator (download from attachment below) to create synthetic charts for MT4, for just about any timeframe, and shifted left/right by any number of bars/candles.
For example, to create a 10 min chart, attach the indicator to a 5 min chart and set the PeriodMultiplier parameter to 2 (i.e. 2 x 5 = 10).
If you're not familiar with MT4, here's how to proceed:
1. Exit MT4 if it's already running.
2. Copy the downloaded file to the folder c:\program files\<mt4 broker name>\experts\indicators
3. Run MT4. (Starting MT4 again will cause it to re-load all indicators in that folder.)
4. Load (or switch to) the 5 min chart of the currency pair that interests you.
5. Press Ctrl-N to open the Navigator panel.
6. Click on "Custom Indicators" to open up that branch of the tree.
7. You should see "periodcon" among the listed indicators. Attach it by dragging it onto the chart.
8. On the Common tab, make sure that the "Allow DLL imports" tab is checked ON. If you don't do this, the prices on your synthetic 10 min chart won't update themselves in real time.
9. On the Inputs tab, make sure the PeriodMultiplier is set to 2. If not, double click and adjust it.
10. Click OK.
11. Go to dropdown menu option File.... Open Offline......
If you look down the list, you should see your chart <currencypair>,M10
Highlight it and click Open. You should now be able to access the chart.
You must keep the periodcon indicator attached to the M5 chart if you want the M10 chart to continue to update in real time.
Note that you can change the TimeShift parameter. This is probably not much use for the 10 min chart, but setting it to 1 would shift all bars by 1 5-min period, i.e. bars would start at 10:05, 10:15, 10:25, etc instead of 10:00, 10:10, 10:20, etc. More useful if you;re using 1 hour or higher as your base chart.
Anyway, hope this achieves the result you're looking for. You can create synthetic charts for whatever currency pairs and timeframes you wish. Simply repeat steps 4 thru 11.
Good luck,
David
PS: Also attached, Mason's enhanced version of the CandleAggregator indicator, as a possible alternative. See the thread http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=29624
for more information on this.
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Joined Sep 2005
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Status: pip my ride
|507 Posts
Hanover:
Great info., but do you know of a way to get the converted time frame to work with strategy tester? For example, I want to test an EA with an 8 hr. time frame in strategy tester, but 8 hr. doesn't appear in the dropdown box - how can I get 8 hr. to appear? Will the periodcon work with EA's?
Hanover:
Great info., but do you know of a way to get the converted time frame to work with strategy tester? For example, I want to test an EA with an 8 hr. time frame in strategy tester, but 8 hr. doesn't appear in the dropdown box - how can I get 8 hr. to appear? Will the periodcon work with EA's?
Thanks,
Ignored
Eagle, I'm sorry, I don't know. I haven't tried periodcon with EAs and I've never used Strategy Tester.
Has anyone using the periodcon.mq4 indicator from this thread run into a problem that only the FIRST offline chart that you open is updated live? If you open a 2nd - Nth chart of the same period (e.g. M20), then those charts don't get live tick updates!
The first chart does get updated live, just not later-opened-identical charts.
In the source M5 chart, I added periodcon with the "Allow DLL" checked as is required. I used a multiplier of 4 to create a synthesized M20 chart.
I used the File -> Open Offline -> GBPUSD,M20
This first chart updates with every new tick.
I opened a 2nd (and 3rd...) chart the same way but these charts are only snapshots. They do not update with each live tick!! HOWEVER, if one merely resizes the 2nd-Nth chart(s), it does update it! (Hmmm, wonder if I have a graphics card issue instead of an MT4/periodcon bug??)
(FYI, my machine is a quad-CPU Intel processor just in case that has anything to do with it; I haven't explored what some have reported as issues with the multi-core processors, and I have no idea if that's relevant here).
Thanks,
Kent (pips4life)
P.S. In the picture, the M5 chart (white) is in the background but you can see the current price. The black M20 chart on the left was opened first and it is getting updated. It has a higher high of 1.6436 and the current price matches the current M5 price. The right M20 chart is not getting updated!
....If you open a 2nd - Nth chart of the same period (e.g. M20), then those charts don't get live tick updates!.....
Ignored
Apparently this is a limitation with this indicator (I didn't write it, so I can only try to guess the reason why it was programmed this way).
Anyway, I was just e-mailed by another FF member asking exactly the same question. He was also trying to generate multiple 20 min charts from a 5 min chart in the same pair. Not sure why anybody would want to do this, let alone two people independently trying to achieve exactly the same thing. Talk about coincidence!
Multiple (same period offline) chart windows wont update because Mt4s function : WindowHandle() will only return the handle of the first window it finds. you'll have to use windows api calls.
The following should work but hasnt been tested, and you'll have to fit it into the script / indicator you're using yourself.
Inserted Code
void updateofflinewindows(int per)
{
int hwnd,len;
string name;
string gwstr = " ";
hwnd = WindowHandle(Symbol(),per);
if (hwnd != 0)
{
len = GetWindowTextA(hwnd,gwstr,80);
name = StringSubstr(gwstr,0,len-1);
hwnd = GetWindow(hwnd,GW_HWNDFIRST);
while (hwnd !=0)
{
len = GetWindowTextA(hwnd,gwstr,80);
if ((len >0) && (StringSubstr(gwstr,0,len-1) == name))
PostMessageA(hwnd,WM_COMMAND,CHART_CMD_UPDATE_DATA,0);
hwnd = GetWindow(hwnd,GW_HWNDNEXT);
}
}
}
Multiple (same period offline) chart windows wont update because Mt4s function : WindowHandle() will only return the handle of the first window it finds. you'll have to use windows api calls.
The following should work but hasnt been tested, and you'll have to fit it into the script / indicator you're using yourself.
...
Ignored
Hi rangebound,
There were some problems using the code you suggested but with some changes I'm getting much closer.
I have a related question to ask...
(Background) I can see how to create a list of window handles and go through that list looking for specific window names (e.g. "EURUSD,H2 (offline)" ) and then use the "PostMessageA(...)" command to tell any other window(s) found to update tick-by-tick.
(Question) Is there a way to create a Text object in the other (offline) window(s) as well?
I tried doing the following but it didn't work:
Inserted Code
//... just after the PostMessageA(hwnd, ...) command worked.
SetActiveWindow(hwnd); // Unfortunately this line doesn't work
if ( ObjectFind("Period") < 0)
{
ObjectCreate("Period",OBJ_TEXT,0,TimeCurrent(),0.001);
ObjectSetText("Period",DoubleToStr(NewPeriod,0),12,"Ariel",Red);
}
The above didn't work. The object was created in the source window -- the window with "periodcod" running in it -- rather than the secondary window whose handle I tried to make active.
Why bother? Well for a "EURUSD,H2" chart there is no point, because the normal "Period()" command will return "120". However, if one uses periodcon to create an offline Daily chart with a different hourly offset, then the name is slightly fudged to be "EURUSD,M1441 (offline)". (It cannot be created as "EURUSD,D1 (offline)" because there is already a normal "D1" chart). The "Period()" command will then return "1441" instead of "1440". This will throw off some indicators that rely on specific values from Period() that don't know what to do with "1441". I am hoping to create a solution where such indicators could do:
if (ObjectFind("Period") >= 0)
period = StrToIngeter(ObjectDescription("Period"));
else
period = Period();
Do you (or does anyone) know of a way to use an indicator in one chart to create an object in a *different* chart using that other windows' handle? What set of Windows api functions does the trick?
(Question) Is there a way to create a Text object in the other (offline) window(s) as well?
Ignored
The short answer is no (and what the code you've written will never work) .. the long answer is yes but only through the use of a separate DLL implementing sockets or hooking into MT4's main window, providing 'message queue' facilities so that (an indicator attached to) one window may post a request to a global message queue for (an indicator attached to) another window to pick up the message from the queue and do the appropriate task.
However
A) This is large enough amount of work to take it out of the realms of 'just knock it together'.
B) The second window would only be able to pick up the message and create the object on the next tick ... no tick no object.
Finally If your only problem is that the time period of the offline file is incorrect (eg D1 != 1441) then you can modify your period converter script / indi so that it changes the Symbol() rather than the period value eg
Extern string symbolprefix = "A";
... (where your period converter creates the new ofline file)
So you'll end up with an offline file "AGBPUSD, D1 (offline)"
by using the extern string you can add several periodconv indi's (using different prefixes) to a live chart eg "GBPUSD H1"
Which will produce many different D1 files
Thanks so much for the tips. It turns out I reached the same conclusions as you for both my problems. GetParent(...) was the key for the code problem and my independent rewrite is virtually the same as yours (though it was your original that got me digging deeper into Windows api calls in the first place).
And 2nd, I also decided to modify the Symbol() name rather than figure out the object-create-in-another-window problem which, as you said, is a much tougher problem to solve.
I'm about to release my version. It seems to work very well and provides a fairly robust multi-chart, multi-timeframe, multi-timeshift solution.
My new period converter indicator, "P4L PeriodCon.mq4" , has been released in a new thread so I can continue to Edit Post #1 to keep it up-to-date should there be any changes necessary:
I'm looking for a 30-min chart that starts at 00:15 and closes at 00:45. I've tried to do it with your indicator but it only shifts the clock reading at the bottom of the chart, and not the actual data. the chart would look different if I get what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance for your help. I truly appreciate it. This information will help me to get out from quite a terrible situation I'm in.
I'm looking for a 30-min chart that starts at 00:15 and closes at 00:45. I've tried to do it with your indicator but it only shifts the clock reading at the bottom of the chart, and not the actual data. the chart would look different if I get what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance for your help. I truly appreciate it. This information will help me to...
Ignored
I have replied to your PM, with links to some other indicators that create synthetic candles.
Thank you so much for replying to me so quickly. The comments people made about you are indeed genuine. I'm very happy to have made contact with you.
I copied my PM to this post because there's a little bugger on my FF account. My "sent" message folder remains 0 no matter how many PMs I sent out. So I don't know whether my PM is actually delivered or not. Did send an email to the "contact" page but never heard from them since.
Anyway, thank you and I've tried using all the indicators you referred to. I found one to my liking but still isn't exactly what I'm looking for. Check out the screenshot. The indicator displays exactly what I want, that particular red bar opens at 0045 and closes at 0015. But trouble is, it isn't the real MT4 price chart I can put indicators on. Oh well, that's fine. I still have other strategies I can rely on.
And to answer your question, I was in the unfortunate position of naively accepting bonus from a binary options broker, and I'm not left to fight over a massive amount of wager before I can withdraw my money. I've since discovered a strategy that is quite workable but I just thought this new strategy would help even more.
Basically, anyoption has a feature that allows your option to be sold back to the broker within a 30 min period called option+. The option starts at 00:45 hour and ends at 00:15. And that's why I want to analyze this 30 minute candle, which is not readily available in MT4.
Thanks anyway hanover. I hope to stay in touch with you. And a very warm G'day from Australia to my friend over in Kiwi land.
