What is open[]? Bid or Ask? | Forex Factory

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What is open[]? Bid or Ask?

  • #1
  • First Post: May 31, 2010 8:28am May 31, 2010 8:28am
Hello,

If I refer to Open[] time series, does it have Bid or Ask prices in it??

Also, how do I determine if a tick is the first tick of the bar (I think I want to compare its price (bid or ask?) with the Open[0]).

Thank you.
  • #2
  • May 31, 2010 9:02am May 31, 2010 9:02am
You count ticks.

Inserted Code
static int NewBarCheck;
int TickCount;

if(NewBarCheck != Bars)
   {
   NewBarCheck = Bars;
   TickCount = 0;
   }

TickCount++;
  • #3
  • May 31, 2010 9:16am May 31, 2010 9:16am
Could you please elaborate? Bars is the number of bars in the chart. isn't this related to the current bar? I want to determine if the coming tick is the first tick in the bar where it's in. Thanks.

Quoting Ronald Raygun
You count ticks.

Inserted Code
static int NewBarCheck;
int TickCount;

if(NewBarCheck != Bars)
   {
   NewBarCheck = Bars;
   TickCount = 0;
   }

TickCount++;
  • #4
  • Jun 1, 2010 12:10am Jun 1, 2010 12:10am
You can validate tick by bar volume

Inserted Code
int tick = 0;// on init

if(Volume[0] == 0) // in start -- try also if(Volume[0]==1) if is not working with 0
{
 tick++; //if you want to count ticks
 double _ask = Ask;
 double _bid = Bid;
}
Then compare with Open[0];

As I know price used for Open[], Close[], High[], Low[] is bid.
  • #5
  • Edited 4:55am Jun 5, 2010 4:28am | Edited 4:55am
Quoting Torquemada
As I know price used for Open[], Close[], High[], Low[] is bid.
This seem to be a coincidence and may not be the case at any broker. I haven't tested all brokers but currently I have a demo account with PFGBest and there I always have a constant difference of exactly 0.00005 (0.5 pip) between Close[0] and Bid. I don't think this is intentional, it is *almost* Bid but not exactly.

Maybe this is an error on the server side (their configuration) or some kind of rounding error, maybe it is due to the fact that this is the ECN version of MT4, whatever it is it means that the expression (Bid == Close[0]) will be evaluated to false at least at some brokers.

You can verify this by putting this into your start() function:
Inserted Code
int start(){
   Print("Ask: " + Ask + " Bid:  " + Bid + " Close: " + Close[0] + " Difference: " + (Bid - Close[0]));
}
or make it draw and move a horizontal line to Bid on every tick and then zoom in to the M1 on a quiet day and compare this to the white price line that is always drawn at Close[0].

The consequence is:

 

  1. If you need prices for the Order Functions OrderSend(), OrderOpenPrice(), OrderStoploss(), etc. for example to compare them to current price or when sending an order or calculating stops, always use Bid and/or Ask, never Close[0].
  2. If you make EAs that visually interact with the User through chart objects and want to compare current price to the price of objects drawn into the chart or need prices to anchor the objects that you create always use High[], Low[], Open[] or Close[]. Everything you see in the chart is always based on Open[], High[], Low[], Close[], this seems to be guaranteed in all cases (while Bid is not) and if you for example want an alarm to go off when price crosses a line you draw into the chart then use Close[0].
    I stumbled upon this whole problem for exactly this reason: I compared Bid to the price of a horizontal line that I had drawn into the chart and then while watching closely on the M1 chart I wondered why it sometimes didn't trigger although the price in the chart was already a bit below my line. I changed it to Close[0] and it worked flawlessly.

  • #6
  • Jun 6, 2010 2:08am Jun 6, 2010 2:08am
On Alpari UK i got this:

Quote
Ask: 1.19705000 Bid: 1.19668000 Close: 1.19668000 Difference: 0.00000000
  • #7
  • Last Post: Jun 6, 2010 5:52am Jun 6, 2010 5:52am
Quoting Torquemada
On Alpari UK i got this:
I believe it has something to do with the ECN version of metatrader. They must have made some changes in how they receive and handle the Bid and Ask prices.

I have worked with Metatrader for a long time now and never noticed this (the EA i mentioned that triggers events on crossing of a line was first written and used on an Alpari account half a year ago) and only recently since I started testing and debugging some of my old EAs on an ECN account I noticed this strange little detail.
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