Ping
This is a powerful addition to your MetaTrader 5 toolkit designed to optimize market analysis and performance. This technical indicator acts as a specialized analysis tool designed to visualize market data. It helps traders identify emerging trends, momentum shifts, and key support or resistance levels by plotting statistical calculations directly onto price charts.
How to Setup and Use Ping
1. Installation: Place your file in the MQL/Indicators folder via "Open Data Folder" and restart your terminal.
2. Loading: Find the indicator in the Navigator, drag it onto your chart, and configure the input parameters in the popup window.
3. Customization: Press Ctrl+I to open the indicator list, select your tool, and click "Properties" to change colors, levels, or visual styles.
4. Updating: Replace the old file in the Indicators folder with the new version and restart the platform to apply changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why is my indicator not showing? A: Verify the file is in the MQL/Indicators folder, or try right-clicking the "Indicators" tree in the Navigator and clicking "Refresh."
Q: Do custom indicators slow down the platform? A: Too many complex indicators can impact performance; remove unused ones via the "Indicator List" (Ctrl+I).
Q: Can I use MT4 indicators on MT5? A: No, MQL4 and MQL5 are distinct languages; ensure the indicator is compiled specifically for your platform version.
Description & Settings
An important parameter in trading is the relevance of the current price. It depends on a lot of factors, one of the most popular being the network ping between the terminal and the trade server.
However, another parameter is often ignored: the so-called
"internal terminal ping", which is an additional lag of quotes inside the terminal (the platform)
. Even if the network ping is zero, this lag can be significant.
The indicator shows the dynamics of change in this parameter, which is calculated as follows:
The above screenshot shows that the calculated value is far from small (a clean terminal with one chart), and the pursuit of zero ping can be deceiving in trading and some types of analysis in MetaTrader 5.
Features
The time lag of quotes is calculated in milliseconds;
The indicator consumes minimum computing resources of the terminal;
When the indicator is reset (after changing the TF, symbol, etc.) the accumulated data are lost (no database is maintained);
After removing the indicator, its comment stays on the chart;
It is not possible to create a similar indicator for MetaTrader 4, since tick data with the ms precision are not available;
in indicators requires some "warm-up" in the form of a few first ;
The indicator can be used as a template for real-time visualization of any values, you only need to replace one line;
A library is required for indicator calculation, which is used for comparing structures when calculating the lag:
The indicator has two display types depending on the following line:
The current indicator shows the price lag (
ping
), connected with the Calculate event. Actually, there are a lot of factors that have a significant impact on ping, so the appropriateness of using any indicators in trading systems and analysis may seem doubtful. Of course, the is less sensitive to negative influences, but its ping is also considerable (if measured in an Expert Advisor), which can sometimes minimize the importance of some .
