Ultimate MQL5 Guide

Jitanchandra Solanki Oct 12, 2023 13 Min read

Did you know that the way financial traders can now execute their trading orders has changed dramatically since the development of the first financial trading exchange in the 17th century in Amsterdam? The open outcry method (screaming and shouting) was how it started before the use of telephone trading and then electronic trading in the 1980s.

Nowadays, traders can use programming languages such as MetaQuotes' MQL5 language to create their own automated trading systems and indicators. In fact, with a worldwide MQL5 Community, individual traders do not even need to learn MQL5 programming to benefit from it. In this article, we explain what MQL5 is and how you can access MQL5 Signals, MQL5 Indicators and more to supercharge your trading, even if you have zero experience in programming!

What is MQL5 from MetaQuotes?

MetaQuotes is the company name for the developers of the world's most recognised trading platform MetaTrader. MQL5 is short for MetaQuotes Language 5 and is essentially a computer programming language that allows users to create MQL5 automated trading strategies, MQL5 Signals, MQL5 Indicators and advanced customised programmes such as an MQL5 trailing stop loss indicator, as well as many more types of indicators and strategies.

What is the MQL5 Market?

MQL5 Market is an online store of trading robots and technical indicators with over 10,000 trading applications available for the MetaTrader trading platform. These can all be tested in the MQL5 Strategy Tester for free before purchasing.

The store offers users the ability to purchase expert advisors (trading robots) and technical trading indicators. The store also has a 'utilities' section where programmers can sell their trading robots and technical indicators to the MQL5 Community.

The MQL5 Market can be accessed directly from the Admirals MetaTrader 5 trading platform. Simply open the Toolbox window (Ctrl+T) and then select Market from the tabs shown at the bottom:

A screenshot of the MetaTrader 5 platform showing the MQL5 Market tab.

You'll notice that there are several other tabs directly related to MQL5 services such as MQL5 Signals, MQL5 Code Base and MQL5 Experts. Before you can download and start using any of the fee-based services or tools, or even the free ones, users first need to download the MetaTrader 5 trading platform.

Did you know that Admirals offers MetaTrader 5 - the number one multi-asset class trading platform in the world - completely FREE!? MetaTrader 5 enables traders access to superior charting capabilities, free real-time market data & analysis, the best trading widgets available, all the MQL5 Market products and MQL5 Signals and much, much more!

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What is the MQL5 Community?

The MQL5 Community is an online page which offers multiple services to MetaTrader users. Here you will find everything you need from ready-made trading robots available for purchase, a database of programmers to create your own MQL5 Indicators or strategy, as well as instructions on how to access the MQL5 Strategy Tester and more:

MQL5 Market. This is an online store of trading robots and technical indicators with over 10,000 trading applications available for the MetaTrader trading platform. These can all be tested in the MQL5 Strategy Tester for free before purchasing. The MQL5 Market can be accessed from your MetaTrader platform and is discussed further down this article.
MQL5 Cloud Network. This enables fast optimisation of trading robots by accessing the combined processing power of thousands of computers all over the world.
Code Base. This allows users to download any code published in the Code Base section of the MQL5 Community meaning the code is automatically placed in the correct directory and compiled, allowing the trader to just run it from the MetaTrader Navigator window.
Freelance. Traders can hire professional programmers to create new MQL5 Indicators and strategies, as well as to convert MQL4 to MQL5 language for those wanting to migrate from MetaTrader 4 to MetaTrader 5. You can also find access to a wide variety of MQL4 to MQL5 converters.
MQL5 Charts. This allows traders to post screenshots from their trading platform and share them online in different social networks.
MQL5 Signals. Find trading signal providers, subscribe and receive them straight in the platform or have your account copy theirs.
MQL5 Forum. Traders can visit the MQL5 forum to discuss trading systems, improve, MQL5 programming skills and join different chat groups and ask questions.

Why use MQL5 from MetaQuotes?

There are a variety of reasons traders will use MQL5 from MetaQuotes. A few are found below:

#1 A trader has a technical strategy they would like to programme but does not have the time to learn MQL5 programming. From the MQL5 Community, the trader can hire a programmer to do it for them.

#2 A trader may want to experiment with different indicators that are being used by other traders. Some of the MQL5 Indicators are free and some are fee-based. There is a huge selection of MQL5 Indicators that users can trial and experiment with (a detailed example on how to do this can be found further down this article).

#3 A trader would like to experiment with a free, or fee-based, automated trading strategy. The MQL5 Market is packed full of free and paid-for expert advisors which traders can practice with.

In fact, traders can use these on a free demo trading account with Admirals, too! Traders can also download any fee-based products on a trial basis, test it in the MQL5 Strategy Tester before making the decision to purchase it.

To open your risk-free demo trading account simply click on the banner below and start using all the benefits of MQL5 Indicators, MQL5 Signals and MQL5 expert advisors (trading robots) in a completely risk-free trading environment!

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Where is the MQL5 login?

To login into your MQL5 account or register for one, simply open up your MetaTrader 5 trading platform (once you have downloaded it for free), select Tools from the top menu and then Options. This will then open a window with several options. The MQL5 login is found under Community:

A screenshot of the MetaTrader 5 platform showing the MQL5 Market tab and the MQL5 login box.

Disclaimer: Charts for financial instruments in this article are for illustrative purposes and do not constitute trading advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument provided by Admirals (CFDs, ETFs, Shares). Past performance is not necessarily an indication of future performance.

MQL5 Tutorial: Using MQL5 Indicators

Before we go through a quick MQL5 tutorial on using MQL5 Indicators, it is important to note that Admirals has no affiliation with any of the free or fee-based products available on MQL5 and cannot guarantee the outcome of using any of the MQL5 products.

In this MQL5 indicator tutorial, we will use one of the free indicators available in the MQL5 Market from the trading platform. As shown below, under Top Indicators, we will use the CCI EMA purely for demonstration purposes:

A screenshot of the MetaTrader 5 platform showing the MQL5 Market tab and Top Indicators section.

After clicking on the MQL5 indicator, it opens up another window with information useful to the trader such as the parameters of the indicator, the rationale behind it, when it was last updated, the author's name and the ability to see screenshots and reviews of it.

A screenshot of the MetaTrader 5 platform showing the MQL5 Market tab and an example of an MQL5 indicator from the MQL5 Market tab.

After clicking Download, the installation takes a few seconds to complete. It should now be available in the Navigator window (Ctrl+N), under Indicators -> Market. Now the trader simply needs to drag the name of the indicator onto the chart and the indicator will appear:

A screenshot of the MetaTrader 5 platform showing the MQL5 Market tab and an example of a free downloaded MQL5 indicator from the MQL5 Market tab.

You may have noticed in the Navigator window above there is a huge selection of Admirals MQL5 Indicators and expert advisors such as the Admiral Candle, Admiral Keltner, Admiral Pivot, Admiral Renko, Admiral Correlation Matrix, Admiral Mini Terminal, Admiral Sentiment Trader and more!

If you have downloaded the free Admirals MetaTrader 5 trading platform you will not have access to these. However, did you know you can get all of these advanced MQL5 products completely FREE by downloading the Admirals Supreme Edition plugin?

With this completely FREE plugin, you can access excellent additional features such as the correlation matrix, which enables you to view and contrast various currency pairs in real-time, or the mini trader widget - which allows you to buy or sell via a small window while you continue with everything else you need to do.

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Can you learn MQL5 programming?

It is possible to learn MQL5 programming as the language is based on the popular C++ programming language. Some traders go on to learn MQL5 programming, some hire other programmers to create their automated trading strategies and technical indicators for them and some use the MQL5 Market and the MQL5 Community to find what they need.

Before you start to learn MQL5 programming it is important to know that MQL5 programs have different properties and purposes:

An MQL5 Trading Robot

An MQL5 trading robot can analyse a market and execute trades based on inputs written by the programmer. Essentially, it takes over the human's job of placing trades. While some traders learn MQL5 programming to write their own strategies, many traders hire other programmers from the MQL5 Market and MQL5 Community to create it.

An MQL5 Custom Indicator

MQL5 Indicators are used for the analysis of different markets such as currencies, commodities, stocks, indices and others. While the MetaQuotes MetaTrader trading platform comes with a variety of in-built technical indicators, traders can create their own.

An MQL5 Script

An MQL5 script is designed to perform specific actions at a particular time. Scripts are designed to execute trade transactions only once but have access to all analytical and trading functions available through the MetaTrader platform. For example, the MQL5 OrderSend function is used to execute trade operations by sending requests to a trade server.

MQL5 Brokers: Why use Admirals?

There are many brokers who offer MQL5 products and services. However, there are some additional benefits to using Admirals, including the ability to:

Trade with a well-established, highly regulated company including regulation from the highly respected UK's Financial Conduct Authority.
Access the fastest and most secure trading platforms from MetaTrader on desktop, web or mobile.
Access the Admirals MetaTrader Supreme Edition plugin for advanced trading tools such as the Sentiment Trader and Advanced Order functionality completely free!
Trade with institutional grade spreads as low as 0.1 pips with Zero.MT4 and connect directly with tier one liquidity providers.
Trade on a wide variety of asset classes including Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodity CFDs, Cryptocurrency CFDs, Bond CFDs and ETFs.
Benefit from a negative balance protection policy for peace of mind.

If you're feeling inspired to start trading, or this article has provided some extra insight to your existing trading knowledge, you may be pleased to know that Admirals provides the ability to use MQL5 products and services, as well as provide you with the latest market updates and technical analysis for FREE! Click the banner below to open your live account today!

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About Admirals

Admirals is a multi-award winning, globally regulated Forex and CFD broker, offering trading on over 8,000 financial instruments via the world's most popular trading platforms: MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Start trading today!

This material does not contain and should not be construed as containing investment advice, investment recommendations, an offer of or recommendation for any transactions in financial instruments. Please note that such trading analysis is not a reliable indicator for any current or future performance, as circumstances may change over time. Before making any investment decisions, you should seek advice from independent financial advisors to ensure you understand the risks.

Jitanchandra is a financial markets author with more than 15 years experience trading currencies, indices and US equities. He is an accredited Market Technician with a BA Hons degree.