Article-22460-Custom-Tick-Chart-MQL5/README.md

# Article-22460-Custom-Tick-Chart-MQL5

This repository is an article-derived reference project based on the original MQL5 article. It does not claim to reproduce the full original source code unless files are explicitly attached.

## Overview

This project documents the implementation of a custom tick chart in MQL5. Instead of building candles on fixed time intervals, the described Expert Advisor aggregates a configurable number of ticks into synthetic OHLC bars and publishes them to a custom symbol.

The article focuses on:

- creating or reusing a custom symbol;
- optionally opening a chart for that symbol;
- collecting live ticks from the source instrument;
- forming OHLC bars after `N` ticks;
- updating the currently forming bar in real time with `CustomRatesUpdate`;
- ensuring monotonically increasing bar timestamps.

## Original Article

- **Article ID:** 22460
- **Author:** Israel Pelumi Abioye
- **Publication date:** 2026.05.11
- **Category:** Expert Advisors / Charts / Custom Symbols
- **URL:** https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/22460

## Repository Purpose

This repository serves as a technical reference and possible reconstruction base for the article’s tick-chart EA.

Its purpose is to preserve the core architecture explained in the article for developers who want to study or reimplement:

- activity-driven candles based on tick count;
- custom-symbol chart rendering in MetaTrader 5;
- real-time candle updates via `CustomRatesUpdate`;
- timestamp management for synthetic bars.

## Key Concepts

- **Custom symbol creation:** using `CustomSymbolCreate` and copying essential symbol properties from the source symbol.
- **Chart lifecycle management:** checking whether a chart for the custom symbol is already open and opening one if needed.
- **Tick aggregation:** counting incoming ticks and grouping them into fixed-size bars.
- **OHLC tracking:** setting open on the first tick, updating high/low during formation, and refreshing close on every tick.
- **Completed bar commit:** pushing finalized `MqlRates` data to the custom symbol.
- **Live bar update:** updating the currently forming candle on every incoming tick.
- **Monotonic timestamps:** ensuring each synthetic bar has a unique increasing `datetime`.

## Algorithm / Architecture Summary

1. **Initialization**
- Read user inputs such as custom symbol name, auto-open-chart flag, and ticks-per-bar.
- Create the custom symbol if it does not already exist.
- Copy selected market properties from the source symbol, including digits, point, tick size, and currency metadata.
- Optionally open a chart for the custom symbol.

2. **Chart existence check**
- Iterate through currently open charts using `ChartFirst()` / `ChartNext()`.
- Compare symbol and timeframe to avoid opening duplicate charts.

3. **Tick processing**
- On every `OnTick()`, retrieve the latest tick using `SymbolInfoTick`.
- Validate the tick and use the bid price as the aggregation reference.

4. **Bar formation**
- If this is the first tick of a new bar, initialize open, high, low, close, and bar time.
- For subsequent ticks, update high, low, and close.
- Increment the tick counter.

5. **Live bar rendering**
- Build a `MqlRates` structure for the currently forming bar.
- Call `CustomRatesUpdate` so the chart reflects the live candle state on every tick.

6. **Bar finalization**
- When the configured tick count is reached, create a completed `MqlRates` record.
- Enforce increasing timestamps using a `last_bar_time` reference.
- Push the completed bar to the custom symbol with `CustomRatesUpdate`.
- Reset internal state for the next bar.

## Mentioned or Attached Files

### Explicitly attached files

No attached source files were available in the processed input.

### Files mentioned in the article text

The article describes an **Expert Advisor** implementation, but no concrete filename was provided in the processed content.

## Statistics

- **Article ID:** 22460
- **Language:** en
- **Sections identified:** 4 main sections
- **Code examples identified:** 7
- **Attached files available:** 0

## Tags

`MQL5`, `MetaTrader 5`, `Custom Symbol`, `Tick Chart`, `CustomRatesUpdate`, `Expert Advisor`, `Synthetic Bars`, `OHLC Aggregation`

## Difficulty

**Intermediate**

Requires familiarity with:

- MQL5 event handling (`OnInit`, `OnTick`);
- `MqlTick` and `MqlRates`;
- chart and symbol management APIs;
- custom symbol data updates in MetaTrader 5.

## Limitations

- The full original source code is unavailable in the processed input.
- The repository can only be presented as a reference/reconstruction project based on article excerpts and explanations.
- No complete EA file, project structure, or attachable implementation assets were provided.
- Some metadata, naming, and packaging details may need manual reconstruction before use in MetaTrader 5.
- The article demonstrates core logic, but does not provide enough repository-level detail to guarantee drop-in compilation without reconstruction.

## Reference

Original article: [https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/22460](https://www.mql5.com/en/articles/22460)