Buy Sell Alert Indicator for MT4 and MT5

Written by Dominic Walsh · Published 2 Jun 2026 · Last updated 21 Sep 2026

Thirteen and eighteen is an unusual pairing, and the narrowness is the point. The buy sell alert indicator crosses two exponential averages only five bars apart, which produces crossings a wider pair would smooth away, and it spaces each mark by half the bar’s own range.

This build ships as a compiled .ex4 for MT4 and .ex5 for MT5; the screenshots below come from EURUSD H1.

Platforms	MT4 (.ex4) + MT5 (.ex5)
Chart window	Main price chart
Plots	2: Buy Arrow, Sell Arrow
Alerts	popup, push notification, email, sound
Inputs	9

Everything visible

Two arrow plots, on price alone.

`Buy Arrow` prints lime at width 2.

`Sell Arrow` prints red at the same width.

Marks sit half a bar range from the candle.

Neither average is drawn anywhere.

Nothing appears in a pane below.

• Buy Arrow: arrow, lime, width 2, arrow code 233
• Sell Arrow: arrow, red, width 2, arrow code 234

What the formula does

Both built in the file

`FastEma` `13` and `SlowEma` `18` both run line by line here. A plain average seeds each one at its boundary, so neither line climbs out of zero at the chart edge.

A narrow gap

Five bars separate the two settings. That closeness means they track each other tightly, so crossings arrive on moves a wider pair would never register.

Placing the mark

`ArrowOffsetFrac` `0.5` multiplies the bar’s own high minus low. Where that comes to nothing the code falls back to a small fixed distance instead.

Making the output useful

Crossings come more often than a wide pair gives.

Neither average appears, so you lose the context.

Mark distance grows on a large candle.

Nothing spaces repeated marks apart.

No filter checks the crossing at all.

Warm-up needs about twenty bars.

Alert channels in this build: popup, push notification, email and sound, one message per closed bar.

A crossing is the one thing this reports. The master switch sits over it with the popup dialog on by default, while the phone notification, the mail message and the sound named by `SoundFile` each wait until you turn them on.

Every Buy sell alert Indicator input

Core settings

Setting	What it does	Default
FastEma	Fast EMA period. Bars in the quicker average, `13`.	13
SlowEma	Slow EMA period. Bars in the slower one, `18`.	18

Display settings

Setting	What it does	Default
ArrowOffsetFrac	Arrow offset (fraction of bar range). Fraction of bar range used as the gap, `0.5`.	0.5

Alert settings

Setting	What it does	Default
EnableAlerts	Master alert switch. Master alert switch over the cross, `true`.	on
EnablePopup	Popup Alert(). Popup dialog, on by default, `true`.	on
EnablePushNotify	Push notification to phone. Notification to a phone, `false`.	off
EnableEmail	Email alert. Message by mail, `false`.	off
EnableSound	Play sound on signal. Sound on signal, `false`.	off
SoundFile	Sound file name. Sound file name, `”alert.wav”`.	alert.wav

Choosing a market

Two averages five bars apart cross often wherever you put them. EURUSD H1 is the reference chart and gives a few marks a day. On M15 they arrive faster than most people can use. On H4 the pairing starts to behave.

What to be wary of

A five-bar gap produces plenty of false crossings.

Hiding both averages hides how decisive a cross was.

Nothing filters a crossing in flat trade.

Exponential averages still lag the price behind them.

Copy the compiled Buy sell alert Indicator file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, and the MT5 build into MQL5/Indicators, then restart the terminal and drag it onto a chart. The step-by-step guide with screenshots is at how to install MT4 and MT5 indicators.

Background reading on the method behind the Buy sell alert Indicator: Exponential Moving Average at Investopedia, Moving Averages at StockCharts ChartSchool.

Download the Buy sell alert Indicator for MT4 and MT5

The zip holds the compiled Buy sell alert Indicator build for MT4 and MT5, plus a short README. Compiled files only, no source. Enter your email below and the download link arrives in your inbox.

FAQ

Why are FastEma 13 and SlowEma 18 so close?

Because a narrow gap is sensitive. Five bars of separation means the two lines track each other, so crossings arrive on moves that a twelve-and-twenty-six pairing would smooth away entirely.

What does ArrowOffsetFrac 0.5 do differently?

It scales the gap to the bar rather than fixing it in points. Half the candle’s own range means marks stand clear on gold and on a quiet cross alike, with no per-symbol adjustment.

Do FastEma 13 and SlowEma 18 get drawn?

No. The code calculates both and writes neither to a visible buffer, so you see the crossings without seeing how far apart the lines were. That is the cost of an uncluttered chart.

Why does FastEma 13 start from a plain average?

Because an exponential calculation beginning at zero would draw a spike climbing out of the left edge. Seeding at the warm-up boundary makes the first usable value a real price instead.

Are results guaranteed?

No. Trading involves risk. Results are not guaranteed; past performance is not indicative of future results. Use the Buy sell alert Indicator as one input. Always backtest before trading live.