Current Volume Profile Indicator for MT4 and MT5

Written by Dominic Walsh · Published 4 Jun 2026 · Last updated 18 Sep 2026

The current volume profile indicator asks where price spent its time. Two hundred bars get sorted into forty buckets by typical price. The busiest bucket becomes the point of control. Widening out from there until seventy percent of activity is covered gives the value area edges.

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	3: POC, VAH, VAL
Alerts	popup, push notification, email, sound
Inputs	16

Colours, widths and shapes

Three lines plus chart objects.

`POC` runs gold at width 2.

`VAH` runs dodger blue above it.

`VAL` runs crimson below.

Trend objects mirror each level on the chart.

Object names all begin with `ObjPrefix`.

• POC: line, gold, width 2
• VAH: line, dodger blue, width 1
• VAL: line, crimson, width 1

What the formula does

Buckets, not bars

Price gets divided up. `LookbackPeriod` `200` bars set the high and low. `BucketCount` `40` splits that span into equal slices.

Filling them

Each bar counts once. Its typical price, the average of high, low and close, decides which slice it lands in. The fullest slice becomes the point of control.

The value area

It grows outward from there. Neighbouring slices get added until `ValueAreaPct` `0.70` of the total is inside. The outermost pair gives the two edges.

Interpreting what you see

The gold line marks where price spent most of its time.

Between the blue and crimson lines is the usual territory.

Outside them price was moving rather than settling.

A tight value area describes a balanced market.

Levels rebuild as the window rolls forward.

Forty buckets set how precise each level can be.

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

`EnableAlerts` heads the level alerts and ships true with `EnablePopup`. Turn on `EnablePushNotify` for a phone, `EnableEmail` for mail, or `EnableSound` to play `SoundFile`. A close within five points of a level reports once a bar.

Every Current Volume Profile Indicator input

Core settings

Setting	What it does	Default
LookbackPeriod	Bars used to build the profile. Bars built into the profile, `200`.	200
BucketCount	Histogram buckets across price range. Price slices across the span, `40`.	40
ValueAreaPct	Value Area target fraction (default 70%). Share of activity inside, `0.70`.	0.70
RefreshEveryBars	Recompute on every Nth new bar. Rebuild every Nth bar, `1`.	1
ObjPrefix	Object name prefix, `”CurVP_”`.	CurVP_

Display settings

Setting	What it does	Default
PocLineColor	POC trendline color. Busiest slice colour, `clrGold`.	gold
VahLineColor	Upper edge colour, `clrDodgerBlue`.	dodger blue
ValLineColor	Lower edge colour, `clrCrimson`.	crimson
PocLineWidth	(see inputs panel)	2
VaLineWidth	(see inputs panel)	1

Alert settings

Setting	What it does	Default
EnableAlerts	Master switch, `true`.	on
EnablePopup	(see inputs panel)	on
EnablePushNotify	(see inputs panel)	off
EnableEmail	(see inputs panel)	off
EnableSound	(see inputs panel)	off
SoundFile	Which clip plays, `”alert.wav”`.	alert.wav

Choosing where it lives

Two hundred bars means a different span on every chart. EURUSD H1 is the reference chart. The window covers about eight days there. On M5 it is under a day. On H4 it spans more than a month.

What this one cannot tell you

Bar counts stand in for real traded volume.

One bar counts once, however large it was.

Forty buckets is coarse on a wide range.

A rolling window means levels move as bars fall out.

Copy the compiled Current Volume Profile 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.

Download the Current Volume Profile Indicator for MT4 and MT5

The zip holds the compiled Current Volume Profile 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

What does BucketCount 40 control?

How finely the price span is sliced. Forty buckets across two hundred bars gives levels precise to a fortieth of the range. More buckets sharpen the point of control but make each slice thinly populated.

How does ValueAreaPct 0.70 pick its edges?

By growing outward from the busiest bucket, adding neighbours until seventy percent of all counted bars sit inside. The last two buckets added become the upper and lower edges you see drawn.

Does LookbackPeriod count volume or bars?

Bars, and the distinction matters. Each of the two hundred bars adds one count to whichever bucket its typical price falls in, so the profile measures time spent at a price rather than contracts changing hands.

Why set RefreshEveryBars above 1?

To save calculation on a slow machine. At the default the profile rebuilds on every new bar, which is fine on H1 but costs more on a fast chart with two hundred bars to re-sort.

Are results guaranteed?

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