Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator for MT4 and MT5

Written by Dominic Walsh · Published 6 Aug 2026 · Last updated 20 Aug 2026

The Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator rebuilds your chart into a period MetaTrader does not offer. It buckets bars by wall clock time, then paints each finished bucket as a candle over price. A corner panel names the period the tool actually used. Traders who want a three hour view without leaving H1 get it in one window.

This build ships as custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.ex4 for MT4 and custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.ex5 for MT5; the screenshots below come from EURUSD H1.

Platforms	MT4 (.ex4) + MT5 (.ex5)
Chart window	Main price chart
Plots	5: Aggregate high, Aggregate low, Aggregate close, Flip up, Flip down
Alerts	popup, push notification, email, sound
Inputs	40

What the Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator draws on the chart

Rebuilt candles sit on top of the normal bars. Each one uses two objects, a rectangle for the body and a trend segment for the wick. InpMaxCandles keeps the newest 60 of them alive. InpFillBodies decides whether those bodies come out solid or hollow.

Three thin lines carry the same shape through the whole history. Aggregate high and Aggregate low trace the running extremes of the bucket in progress. Aggregate close follows the last price inside it. The lines run past the drawn candle window, so older structure stays readable.

Flip up and Flip down mark a change of direction. A completed bucket that closes bullish after a bearish one triggers Flip up. The lime marker lands on the first bar of the new bucket. Flip down does the reverse in red. BUY and SELL captions sit beside each marker while InpShowTags stays on.

• Aggregate high: line, lime green, width 1
• Aggregate low: line, orange red, width 1
• Aggregate close: line, gold, width 1
• Flip up: arrow, lime, width 2, arrow code 233
• Flip down: arrow, red, width 2, arrow code 234

How the Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator calculates its values

Absolute-time bucketing

Wall clock drives the grid. The bucket key comes from server time minus an anchor, divided by the custom period in seconds. A rolling bar count would slide the boundaries after every history reload. Fixed slots keep an eight hour candle opening at the same clock instants each day. InpAnchorOffsetMin defaults to 0 and shifts the whole grid when a desk wants its own alignment.

One candle per bucket

Aggregation inside a slot is textbook. Open comes from the oldest chart bar in the bucket. High takes the maximum, low takes the minimum. Close tracks the newest bar so far.

Validation happens before any of that. The request must span at least two chart bars, and it rounds up to a whole multiple of them. InpFallbackMult defaults to 3 and supplies the chart-bar multiple when the request comes in too small.

Flip detection on completed buckets

Direction comes from the bucket, not the bar. A finished bucket reads bullish when its close sits above its open. A flip needs the previous bucket to read the other way. InpMinBarsApart defaults to 3, so a second marker on the same side waits at least that long. InpRequireExtreme defaults to false, and it demands that the signal bar also be the local extreme once you turn it on.

How to read the signals

Read the rebuilt candles first. A solid lime body says the custom period closed bullish. An orange-red body says the opposite. The gold outline marks the candle still forming, so its high and low can still change.

Flip up and Flip down give the timing. Each marker lands on the first bar after a bucket completes, which means the signal never moves once it prints. The BUY or SELL caption beside it repeats the side in plain text.

The panel closes the loop. It states the period the tool used, the aggregated open, high, low and close, and the countdown to the next bucket. Check that line whenever a fallback kicks in, because the tool may round your request up.

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

Alerts sit behind EnableAlerts, with popup, push notification, email and sound on separate switches. Each completed flip sends one message on the bar that opens the new bucket, and never again on later ticks.

Every Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator input

Core settings: The custom period

Setting	What it does	Default
InpCustomMinutes	Custom candle length in MINUTES (180 = a 3 hour candle). Sets the custom candle length in minutes and ships at 180, which builds a three hour candle; pick any clock period your chart period divides into.	180
InpFallbackMult	Chart-bar multiple used when the request is too small. Supplies the chart-bar multiple when the request spans fewer than two chart bars, and it ships at 3.	3
InpAnchorOffsetMin	Shift the absolute-time grid by this many minutes. Shifts the whole clock grid by this many minutes so a desk can align buckets to its own session.	0

Core settings: Rebuilt candles

Setting	What it does	Default
InpMaxCandles	How many completed candles are drawn as objects. Controls how many completed candles stay on the chart as objects; drop it on slower machines.	60
InpFillBodies	Solid candle bodies (BACK stays false so they never vanish). Draws solid bodies when on and hollow outlines when off.	on

Core settings: Flip arrows

Setting	What it does	Default
InpMinBarsApart	Minimum bars between two arrows on the SAME side. Keeps two markers on the same side at least this many bars apart, which stops one bucket run printing a cluster.	3
InpRequireExtreme	Optional: require the signal bar to be the local extreme. Adds an optional filter demanding the flip bar also be the local extreme, and it stays off unless you switch it on.	off
InpTagGapPx	Caption gap in PIXELS (Pattern 17), never points.	38
InpMaxTags	Cap on how many recent captions are drawn. Limits how many BUY and SELL captions the chart carries, which stops old text piling up.	20

Core settings: Text fencing

Setting	What it does	Default
InpPriceScalePx	Right margin owned by the price scale, in pixels.	62
InpOneClickWpx	Width of the one-click trade panel zone, top-left.	260
InpOneClickHpx	Height of the one-click trade panel zone, top-left.	100

Core settings: Readout

Setting	What it does	Default
InpX	Panel X offset (px).	14
InpY	Panel Y offset (px) – clears the one-click panel.	120

Display settings

Setting	What it does	Default
InpMaxBars	History bars aggregated into the buffers.	3000
InpBodyWidthPct	Body width as a percent of the bucket’s clock slot.	76
InpBullColor	Bullish rebuilt candle colour.	lime green
InpBearColor	Bearish rebuilt candle colour.	orange red
InpFormingColor	Outline colour of the candle still forming.	gold
InpCandleWidth	Outline width of the rebuilt candles.	1
InpShowFlips	Arrow when a completed candle flips direction.	on
InpArrowOffsetPts	Arrow distance from the bar in points.	40
InpShowTags	BUY / SELL captions beside the arrows.	on
InpBuyColor	Flip-up arrow and caption colour.	lime
InpSellColor	Flip-down arrow and caption colour.	red
InpLabelEdgePadPx	Padding kept clear at the chart edges, in pixels.	10
InpAvoidPanel	Keep arrows and captions clear of the info panel.	on
InpShowPanel	Show the aggregated OHLC panel. Shows the aggregated readout in the corner; turn it off when you need a clean picture.	on
InpCorner	Panel corner (0=UL 1=UR 2=LL 3=LR).	0
InpFontSize	Panel font size.	9
InpFont	Panel font (monospaced keeps the columns square).	Consolas
InpPanelBg	Panel background (dark moss).	RGB 8,18,8
InpBorderColor	Panel border colour.	olive drab
InpTextColor	Panel body text colour.	gainsboro

Alert settings

Setting	What it does	Default
EnableAlerts	Master alert switch.	on
EnablePopup	Terminal popup alert.	on
EnablePushNotify	Push notification to the MetaQuotes ID.	off
EnableEmail	E-mail alert (configure Tools > Options > Email).	off
EnableSound	Play a sound file on a completed candle flip.	off
SoundFile	Sound file name inside terminal Sounds folder.	alert.wav

Settings that fit your chart

The screenshots come from EURUSD H1, where a 180 minute request lands on a clean three bar bucket. Any instrument with continuous quotes behaves the same, since the maths touches only open, high, low and close. Choose a chart period that divides into your target, or the tool rounds up and says so. Intraday traders often run M5 charts with a thirty minute target. Swing traders push H1 charts up to an eight hour or two day view.

When the Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator fails

Aggregation cannot invent data. A missing bar inside a bucket leaves a candle built from whatever the broker supplied. Weekend gaps and outages then show up as odd shapes.

Flip markers follow completed buckets, so they arrive late by design. On a three hour bucket you wait up to three hours for confirmation. That lag is the price of the smoother read.

Object counts add up fast. Sixty rebuilt candles mean well over a hundred chart objects before captions and the panel, and a tired terminal will feel it. Lower InpMaxCandles and InpMaxTags on older machines.

The tool draws a view, not a signal engine. A flip only says the last bucket changed colour, and it makes no claim about what comes next.

Copy custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.ex4 into MQL4/Indicators and custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.ex5 into MQL5/Indicators, then restart the terminal and drag the Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator 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 Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator: Swap spread on Wikipedia, Wyckoff Stock Analysis at StockCharts ChartSchool.

Download the Custom Timeframes Chart Expert Indicator for MT4 and MT5

The zip custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.zip holds custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.ex4, custom-timeframes-chart-indicator-forexmt4systems.ex5 and a short README, compiled files only. Enter your email below and the download link arrives in your inbox.

FAQ

What happens when InpCustomMinutes asks for less than the chart period?

The tool refuses to draw nonsense. It checks the request against the chart period, and anything spanning fewer than two chart bars falls back to a multiple of chart bars instead. Requests that do not divide cleanly round up to the next whole multiple. The panel always states the period it ended up using.

Do the rebuilt candles replace the normal EURUSD H1 candles?

No. The rectangles and wick segments draw on top of the chart’s own bars, so both stay visible. Many traders switch the terminal chart to a line or thin bar style so the rebuilt period reads cleanly. Nothing changes on the underlying data feed.

Why did a Flip up marker appear three bars after the low?

Direction only settles when a bucket completes. The marker lands on the first bar of the next bucket, which can sit several chart bars past the actual turn. InpMinBarsApart then blocks a second same-side print for a few bars. That trade-off keeps the marks stable instead of flickering.

Which chart period suits a three hour bucket on EURUSD H1?

H1 divides into three hours exactly, so the buckets line up with no rounding at all. M30 works too and gives six chart bars per bucket. H4 does not, because a single chart bar already exceeds the request, and the fallback takes over. Check the panel line after any change.

Are results guaranteed?

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