How to Add Indicators to MT5 for the First Time?

4/22/2025, 8:31:21 AM

How to Add Indicators to MT5 for the First Time

MetaTrader 5 is considered a powerhouse for CFD, Forex, and commodities trading. It is flexible, fast, and comes with a raft of features. Whether you scalp short timeframes or trade long-term swings, MT5 is good enough to handle.

Do you know one of the best features of MT5? The ability to add custom indicators is awesome. It’s not just a fancy add-on, rather it is critical to spot trading opportunities and improve your edge.

Trading with a prop firm like FundingPips? Adding the right tools could be the difference between passing your evaluation and starting over. Let’s break down exactly how to do it.

Understanding MT5 Indicators and Expert Advisors

Let’s find out what indicators are, to build your foundation for trading.

What Are Trading Indicators?

Think of indicators as your market compass. They help you gauge momentum, define trends, find overbought or oversold conditions, and finally interpret the price action. Though MT5 has several built-in indicators, custom indicators give you freedom to refine your trading approach.

Unlike EAs, indicators do not open or close orders. They support in decision making which is key for your manual trading. They can be of great help if you are manually attempting to pass FundingPips evaluation.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding Indicators to MT5

1. Downloading Indicators

The first step is to find the indicator of your choice. You can download it from MQL5 market place. The indicator files are either .mq5 or .ex5 formats. You can download from any other website as well like Forex Factory, GitHub or any other commercial source. However, always vet your source as shady downloads may compromise your security.

2. Locating the Indicators Folder

Open MT5 and go to:

File > Open Data Folder > MQL5 > Indicators

This is the destination folder where you have to place the indicator files.

3. Installing the Indicator

After downloading the indicator, place the files in Indicators folder. If the indicator has other files like templates or libraries, follow the documentation to properly place them in respective folders.

Once done, restart your MT5 or go to the left-hand Navigator panel, and right-click and hit “Refresh.”

4. Applying the Indicator

Open the chart of your desired currency pair. Go to the Navigator panel and then drag and drop your indicator on the chart. A setting window will pop up where you can tweak inputs.

Click ok and your indicator is live on the chart.

Customizing and Managing Indicators

Now, let’s explore how to play with settings.

Fine-Tuning Indicators

Every good indicator comes with different settings to tweak. These could be length, calculation type, alerts, etc. You can right-click the indicator on your chart to adjust or remove.

Want to clean up your chart? Go to Insert > Indicators > Custom, then click “Remove.”

Managing Indicator Across Multiple Charts

MT5 allows you to run several indicators simultaneously. You can create a template of your indicators and apply on any asset’s chart. .

If you run multiple strategies, better to label each chart to monitor individual performance.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Indicator Not Showing?

You have to check the following first:

Did you place the files in the right folders?
Is the file type correct?
Did you refresh or restart your terminal?

If you still can’t fix it, look into the Journal and Expert tabs for more clues.

Compatibility Problems

MT4 indicators cannot run on MT5. So, double-check your files. Also, some tools need the DLL imports option enabled. Check out if you missed to do so.

Popular MT5 Indicators

Let’s explore some of the commonly used indicators in forex trading.

Moving Averages

Moving average is a multi-functional indicator that can work as a standalone trading system as well a confirmatory tool. You can also use it as a dynamic support or resistance. Moving average is calculated as an average of certain period to reflect the trend, momentum and strength of an asset. It has many variations like simple, exponential, weighted, exponential weighted, etc. Exponential moving averages are widely used.

The interpretation of the indicator is quite simple. If the price is above the moving average, it indicates a bullish trend while price lying below it is a sign of a bearish trend. The direction of a moving average also reveals the trend. MA line pointing down is a sign of bearishness while pointing up is a sign of bullishness. Staying flat means the market has no clear trend and prices are ranging.

You can use multiple moving averages with different periods to find short-terma and long-term views.

Ichimoku

The Ichimoku Kinko Hyo is a Japanese technical analysis tool, known for its comprehensive and quick view of the market trends, support/resistance and momentum. It has five lines that forma cloud. The cloud acts as a trend filter, a gauge for momentum and also acts as a support or resistance. Other components are Tenkan-sen, Senkou Span A & B and Chikou Span.

A simple interpretation is to look at the cloud. Prices above the cloud indicate a buying momentum while below the cloud show a selling momentum.

Heiken Ashi

Heikin Ashi is a technical tool to remove the noise and smooth the chart. The purpose is to reduce the confusion and stay aligned with the primary trend. It is a better form of candlestick. You can apply it on the chart to replace your traditional candles. You will see the difference.

The candle color is all you need to think about. If the candle is red, it is a sign of bearishness while a blue colored candle shows bullishness.

Conclusion

Adding indicators is not a complex task. Once you try a few times, you get used to it. Indicators help you in the decision-making process. They help interpret the markets and are usually beneficial for manual traders. Together, these tools give you control, efficiency, and consistency.

Want to put your tools to the test? Try them on a real evaluation with FundingPips and get funded to trade with up to $200K.