A great feature of Forex Tester 5 is the ability to install custom indicators.
This allows you to use the trade journaling and analysis tools of Forex Tester, while using the same indicators that you would use in live trading with MetaTrader.
This really speeds up the backtesting process.
If you use MetaTrader as a manual backtesting software on its own, it works, but it’s cumbersome and slow.
But there are some limitations to importing Forex Tester indicators.
So in this tutorial, I’ll show you how to add custom MT4 indicators to Forex Tester 5, and show you why it’s not as useful as you think.
If you prefer the text version of this tutorial, it is provided below the video.
How to Add a New Indicator to Forex Tester 5
To add an indicator to Forex Tester 5, make sure you are on house tab in the upper left corner of the screen, then click List of IndicatorsTHEN Install New Indicator.
From there, a small window will pop up allowing you to install the indicator.
Click the button with 3 dots to select the file you want to install.
There are 2 types of indicator files you can add to FT5.
A .dll file is the default file type for Forex Tester indicators.
The issue with this file type is that there aren’t many indicators available on the internet and it’s not easy to find a programmer who knows how to create Forex Tester .dll indicators.
We have some signs available, but we don’t have many requests for new ones.
The more practical file type is the .mq4 file.
This is the file used by MetaTrader 4.
But before you get excited about importing MetaTrader 4 indicators into Forex Tester, there are a few catches:
- You can only import .mq4 files, not .ex4 files
- The import will only work if the Forex Tester server is able to perform the conversion
Most custom indicators sold on the internet will be provided in .ex4 format. This is because the vendor will not provide the source code or the “recipe” of how the indicator works.
Unfortunately, you cannot import .ex4 indicators into Forex Tester 5.
However, if you have a .mq4 file, then you can continue.
Once you select the file you want to import, click the Install button.
After you select the MT4 indicator file you want to install, the software will ask you to confirm that you are OK to send the file to the Forex Tester servers.
To convert a .mq4 file to .dll format, the server program must perform the conversion, then send the .dll file back to you.
When the conversion is complete, you will receive a message that the indicator has been installed.
That’s it!
If you want to buy Forex Tester 5 so you can backtest with MetaTrader 4 indicators, then make sure to get the big discount.
Advantages of Importing MT4 Indicators
The biggest benefit of importing MT4 indicators is the ability to backtest your trading strategies with the same indicators you would use in live trading.
Changing an indicator is free and easy to do with Forex Tester’s automatic conversion service. You don’t need to pay an extra programmer to change the indicator for you.
In addition, you get tons of free indicators that you can import into Forex Tester in MT4 Code Base.
Drawbacks of Importing MT4 Indicators
I haven’t used this function much because I don’t have custom indicators, but I noticed that the Forex Tester conversion tool was not able to convert all the indicators I uploaded.
In fact, the success rate seems to be very low. It usually works for simple signs, but it has difficulty converting more complex ones.
Now in all fairness, converting code between 2 different programming languages is not easy, especially for an automated program.
But remember that the conversion process may not work for all signs.
What about Decompiling .ex4 Files?
Some people are under the impression that you can “decompile” an .ex4 file to get a .mq4 file.
In all my years of trading, I have never seen anyone do this.
At one point I watched it for several days. Many people think it can, but I haven’t seen any evidence.
So I won’t waste my time trying to figure out how to decompile an .ex4 file.
If you can’t find the .mq4 file, just continue.
Final Thoughts
So that’s it!
The process is very simple and powerful, but the method has limitations.
Hopefully they will expand the import indicator functionality to make it more reliable and possibly include MT5 custom indicators as well.
Alright, let’s get backtesting!
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