Designing and Managing Horizontal Distribution Diagrams in MT5
Summary
The article explains how to draw horizontal bar diagrams on MetaTrader 5 charts for distributions such as tick volume by price or time. It separates the work into preparing data coordinates and managing the graphical objects, which may be horizontal lines or rectangles. Diagrams can be anchored to candles or to the visible chart edges, and their horizontal lengths are scaled to represent values.
For reusable display logic, it proposes grouping diagrams with the same style under a manager that creates, aligns, and removes their objects. The example uses daily tick-volume distributions, with price levels derived from a period’s high and low and rounded to control the number of levels. The article focuses on chart visualization and object management rather than validating a trading signal. Its sample indicators are described as educational, and the author cautions that source timeframe data should be checked for artifacts before use.
Key ideas
- Horizontal distribution diagrams can show data such as tick volume across price levels or time periods.
- A diagram’s time coordinate may be anchored to a candle or to an edge of the visible chart.
- Price levels can be calculated from a starting price and a chosen interval step.
- A manager can handle groups of similar diagrams by creating, aligning, and deleting their chart objects.
- The example is for learning and visualization, not a validated trading system.
Tags
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.