This tutorial covers only MetaTrader 5 indicator installation. If you need info on MetaTrader 4 indicator installation, please, refer to my previous tutorial. So, you’ve downloaded some MT5 indicator and have no idea how to install into your trading platform? Read this tutorial to know how.
1. Make sure you have either .mq5 or .ex5 files of the indicator downloaded. You can’t install an indicator before downloading it.
2. Go to your MetaTrader platform’s folder (wherever you installed it; usually, it’s C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 5). If you are using Windows 7, then you should copy your indicators to other location (usually, it’s C:\Users\USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes\Terminal\MetaTrader 5\MQL5\Indicators).
3. Enter the MQL5 folder:

4. Enter the Indicators folder:

5. Now you have two options — either create a separate folder for your indicator or copy files directly into common folder. The first choice is preferable as it will help you to keep the indicators organized. If your indicator came already in a folder, just copy the folder here, otherwise create a folder and copy files there or copy files directly into Indicators folder:

6. If you had .ex5 file (compiled indicator) then you can proceed to the next step. If you had only .mq5 and possibly some .mqh files (uncompiled indicator) you can just restart your MT5 platform for automatic compilation, but this way you won’t know if there were any errors in the code (and if there were errors it won’t get compiled). Or you can manually compile it. Double click your indicator’s .mq5 file and the MQL5 Editor window will open. Make sure it’s your indicator opened, click the Compile button and see if there are any error/warning messages in the bottom tab:

7. Now you can start your MT5 (if it’s not already started) and add your indicator to any chart from the Navigator tab (usually on the screen’s left side). Just

10. Now you can enjoy your new MT5 indicator and, hopefully, better Forex trading results.
If you liked the tutorial or don’t understand something, or have other problems installing indicators into your MetaTrader 5 platform, feel free to leave your replies and ask your questions via the commentary form below.


December 30th, 2009 at 10:32 am
thanks for guiding ,I installed mt5 but sorry to cant get the mean of describe to putting indicator in chart page .
could u please guide me more clearly to seeing indicator for buing and selling’s poing ?
thanks a lot
tora
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Andrei Reply:
December 30th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Did you read the tutorial above?
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Ananth Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Realllly with this clear tutorial only I was able to include my favy .mq5 indicators for my convenience.Thank you very much and please keep this up for ever.
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September 21st, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Am begining to like this..
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November 20th, 2010 at 11:49 am
can’t open “C:\Program Files (x86)\MetaTrader 5\MQL5\Indicators\S_R\Fractals – adjustable period.ex5″ output expert file 0 0
Using MetaEditor =>Navigator panel in above folder indicator is not visible…but using windows explorer file is there…so how come is not visible in MetaEditor folder…It should be simple like in MT4
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admin Reply:
November 20th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Can you send me a link to your indicator? Or at least provide a screenshot of the error and other relevant screens?
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mark Reply:
November 21st, 2010 at 9:48 am
send me e-mail and I will reply to you with screen shot attachments
this is message from metaeditor -toolbox-errors:
can’t open “C:\Program Files (x86)\MetaTrader 5\MQL5\Indicators\S_R\Fractals – adjustable period.ex5″ output
and as I said using windows explorer I created folder in: MQ5-Indicators and paste indicator….When I open metaeditor I dont see neither new folder nor indicator in that folder…Why?
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admin Reply:
November 21st, 2010 at 9:50 am
Host both indicator and the screenshots on some file sharing hosting and post the links here.
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mjackson Reply:
December 4th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
would be better if it s allowed to attach here picture or file
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admin Reply:
December 5th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Unfortunately that’s not possible to do it correctly without ruining the blog with poorly sized attachments. While it’s not that hard to upload an image to http://tinypic.com/ in 3 clicks and copy the link here.
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December 21st, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Hi,I am getting problem in installing the indicator called pattern recognistion for the candles.As you have told in tutorial i have tried all that options.But the option of compiling, i was not able to open the .mql5 file in the editor…i tried to access but in that location of folder in my laptop editor does not able to access the file.
below is the link of the indicatior for patern recognition of candle….that indicator i hv downloaded from this link…
http://www.forexmetatraderindicators.com/category/elite-mt4-indicators/
so please do experiment on this link indicator for MT-5 and do reply for me…
Thanking you..
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admin Reply:
December 21st, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I can’t find the “patern recognition” indicator using the link that you’ve provided. Can you, please, post a direct link to the indicator?
Why can’t you open it in the editor? What did it say? Was the file there?
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January 23rd, 2011 at 10:21 am
У меня тоже было такое. На Windows 7 индикаторы добавлять сюда!
C:\Users\USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes\Terminal\******************\MQL5\Indicators
Если они в формате *.mq5 – отркыть в MetaEditor и компилировать.
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admin Reply:
January 23rd, 2011 at 10:56 am
Спасибо!
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May 16th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
thanks a lot, man!
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May 29th, 2011 at 5:06 am
Sir great work it really helps alot
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June 16th, 2011 at 5:50 am
What I know the main thing that Metatrader 5 and Metatrader 4 have in common is that they are designed to provide brokerage services to customers in Forex, CFD, and Future markets. Aside from that, what else does Metatrader 5 and Metatrader 4 have in common?
Why do you think Metatrader 5 is very useful to the clients? If you would range from 1-10, where does Metatrader 5 belong?
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admin Reply:
June 16th, 2011 at 7:44 am
Basically they are very similar. It’s much easier to tell their differences than their similarities. I’d rate MetaTrader 5 at 7 or 8 out of 10.
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August 14th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
thank you metaTrader5.
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October 5th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Спасибо огромное!!! На других ресурсах провисел пол часа, а тут нашол на английском, и потратил пару секунд, запуск мета и компила))) !!!
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admin Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
You are welcome!
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December 2nd, 2011 at 6:39 pm
thanks ,man :-)
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