Initial Balance Levels And Extensions
The Initial Balance is the price range set in the opening period of a session - traditionally the first hour on futures markets. It is used as a reference range: extensions of 2x and 3x that range are common targets, and where the session eventually closes relative to the IB gives a rough read on what kind of day it was. This indicator locates the IB for every session in the loaded history (session start is a plain hour:minute input in broker server time, since there is no reliable timezone-to-exchange mapping available from inside MT4), draws the IB high and low as solid horizontal segments spanning the session, and optionally draws the 2x/3x extensions above and below as dotted levels. Once a session finishes, it is labelled with a simplified day type: Normal (closed inside the IB), Trend Up / Trend Down (broke out to one side and closed beyond it), or Neutral (broke both sides but closed back inside the IB). This is a simplification of the classic four-type Steidlmayer scheme, done deliberately - collapsing "non-trend" into "Normal" keeps the label set honest rather than implying a precision the underlying data does not support on a retail forex feed with no real session volume. The naive version of this indicator would try to identify a single global session start and assume every symbol observes it - that is wrong for a multi-asset chart list, since futures pits, forex sessions and index cash sessions all open at different times. This version puts the session-start clock entirely under the trader's control. Notes and limitations - Session boundaries are computed from calendar-day arithmetic on server time plus the configured start time; this does not account for daylight-saving shifts a broker's server clock may apply unevenly across the year, so IB boundaries can drift by an hour around DST changes until the chart is refreshed. - The still-forming session's IB is drawn without a day-type label, since the session has not closed yet - this is deliberate, not a missed case. - Day type is a simplified three/four-way read, not the full Steidlmayer taxonomy (Normal, Normal Variation, Trend, Neutral) - see the full description for exactly which cases are merged. - No trade or stop-loss logic - visual reference only. - Every symbol you attach this to needs its own session-start setting if your assets don't share one open time; the indicator does not guess this automatically.
Indicator · MT5 · v1.0 · Free
About Initial Balance Levels And Extensions
Initial Balance Levels And Extensions is an indicator for MetaTrader 5. It has 11 settings, such as Session start hour, Session start minute and Ib length minutes. MQL source code included.
Files in the download: InitialBalanceLevels.ex5, InitialBalanceLevels.mq5, InitialBalanceLevels.txt.
Settings
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Session start hour | 8 | Session start hour (broker server time, 0-23) |
| Session start minute | 0 | Session start minute (broker server time, 0-59) |
| Ib length minutes | 60 | Initial balance length in minutes (60 = first hour) |
| Days back | 20 | How many past sessions to draw (0 = unlimited, expensive on M1) |
| Show2x extension | true | Draw the 2x IB range extension levels |
| Show3x extension | true | Draw the 3x IB range extension levels |
| Show day type label | true | Label each finished session with its day type |
| Ib color | clrDodgerBlue | IB high/low colour |
| Ext2 color | clrGoldenrod | 2x extension colour |
| Ext3 color | clrOrangeRed | 3x extension colour |
| Label color | clrWhite | Day type text colour |
How to install
- Download the ZIP from your PolyMaria library and unzip it.
- In MetaTrader 5 open File → Open Data Folder, then go to MQL5 → Indicators.
- Copy the .mq5 file(s) there. Put any .mqh files in MQL5 → Include.
- Open the .mq5 file in MetaEditor and press Compile (F7) if MetaTrader does not show it.
- Drag the indicator from the Navigator onto a chart and adjust the settings.
Tags: Trading Sessions · MT5 Indicator · MQL5 Source Code