Intraday Drift Curve
Every symbol has a rough intraday shape - quiet in some windows, prone to drift in others - that is easy to sense anecdotally but rarely looked at directly. This indicator makes it explicit. For each historical day in the lookback, price is measured as a percentage drift from that day's own opening price, bucketed by minute-of-day. Averaging those percentage paths across many days produces a curve: the typical route price has taken by each point in the session, expressed as return rather than raw price so a handful of unusually large days cannot dominate the shape. Today's own path is plotted alongside the average on the same percentage scale, making it immediate whether the current session is tracking the usual pattern or running well outside it. The average curve is a slow-moving statistic - it barely changes from one bar to the next - so it is only rebuilt periodically rather than on every new bar, which keeps a chart with a long history responsive instead of repeating an expensive scan for no visible change in the result. Notes and limitations - Needs multiple full calendar days of loaded history before the average curve is meaningful; with too little history the average and today's line will look nearly identical. - Day boundaries follow the terminal's own time zone (usually the broker's server time), which may not match the trader's local session definition. - A day with a data gap or a short session (holiday, late open) still contributes its available buckets to the average, which can introduce minor noise around session edges; this is not filtered out separately. - The average is a description of history, not a forecast - it says what has typically happened by this point in the day, not what will happen today.
Indicator · MT4 · v1.0 · Free
About Intraday Drift Curve
Intraday Drift Curve is an indicator for MetaTrader 4. It has 3 settings, such as Lookback days, Minutes per bar and Rebuild every bars. MQL source code included.
Files in the download: IntradayDriftCurve.ex4, IntradayDriftCurve.mq4, IntradayDriftCurve.txt.
Settings
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Lookback days | 40 | Trading days averaged into the curve |
| Minutes per bar | 5 | Minute-of-day bucket width, in minutes (must divide 1440) |
| Rebuild every bars | 20 | Recompute the average every N new bars, not every bar |
How to install
- Download the ZIP from your PolyMaria library and unzip it.
- In MetaTrader 4 open File → Open Data Folder, then go to MQL4 → Indicators.
- Copy the .mq4 file(s) there. Put any .mqh files in MQL4 → Include.
- Open the .mq4 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 · MT4 Indicator · MQL4 Source Code