Volume Climax Bars
A volume climax bar - one where trading activity spikes well above what is normal for the instrument - often marks exhaustion at the end of a move or a burst of fresh interest at the start of one. Spotting it by eye on a plain volume histogram means comparing bar heights across the window, which gets harder the longer the chart has been open and the more the average level has drifted. This indicator computes each bar's average volume from the bars immediately before it, not a fixed lookback frozen at the first load, so the bar being tested is never included in its own baseline and the threshold adapts as activity rises or falls across a session. A bar crossing the multiple is drawn in a second colour rather than flagged with a separate marker, because this build's platform does not support colour-indexed single-buffer plots, so two histogram buffers are used instead - only one holds a value on any given bar. Volume in MetaTrader 4 means tick volume, the count of price changes, on the great majority of retail feeds that do not provide true traded volume. This indicator does not pretend otherwise; the description and input names say tick volume throughout. Notes and limitations - Volume is tick volume (price-change count), not a count of contracts or lots traded - the only volume figure most MT4 feeds expose. - The baseline needs InpPeriod bars of history before a bar, so the oldest InpPeriod-or-so bars on the chart never get a value. - A quiet instrument with naturally erratic tick counts (very low-liquidity symbols, unusual session hours) can produce more climax bars than the multiple would suggest on a liquid major - the threshold is relative to the instrument's own history, not an absolute count. - Recomputed from price/volume history directly on every call, with nothing carried forward that price itself did not already confirm, so there is nothing here that can repaint.
Indicator · MT4 · v1.0 · Free
About Volume Climax Bars
Volume Climax Bars is an indicator for MetaTrader 4. It can alert you with a pop-up, sound, email or push message. It has 3 settings, such as Period, Multiple and Alerts. MQL source code included.
Files in the download: VolumeClimax.ex4, VolumeClimax.mq4, VolumeClimax.txt.
Settings
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Period | 20 | Bars used for the average-volume baseline |
| Multiple | 2.0 | Climax threshold: volume >= this x average |
| Alerts | true | Alert once per closed climax 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: Volume · Trailing Stop & Break-even · Alerts · MT4 Indicator · MQL4 Source Code