Spread and Price Tracker

This indicator processes historical tick‑data and tracks either the Spread in points (not pips), the Mid prices, the Ask or the Bid quotation prices, and displays the results in a sub‑window as OHLC candles.

Charts on MetaTrader only show the bars/candles based on Bid quotes prices (or Last quote prices for certain types of symbols). However, that is not the complete picture as there is also the Ask quote prices to consider and the Spread between them.

Every newbie trader has eventually discovered this trap when they first start trading, only to realise that something seems off. After learning the basics, they learn that there is the Spread to consider, and that…

• A “buy” position opens at the Ask price and closes at the Bid price.
• A “sell” position opens at the Bid price and closes at the Ask price.

However, only the historical Bid or Last quote prices are usually displayed on the chart, which makes it quite difficult to accurately know when the Spread may widen during the day, or know the ideal price levels on which to place stops or carry out reversals.

The purpose of this indicator is to help improve the situation by allowing the historical tick‑data to be tracked and represented on the chart as candles in a sub‑window below the main chart. Primarily, it can track the Spread in points, but you can also track and display the Ask price too. If you prefer, it can also display the Mid price (which is halfway between the Ask and the Bid quote prices). And as a bonus, for those symbols where charts are based on Last prices, it can also track and display the Bid quote prices.

The first time you use the indicator on a new symbol, MetaTrader will take quite a long time to download the tick‑data, and the indicator won’t display anything, so be patient while it does this. It should update on the next incoming tick once data is available, but if not, remove and reapply the indicator. Unfortunately, MetaTrader does not have a proper synchronisation method for tick‑data. Also, if you increase the number of processed bars, or if the symbol has a high tick‑volume per bar, it may take a while for the indicator to initially process the information before plotting the results.

Please note that this indicator is totally dependent on the historical tick‑data, and not on the bar‑data. So, don’t increase the number of past bars to process too much, or the chart could become very slow and inoperable.