MT4 history files

[options-george]

If I understand correctly, data for all timeframes is stored as '.hst' files in one of the MT4 directories.

Does anyone know how to build .hst files for MT4?

I have historical data available from elsewhere that I would like to load into my MT4 - I figure creating/editing a .hst file would be the way to go.

Thanks in advance for any pointers,
O-G

 

[options-george]

There is a section for importing data in the 'History Center' section of MT4 (thanks to my Mt4-expert buddy who pointed it out to me).

Hopefully i can get the data in there in one piece.

 

[Mr Sept]

There is a section for importing data in the 'History Center' section of MT4 (thanks to my Mt4-expert buddy who pointed it out to me).

Hopefully i can get the data in there in one piece.

Good luck let us know how you got on.

 

[piphoe]

any reliable vendor for range bars? range bars that actually work? i've paid off two so far..nothing to show for it but MALWARE. a real PIA..

new to MT4 and want to play around with it.

why doesn't MT4 provide for range bars?

 

[options-george]

Good luck let us know how you got on.

Nothing to update thus far - I downloaded MT4 for one of my other brokerage accounts - and they happened to have the 1H data that I was looking for - quick win that was!

Although I am sure I am going to have to jump through that loop of adding history to MT4 at some point in the near future!

To Piphoe: I have not used range bars to date, so don't have any useful information on that - sorry!

 

[f2calv]

Can you attach an example mt4 .hst file to this thread and also an example file of the source data you want to convert into hst format and I'll take a look...

 

[options-george]

Can you attach an example mt4 .hst file to this thread and also an example file of the source data you want to convert into hst format and I'll take a look...

I uploaded a source file (sourced from FXCM) and an extract of the data file in MT4.

The MT4 file looks completely meaningless to me.

 

[f2calv]

OK so it's a binary file, a quick Google shows there are some docs on mt4 hst file structure online, 2 questions;

1) What is the build number of MT4 you're using? i.e.

MT4 Build 509
MT4 Build 574
etc

2) What is the last column heading of your CSV data;

2016.01.03,19:30,1.4733,1.47368,1.4733,1.47368,1

date,time,open,high,low,close,??

 

[options-george]

OK so it's a binary file, a quick Google shows there are some docs on mt4 hst file structure online, 2 questions;

1) What is the build number of MT4 you're using? i.e.

MT4 Build 509
MT4 Build 574
etc

2) What is the last column heading of your CSV data;

2016.01.03,19:30,1.4733,1.47368,1.4733,1.47368,1

date,time,open,high,low,close,??

1) Version 4.00 Build 950
2) the last column shows the total ticks in the period

Just to double-check - should it be reasonable to expect that the ability to take my source file and upload it into MT4 already exists within the front-end "History Center" section of MT4? I would hate to be asking you to reinvent the wheel!!

 

[f2calv]

1) Version 4.00 Build 950
2) the last column shows the total ticks in the period

Just to double-check - should it be reasonable to expect that the ability to take my source file and upload it into MT4 already exists within the front-end "History Center" section of MT4? I would hate to be asking you to reinvent the wheel!!

I don't have and never used MT4 so I have no idea tbh... when you're sure you can't get the data into MT4 any other way then get back to me and I'll take a look

 

[Hoggums]

This is what you need.....

https://tickstory.com/product/tickstory-lite/

It will read a variety of free data sources and build data files for you. You then have to start MT4 in a special way to get it to use the data - but all of that should be explained on the website.

You can use it to get 99% accurate back tests (well 99% accurate according to Strategy tester - I would refute that as there's a lot of information such as spread changes and overnight financing charges that are not included in the tests) on 1 min data over a period of years.

 

[options-george]

bump.

I was able to load the historical information into MT4 using Tools/History Center. I uploaded the price data in the form of 5M bars - I assumed this would be sufficient given that my execution timeframe is 1H.

I then ran the Period Converter script in Navigator.

Then I went to open offline chart - I can see the new chart that has been created with the period converter, and I can open the offline chart but i cannot go and see all the price data that I uploaded. Even though I uploaded data from Dec2012 onwards, the 1H chart only goes back as far as early 2014.

So, am still a bit stuck on this...