Installation & settings
From purchase to the first trade in a few minutes. The default settings are the ones used in the backtest.
Installation
Before you start, check the budget: market data, VPS and the account balance.
- Get it from the MQL5 Market. Buy or rent Opening Bell Nasdaq MT5 on the MQL5 product page. You need an MQL5 account; the purchase is handled by MQL5.
- Install it in MetaTrader 5. In MetaTrader 5, log in to your MQL5 account (Tools, Options, Community). Open the Market tab in the Toolbox, go to Purchased and click Install. The expert advisor appears in the Navigator under Expert Advisors, Market.
- Open the right chart. Open a chart of the instrument you want to trade: the current front MNQ or NQ contract, or your broker's Nasdaq-100 CFD. Any chart timeframe works; the expert advisor reads the timeframes it needs on its own.
- Attach it and choose the profile. Drag the expert advisor onto the chart. In the Common tab, allow algorithmic trading. In the Inputs tab, set Instrument to MNQ, NQ or NAS100 CFD and check the volume. Click OK.
- Enable Algo Trading. Turn on the Algo Trading button in the MetaTrader 5 toolbar.
- Check that it runs. The Experts tab of the journal shows a start message that begins with
Opening Bell Nasdaq MT5 1.00and the detected broker clock. The panel on the chart shows New York time and whether the trading window is open. Compare the New York time on the panel with a reliable clock.
Keep MetaTrader 5 running. The expert advisor only works while the terminal is open and connected. Use a computer that stays on, or a VPS, with the correct time and time zone.
Direct subscription edition: the licence
If you subscribed on this website, the steps are the same as above, with three differences:
- Install the file you downloaded after payment: in MetaTrader 5, File, Open Data Folder, then copy it into
MQL5\Expertsand refresh the Navigator. - Allow the licence check: Tools, Options, Expert Advisors, tick "Allow WebRequest for listed URL" and add
https://api.openingbellalgo.com. Without it the program cannot check the licence and will not open trades. - Enter your licence key in the Licence key input when you attach the program to the chart. The account must be the one you chose after payment.
The journal confirms the licence at start and once an hour. If the server cannot be reached, the program keeps working for 72 hours. In the Strategy Tester no licence is needed. See the subscription terms.
Instrument profiles
| Profile | Symbol | Volume | Strategy 1 stop / target on the default volume | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MNQ (default) | Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures, current front contract (for example MNQZ26) | Lots per trade = 0, which uses the minimum: 1 contract ($2 per index point) | 75 points = $150 / 150 points = $300 | Backtested, forward test running |
| NQ | E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures, current front contract | 1 contract ($20 per index point) | 75 points = $1,500 / 150 points = $3,000 | Same rules as MNQ |
| NAS100 CFD | Your broker's Nasdaq-100 CFD (NAS100, US100, USTEC...) | Depends on the broker's contract size. Check the money value of one index point per lot in the symbol specification. | 75 / 150 index points; money value depends on your lots | In testing |
For a NAS100 CFD, the exposure of 1 MNQ contract is $2 per index point. At a broker where 1 lot is $1 per point, that is 2 lots. Use Or size by risk instead if you prefer to set the money lost at the Strategy 1 stop.
Inputs
Only settings that do not change the strategy itself are exposed. The trading windows, the daily profit target, the pause after three winning trades and the Strategy 2 stop and target are fixed.
| Group | Input | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategies | Strategy 1: multi-timeframe trend | On | Switches Strategy 1 on or off. |
| Strategy 2: New York opening range breakout | On | Switches Strategy 2 on or off. | |
| Allow buy trades | On | Allows long trades. | |
| Allow sell trades | On | Allows short trades. | |
| Strategy 1: stop and target | Stop loss, index points | 75 | Distance of the Strategy 1 stop loss from the entry. |
| Take profit, index points | 150 | Distance of the Strategy 1 take profit. If you set it below the trade management target, that target is lowered to match. | |
| Instrument and volume | Instrument | MNQ | MNQ, NQ or NAS100 CFD. Sets the point distances, the clock rules and the sessions. |
| Lots per trade (0 = the symbol's minimum) | 0 | 0 uses the symbol's minimum lot. The volume never increases after a loss. | |
| Or size by risk: money lost at the stop (0 = use Lots) | 0 | If above 0, each trade is sized so that its stop would lose about this amount, rounded down to the volume step. Strategy 2 stops vary in distance, so its volume varies. If even the minimum volume would lose more, the trade is skipped with a message. 0 uses Lots per trade. | |
| Magic number, Strategy 1 | 10092026 | Identifies Strategy 1 trades. Change it only if another program uses the same number. | |
| Magic number, Strategy 2 | 30092026 | Identifies Strategy 2 trades. | |
| Prop firm limits | Close and stop for the day at this loss, money (0 = off) | 0 (off) | When equity falls this far below the balance at the start of the CME day, the program closes its own positions and opens nothing new until the next CME day. |
| Close and stop while equity is below this, money (0 = off) | 0 (off) | If equity falls to this level or below, the program closes its own positions and opens nothing new while equity stays there. | |
| Broker clock | How to read the broker's server time | Auto | Auto detects the broker's time offset. Manual options: UTC, GMT+2/+3 (New York close), Fixed. |
| Broker GMT offset in hours (only for Fixed) | 0 | Used only with the Fixed mode. | |
| Display | Show the status panel on the chart | On | Shows or hides the status panel on the chart. |
Prop firm limits are a convenience, not a guarantee. A gap or slippage can take a loss past the limit, and your prop firm measures its own rules on its own server. Set them below your firm's limits and keep watching the account.
The broker clock
Leave How to read the broker's server time on Auto unless the journal tells you otherwise. On a live chart, Auto reads the difference between your broker's server time and GMT from the terminal and rechecks it every 5 minutes, so it follows your broker's daylight saving change by itself. Once a day it compares it with the price history and warns if your computer's clock or time zone look wrong.
In the Strategy Tester the terminal does not provide real GMT, so Auto measures the offset from the Friday closes in the price history (up to one year back) and picks the broker's clock rule: fixed (for example UTC), US daylight saving (GMT+2/+3, "New York close") or European daylight saving. With a very short history it may start one hour off and correct itself after the first weekend.
Testing it yourself
- Download the free demo from the MQL5 product page. It runs only in the Strategy Tester.
- Choose the front contract (or your CFD) and a period when that contract was the front month.
- Model: "Every tick based on real ticks".
- Set your broker's commission in the tester settings, or deduct it from each trade afterwards. Without costs the result looks better than it is.
- Leave the inputs on their defaults for a first test.
Your result will not match ours exactly: different data, different costs and a different contract period all change it. See why results differ.