Storing as much historical data as possible in MT5 becomes very important for daily market analysis and backtesting.
If you don’t have all the historical data available on the market, you may miss important support and resistance levels, and you won’t be able to see different market cycles over time.
This can mess up your live trading and backtesting results.
So in this tutorial we will show you how to download all available historical data for any market in MetaTrader 5.
You will also learn how to upload custom data to MT5 so that you can backtest data from different brokers or use third-party data sets. Data from third-party providers may be more complete and, in some cases, cleaner.
How to download free MT5 historical data
If you’re just starting out, be sure to get all the default data from MT5 first. Once you learn how to do it in one market, you can get data for any market you trade with MT5.
The download process in MT5 is slightly different from how you download historical data in MT4. So, if you already know how to download data in MT4, be sure to note the differences.
Remove chart download limits
First, make sure there is no limit to the amount of data you can download in each market.
go to Tools > Options.
In the next window, chart Click on the tab at the top to select unlimited under Maximum bar in chart.
click got it Click the button to save your settings.
Now that there is no limit to the amount of data that each graph can contain, it’s time to download the data.
Download data for each market
Then go to View > Symbols. You can also use Ctrl+U on your keyboard.
Select the appropriate tab at the top of the screen. bar or tickit depends on what you use the data for.
If you just want to use the data for graphing, all you need is bar tab. If you need very detailed data for backtesting or want to trade using tick data. tick tab.
“Bar” tabselect the market, time frame and date range you want to download.
next, request button.
Once the data is downloaded, it will appear in the table. You will also see the number of downloaded bars under the Market dropdown.
If you are using tick In the tabs, select the market, the type of ticks you want to get, and the date range.
Tick data can be very large, so make sure you have enough disk space for the amount of data you request. If you’re wondering whether you need tick or bar data, start with bars.
click request Clicking the button will populate the table after the data has been downloaded.
You can see the number of downloaded ticks below the market dropdown menu at the top.
This is how to download historical data in MT5.
Now let’s see how to upload custom data to MetaTrader 5.
MT5 Historical Data Alternative
If you don’t want to use the default data from your broker, you can also upload custom data downloaded from other data sources.
This data may come from another broker or third-party data provider. Here is an example of a free data download.
First, download the custom data file you want to upload.
Next, we need to create a custom symbol to upload the data.
go to View > Symbols It’s in the menu at the top of the screen.
next, Creating custom symbols Button at the bottom of the window.
The next screen will allow you to copy an existing symbol and upload a custom data set to it. This is very convenient because you don’t have to set all the parameters from scratch.
Select the market you want to copy from in the drop-down box in the lower left corner of the window to populate the table.
Rename the symbol at the top of the window. It is useful to use the original market name, followed by a dash, followed by the broker or source of the uploaded data.
This helps you remember where your data came from.
From there, got it Click the button to add a custom symbol. You can also click . import Upload your data instantly with the push of a button.
Click to add the symbol, then got it When you click the button, bar and tick tab of symbol screen.
To upload your file, go to one of the following locations: bar or tick tab in View > Symbolsdepending on the type of data in your custom file.
I will demonstrate using bar Because tabs are what most people use.
After selecting the new symbol at the top, import bar button at the bottom.
In the next window, Browse Click the button and locate the downloaded historical data file.
Once you select a file, a preview of your data will appear in the window below.
You can change the column delimiter to skip the first X columns or rows (if the columns or rows are blank or contain label information). You can also shift the data by X hours on this screen if you want to view the data in a specific time zone.
Once everything looks good in the preview window, got it Clicking the button created a new symbol using the custom data you uploaded.
conclusion
With all the historical data available in the market, you can see all the historical data and get accurate backtesting when trading.
Therefore, before you start using MetaTrader 5 regularly, make sure you have the maximum amount of data available.
It only takes a few minutes.