Timezone

I note the Clone to Timezone function.. useful to ensure that I can test strategies on the same timeframe as my broker.

For strategies that I’ve already configured on the standard UTC timezone.. is it possible that I change the timezone in the EA? I’ve had a look at the EA settings and I can’t see if this is an option.

Or is there a simpler way to do this?

Hello,

if a strategy does not work with a time value there is no need to change anything basically.

If a strategy uses a specific time range to open trade you need to either modify the input parameter to offset the timezone shift or edit the MQL code manually

i reccomend you to retest everything for the correct UTC, imagine building block as CLOSE DAILY, so every UTC will be different – its not so easy to tell if the results will be totally different, but its a question of building blocks…some building blocks are time dependent

Yes I also recommend to always make sure your historical data is time synchronized with your broker data, do not forget to set DST properly as well.

In this context I have following question regarding trading time range.

Following situation:

a. I have built a strategy within StrategyQuant with trading time range 20:00 – 21:00. As I downloaded the symbol data with the built-in TickDownloader I assume that the data has UTC as “time zone”.

b. My Broker IC Markets has the time zone UTC +2. The charts within MT4 also shows the UTC +2 time correctly.

c. Within MT4 at the EA settings I did not change the time range. This works as it should. Trades are opened between 20:00 – 21:00 broker time (!! UTC +2).

So here is the question:

Should I set the time range +2 hours so the trades will start at 20:00 UTC which is 22:00 UTC +2 (broker time).

Is that my correct understanding?

thats correct, MQL code doesnt know what kind of data you are using – so if you set up 20-21 hours, the MQL code will take the same data, and in platform it will be executed at a broker time

problem is – that the backtests will be different, you are opening trades at a different price, because you are generating on UTC0 dukas data, but trading on ICM UTC2 data

hankeys wrote:

problem is – that the backtests will be different, you are opening trades at a different price, because you are generating on UTC0 dukas data, but trading on ICM UTC2 data

Thank you for quick reply! Ok, but you mean that backtest in MT4 will be different? But when I run the EA 1 month forward now and then backtest it with StrategyQuant and Dukas date trades should be similar, right?

You have the strategy built to trade 20 – 21 UTC … With IC markets 20-21 is actually 18-19 UTC so if you do the backtest the trades will be executed at different prices compare to original SQ fills… timezones should always match. If you trade with IC then you need to develop strategies using UTC +2/3 data in SQ