MetaTrader - How To Delete or Hide DEFAULT Indicators

Trading Tech and Tools
1

Hi All,

In MetaTrader there are several DEFAULT indicators, that were added along with installation of platform, that I would like to delete, particularly but not only Oscillators which I comment them as extremely unreliable. In one moment they show one trend direction - possibility to enter position. In another moment, they show something completely different. Some of indicators are simply too ‘‘dynamic’’ meaning what is shown won’t last for larger time period. I know in advance that particular DEFAULT indicators won’t be used by me. In menu Insert, submenu Indicators are few indicators very hard to ‘‘look at’’ because I know I won’t use them. There are many indicators, including many custom ones (manually added by me - subject to be bought or hired by developer), that I want to remain with and would like to get rid of the ones I won’t use.

If deleting is not possible, I wonder how could I at least ‘‘hide’’ them from Indicators submenu of Insert menu.

Want to avoid the charge of work having to pay the developer doing ‘‘Default Indicator Removal Tool’’ for me… Obviously I would like to delete only few of default indicators, not all.

Kindly note that I already know how to delete custom indicators. I am asking strictly only for DEFAULT indicators. Its too hard to watch them in ‘‘Indicators’’ submenu.

Answer would be appreciated.

2

Are you aware that you can go to the installation folder, then MQL4 then INDICATORS or EXPERTS (whichever is appropriate) and delete the indicators manually

if you do this, they will disappear from the list

FYI, you can to restart MT-4 for the change to take effect correctly

if however you want to be like me and create a bunch of folders THAT YOU NAME and group indicators like that
you can also do that and throw the indicators in there

JUST BE AWARE THOUGH
When Changing the folder names and moving the location of indicators, YOU NEED TO SET THEM UP ALL OVER AGAIN (because Templates won’t work if you change the location of the indies

so… figure out how you want to do it
CHANGE IT LIKE THAT
set up your charts and templates and then LEAVE IT ALONE

i would suggest making profile and template backups as well

does this help

3

Martin_K thank you for your reply. Regarding the FIRST paragraph of your message: Thats not completely true. This way it Works only for custom indicators. I clearly defined in my message that I am looking for solution for DEFAULT indicators such as Bulls Power, Bears Power etc, that get added to the platform along its installation instead of added manually. In the location that you mentoined, you cannot see anywhere any signs of default indicators at all.

4

In MT4 select:

File
Open data folder
MQL4
Indicators

Each file is selectable, right click…

Most those bears etc are whatever they are, Oscillators can be useful in stf.

Just picked this at random, Eur/Usd this evening, 15min - trend is to buy, so if I see any form of DB, especially a ‘stop run’ where price dips below recent low, then I figure a ‘spoof’ down - i.e. price taken down specifically to buy - right here oscillator divergence (rsi in this case) can come into play.

5

Here is an example of a really complicated oscillator, based on the US10yr and DE10yr and reflected on the Eur/Usd for the same time period.

Often simple can do the same job.

6

There are other reasons why I want to get rid of some indicators - particularly but not only oscillators. Main reasons is that ending (tail) of those curves is too much dynamic. One moment it goes into one direction, few minutes later it goes into another direction which makes me worried whether did I make correct decision when opening the trade. For few indicators I want to get rid of, I am NOT saying they would be showing wrong information. I never said this. Only saying that the information isn’t reliable for larger time period, neither useful. It is changing too much.

Back to the main reason for my message: PETERMA, I appreciate your message but just like I explained to Martin_K, this way (referring to the path you said Peterma) you can only see custom indicators. There are no default indicators here.

7

OK…
I’ve been in I.T. for nearly 2 Decades
How is it not true ?

You find the installation folder
you find the indicator or the folder you want within the installation folder
(and Assuming you have the appropriate priviledges)
you hit DELETE
and the folder or file is Deleted

How is that not Completely true?
the only thing that would stop you from deleting a file in your own computer is if you were logged on
as a user without sufficient priviledges to READ/WRITE (Delete)
but that would be weird… right ? considering it’s your computer

RE THIS…

YES YOU DID
but i also clearly asked [quote=“Martin_K, post:2, topic:132400”]
Are you aware that you can go to the installation folder, then MQL4 then INDICATORS or EXPERTS (whichever is appropriate) and delete the indicators manually

if you do this, they will disappear from the list
[/quote]

I Didn’t say you can add then manually (even though you can)
i said you can DELETE THEM MANUALLY

Meaning…
you can delete those DEFAULT indicators that you don’t want, Manually

Now… you said they are not there
THIS MEANS
there are 2 installation locations

so… YOU WANT TO CHECK THIS

  1. The indicators (Generally speaking) are going to be in 2 folders
    they are
    EXPERTS
    INDICATORS
    these 2 folders are located in MQL4 folder

  2. Generally speaking the default installation location is in your PROGRAM FILES folder
    or you can check your PROGRAM FILES (x86)

if in the MQL4 folder inside the EXPERTS and INDICATORS folder you can’t see the default indies and experts
you need to go to your APPDATA folder

to do this
go to CONTROL PANEL in your computer (Assuming it’s windows)
go to FOLDER OPTIONS
Select VIEW
Make sure that VIEW HIDDEN FILES OR FOLDERS is selected

this will unhide hidden folders
(AppData folder is a hidden folder)

  1. now go to this location

C:\Users\User
now the next directory level should have a folder called "AppData"
open that folder
so now you’ll be here
C:\Users\User\AppData

  1. you want to find the METAQUOTES Folder

check in LOCAL and ROAMING
i’m thinking it will be in ROAMING
possibly here
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\MetaQuotes

now have a poke around for the MQL4 folder and the EXPERTS and INDICATORS folder

and you will find that the default experts and indies will be there
when you find them DELETE THEM

simple as that

8

I made sure to unhide hidden folders (and files) and also to have full access to all folders as Administrator on Windows.

Yes there are two Metatrader folders. One in Program Files and one in AppData as you mentioned - basically the same identical folder as it is accessable via Metatrader’s EDITOR.

I was checking for default indicators in two different situations:

  1. while having terminal runned
  2. while not having terminal runned

Checked each and every folder of both two mentioned main Metatrader folders in both situations.

Default indicators are nowhere to be found, the only exception is Moving Average which I would never want to delete (very good indicator for me strategies) and it is located in ‘‘Experts’’ sub So I wfolder. Actually there is also unknown ‘‘MACD Sample’’ file (actually two files: mql4 and ex4) but this indicator which is exactly named as ‘‘MACD Sample’’ is Fortunately NOT available/visible in the platform. ‘‘Only’’ MACD is. I know it is also default indicator and I wouldn’t want to delete it because it is good one for me also. Now you are probably asking yourself: I just confirmed two DEFAULT indicators being in '‘Experts’ folder. Why am I saying the default indicator cannot be deleted from any folder then so I could get rid of them inside the platform? My answer is: Because said default indicator ( ***** ) is the only one from default indicators visible here. I don’t see any other default indicators anywhere…?

*****In case if you are asking yourself why do I suddenly speak in singular instead of plural (previously i was mentioning two files). My answer is: Because the file ‘‘MACD Sample’’ is completely unknown. There is no indicator (at least available not) with exact identical name ‘‘MACD Sample’’. This may be some presentation file of the real indicator MACD and I wouldn’t want to delete it. No other default indicators are available. Neither in ‘‘Experts’’ nor in ‘‘Indicators’’ folders.

9

Mate…

when you are in the AppData folder

do you know what a Hexadecimal code is ?

HEXADECIMAL 101

you know how we use numbers in the DECIMAL numbering system
as follows

it’s called DECIMAL because DECI means 10
it’s a BASE 10 Numbering system because IN IT’S BASE it has 10 Numbers
aka
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
with the 0 there are 10

now. Hexadecimal is a BASE 16
it’s base has 16 Numbers that make up every other number
they are

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
(yes the letters are looked at as numbers) in a way

point being

FIND A FOLDER in the MetaQuotes folder that has a LONG HEXADECIMAL NAME

Meaning, IT ONLY HAVE THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS IN THE NAME AND NO OTHER
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G

when you open this folder, you will see the MQL4 folder and then experts below that

see… if when you open MT-4 there are many indicators in there
THEY MUST BE SOMEWHERE IN THE INSTALLATION FOLDER
that’s how MT-4 Works

IT MUST BE THERE

Send me a screenshot of 2 things

  1. open MT-4 and show me the indicators that you want to delete from inside of MT-4 or Experts. either way.

  2. go to FILE inside of MT-4 and select OPEN DATA FOLDER
    and show me the data folder location

  3. then provide me a screenshot of the MQL4 folder
    then inside that MQL4 folder
    open the EXPERTS folder and screenshot that
    and open the INDICATORS folder and SCREENSHOT that

do that for me if you could
thanks

it has to be there mate, no question about it
it’s just a question of finding it

10

hey mate i’ve been thinking about this

there may be an easier way to do this

do this
go to CONTROL PANEL
Select INDEXING OPTIONS
ensure that your ENTIRE C DRIVE is selected
and if you have external drives… select them as well
hit apply and ok

now give it a day to index everything

now. find the indicator or expert you want to remove from MT-4

go to your search bar in Windows and type the name of it
WINDOWS WILL FIND IT FOR YOU IN THE INDEXING and present it to you

you may need to go into ADVANCED SEARCH OPTIONS to see it
but , i think once you find one of them you’ll then know where the installation folder is that stores them all

give it a try

11

Of course I know what Hexadecimal means. There were two such folders. Checked both of them multiple times are no (except MA which i would never want to delete) default indicators are there.

As you requested, I am sending one image file containing four screenshots. You told me I should show the ones that I want to delete. Those are the ones where I added red ‘‘X’’ near them. You said to show only the ones I want to delete but hopefully its no problem is I simply add red ‘‘X’’ for the ones to get rid of and remain showing needed ones. Also you will surely noticed that I am not showing ‘‘Custom’’ (language other than English: ‘‘Po meri’’) menu. The reason is because I don’t want to delete anything there.

babypips.jpg1329×997 275 KB

The reason why I would like to get rid of those red ‘‘X’’ indicators (see image) is pretty much off-topic to this forum post but I will briefly say it anyway: It is because for most of them (exception are Bulls Power, Bears Power) I don’t think they are useful enough for larger time period of staying in active trading position. This is because the most recent situation on those red ‘‘X’’ indicators is changing too much. Once it goes for example upward from the bottom area of indicator showing possibility to open Long position but few minutes later it already gets flat. This would make me worried whether did I make correct decision to open position. Whatever is being shown on those red ‘‘X’’ indicators is too dynamic - things are changing too quickly causing a lot of risk if decision to open position is done based on them. So why don’t I like Bulls Power and Bears Power then? The only reason is because I already have some similar looking and more quality (e.g. Awesome Oscillator consisting of vertical bars and not curve) indicators.

Back on-topic: You are asking me for screenshot of folder of ‘‘Open Data Folder’’. I covered personal ‘‘Users’’ info - hopefully its no problem. Here it is:

<<<Due to the bug on the forum , i am unable to post second, third, fourth, etc image (saying that i am new forum member) so I had to upload the image on the website (note: there is another bug on this forum preventing me to post URL links): imgur DOT com SYMBOLSLASH a SYMBOLSLASH SzJFe

You are also asking for MQL4 folder. Here it is:

<<<Here: imgur DOT com SYMBOLSLASH a SYMBOLSLASH p0RrD

You are also asking for Experts folder. Here it is:

<<<Here: imgur DOT com SYMBOLSLASH a SYMBOLSLASH h1n0i

You are also asking for Indicators folder. Here it is:

<<<Here: imgur DOT com SYMBOLSLASH a SYMBOLSLASH kbxGf

In the control panel (windows 10) I don’t see any ‘‘Indexing Options’’ regardless of type of category. Nothing in Windows’ Search bar either.

12

hehe
sorry mate, no offense intended.
Not everyone knows what HEX is, at the end of the day.

ok, mate
i see what’s happening

You are accessing INDICATORS from the INSERT tab

first of all, have a read of this thread

13

hi mate, i’m now answering in a separate comment to the same question so the other one doesn’t look like a wall of text… ok

  1. i understand what you are saying now.
    and i can’t tell what language this is, but STRANGELY hehe… i can understand some words
    like VSTAVI which in seriban would be UBACI, but is similar to STAVI which means to PUT or insert
    so… yeah… hehe… i’ll work with it

Now let me show you the same thing on my computer

if i got to INSERT and then INDICATORS (indikatoriji)
we have this

But i don’t use this often
i commonly use NAVIGATOR to add or remove indicators

now NOTICE HOW MY INDICATORS (in navigator) also differ from this first photo from the INSERT tab

i mean THE FOLLOWING FOLDERS are there

TREND
OSCILLATORS
VOLUMES
BILL WILLIAMS
CUSTOM

now… NOTICE that
MARKET was skipped
BOLLINGER BANDS Was skipped

and notice that CUSTOM is actually called CUSTOM INDICATORS

While i research this further

DO THIS FOR ME NOW

go to your NAVIGATOR and tell me if the one’s you don’t want are still there

because What appears in Navigator is what is in the folder Locations.
however,

IT WOULD APPEAR that was is appearing in the INSERT / INDICATORS list is most likely being controlled by a config file somewhere and does not necessarily reflect what is still there

i mean look at my NAVIGATOR windows
Everything under CUSTOM INDICATORS is missing in the other list

all these OTHER folders, are folders that i added personally and renamed
and yet… they were not added to the INSERT / INDICATORS LIST

now. i have completely missed this, because i almost never access indicators the way you do

i always use Navigator

while i find this little file that is being a pain in the rear end (just for my own vendetta and personal satisfaction HEHE)

could you give me a screenshot of what your NAVIGATOR window looks like ?

also

it’s cool
i don’t need to know the reason
i only need to know that you want them deleted.

but for what it’s worth

i totally agree that’s why i went through at one stage and did a major clean up of mine as well and organized it all

hehe
all good mate
we’ll work around it

Look, since you know what HEX is, i’m going to assume that
IF you’ve checked the PROGRAM FILES location
and
IF you’ve checked the APPDATA Location
it means you have enough tech knowledge to find the data folder

so it’s cool

i think the root of your problem is , you are struggling with the top menu INSTEAD OF USING NAVIGATOR

Now. a drastic solution might be

Re-Install MT-4 Just in case there are bugs or whatever and DEFINE your installation location,
and then upon installation
get rid fo all the stuff you don’t want MANUALLY by going to the install location and deleting the files and folders you don’t want.

but tha’ts a bit extreme, but a possiblity

other than that
you can learn to live with not using the top menu and ignore it (which is what i do)
and use Navigator
i find ti much better and most people use it from navigator

now, i will still try to find that file
but , i’m betting it’s just a config file that controls this list

it might take me a day or two to work this out for you

BUT EVEN IF I DO GET IT

and we update the list
it’s obviously not dynamically updating

so , this will clearly be an ongoing headached

MY OPINION
Use Navigator to do all this.

what are you thoughts ?

TRY THIS…

14

hi mate
I’ve done some poking around

  • ive had a look through the code of the MT-4, there doesn’t really seem to be anything useful here that you can edit with Notepad++ to achieve the result you want to achieve

  • I’ve asked the broker - They are saying it cant’ be done

  • I’ve looked on a few forums - Experts/people who claim to be in the know, are saying it cant’ be done

  • I’ve spoken to a few programmers - same thing

  • i was inclined to ask Jim Dandy, but i imagine it’ll take a few weeks until he responds

Mate, i think it comes down to the … this is the way MT-4 is coded.
Most people are working with indicators and experts from the NAVIGATOR PANEL

do you want to perhaps consider doing that as well
or
do you really need a solution to this way of doing it ?

15

Reinstalling MT4 won’t solve the problem guaranteed. As I said, I already went to installation folder. No default indicators are there.

I tried to check Navigator. Some (i don’t know if all - haven’t checked one by one) of UNwanted indicators, so the ones i wan to delete, are really in Navigator so you are correct about this. However, when I right click them, there is no ‘‘Delete’’ option. Tried to click on ‘‘delete’’ key on keyboard and it obviously didn’t work.

I prefer to work from ‘‘Insert’’ menu but even if working via Navigator panel, this has no relation to the fact that I want to delete some indicators.

Yes I prefer to get rid of unwanted default indicators. From the start of creating this forum post, I had been assuming that what I want to do is not possible but just in case if not being aware of it, I decided to ask anyway. More heads = more knowledge

I will consider whether or not to hire developer to make the tool for deleting few chosen default indicators. Another option it is to simply ignore them and purposely overlook them. Third option is to make own templates from wanted (needed) indicators ONLY and NEVER use ‘‘Indicators’’ submenu in ‘‘Insert’’ main menu (or Navigator\Indicators submenu) anymore - never even look at them. Fourth option is to invest few thousands EUR or few tens of thousands EUR to make the ‘‘monster’’ alert tool which will automatically send (sms, email) / pop up (screen window) / play (sound) the notification alert related to wanted (needed) indicators only. This would automatically exclude the unwanted indicators i don’t want to even look at being visible in the menu… Etc. There may be fifth option. I will think about it what I can do.

Thanks anyway for your time for me. Your effort is appreciated.

16

that’s right
you can’t right click on them and delete them like you do in windows, because
RIGHT CLICK brings up a secondary Menu in windows

but… the SECONDARY Menu in MT-4 is not coded to have the same options as Windows, that’s why.
it’s not a glitch, it’s just what the developers decided when coding MT-4

the way you get rid of the indies and experts is by deleting them from the installation location

it does relate
it’s a troubleshooting step to figure out what’s going on in your system

at the end of the day . IF IT EXISTS ON YOUR COMPUTER, we can find it , there has to be a trace of it, it can’t NOT EXIST

so Logically we start within MT-4
we then branch off logically to look for the installation locations or location of the experts and indicators

HOW DID YOU GO WITH ENABLING INDEXING OPTIONS ?
are you able to do a system wide search for the indicators ?

thats true
and sometimes when people say IT’S IMPOSSIBLE… hehe… it’s not always true

mate, i have had many many situations where i’ve been told something is impossible and i did it.
i still have ideas to try

as far as im concered SO FAR…

we need to find the location of the indicators and delete them… simple as that

FINDING THEM seems to be the difficulty

Logically if they are in MT-4, they have to be somwhere
so let’s find them

well. if you are going to go to that Extreme
MT-4 Uses a Language called MQL-4

if i were you , i would speak to Jim Dandy
go to you tube and look up Jim Dandy
if you like ask jim if he knows the answer to this off the top of his head

Jims strong point is programming
specifically MQL-4

where a regular developer will know Code and C and C++ but not be familiar with MT-4 or MQL-4, JIM is familiar with it .

so… have you tried Indexing options and doing a search for them
if that fails

ASSUMING YOU KNOW HOW TO…
Search the System Registry

i find it very difficult to understand how if you install MT-4 that everyone else has. on a windows computer that everyone else uses, how your installation (By Default) can differ from our installation

perhaps your broker has configured it a different way
it might be useful to know who your broker is
(But then, maybe not a very big help)

Hard drives can… at times have, what is referred to as A DELAYED WRITE ERROR (now… i’m really going out far with this assumption… ok)
but, when this happens, Files seem to magically disappear

it happens because of an error on the controller board of the Hard drive (Simply put… Faulty Hard Drive), and Usually you will notice your computer running slower.

also, Your windows installation could be faulty
try running sfc (System file Checker)

go to command prompt
type this in

sfc/scannow

press enter
it will take a while
it will check the file structure and integrity of your file system
if there are problems it will usually fix it

but honestly, i think the problem lies in finding those installation locations of where the experts are located.

MT-4 cannot display indicators if they don’t exist.

also, are you sure the indies and experts are not active on the charts
have you tried right clicking on all charts and selecting INDICATORS LIST and clearing what needs to be cleared.

see how you go with that
it has to be somewhere mate
it cant’ be this complicated

Not to find a few experts and indicators
has to be an answer

17

I have never heard for ‘‘Jim Dandy’’ - but i will take a look for this.

Default indicators are not anywhere on hard drive. Only integrated inside the platform.

18

@YourFriend0
Mate, Jim Dandy is a god when it comes to MQL-4 Language
you can learn, free of charge on you tube on his site how to program MQL-4, if that’s your thing.

it’s well worth a listen.

if the default indicators are not present in your Hard Drive, then that means there is nothing to delete,
the indicators essentially are the EX4 files
if the EX4’s are not there
the indicators are not there

however, Cache traces of them may still exist and point to the location where they were.
it’s sort of like having a shortcut on desktop to a Z Drive, but the Z Drive was removed from the server

you can click on the shortcut, but it doesn’t point to anything, so it won’t open
the difference is you can delete the shortcut

but this looks like it’s coded into the platform, perhaps in an Encrypted config file or a config file that is using a Non ASCII based language

but yeah… speak to Jim
see what he has to say

19

Default indicators were never on my hard drive, therefore they cannot be in Cache either. I just wanted to make sure if my understanding was correct that default indicators cannot be deleted (in my case). Was obviously hoping that I am wrong but as you confirmed unfortunately I was correct. But thanks a lot anyway for your replies.

Off-topic (doesn’t have anything to do with deleting default indicators at all): Do you know this guy Jim? I wonder if he (or you??) has any high quality indicators so I can exchange them - i get one and give one. Until like a month ago I was thinking that more indicators mean more success and more profit in trading, e.g. confirming same fact on as many as possible indicators thinking like ‘‘If Many Indicators Will Show Same Thing, More Chance Will Be That Opened Trade Will Make Me High Profit’’. Recently I figured out this isn’t true at all so I was on purpose deleting several Custom indicators that I was sure they won’t be helpful.

20

yes they can,but this is a technicality. don’t lose too much sleep over it.

yes, it appears to be the case, unfortunately

You’re Welcome

Not personally… NO
he’s not like a mate or anything like that
but, i’ve spoken to him in the past… Seems like a good guy
doesn’t seem to be a scammer , and … WHY WOULD HE BE.
his focus is programming.

i don’t think he sells signals or EA’s
i believe he teaches you how to code them