MT5 Turtle Trading Channel Indicator
MT5 Turtle Trading Channel Indicator draws the 20-bar entry and 10-bar exit channels of the Turtle breakout rules on the MetaTrader 5 chart and marks long and short entries and exits. Entry and exit lengths are adjustable for System 1 (20/10) and System 2 (55/20), and all plots are available as indicator buffers for Expert Advisors.
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Turtle Trading Channel Explained
The Turtle Trading Channel is based on the breakout channels of the trading rules taught to the Turtle traders in 1983: an entry condition is identified when price breaks the highest high or lowest low of the last 20 bars, and an exit condition when price breaks the opposite extreme of the last 10 bars.
The MT5 Turtle Trading Channel Indicator visualizes these channels on the MetaTrader 5 chart and detects their breakout and exit events. It is a charting and event-detection tool, not a complete automated Turtle trading strategy. The 20-bar entry channel marks the levels a breakout has to clear. The dotted 10-bar exit channel marks the levels where exit conditions are identified. A thick trend line follows the side of the entry channel opposite to the latest breakout, and dots mark the exit level for the current direction.
Entries and exits are marked on the bars where the rules trigger. The indicator compares each bar’s high and low with the previous channel levels, not its close, in line with the original rules, which used the channel level itself rather than the closing price. A marker appears as soon as price trades through the level.
Only one entry is marked per move. After a long entry, further upside breakouts are not marked again until a long-exit marker has appeared, and the same applies to shorts. Entry and exit lengths are adjustable, so the same indicator covers the original 20/10 System 1, the 55/20 System 2, or any other pair of lengths.
Turtle Trading Channel Indicator — Key Features
Entry & Exit Channels
The indicator draws two Donchian-style channels: a longer one for entries and a shorter one for exits.
The entry channel runs along the highest high and the lowest low of the last 20 bars by default, the current bar included. A move through either line is an entry breakout.
The exit channel uses the highest high and lowest low of the last 10 bars and is drawn as dotted lines. A long-exit marker appears when price breaks the lower exit line, a short-exit marker when it breaks the upper one.
Both lengths are set independently in the indicator inputs.
Entry and Exit Channels
Trend Line & Exit Level
Two extra plots show which side of the channel currently matters.
The trend line is drawn on the side of the entry channel opposite to the most recent breakout. After an upside breakout it follows the lowest low of the entry channel; after a downside breakout it follows the highest high.
The exit level is shown as dots on the exit channel for the current direction: on the 10-bar low after an upside breakout, on the 10-bar high after a downside one.
Trend Line and Exit Level
Entry & Exit Markers
Long and short entries and exits are marked on the bars where the rules trigger.
- Long entry — an up arrow, drawn on the lower entry line.
- Short entry — a down arrow, drawn on the upper entry line.
- Long exit and short exit — crosses drawn above or below the bar, offset by twice the average bar range of the last 10 bars so they stay readable.
The markers show the bar on which a rule triggered. The level that was broken is the relevant price, not the position of the marker. Because the channel includes the current bar, on the entry bar the line has already moved to that bar’s high or low; the level that was broken is the line’s value on the previous bar.
One entry is marked per move: a new long entry appears only after a long-exit marker for the previous one, and the same applies to shorts. An exit is marked on a later bar than its entry. When a single bar breaks both sides of the entry channel, the indicator marks the direction opposite to its last entry. If there has been no earlier entry in the calculated history, no entry is marked on that bar.
Exit markers can be hidden in the settings. The exit logic keeps running, so entries are marked the same way with or without them.
Long Entry and Long Exit
Short Entry and Short Exit
Breakouts by High and Low
Breakouts are detected from each bar’s high and low, not from its close.
A long entry is marked when the bar’s high reaches or exceeds the highest high of the previous 20 bars; a short entry when the low reaches or falls below the previous lowest low. Exits follow the same logic with the exit channel.
On the forming bar a marker therefore appears as soon as price trades through the level, and it stays on the bar even if the bar closes back inside the channel. The channel lines on the forming bar move with its high and low. In the rare case where the forming bar breaks both sides of the entry channel, the marker can switch to the opposite direction before the bar closes. Closed bars are not recalculated.
System 1 and System 2 Lengths
Entry and exit lengths are inputs, so both original Turtle systems can be shown.
The defaults of 20 and 10 correspond to System 1. Setting the lengths to 55 and 20 gives System 2. To see both at once, the indicator can be added to the same chart twice with different lengths and colours.
Signals Readable by Expert Advisors
Channels, entries and exits are stored in indicator buffers that an Expert Advisor can read.
Each plot is a separate buffer, so an Expert Advisor can read the indicator through iCustom() and CopyBuffer(): entry and exit channels in buffers 0–3, the trend line and exit level in buffers 4–5, and long entry, long exit, short entry and short exit in buffers 6–9. Bars without a marker hold a value of 0.
Calculation Depth
The number of historical bars processed is adjustable.
The indicator calculates the last 500 bars by default. A larger value shows more past entries and exits and takes longer to load. Because entries depend on the previous entry and exit, the earliest markers on the chart depend on where the calculation starts.
How to Read and Use the Turtle Trading Channel
Reading the Channel
The solid lines mark the entry levels: the highest high and lowest low of the entry period. The dotted lines mark the exit levels for the shorter exit period.
The thick trend line shows the reverse side of the entry channel for the current direction. After an upside breakout it sits on the entry channel’s low, the level a downside breakout would have to clear. The dots show the exit level for the current direction.
Reading Entry and Exit Markers
An up arrow marks a long entry and a down arrow a short entry. The arrows are drawn on the channel line opposite to the breakout, so they stay clear of the candles; the entry level is the channel line that was broken. Because the channel includes the current bar, on the entry bar the line has already moved to that bar’s high or low; the level that was broken is the line’s value on the previous bar.
A cross above the bars marks a long-exit condition, a cross below the bars a short-exit condition. Between an entry and its exit, the indicator does not mark further entries in the same direction.
Breakouts That Close Back Inside
Because breakouts are detected from highs and lows, a bar can show an entry marker and still close inside the channel. This matches the original approach, where reaching the channel level during the bar was enough for the breakout condition. The marker shows that the level was reached during the bar, not the price at which an order would have been filled: gaps, slippage and broker execution all affect real fills.
Breakouts that fail are part of how the system works. A failed breakout is typically followed by an exit marker when the shorter exit channel breaks.
Choosing Lengths and Timeframes
The original rules were applied to daily bars, where 20 bars cover about a month of trading. The indicator counts bars, so it works on any timeframe, but the same lengths cover much less time on lower timeframes: on an H1 chart 20 bars are less than a day.
On lower timeframes, longer lengths, such as the 55/20 System 2 values, reduce the number of breakouts.
What the Indicator Leaves to You
The indicator draws the channels and marks entries and exits. It does not calculate position size, place stop-loss orders or trade.
The original Turtle rules also used a volatility measure, N (the 20-day average true range), for position sizing and a stop two N from entry, added to positions in steps of half an N, and skipped a System 1 breakout after a winning trade. These parts of the method are applied separately, for example with the ATR indicator in MetaTrader 5.
Indicator Settings & Parameters
Inputs as they appear in the indicator’s Inputs tab, followed by the plots listed in the Colors tab.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| License | |
| The email used for your trial, subscription or purchase. The license is verified with this email. | |
| Channel | |
| entry_length | Number of bars in the entry channel. Default: 20 (System 1). Use 55 for System 2. |
| exit_length | Number of bars in the exit channel. Default: 10 (System 1). Use 20 for System 2. |
| Display | |
| enable_exit_signals | Shows or hides the long and short exit markers. Default: true. The exit logic runs either way. |
| Calculation | |
| max_bars | Number of historical bars calculated. Default: 500. |
| Plots (Colors tab) | |
| Upper Entry / Lower Entry | Highest high and lowest low of the entry period. Solid lines. |
| Upper Exit / Lower Exit | Highest high and lowest low of the exit period. Dotted lines. |
| Signal | Trend line on the side of the entry channel opposite to the latest breakout. |
| Exit Signal | Dots on the exit level for the current direction. |
| Long Entry / Short Entry | Up and down arrows on entry bars. |
| Long Exit / Short Exit | Crosses on exit bars. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Turtle Trading Basics
A breakout channel based on the System 1 rules taught to the Turtle traders in 1983: a 20-bar channel for entries and a 10-bar channel for exits. The MT5 Turtle Trading Channel Indicator draws both channels and marks the entry and exit conditions of those rules.
The lines are built the same way: a Donchian channel tracks the highest high and lowest low over a set number of bars. The Turtle Trading Channel uses two of them, a longer one for entries and a shorter one for exits, and marks entries and exits by those rules.
Yes. Set the entry length to 55 and the exit length to 20. To show System 1 and System 2 together, add the indicator to the chart twice with different lengths.
Closed bars are not recalculated. On the forming bar, an entry or exit marker appears as soon as price trades through the channel level and stays on that bar even if it closes back inside the channel. The channel lines on the forming bar move with its high and low. In the rare case where the forming bar breaks both sides of the entry channel, the marker can switch to the opposite direction before the bar closes.
Signals & Configuration
Breakouts are detected from each bar’s high and low, not its close. If price traded through the channel level during the bar, the entry is marked, because the level was reached during the bar.
Entry arrows are drawn on the channel line opposite to the breakout, and exit crosses are offset from the bar by twice the average bar range. The markers show the bar on which a rule triggered; the relevant price is the channel level that was broken. Because the channel includes the current bar, on the entry bar the line has already moved to that bar’s high or low, so the broken level is the line’s value on the previous bar.
Yes. Each plot is an indicator buffer: long entry, long exit, short entry and short exit are buffers 6–9, and bars without a marker hold a value of 0.
No. It draws the channels and marks entries and exits. Position size, stop-loss placement and order execution are up to you.
System Requirements & Installation
What you need to run the indicator, how to download and install it in MetaTrader 5, and how the license works.
System Requirements
- Platform
- MetaTrader 5 (Desktop)
- Operating system
- Windows 10 or Windows 11
- Instruments
- Forex pairs, metals, indices, CFDs and other symbols available from your broker in MetaTrader 5
- Data
- Your broker’s price feed in MetaTrader 5
Not available on MetaTrader 5 Web or Mobile. Custom indicators run in the MetaTrader 5 desktop terminal only.
License Terms
- Lifetime License
- This indicator only, 1 live and 1 demo account, one-time payment, free updates included.
- All-Access Subscription
- All indicators and trade copiers, billed monthly, cancel anytime, updates included while the subscription is active.
- Free trial
- 5 days on the subscription plan. If not cancelled, the subscription starts automatically.
- License binding
- Linked to your email and to your MetaTrader 5 trading accounts: one live account and one demo account.
- Computers
- Not restricted. The license is linked to your trading accounts, not to a specific computer.
Installation
- Get access
Start the free trial, subscribe, or buy a lifetime license on this page.
- Download
The indicator is not sent by email. Open (top right of this page) and enter the email you used for your trial, subscription or purchase. The indicator file (.ex5) downloads to your computer.
- Copy to the MetaTrader 5 data folder
In MetaTrader 5, go to
File → Open Data Folder, openMQL5 → Indicatorsand copy the downloaded .ex5 file there. - Add to a chart
Restart MetaTrader 5 or right-click Indicators in the Navigator window and select Refresh. Then drag the indicator from the Navigator onto a chart.
- Activate the license
In the indicator inputs, enter the same email. On first activation, the license is linked to that email and to the trading account the terminal is logged into.
The license check needs DLL imports. Allow them in the indicator’s Common tab or under
Tools → Options → Expert Advisors. Without them, or without a valid email, the indicator shows a message and does not load.
Updating: When a new version is released, download it again through and replace the existing .ex5 file in the same folder.
Installation questions? Contact support, Monday to Friday.
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Disclaimer — Software Use & Risk Disclosure
Nordman Algorithms is a trade name of Nordman Algorithms OÜ (Reg. No. 14435535), registered in Tallinn, Estonia.
Software Use
Software Nature & User Responsibility — Nordman Algorithms provides algorithmic software tools for technical analysis. Nordman Algorithms is not a financial advisor and is not liable for any losses. All trades conducted based on the software’s output are executed at the user’s sole discretion and risk.
Visual Markers & Signal Disclosure — This software may display visual markers (such as arrows, dots, or alerts) when predefined mathematical conditions are met. These markers are provided for educational and analytical purposes only, must not be interpreted as financial guidance, and do not constitute a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any financial instrument. Users must independently validate all visual cues within their own trading methodology.
No Financial Advice — Nordman Algorithms does not provide discretionary trading signals, investment advice, or managed signal services. Our software represents a mathematical visualization of historical and real-time data. The appearance of a visual marker does not guarantee a profitable trade or predict future market behavior.
Read the full Terms of Service →Risk Disclosure
Trading Risk Warning — Futures, Forex, and options trading involve significant risk. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing financial security. Only risk capital should be used for trading. Past performance is not indicative of future results. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial amount committed.
ESMA Risk Warning — Financial instruments, especially those involving leverage such as CFDs and Forex, are complex and carry a high risk of rapid financial loss. Our software provides analytical outputs and visual markers based on predefined mathematical conditions and does not mitigate or reduce inherent market risks. You should carefully consider whether you understand how leveraged financial instruments work and whether you can afford the high risk of losing your capital.
CFTC Rule 4.41 — Hypothetical or simulated performance results have inherent limitations. Unlike actual performance records, simulated results do not represent real trading. Because trades have not actually been executed, these results may under- or over-compensate for the impact of market factors such as liquidity. Simulated results are also subject to the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will achieve profits or losses similar to those shown.
Read the full Risk Disclosure →Trademark Notice — MetaTrader 5 and MT5 are trademarks of MetaQuotes Ltd. Nordman Algorithms is an independent software developer and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by MetaQuotes Ltd. References to MetaTrader 5 identify software compatibility.
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