Setup & troubleshooting
Broker server time, GMT and EA trading sessions in MT5
A trading session input is only useful when you know which clock it follows. Write the time convention beside the setting so your chart, journal and strategy rules agree.
Identify the clock used by the EA
TimeCurrent reports the last known server time; inside OnTick it corresponds to the handled tick. TimeTradeServer supplies a calculated current server time. Neither function should be casually treated as your laptop’s local time. Read the code path used by the session filter rather than inferring it from your own wall clock.
Document the offset explicitly
Suppose a hypothetical broker uses UTC+2 and your planned session starts at 08:00 UTC. The corresponding broker hour is 10:00 for that offset. If the server changes to UTC+3, the conversion changes too. Check the broker’s actual seasonal schedule; a fixed offset copied from another broker is not a universal rule.
Test the edges of a session
- Check one timestamp before the start, at the start and after the end.
- Test a window that crosses midnight.
- Check weekday handling around the broker’s day boundary.
- Review a date on each side of a daylight-saving transition if relevant.
Make the convention visible
Use input labels that say broker time or UTC instead of only start hour. In diagnostic messages, show the decision timestamp and session state. This makes a skipped entry easier to explain and makes future broker changes much more manageable.
Make it yours with MQLume
With an editable MQLume project, you can make session controls fit your workflow. Use our AI-assisted coding workflow to plan a small, reviewable improvement.