Awesome Oscillator Settings for MT4: 0 of 40 Made Money on the EURUSD 5-Minute Chart, and the Best First-Half Gold Setting Ranked 19th Later

The full test of the indicator is in Awesome Oscillator tested: 1 of 20 default runs passed, and the AO line moved with MACD at a 0.97 correlation. This page is the practical part: how to get AO into MT4, how to change it, and whether a different speed changed the result.

How do I add the Awesome Oscillator to MT4?

1. In MT4, open Insert, Indicators, Bill Williams, Awesome Oscillator. Or find it in the Navigator window under Indicators, Bill Williams, and drag it onto the chart.
2. It opens in its own window under the price chart. The Inputs tab is empty: there is nothing to set except the colours of the rising and falling bars.
3. In the Levels tab you can add 0 to make the zero line easier to see.
4. Save the chart as a template (right-click the chart, Template, Save Template) if you use it on many charts.

MT5 has the same indicator in the same place, with the same fixed 5 and 34. If your MT4 is still empty, the setup from scratch is in MT4 first chart setup.

How can I change the 5 and 34 in MT4?

• Use a custom AO. Search “Awesome Oscillator” in the MQL5 Code Base; several free versions add inputs for the fast and slow period. Copy the file to File, Open Data Folder, MQL4, Indicators, then Refresh in the Navigator.
• Edit the source. Many MT4 installs include the source file Awesome.mq4 in MQL4, Indicators. Open it in MetaEditor, change 5 and 34 in the two moving average calls, save it under a new name and compile.
• Do not use MACD 5/34 as a stand-in. MT4’s MACD uses exponential averages of the close, so MACD 5/34 is a different line. Real AO built from the close instead of the midpoint is almost the same: 0.996 correlation or more on all 4 charts.

Code Base files are not all clean, so check that a custom AO draws the same bars as the built-in one at 5 and 34 before you change anything. How four popular free indicators held up is in free MQL5 indicators tested.

How was it tested?

• Data: EURUSD M5, 16,926 bars from June 3 to August 26, 2026; gold M5, 13,736 bars from June 16; M15 built from the same bars.
• Settings: AO = simple average of (High + Low) / 2 over the fast period minus the same over the slow period. Fast 3, 5, 8, 10, 13; slow 21, 34, 55, 89. Two signals: the zero cross, and the saucer (three bars on one side of zero, the middle one the lowest above zero or the highest below it).
• Exit: stop 1.5 ATR, target 3 ATR, 48 bars, one trade at a time. Cost 1 pip on EURUSD and $0.30 an ounce on gold, as in spread and swap costs in MT4.
• Halves: before and after July 15, 2026, to see whether a setting that won early kept winning.

How many AO settings made money?

Pips a trade on EURUSD, dollars an ounce on gold, after cost.

On EURUSD M5, 14 settings were in profit before cost and none after: the 1-pip spread was larger than any edge the speed could add. Gold M15 looked generous, 24 of 40, but that chart flattered every rule in this series. Random entries with the same exit made up to +$3.51 a trade there at the 95th percentile, and no AO setting reached that.

Does the zero cross or the saucer work better?

On gold M5 the split was complete: the zero cross made money with 13 of 20 speeds, the saucer lost with all 20, from -$0.71 to -$3.07 a trade. On EURUSD M5 it was the other way round in degree: every saucer lost less than the zero cross with the same speed on 17 of 20 settings, but all of them still lost. Which signal you trade changed the result more than which numbers you typed in.

Do faster or slower settings help on EURUSD M5?

Pips a trade after cost. The slowest corner, 13/89, lost least, -0.62, mostly because it traded 254 times instead of 595 and paid the spread less often. Slower AO meant fewer crosses, not better ones. The same pattern came up for MACD in MACD settings for MT4.

Can I pick the best AO setting from past data?

On EURUSD the first-half leader stayed near the top, but on M5 the top was still a loss. On gold it fell to 14th and 19th. The gold M15 winner made +$10.59 a trade on 16 trades in the first half and +$0.28 on 40 in the second: a small sample that looked like an edge. The longer story of why a tuned setting fades is in optimized vs default settings.

What AO settings would I use?

• Keep 5/34 if you use AO at all. No other speed made money on EURUSD M5, and the gold leaders did not hold.
• Choose the signal before the numbers. On gold M5 the zero cross and the saucer were 13 to 0 apart; the speed moved results far less.
• Remember it is a MACD. If you already run MACD, a re-tuned AO is a re-tuned copy. The side-by-side is in Awesome Oscillator vs MACD.
• Test a new speed on data it has not seen. How to split the data so a setting is checked honestly is in EA optimization, in-sample and out-of-sample.

Frequently asked questions

What are the Awesome Oscillator settings in MT4?

There are none to change in the built-in version: it is always a 5-bar simple average of (High + Low) / 2 minus a 34-bar one. To change the periods you need a custom AO or an edited copy of the source.

What is the best Awesome Oscillator setting for the 5-minute chart?

On EURUSD M5 none of 40 made money after a 1-pip spread. On gold M5 13 of 20 zero-cross settings did, but the best first-half setting ranked 14th of 40 later.

Is the Awesome Oscillator available in MT5?

Yes, under Indicators, Bill Williams, with the same fixed 5 and 34 periods.

Should I use the zero cross or the saucer?

It depended on the market. On gold M5 the zero cross was profitable with 13 of 20 speeds and the saucer with none. On EURUSD M5 the saucer lost less, but every setting of both lost after cost.