What is the difference between AC and AO?

AO is the gap between a 5-period and a 34-period average of median price — a momentum reading. AC subtracts AO's own 5-bar average from AO, leaving only the part that is new — an acceleration reading. In practice AC changes direction before AO does, because a slowing rise still shows as a positive AO but as a falling AC. Bill Williams intended them to be read together: AO for direction, AC for whether that direction is still gaining.

What settings should I use?

There are none. iAC takes only a symbol and a timeframe; the 5, 34 and 5 windows are fixed inside the indicator. The only things you can vary are which timeframe you read it on and what you do with the signal. This is genuinely unusual — most oscillators invite a period search — and it means an AC backtest cannot be overfitted through the indicator itself.

Why does my AC show green bars below zero?

Because the colour reports the change, not the sign. A bar is green when it is higher than the previous bar, wherever it sits. Below zero, a run of green bars means momentum is still negative but becoming less so. Reading those greens as buy signals inverts the rule; the Builder's template requires the value to be above zero as well as rising for exactly this reason.

Can an EA read the bar colour?

Not directly — the colour is not a buffer, it is derived when the chart is drawn. What an EA can do is recreate it, by reading the indicator at the current bar and at the previous bar and comparing the two. That is what the template does with two AC nodes at shift 0 and shift 1, and it is why the generated code contains two CopyBuffer calls that differ only in their start offset.

Can I build an Accelerator EA without coding?

Yes. The AC Acceleration + Pitch Trail template places two AC nodes at shift 0 and shift 1, compares them to express 'higher than the last bar', and requires the current value to be above zero via a Constant node. The stop then locks in one step for every 20 pips of progress. Since AC has no parameters, the EA inputs are the stop distances and the pitch step.

How should I validate settings before going live?

Backtest on quality tick data, then run on a demo account before risking money. With no indicator parameters to search, the temptation moves to the exits — so hold back data your stop and target choices never saw, and check the trade count before reading the profit. A rule that fires on every colour change will produce a great many trades on short timeframes, most of them noise.

Accelerator Oscillator for MT5 traders

What the Accelerator Oscillator tells you

AO measures momentum: the gap between a fast and a slow average of median price. AC measures what that gap is doing — it subtracts AO's own five-bar average from AO, leaving the part that is new. When AC is rising, momentum is building faster than it has been; when it is falling, momentum is still there but easing. Because it is a derivative of a derivative, it turns before AO does, which is both the reason to use it and the reason it produces more false signals than AO on its own.

Above zero: acceleration is positive relative to the recent average
Bar higher than the last: momentum is picking up, whatever the sign
It turns earlier than AO — earlier is not the same as more often right

1 Compute AO: SMA(median, 5) − SMA(median, 34)
2 Take a 5-bar average of AO
3 Subtract the second from the first

Afficher la formule et les détails de calcul

The Accelerator Oscillator is built on top of another indicator:

median = (high + low) / 2
AO = SMA(median, 5) − SMA(median, 34)
AC = AO − SMA(AO, 5)

Step two is the Awesome Oscillator, which measures momentum. Step three removes from it everything that was already there five bars ago, leaving the part that is new. If momentum is large but unchanged, AO is large and AC is near zero. If momentum is small but growing, AO is small and AC is positive. That is the distinction the indicator exists to draw.

In MQL5 the call is iAC(symbol, period) — the second argument is the timeframe, not a length. There is no period, no applied price and no method. Every window is fixed in the definition, which makes AC one of the very few MT5 indicators with nothing to optimise. The Builder’s node reflects that: shift, timeframe, variable name, and that is all.

The histogram has one buffer, and the colours are not part of it. MT5 paints each bar green when it is higher than the one before and red when it is lower, computing that at draw time. An EA cannot read a colour, so a rule that depends on one has to be rebuilt from values — the template does it with two AC nodes, one at shift 0 and one at shift 1, and the generated code differs only in the CopyBuffer start offset.

Two consequences are worth stating plainly. Colour and sign are independent: a green bar below zero is ordinary and means a decline that is easing, not a rise. And AC is a derivative of a derivative, so it turns earlier than AO and it is noisier for the same reason. Bill Williams published it as one component of a larger system alongside the Alligator and Fractals, not as a signal to trade on its own — which is why the Builder’s template pairs the colour rule with a zero condition rather than acting on colour alone.

Signaux

Les signaux distincts et testables que génère AC — et le régime adapté à chacun.

Two Bars in the Same Direction

Prêt dans Builder

Condition: AC is above zero and each of the last bars is higher than the one before
Meilleur régime: Trending
Utilisation typique: Bill Williams' own rule — the template's condition, minus the multi-bar count

Side of Zero

Prêt dans Builder

Condition: AC crosses zero
Meilleur régime: Trending
Utilisation typique: A coarse regime filter for entries generated elsewhere

Colour Against Sign

Prêt dans Builder

Condition: A rising bar while AC is still below zero
Meilleur régime: Trend exhaustion
Utilisation typique: Read a decline that is losing steam without calling it a reversal

Divergence from Price

Logique avancée

Condition: Price makes a new extreme, AC does not
Meilleur régime: Trend exhaustion
Utilisation typique: A discretionary warning that acceleration has stopped confirming

Implémentation MT5

Ce que MetaTrader 5 calcule et trace réellement — la référence de chaque règle de cette page.

Buffers

Index	Buffer	Tracé dans MT5 comme	Ce qu'il contient
0	MAIN_LINE	Histogram	The AC value — AO minus SMA(AO, 5). One buffer, drawn as a histogram whose bars are coloured by whether each is higher or lower than the one before. The colour is not a second buffer; it is derived at draw time.

Notes de plateforme

Fonction MQL5

iAC

Prix appliqué

Cet indicateur ne prend pas d'argument de prix appliqué.

Dans Builder

iAC takes symbol and timeframe and nothing else — no period, no applied price, no method. The 5/34 windows inside AO and the 5-bar smoothing applied to it are fixed in the indicator's definition. The Builder's AC node therefore exposes only shift, timeframe and a variable name, and node-prop-gate confirms every one of those reaches the generated code.

Notes d'implémentation

The bar colour is not a buffer. MT5 derives it at draw time by comparing each value with the previous one, so an EA cannot read it — it has to recreate it. The template does that with two AC nodes at shift 0 and shift 1 feeding a Compare, and the generated code shows the difference plainly: CopyBuffer(handle, 0, 0, 2, …) for one and CopyBuffer(handle, 0, 1, 2, …) for the other.
Both nodes produce the same iAC handle because the arguments are identical. Placing two of them does not compute the indicator twice.
Bill Williams' published rule asks for two or three consecutive bars in the same direction. The node palette expresses one bar against the previous; three would need three nodes and two Compares, which is buildable but was left out of the template to keep the entry legible.
Saucer and twin-peak patterns need multi-bar state across several bars on the same side of zero, which the palette does not express; those need custom MQL5.

Fonctionne mieux / utiliser avec prudence

Aucun indicateur n'est un avantage universel. Voici où AC aide — et où il induit en erreur.

Fonctionne mieux

As an early warning alongside AO rather than instead of it
Confirming that a move which just started is still gaining rather than fading
Higher timeframes, where a derivative of a derivative is not pure noise
Situations where you want no parameters to fit — there are none to fit

Utiliser avec prudence

On its own as an entry trigger; it changes colour constantly in quiet markets
Reading colour as sign — a green bar below zero is common and means something else
Comparing values across instruments; it is a price difference and carries the symbol's scale
Expecting the saucer and twin-peak patterns to be expressible as nodes; they need multi-bar state

Créer une stratégie AC

Connectez le signal aux règles d'entrée et de sortie, puis exportez un EA MT5 compilable — sans code.

AC read at the current bar (shift 0)
AC read at the previous bar (shift 1) — the same indicator, one bar back
A Constant of 0 for the current bar to be measured against
AC now above AC then AND AC above zero → Open Buy · SL 50 / TP 150
The mirrored pair below zero → Open Sell
Stop then locks one step for every 20 pips of progress

Combiner AC avec d'autres indicateurs

Un indicateur fonctionne rarement seul. Ces associations couvrent les angles morts de AC.

AC + Awesome Oscillator

AO above zero
AC higher than the previous bar
Buy

Pourquoi: The pair Bill Williams intended. AO says which way momentum points and AC says whether it is still building, so requiring AO above zero before acting on a rising AC bar separates 'accelerating within an up move' from 'accelerating out of a down move'
Meilleur régime: Trending

No single-flow template pairs them, though both nodes exist. Start from AC Acceleration + Pitch Trail and add an AO node with a Compare against a Constant of 0, into the same AND gate.

Ouvrir Builder →

AC + Alligator

Alligator lines fanned out
AC rising above zero
Buy

Pourquoi: The rest of Bill Williams' own system. The Alligator's three lines say whether the market is trending or sleeping, which is exactly the distinction AC cannot make on its own — it accelerates just as readily inside a range
Meilleur régime: Trending

No single-flow template combines them. Start from AC Acceleration + Pitch Trail and add Alligator nodes for Jaw and Lips with a Compare between them, gated with And.

Ouvrir Builder →

AC + AMA

Price above the AMA
AC higher than the previous bar
Buy

Pourquoi: The same pairing the AO template uses, applied one derivative further out — an adaptive average supplies the direction that a pure acceleration reading does not have, and it adapts its own smoothing to the volatility AC is reacting to
Meilleur régime: Trending

No single-flow template pairs AC with AMA. Start from AO Momentum + AMA Trend and swap the AO node for two AC nodes at shift 0 and 1 with a Compare between them.

Ouvrir Builder →

Paramètres

Valeurs de départ à valider sur votre propre paire et timeframe — pas des réglages garantis.

Paramètre	Défaut	Plage de test suggérée	Ce que ça fait
Shift	0	0–30	Which bar back the node reads the buffer from. This is the only meaningful setting the node has, and the template depends on it: two AC nodes at shift 0 and shift 1 are how 'this bar is higher than the last' — the thing MT5 shows as a colour — becomes a condition an EA can test.
Timeframe	Current	M1–MN1	Which chart the reading comes from. Because AC has no period, the timeframe is the only way to make it slower or faster.
Applied price	Not applicable	—	iAC has no applied-price argument. The median price it works from, and the 5, 34 and 5 windows above it, are all fixed inside the indicator.

Préréglages de départ

There are none — iAC takes symbol and timeframe. Nothing else exists to preset.

Exemples de marché

Où AC fonctionne, où il échoue et comment un filtre change le résultat.

Fonctionne

Acceleration confirming a fresh move

Price breaks out, AC is above zero, and each bar prints higher than the last. The pitch trail locks in a step for every 20 pips and the position is still open when the take profit is reached.

Échoue

Colour changes with nothing behind them

A quiet session where AC alternates green and red around zero every few bars. Each flip is a valid colour change and none of them describes a move worth taking.

Filtré

Rising bars on the wrong side of zero

A decline loses steam and AC prints several rising bars while still below zero. Read as a colour signal this is a buy; the template's zero condition declines it, which is the difference between 'falling more slowly' and 'rising'.

Indicateurs associés

Awesome Oscillator Voir le guide →

Alligator Voir le guide →

Momentum Voir le guide →

FAQ

What is the difference between AC and AO?: AO is the gap between a 5-period and a 34-period average of median price — a momentum reading. AC subtracts AO's own 5-bar average from AO, leaving only the part that is new — an acceleration reading. In practice AC changes direction before AO does, because a slowing rise still shows as a positive AO but as a falling AC. Bill Williams intended them to be read together: AO for direction, AC for whether that direction is still gaining.
What settings should I use?: There are none. iAC takes only a symbol and a timeframe; the 5, 34 and 5 windows are fixed inside the indicator. The only things you can vary are which timeframe you read it on and what you do with the signal. This is genuinely unusual — most oscillators invite a period search — and it means an AC backtest cannot be overfitted through the indicator itself.
Why does my AC show green bars below zero?: Because the colour reports the change, not the sign. A bar is green when it is higher than the previous bar, wherever it sits. Below zero, a run of green bars means momentum is still negative but becoming less so. Reading those greens as buy signals inverts the rule; the Builder's template requires the value to be above zero as well as rising for exactly this reason.
Can an EA read the bar colour?: Not directly — the colour is not a buffer, it is derived when the chart is drawn. What an EA can do is recreate it, by reading the indicator at the current bar and at the previous bar and comparing the two. That is what the template does with two AC nodes at shift 0 and shift 1, and it is why the generated code contains two CopyBuffer calls that differ only in their start offset.
Can I build an Accelerator EA without coding?: Yes. The AC Acceleration + Pitch Trail template places two AC nodes at shift 0 and shift 1, compares them to express 'higher than the last bar', and requires the current value to be above zero via a Constant node. The stop then locks in one step for every 20 pips of progress. Since AC has no parameters, the EA inputs are the stop distances and the pitch step.
How should I validate settings before going live?: Backtest on quality tick data, then run on a demo account before risking money. With no indicator parameters to search, the temptation moves to the exits — so hold back data your stop and target choices never saw, and check the trade count before reading the profit. A rule that fires on every colour change will produce a great many trades on short timeframes, most of them noise.

Glossary

Termes clés

Backtest Surajustement Moyenne mobile exponentielle