Key Level Map

Key Level Map is a free MT5 indicator that draws key support and resistance zones on your main chart. By default it shows up to 8 ranked zones, fires approach alerts only at Tier S and A levels, and judges a break on a close beyond 0.25 x ATR. Each zone gets an Importance score and a Tier: S, A or B. It merges four sources into one map: swing pivots, the previous day high/low, the previous week high/low and round numbers. The Lab ran version 1.00 on MT5 build 6230 on 2026-10-05.

It suits you if your chart is covered in hand-drawn lines and you only want the few levels where several reasons for price to react overlap.

To install, copy the .ex5 file to MQL5/Indicators, restart MT5 or refresh the Navigator, then drag it onto a main chart window (it draws on the price chart, not in a subwindow).

What it puts on your chart

Key Level Map draws three things, built where several sources overlap (confluence):

• Key Levels zones: one rectangle for each merged level. Only the highest-Importance active levels are drawn, so the map stays short.
• KL Score Tag: a text tag on each zone that reads "KL score | sources". It shows the score and which sources built the level, for example a swing pivot plus the previous day high.
• Key Levels panel: the last approach or break alert, the top 5 key levels with their tier, sources, price and distance (in pips and in ATR), and the number of active S and A levels.

The picture below shows how a zone, an approach and a break look on a chart.

What the Lab checked, and what it did not

The Lab loaded and compiled version 1.00 (a 111.5 KB file) on MT5 build 6230 on 2026-10-05 and confirmed its 25 inputs and three alert types (popup, push, sound); no symbol-level hit-rate or repaint study was run. So the facts do not include a repaint count or a rate for how often price reacted at a level. No number tells you that a Tier S zone holds more often than a Tier B zone. Treat the tiers as a ranking of how much evidence sits behind each level, not as a probability.

Two built-in behaviours matter more for you than any score:

• A swing pivot level only appears once PivotBars bars have closed on each side of the swing. With the default of 7, a new swing high shows up 7 bars after it formed. This delay is by design, not a bug.
• A break is judged on a closed bar that closes beyond the level by a buffer, so a wick through a zone does not break it.

Who it is for

It suits discretionary traders who already trade reactions at levels and want those levels picked by fixed rules instead of by eye. It helps most when you start a session and want to know quickly where the nearest strong levels are and how far away they are in ATR.

How one key level is built

Every level goes through the same steps, from raw candidates to a zone that is drawn, alerted, and finally removed.

Reading the zones and the score tags

Start with the tier. S and A are the levels the tool trusts most, and they are the only ones that fire approach alerts. Tier B is weak. With ShowTierB off (the default), a B level only appears when the map has no S or A level at all. So if you see a B zone with that setting, it means "nothing stronger was found", not "trade this".

Then read the sources in the tag. A zone built from a swing pivot plus the previous week low plus a round number has more independent reasons behind it than a zone built from a single swing. Recency fades over time: with RecencyHalfLifeBars at 200, a level 200 bars old keeps half its recency score, and older levels keep less.

Reading the panel

The panel answers the question "how far is the next level?" without any measuring on your part. Each of the top 5 levels shows its distance in pips and in ATR. The ATR figure is the useful one, because it adjusts for how fast the market is moving right now. A close within 0.5 ATR of an S or A level (the default ApproachATRMult) fires an approach alert on any symbol, while the same distance in pips can be close on one symbol and far on another.

The count of active S and A levels tells you how strong the map is overall. If it reads zero, you are looking at a map of weak levels only.

When a level breaks: the common misread

A broken level does not vanish. It turns dashed and stays on the chart for ExpiryBars bars (100 by default), counted from the closed bar that broke it. Then it is deleted.

The usual mistake is to read a dashed zone as a still-active level and fade price there as if nothing happened. A dashed zone has already failed once. It is shown so you can watch for a retest from the other side: old resistance tested as support, or old support tested as resistance. Seeing a level "broken several times but still working" usually means wicks pierced it without a close beyond the buffer. The tool does not count those as breaks.

Alerts: what fires them and where they appear

• Approach alert: a close within ApproachATRMult x ATR of an S or A level.
• Break alert: a closed bar that closes beyond a level by BreakBufferATRMult x ATR.

The latest alert always shows at the top of the panel. AlertPopup (on by default) shows a popup in the terminal, AlertPush sends it to the MT5 mobile app, and AlertSound plays AlertSoundFile.

The inputs to change first

Worked example: if ATR(14) on your chart is 10 pips, candidates within 3 pips merge, an approach alert fires on a close within 5 pips of an S/A level, and a break needs a close more than 2.5 pips beyond the level.

A decision rule for each event

• Approach alert: do not enter on the alert itself. Check the panel. Act only if the level is S or A, its tag lists at least two sources, and the next level on the opposite side is more than about 1 ATR away (an untested rule of thumb, not a Lab result). Otherwise the trade has no room to run. Then wait for your own rejection candle to close.
• Break alert: do not chase the breaking bar. Mark the now-dashed zone and wait for a retest within the ExpiryBars window. Skip it if price runs straight into another S/A level.
• No S/A levels in the panel: stand aside or use a higher timeframe. A map made only of Tier B levels gives you nothing solid to lean on.