# Overview

## Overview

Welcome to the documentation for creating **custom indicators** in **Forex Tester Online (FTO)**.

This guide is designed to help developers and strategy testers understand the structure, lifecycle, and capabilities of custom scripts written for FTO. You’ll learn how to set up your environment, build your own indicators, and access key platform features via the available API.

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### 📌 What You’ll Find Here

* [**Quick Guide**<br>](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/tutorial-moving-average)Get started with setting up your development environment and creating your first indicator using a simple Moving Average example.
* [**Indicator Structure**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/indicators/indicator-structure)\
  Understand the lifecycle of an indicator through core functions like `Init`, `Calculate`, `Done`, and more.
* [**Working with Buffers**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/visible-buffers)\
  Learn how to create and manage visible buffers to display your indicator’s values on the chart.
* [**Accessing Chart Data**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/access-to-bar-arrays)\
  Understand how to retrieve bar data, price arrays, and time series to power your custom logic.
* [**Indicator Configuration**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/configure_indicator)\
  Customize the behavior and appearance of indicators through parameters and configuration blocks.
* [**External Parameters**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/external_parameters_definition)\
  Use external inputs to make your indicators dynamic and easily customizable by users.
* [**Getting Currency Information**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/getting_information_about_currency)\
  Retrieve metadata about the active instrument, such as symbol name, point size, and tick value.
* [**Working with Dates and Time**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/fto-date)\
  Use the `FTODate` structure to manage time-based logic and align calculations with bar timestamps.
* [**Other Utilities**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/other)\
  Explore helper functions and additional features available to streamline development.

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### 👨‍💻 Who is This For?

This documentation is for:

* Developers building and debugging trading indicators
* Algorithmic traders backtesting and optimizing their strategies
* Power users looking to customize and extend FTO’s capabilities

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### 🚀 Ready to Begin?

Start with the [**Setup and Installation**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/setup-and-installation) guide and move on to the [**Moving Average Tutorial**](https://fto-2.gitbook.io/fto-indicators-docs/tutorial-moving-average) to see how it all works in action.


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