# OnCalculate

The OnCalculate() function is called only in custom indicators when it's necessary to calculate the indicator values by the Calculate event. This usually happens when a new tick is received for the symbol, for which the indicator is calculated. This indicator is not required to be attached to any price chart of this symbol.

The OnCalculate() function must have a return type int.

```MQL4
int OnCalculate (
    const int rates_total,      // size of input time series
    const int prev_calculated,  // bars handled in previous call
    const datetime& time[],     // Time
    const double& open[],       // Open
    const double& high[],       // High
    const double& low[],        // Low
    const double& close[],      // Close
    const long& tick_volume[],  // Tick Volume
    const long& volume[],       // Real Volume
    const int& spread[]         // Spread
);
```

Parameters of open[], high[], low[] and close[] contain arrays with open prices, high and low prices and close prices of the current time frame. The time[] parameter contains an array with open time values, the spread[] parameter has an array containing the history of spreads (if any spread is provided for the traded security). The parameters of volume[] and tick_volume[] contain the history of trade and tick volume, respectively.

**Note**
To determine the indexing direction of time[], open[], high[], low[], close[], tick_volume[], volume[] and spread[], call ArrayGetAsSeries(). In order not to depend on default values, you should unconditionally call the ArraySetAsSeries() function for those arrays, which are expected to work with.

**Note**
The first rates_total parameter contains the number of bars, available to the indicator for calculation, and corresponds to the number of bars available in the chart.

We should note the connection between the return value of OnCalculate() and the second input parameter prev_calculated. During the function call, the prev_calculated parameter contains a value returned by OnCalculate() during previous call. This allows for economical algorithms for calculating the custom indicator in order to avoid repeated calculations for those bars that haven't changed since the previous run of this function.

For this, it is usually enough to return the value of the rates_total parameter, which contains the number of bars in the current function call. If since the last call of OnCalculate() price data has changed (a deeper history downloaded or history blanks filled), the value of the input parameter prev_calculated will be set to zero by the terminal.