Dec 17 2019 1

How to use MetaTrader 4? If you are a trader, you've probably heard of the term MT4 and as we emphasized here are the basic knowledge you need to know if you want to invest in forex. Therefore, in this article, we will try to introduce the most basic information about "indispensable" trading software for anyone who wants to participate in the forex market. MT4 is the most basic platform where you can apply your forex trading strategies.

How to use MetaTrader 4

What is MetaTrader 4 (MT4)?

MetaTrader 4, or MT4 for short, is a software that allows traders to trade foreign exchange and other financial products such as stocks, gold, oil, commodities, indices, cryptos, etc.

MT4 software, developed by MetaQuotes Software, Russia, was launched in 2005. Currently, although there are many platforms being developed, even MT4's parent company has launched a new trading platform, MT5, but MT4 has always been the most popular software, used by many forex brokers to provide services to their clients.

The reason why it is popular is that MT4 software is not only used to trade financial products, but also provides many basic technical analysis tools and indicators for traders. Not only that, this best trading platform is also created by a lot of coders creating many extremely rich and varied advanced indicators that you can fully research to apply to your own forex trading plan.

The MetaTrader 5 software was introduced to the market by the company Metaquotes in 2010 (5 years after the release of MetaTrader 4). MT5 was released at a time when MT4 was gaining popularity. This makes many people mistakenly believe that MT5 is an improved version of MT4.

However, this is an incorrect idea. Metatrader 5 is a trading software with a completely different audience than MT4. The main aim of this trading platform is to help traders get access to more markets than just forex, which is the case of MT4.

In case you might not know:

How to use MetaTrader 4

All basic features are located in the top 3 bars of MT4. Basically the first bar will contain all the features, the second bar contains the most frequently used features. And the third bar focuses on the feature lines used for technical analysis such as drawing trendlines, time frame frames, notes...

 Best trading apps

Click Views and you will see a table with basic features, the most important of which is Market Watch (this list is usually left by default. If your software does not show it, you just need to press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + M to finish).

Symbols

The place to display all currency pairs you want to trade with 3 main items: Symbol, Bid and Ask. Using the right mouse button on Symbol, you will see the following table: New order, Show all, Hide, Hide all, Chart window (there are many items but these are the most important points you should know).

New order

This is used to enter a new order, quickly you just need to use the keyboard shortcut F9 to also display the order execution window as follows:
In this interface, when placing orders, you will fill in information about the order volume (Volume), stop loss (Stop Loss) and profit (Take profit). You can not set Stop Loss or Take Profit, but you are required to fill in the transaction volume information.

Chart Window

This is to open the graph screen of the currency pair or product you have selected when you right click on it

Account

This displays the account you logged in to trade.

Indicator

The indicator includes all the basic indicators that can be used for technical analysis, identifying trends in orders. In this section, you mainly use two main groups of indicators: the trend indicator (Trend) and the group of oscillators (Oscillators). Each part of this section will include many different indicators, to display all you just need to click on the + sign. To use an indicator, right-click on the indicator and select "attach to chart".

Learn more at: 

6 most common technical indicators in the forex market

Terminal (Ctrl + T)

This button is for displaying account balance (Balance), Equity (Equity) and Margin at the current time and open or pending orders (if you have an open or pending order).

How to use MetaTrader 4

Chart

In this section, you need to consider the following buttons:

  • Candlesticks (shortcut Alt + 2) are located between the Line Chart and Bar Chart, are 3 common graphs in the financial market. However, in MT4, you should only use Candlesticks.
  • Time Frame in MT4 trading software: This area consists of buttons M1, M5, M15, M30, H1, H4, D1, W1 and MN equivalent to time frames of 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, 1 week and 1 month. Click on those buttons to select the time frame for displaying the graph for analysis.
  • Grid: grid, displayed in the chart divided into small cells for easy viewing. If you feel like the Grid wants to leave you just right-click and select the Grid is complete.
  • Properties: This button is very important, helping you redesign the MT4 graphical interface so that it is easy to see and fits your style.
  • Template: This button is really useful if you have set up indicators like yourself, the charts of the pairs you want to see the most, and you want to keep this pattern for later transactions. Just click the Template button then Save Template and then name the graph template. If you want to use for the next time, you just need to revisit the Template and select the template by name will appear immediately.
author

Mario Draghi

Hey, I’m Mario Draghi. I’m a writer currently resided in Thailand. For my forex experience, I have been working with brokers and trading for 5 years. Hope that you'll enjoy my articles about all forex-related matters.


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1 Comment

Lurlene

May 04 2020

based on my experience, ExpertOption is a good platfor

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