Top Tips & Tricks for Trading with MT4
Key Takeaways:
- MetaTrader 4 offers key tips and tricks like using chart templates and saved profiles
- MT4 enables you to work with customized features that enhance your trading experience
What is MetaTrader 4?
MetaTrader 4 is among the most used trading platforms to this day. Created in 2005 by MetaQuotes Software, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) quickly received a warm welcome from retail traders and professional money managers alike.
Every trader during their journey across financial markets has at least heard about MT4 and its many features that could make trading relatively easy and straightforward.
With this in mind, MetaTrader 4 offers key tips and tricks that could significantly boost your trading experience and, ultimately, bring you more trading success. These tips and tricks vary from creating highly-customizable chart templates to implementing automated trading by algorithms.
Before we get into these specifics, let’s find out why MetaTrader 4 might be the best trading platform for you.
Why Should you use MetaTrader 4?
MetaTrader 4 is suitable for both novice traders and experienced traders alike. This said, no matter if you are just starting out or you are a seasoned market participant, MT4 could very well be worth considering, especially if you use technical analysis.
To this end, MT4 puts great emphasis on technical analysis as one of its main characteristics. The trading platform is full of indicators and trading setups and you can use them for free on any chart you like.
Moreover, you can create chart templates and have multiple indicators in the same chart. Once you save your template, you can use it on other charts. Further, MT4 allows the so-called 1-click trading that enables you to trade quickly in case you need to open a position with just a single click.
These features are only some of the benefits offered by the popular MetaTrader 4 platform. Let’s dive in and explore key insights about MT4 and reveal some hot tips and tricks.
Tips and Tricks for Trading with MT4
1. Use Chart Templates
As we mentioned above, technical analysis is put front and center in MetaTrader 4. You get free access to hundreds of indicators and models you can use in virtually any chart. More importantly, you can create chart templates that you can then distribute across charts of financial assets.
For example, you can create a chart template with three indicators like MACD, RSI, and Bollinger bands and use it on any asset you like. Here are the steps:
First, you need to save this template:
- Open a new chart;
- Load the indicators you want to use;
- Right-click on the chart and select “Template”
- Then click on “Save Template”
- Choose a name for the template and then click “Save”
Once you save it, the template will be readily available for use across charts. In order to use it, simply click on “Load Template”. This feature will save you time and effort as you won’t need to be applying indicators manually.
Experienced traders, for that matter, widely use identical indicators across charts. A popular setup created by indicators could include SMA50, SMA100, SMA200, MACD, and RSI. All of these could be applied to any financial instrument and they will help show you key insights into the asset’s next move.
2. Save a Profile with MT4
A practical way to use the MT4 software is to create and save profiles. A profile, on this note, is the layout you have of your MetaTrader 4 interface. In more detail, it is the complete setup of charts, elements, templates, and everything that’s included in your MT4 workspace.
Profiles offer you an easy and efficient way of working with different charts and groups.
For example, you may dedicate one profile to forex trading and put all currency charts in there. Another profile might be focused on stocks, while a third one could be tracking cryptocurrencies.
Each profile has its own settings, charts, and windows. Once you update your charts, they are automatically saved in the same place they were before.
With this in mind, you have to follow these steps in order to create a profile:
- Click on File in the toolbar and go to Profiles;
- Select Next and choose a name for the current MT4 workspace;
- The saved profile could be found at the bottom of the same menu;
3. Print your Trading Statement
Every successful trader keeps track of their winnings and losses through their trading statements. A trading statement is a report containing all of your trades and results for a given period of time. This document will help you assess your trading activity and observe your performance as a trader.
Your trading statement, essentially a trade log, can be found on the “Account History” tab within the terminal window that shows your trades. You can save the report in two ways: with details or without details. Simply follow these steps:
- Go to “Account History”
- Choose the desired timeframe
- Either choose “Save as Report” or “Save as Detailed Report”
- Finally, click “Save as” or “Print”
4. View Trading Results in Currency or Pips
Depending on your preferences, you can view the results of your active trades either in currency or in pips. Both variants hold key insights so you might as well alternate between the two.
Viewing profits or losses in currency is helpful to keep track of your performance relative to your account, ie, what return you stand to make if you close out your active trade.
And viewing profits or losses in pips will help you stay informed about how your trade is doing in terms of movement. Many traders have a specific target in mind that is usually set in pips. Your target, for example, could be a profit of 150 pips and a potential loss of 21 pips.
This said, switching profits and losses from currency to pips is a neat way to stay aware of your trading performance.
The steps to do this are as follows:
- Hover your mouse over Profit in the Terminal window;
- You see three options;
- Choose as Points to see the value in Points (or Pips);
- Choose as Term Currency to see the value in the currency you are trading;
- Choose as Deposit Currency to see the value in the currency of your account;
5. One-Click Trading
One-click trading is a quick and efficient way to place a trade in a quickly-moving market. If you see a financial asset jump from the latest news release, you might not have enough time to go through the regular steps in order to open a trade.
For quick access to financial markets, MT4 offers the so-called “one-click trading” option. It allows you to open a trade with just a single click. You can either go long, or go short.
You have two main ways to access one-click trading:
Find it on the Trading tab in the Market Watch list on your left;
Find it as “One-click trading” in any chart;
Activate one-click trading or deactivate it by going to the Trade tab of the Options window of the terminal.
6. Use Shortcut Keys for Quick Navigation
MetaTrader 4 allows you to use shortcut keys in order to navigate quickly and efficiently across functions of the trading platform. Using shortcuts is an easy way to you to go around the platform and take advantage of its operations.
Find the most common MT4 shortcut keys below:
- Left Arrow – Chart scrolling to the left
- Right Arrow – Chart scrolling to the right
- F1 – Opens “User Guide”
- F2 – Opens “History Centre” window
- F8 – Opens the chart setup window
- F9 – Opens the “New Order” window
- F11 – Enable or Disable the full-screen mode
- F12 – Move the chart by one bar to the left
- Shift/F12 – Move the chart by one bar to the right
- Home – Move the chart to the start point
- End – Move the chart to the endpoint
For more steps on trading with MetaTrader 4 check out our FAQ section.
Other MT4 Functionalities
Besides the above-mentioned tips and tricks spread across MetaTrader 4, the trading software offers more advanced functionalities like automated trading through algorithms. This said, if you are skilled in programming, you can create certain operations and automate some trading processes to make your experience more customized.
Summary
The MetaTrader 4 platform is perfectly suited for both beginner traders and seasoned professionals alike. Having been around for about 20 years so far, MetaTrader 4 is the classic that never got old. Moreover, it is arguably the most popular trading platform still today, home to millions of traders globally.
MT4 offers a wide range of features and customizations that are carefully tailored to make for a successful trading experience. In addition, technical analysis options enable you to trade forex, stocks and other financial assets solely from charts.
And finally, by using the tips and tricks examined above, you are on your way to making trading not only a profitable venture but also a very interesting and exciting one.
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