Metatrader 4 (MT4) is possibly the most popular online trading platform, the easiest way to trade Forex markets (FX) and Contracts for Difference (CFDs), as well as participate in spread betting.
MT4 has a user-friendly interface. Everything is simple, from opening a new chart to making a trade on the forex market. This guide aims to show how to use the features of the platform with some extra tips for the tool. Knowing these trading tips and tricks will help you make trades faster and develop an easy trading strategy.
Keyboard Shortcuts for MT4
Do you use keyboard shortcuts for everyday computing tasks in Microsoft Windows, such as pressing CTRL+S to save your work? The same reasoning can be applied to MT4, with the use of so-called “hot keys”. These keyboard shortcuts are keys or key combinations that provide an alternate way to do something you would normally do with your mouse.
In MT4, you can open and close module windows with Ctrl+T. This clears up your trading screen and allows you to add other windows quickly.
You can find the shortcuts for all these windows under “View” in the main menu. We recommend that you learn the shortcuts for all the main commands. For example, did you know that pressing the “Page Up” or “Page Down” buttons allows for faster scrolling?
One Click Trading on MT4
The standard way to place a trade in MT4 is by clicking on the “New Order” icon. One of the most useful tricks in MT4 is the “One Click Trading” feature. Press “Alt + T”, or simply right-click on any chart and select “One Click Trading”. You will see buy and sell buttons with the current buy and sell prices and a box to choose the number of lots.
Save MT4 Chart Templates
Metatrader 4 is customizable. To customize a chart, right-click and select “preferences” at the bottom of the menu, or press F8. You can change the background color, the color of the candles and many other features.
To save yourself the time of redesigning each new chart, save your changes as a template. You can find the template (‘Template’) right-clicking on the graph. From there, navigate to ‘Save Template’, where you can name whatever template.
Save MT4 Chart Templates
The next time you open a chart in MT4, go to “Template”, select “Load Template” and choose the one you saved. You can save different templates for different trading strategies. For example, one template might be for stock trading techniques, while another is for simple trading strategies.
Use different MT4 profiles
Profiles are like an extension of templates. A profile stores the look of the entire MT4 layout: the number of charts, whether or not they are set to auto-scroll, and other features. Profiles are found in the “File” menu. One trick is to have a separate stock trading profile from forex trading. This way, you can organize your charts for stock quotes without them interfering with the currency pairs you trade.
MT4 Auto Scroll and Chart Change
Before placing a trade, check the price history of a currency pair or a particular stock. it will scroll all the way to the right again to display the most recent price action. When you want to scroll to the left to see previous prices, click the icon again to uncheck the button.
Chart Shift: Selecting the red arrow icon will scroll the chart to the left. Many traders prefer to have this “bleed” to anticipate better where the price might travel next.
Save the Results as a Report
Despite how good Metatrader 4 is and how easy it is to place trades at the click of a button, it can still be helpful to step away from the platform to analyze the results of your trades. You can find the results of your trades in the “Account History” tab of the “Terminal” window.
From here, you can right-click anywhere in your trading history. Select “Save as Report” or “Save as Detailed Report” and view the results of your operations as an HTML file.
Show Profit/Loss as Points
Each trader will have their own preferences on how to follow the markets. And every experienced trader will stress the importance of a solid trading mindset.
One MT4 trading tip that can help reduce trading stress is to display your profit or loss (P/L) as points rather than currencies. Viewing your P/L as points could help you focus on your strategy and results.
Use an MT4 indicator with round numbers
Metatrader 4 is not perfect. One feature it lacks is the display of round figures on the chart. These round numbers, like EUR/USD at 1.30 or Apple shares at $100, are often important psychological levels that could add value to your stock trading techniques.
Fortunately, there is a way around this by using MT4 indicators. Different indicators will work better on various financial instruments.
After your first experiences with MT4, you will realize that you can display chart windows in different ways, such as tiled or cascading.
You want to rearrange the charts in the order you prefer, showing the major currency pairs first, then spot gold and silver, followed by stocks. You can rearrange your charts simply by dragging the symbols at the bottom of the screen to the left and right.
