How To Install And Use The MT4 Platform

You have spent the time learning about Forex. You know what to look out for and what to avoid, and now you are ready to download the MT4 trading platform. Now, it's time to familiarise yourself with the MT4 platform and start placing a few Forex trades, either in a demo account or a live account.

Depending on the broker you choose, there are several alternatives to the MT4 platform, but for this guide part, we will focus on teaching you how to install and use the MT4 trading platform. It's one of the most used trading platforms worldwide, a powerful, robust platform easily customisable by you, the Forex trader. The platform has thousands of online plug-in tools with built-in custom indicators and charting tools.

The MT4 platform supports history database management and historical data export/import. At a later date, you can chart your trading progress with an online graph that shows your historical data as you improve.

On the MT4 platform, you can choose one-click trading, pending orders and trailing stops. As you gain experience, there's the option to add expert advisors. You can create and customise templates and set up the platform to suit your trading needs.

Choose Your Broker

Assuming you have registered with your regulated broker, you are now ready to install the MT4 platform on your laptop, PC or Mac. You can also download an MT4 app to iPhone, iPad and Android tablet or phone.

The first thing to decide is if you want a demo Forex trading account or a live Forex trading account. If it is the former, you are ready to download the MT4 platform software. If you require a live trading account, you will need to deposit funds into your broker account.

Then, follow the below process -

1. Login to your broker's website and look for a section titled platforms. Here, you should find the link to download MT4.
2. Check requirements for download. Your broker will list these requirements.
   [Typical requirements are Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or higher. An intel Celeron-based processor (frequency of 1,7GHz or more 256Mb RAM and 50 Mb of hard drive space]
3. Click on the download link
4. A message should  pop-up that says 'open an account.'
5. Choose to set up a demo trading account or link to your live trading account. If it's a demo account, choose the trading amount. You may be offered sums from £3k to £50k. We suggest this amount is as realistic as possible to create a 'real' form of demo trading.
   It would be best if you got used to trading the lot sizes you will trade with a live trading account. Traders that practice with colossal lot sizes become used to big profits. But if you only have £500 capital for a live trading account, your monetary gain will be small at first. Always think in percentages rather than in ££££s
6. Click next
7.  Fill in your details as required, and click 'next.'
8.  A file 'mt4.exe' will download
9.  Follow any further on-screen instructions
10. Make sure you have written down your login details
11. When installed, open up the MT4 platform and login.
12. You're good to go

Finding Your Way Around The MT4 Trading Platform

When you first open up the MT4 platform, it may look a bit confusing. In this guide part, we will point out the primary features you need to trade Forex.

Below is an image of an MT4 platform.

If you right-click on the screen and go to properties, you can choose to remove the grid and set the Japanese candles colours if you plan to use Japanese candles. You can set the background to black or white. And you can insert period separators if you wish.

When you open up a currency chart, the currency pair's tab will appear beneath the Forex chart. Underneath that, you can see open trades and your current trading account balance (see image above). You can move these tabs around, for instance, if you wanted to put them in alphabetical order

To select which trades you wish to follow, click on market watch and then pick the currencies you want to follow. To put them in alphabetical order, you can drag or drop once they are in this dropdown list.

MT4 Toolbars

Likely, you won't use most of the toolbars' items, but it's useful to know what they are in case of need.

The Top Bar - MT4

File

The top bar above the chart (image above) File dropdown menu gives you the options to open a Forex currency chart, a new account, or log in to your account. You can open up the data folder, where, later in your Forex experience, you can add customer indicators, expert advisors etc.

View

In View, you can choose your language, set toolbars, chart bars, and market watch and data window, plus a few other options

Insert

You can insert Forex indicators (there's a right-hand menu to choose from), lines, Gann, Fibonacci, shapes, arrows and text. From this list, there are multiple options for each one. For instance, with indicators, these are split further into Trend, Oscillators, Volume, Bill Williams and Custom. Custom indicators are usually ones you have added to the MT4 platform yourself

Charts

This dropdown menu gives you options to choose from on the current chart you have open. You can also select a bar chart, candlesticks or line chart or foreground chart.

Tools

Select 'new order', history centre or option - the latter opens up a further option, which you are unlikely to need at this stage.

Window

This choice enables you to select how to view your open charts

Help

The help option is self-explanatory, providing access to a range of helpful topics

The Middle Bar MT4

From the far left to the far right (Image above)

1. Create a new chart
2.  Profiles
3.  Market Watch – the list of available currencies
4. Data window
5. Navigator – shows you all files in MT4
6. Terminal – the bars beneath the charts showing trades and other options
7. Strategy tester
8. New order
9.  Metaquotes language editor
10. Register a virtual server
11. Register account as a source of trade signals
12. Auto trading
13. Bar charts
14. Candlesticks
15. Line charts
16. Zoom in
17. Zoom out
18. Arrange windows as non-overlapping tile
19. Scroll the chart to the end on tick incoming
20. Shift end of the chart from the right border
21. Indicators list
22. Periods (Timeframes)
23. Templates

The Third Bar

From the far left to the far right

1. Cursor
2. Crosshair
3.  Draw vertical line
4.  Draw horizontal line
5. Draw trendline
6.  Draw equidistant channel
7. Draw Fibonacci retracement
8. Draw text
9. Draw text label
10.  M1 – one-minute timeframe
11. M5 – five-minute timeframe
12.  M15 – fifteen-minute timeframe
13.  M30 – thirty-minute timeframe
14.  H1 – one-hour timeframe
15. H4 – four-hour timeframe
16. D1 – daily timeframe
17.  W1 – weekly timeframe
18. MN – monthly timeframe

The Terminal

The MT4 Terminal is at the bottom of the charts. The first three tabs are the most important to know. As a novice Forex trader, you will rarely need the other tabs. If you cannot see the Terminal go to the toolbar at the top and click on View, click on Terminal.

1. Trade tab shows open trades
2. Exposure – shows your level of account exposure
3. Account history – shows profit and loss. You can right-click on this to show all history, three months, last month or custom history

Opening a Trade

There are two ways of placing a market order on the MT4 Forex Platform. But before you place an order, make sure you have set your preferred lot size.

Click on Tools on the top toolbar and then click options and trade.

See below image

On size by default, click on the dropdown box to the right and choose your lot size. By doing this, when you open any chart, it will default to this lot size. It's easy to miss the lot size and suddenly find you have a 1 lot trade open at £10.00 a tick instead of a 0.01 lot size at £0.10p per tick.

One-Click Order

To the top left of the open chart on MT4, you will see the above image. If you click on SELL, it will open an instant order. If you click on BUY, it will open an instant order.

Unless you have predetermined your parameters for orders, you will need to modify the trade after placement to assign stop loss and take profit prices.

New Order

You can either click on Tools and then New Order or click on the green plus sign on the toolbar. This action opens a dialogue box. The order will default to whichever currency pair you have open. Make sure you have the right currency pair for this new order.

1. In the volume box, check you have the right lot size
2. Enter stop loss and take profit prices
3. Make sure the box says Market Execution
4. Click on Buy or Sell, according to the trade you wish to take
5. Click on OK
6. Your trade is now live and will show in the Terminal underneath the chart.

Closing A Trade

To close a trade, you can wait for the price to hit your take profit price. Or, if you prefer, you can exit the trade manually. To the right of your open trade, which displays live in the Terminal below your chart, you will see an X. If you click on that, it will close the trade.

Modifying A Trade

Right-click on the live trade in the terminal area, and click on 'Modify'. You can then change the stop loss or take profit price.

If you wish to change your stop loss to a Trailing Stop, right-click on the live trade and Trailing Stop Loss. Click on Custom and set your stop loss. Remember, on MT4, the trailing stop loss shows in points. Fifty points is only five pips, which is a tight stop loss. If you wanted fifty pips stop loss, you would set it to 500 in the custom box.

Placing A Pending Order

1. Click on New Order or the green cross on the toolbar
2. The order box should show the currency pair you wish to trade. But check if it is correct
3. Select Pending Order in the dropdown list for order type.
4. Choose if you want to BUY or SELL
   

At this point, you have four options.

• Buy Limit – if you want to go long at a level lower than the market price
• Sell Limit – if you want to go short at a level higher than the market price
• Buy Stop – if you want to go long at a level higher than the market price
• Sell Stop – if you want to go short at a level lower than the market price

After you have selected the pending order type, enter the market price at which you wish to enter the market. Check the lot size is correct and enter your stop loss and take profit price points. You can set an expiry date if you prefer.

Place the order and confirm you wish to proceed. This order will show at the bottom of the chart in the terminal area, beneath any live trades you may have open.

Key Points From This Guide Part

1.     You can download the MT4 platform from your chosen broker and install it on most devices
2.     Check system requirements before downloading the MT4 software
3.     Before you start trading, set up the charts and lot sizes to suit your preferences

Conclusion

The MT4 platform is an excellent platform for trading Forex. You may find it helpful to practice in a demo account first. Before trading Forex live, you need to know how to find your way around the MT4 platform. That way, there's no nasty surprises when you find yourself having to make a quick decision regarding a live trade.

Next: 5 of the Most Popular Trading Strategies