Options Settings on Tools Menu in MT4 Software
The options button is used for a variety of many different tasks on the MetaTrader 4. The Option button is listed within tools menu in MetaTrader 4 as illustrated below. The Short-cut key for this - Ctrl+O.
MetaTrader 4 Options Settings
These are shown below: the list of various buttons are displayed as tabs as displayed on the image below. As a trader to edit anything on this window just click on any of these button keys & then change the settings.
Server
The server settings for MetaTrader 4 are shown below. A trader can edit from this tab, but most of the times it is not necessary as these options are automatically preset to the brokers’ server settings by the broker and there is no need to re-adjust them. However, just for guide purposes, the Server will show the server of your cfd broker and if it is a Demo or a Real Server. The account login & password will also be displayed below and as a trader you can change the password from this window for demo cfd accounts, however be careful if you are changing passwords make sure to remember them.
Other options are, enable proxy server, this is not required, Keep personal data at startup, this is ticked by default, that way the trading platform will automatically remember your log in & password so that you do not have to type & key them every time you login to your platform. Enable DDE server is not required, Enable news is ticked and you as a trader can use receive real time news data to your MetaTrader 4 on News options, located in Terminal window, (Shortcut Ctrl+T).
CFD Trading Chart
The following are marked on the Charts Options
Show Trade Levels - These lines will show levels where orders were placed, it will also show levels where pending cfd orders are placed. This will also show the Take Profit CFDs Order & Stop Loss CFD Order levels. These trade zones lines appear as red broken lines marking these trade areas.
If there is no open trade, no level will be shown: if many trades have been placed, multiple lines will be displayed for these zones.
Use the Alt key to drag trade levels is not a very suitable option to use, because if you place many orders you may change the wrong order, therefore it is best to leave this as it is & not change it (Probability of this one losing you money is there so leave as it is)
Show OHCL - Show Opening, High, Closing & Low CFD Prices for every candlestick
Show Ask Line - Show the Bid CFD Price, (no need for this)
Show period separators - a separator will draw a line where the daily chart starts & ends, for example if you trade with 5 minutes, 15 minute or 1 Hour Charts the period separator will draw a vertical line when the cfd market closes for each trading day. (4 H separator is Weekly, for Daily & Weekly separator is Monthly).
Color Print - To print in color & not black white which is set by default, use this option & then the next time you print it will be a colored print & not black & white.
Save deleted charts to reopen - Save all charts that are deleted and these can be accessed later at any time within.
Max bars in History, Max bars in Chart - To save computer resources RAM, Processor Speed and Hard disk Space, these bars stored are limited to a specific number that is optimum, it is best to use the default number selected.
Objects
These are:
Show properties after creation - immediately display indicator/line tool settings after it is added on chart to facilitate editing of their property settings.
Choose Object after creation - an technical indicator/line tool can be chosen by double-clicking on it once it is drawn, to facilitate editing of its properties.
Select object by single mouse click - select an indicator/line tool using single mouse click not by double-clicking, double clicking will display properties panel of indicator/line tool
Magnet Sensitivity - immediately draw a line tool to the nearest low or high that's within 10 pixels of the point selected. This allows for lines drawn to more or less be placed on the levels that they are intended without much editing by aligning these lines to the nearest high or low of cfd price.
Trade
These are default used by the platform to determine what cfd instrument you buy and what amount you buy.
Symbol by Default - Automatically set to the open chart that you've open
Size by default - Automatically use the last lot size, or set every trade to be default 1 lot or 2 lots or 1 micro lot or 2 micro lots by choose the default button key & then selecting the number of lots from the drop don list next to this option.
Deviation - Set the allowed number of pips that can move away when executing an order for examples 2 pips, or zero pips if you want to specify to place trades at the exact level where you click.
One Click trading - Place trades buy or sell with one click. (don't use this option as it is prone to mistakes & no time to correct, this option can lose you money.)
Expert Advisors
Expert Advisors window is shown below:
The following options are used:
Enable Expert Advisors - Allow for EA to be placed on chart for automated execution purposes
Disable experts when trading accounts have been changed - login to a different account deactivates Expert Advisors
Disable Experts when profile has been change - When you change profiles the Expert-Advisors setting for allowing trading in new profile is deactivated until you allow and manually place an Expert Advisor on this newly opened chart.
Allow Live Trading - Give Permission to Expert Advisor to open trades on the live cfd trading market.
(Ask Manual Confirmation - no needs for this if you're using EAs, leave this as it is shown without checking it.)
Allow DLL imports - Dynamic Link Libraries, which are external, unless required this option should be left unticked. (External which means that these libraries are referenced from an external source outside of your Desktop PC computer, so be careful with this one)
Confirm DLL functions calls - Exercise manual permission for every function call, either allow it or disallow it depending on your trade parameters.
Allow External Experts imports - This is used to allow your Expert Advisor to reference some data from another EA that is in another place, away from your Desktop PC computer, (External means these EA CFD Robots are referenced from an external source outside your computer, so be careful with this option)
Notifications
To receive notification on your phone from your MetaTrader 4 software, use the notifications option shown below. Not that you're required to have a registration sign up ID, from MetaQuotes to begin receiving the notifications that get sent to your mobile phone through text messages.
Check the option, Enable Push Notifications, put your ID, press test & you should get a test notification text message. You require to first sign up for this ID, to do so, use the following panel on your MT4 and follow the instruction you will get from this Notification window.
Email Settings
Most traders might not really need this, but if you're one of those that require, the settings can be set below.
Lets use this company, that owns this web site, www.tradeforextrading.com, click and check the button labeled 'Enable' the respective mail settings are shown below and the SMTP setting is 'SMTP: Port 465', Select & put these as displayed below. Click test & check your in-box to confirm you receive the message.
Events
Events in MetaTrader 4 are notifications, either sound notification, an email or SMS alert. The notifications can be set for different events such as timeout, connect, disconnect, news, Expert Advisor, EA confirmation, cfd price level alert and requote alert.
Various types of alert actions which can be set for any event can be chosen by double clicking on event action, pressing the dropdown arrow and then selecting the alert action that you want from the drop-down list shown & illustrated below.
MQL5 CFDs Trading EA Bots Forum
The MQL5 forum is a forum where traders can find others & Exchange Expert Advisors & CFD Signals with each other. CFD traders have to register to this community and can then access services from their platform directly. To get details on how to access and register in this community, login to your MetaTrader 4 software & go to window shown below and follow the instructions.
MQL5 Trading Signals
Signal settings are provided by MQL5, MQL5 is the owner of MetaTrader Software. The Signals service allows traders to adjust the following:
Signal - First Subscribe to a signal
Agree to Terms - Agree to the terms of using the trading signal service
Enable Real time tading signal subscription - allow real time transmission of trading signals to your platform.
Use Trusted Execution Token( TET ) - Trusted execution token means you don't have to open your MT4 on your PC Desktop computer to have signals executed, Trusted Execution Token will allow signals to be executed even if your MetaTrader 4 is not started on your computer Desktop PC.
Copy Stop Loss CFDs Order & Take Profit CFD Order Levels - Copy these levels from the signal provider automatically.
Use no more than - Option for cfd money management, set an amount of 10% for aggressive traders & 5% for non aggressive traders, that way you limit your risk capital in your account.
Stop if equity is less than - Set a percentage to calculate this level for example if your equity is $10,000 then use 70%, that is $7,000 and set this amount: if the signal makes a loss up to this point the signal execution is stopped.
Deviation/Slippage - you can set a value like 2 so as to give some flexibility in case of slippage of a few pips here & there when executing trades with your broker, especially if your cfd broker is one of those who requotes you. (Get an STP Broker with No-Requotes Policy to guarantee execution of your trades & avoid these slippages).
