Inserting Line Studies Tools on the MT4 Software

The next option on the Insert menu within the MT4 forex trading software is Line Studies Button. These tools are used to insert & draw trendlines or to place various technical analysis tools on charts. This button is shown below:

Line Studies in MetaTrader 4

The button key can be used to insert the following on charts:

1. Vertical Line
2. Horizontal Line
3. Trend Line
4. Trend by Angle

A trader might need to draw any of these line studies on charts for different purposes: each line study will be placed on the chart depending on the type of analysis that a trader want to achieve.

Vertical Line

This is placed on a chart when a trader wants to mark a particular point in a chart, maybe to mark the time they bought a currency or sold a currency. To insert this vertical line on a chart, a trader will open insert menu, as shown above, then click on 'Vertical Line' option - to select this, cursor will also change to show vertical line icon, then choose point on chart where you want to draw this line.

Insert a Vertical To a Chart in MetaTrader 4

Horizontal Line

On MT4 Forex trade platform, this line is placed on a chart so as to mark a resistance level or a support level on the currency chart. The horizontal line can be plotted by selecting its button within the insert menu and then clicking on the level where you want to place it.

Drawing a Horizontal Line in MetaTrader 4 Online Software

On the example above this horizontal line is plotted at price support point, the price bounces up the second time that it gets to this point. Trend then changes to upward trend direction.

Trend Line

This is one of the most oftenly used analysis tool in Forex trading. To draw this trendline a trader can access this button from the insert menu. An upwards trendline on MT4 is shown below.

Trend Line Drawn in MetaTrader 4

To draw a trend line a trader has to have 2 points and join these points with the trend line & then extend it as shown above.

One can draw this trendline for either an upward trend direction or downward trend direction

Trend Line by Angle

The next option is to draw a trend by angle, this one looks exactly like the ordinary trend line shown above, only that in addition it will show the angle at which the trend line is slanting which many trades may use as a signal and specify to only trade if the angle is more than 30 degrees.

Customizing

As a trader you may want to change the formatting of a specific item for examples let use "Trend Line" study, if you want to edit its properties then you can select it by double clicking on it, then right click on it and the following menu will show.

Changing

Common Properties

After the above menu appears (Note the trend line has three square points that you can click and drag with your mouse to adjust it to another point using these three squares), select the first option only "Trend line Properties", the following popup window will appear.

From this menu one can rename the trend line, give it a description, change the style color to another color using the down arrow next to the color named "Blue" above or change the width property by selecting a different style from the 2 drop down arrow buttons next to the color button, and then choose okay.

The other options are marked 'Parameters' & 'Visualization'

Parameters

On parameter, tick/untick the option marked as 'Ray', this will extend/unextend the trend line up to the point where you have chosen. Download the MetaTrader software to learn what this we are talking about.

Visualization

Visualization is used to select whether the line is displayed on all timeframes or only shown on a choose few timeframes that a trader can select & select from this option as illustrated below.

Customizing Tools MT4 Studies