Options Settings on Tools Menu on MetaTrader 4 FX Trading Platform
The options button is used for a variety of many different tasks on the MetaTrader 4. The options button is listed within the tools menu in the MT4 as shown below. The Shortcut keys for this - Ctrl+O.
MT4 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, Server will show the server of your broker and if it is a Demo or a Real Server. The account login and password will also be displayed below and as a trader you can change the password from this window for demo 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 checked by default, that way the platform will automatically remember your login and password so that you do not have to type them every time you login to your platform. Enable DDE server is not required, Enable news is checked and you can receive real time news to your MT4 on the News options, located in the Terminal window, (Shortcut Ctrl+T).
Forex Trading Chart
The following are marked on Charts Options
Show Trade Levels – These lines will show levels where orders were placed, it will also show levels where pending orders are placed. This will also show the Take Profit and Stop Loss levels. These trade levels lines appear as red broken lines marking these trade levels.
If there is no open transaction, no level will be shown; if many trades have been placed, multiple lines will be displayed for these levels.
Use Alt key to drag trade levels is not a very suitable option to use, because if you place many orders you may change wrong order, therefore it is better 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 Prices for every candlestick
Show Ask Line - Show the Bid Price, (no need for this)
Show period separators – a separator will draw a line where the daily chart starts and 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 market closes for each trading day. (4 Hour separator is Weekly, for Daily & Weekly separator is Monthly).
Color Print - To print in color and not black white which is set by default, use this option and then the next time you print it will be a colored print and not black and white.
Save deleted charts to reopen – Save all charts which are deleted & these can be accessed later at any time within.
Max bars in History, Max bars in Chart – To save computer resources RAM, Processor Speed & Hard disk Space, these bars stored are limited to a specific number that is optimum, it is better to use default number selected.
Objects
These are:
Show properties after creation – immediately show indicator/line tool settings after it is added on chart to facilitate editing of their property settings.
Select Object after creation – an indicator/line tool can be selected by double clicking on it once it is drawn, to facilitate editing of its properties.
Select object by single mouse click - choose an indicator/line tool using single mouse click not by double clicking, double clicking will display properties window of indicator/line tool
Magnet Sensitivity - immediately plot a line tool to the nearest low or high that is 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 price.
Trade
These are the default used by the platform to determine what currency pair you buy and what amount you buy.
Symbol by Default – Automatically set to the open chart that you have open
Size by default - Automatically use 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 and 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 example 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. (Do not use this option as it is prone to mistakes and 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 expert advisor to be placed on chart for automated execution purposes
Disable experts when accounts have been changed – log in to a different account deactivates EAs
Disable Experts when profile has been change - When you change profiles the EAs 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 EA to open trades on the live currency exchange market.
(Ask Manual Confirmation – no needs for this if you are using EAs, leave this one as it is shown without checking it.)
Allow DLL imports – Dynamic Link Libraries, which are external, unless required this should be left unchecked. (External means that these libraries are referenced from external sources outside of your 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 Expert Advisor that is in another place, away from your PC Desktop computer, (External means these Expert Advisor Forex Robots are referenced from an external source outside your computer, so be careful with this option)
Notifications
To receive notification to your mobile phone from your MT4 software, use the notifications option shown below. Not that you require to have a registration ID, from Metaquotes to start receiving these notifications sent to your phone via text messages.
Check the option, Enable Push Notifications, put your ID, press test and you should get a test notification text message. You require to first register for this ID, to do so, use the following window on your MT4 and follow the instruction you will get from this Notification window.
Email Settings
Most traders may not really need this, but if you are one of those that require, settings can be placed below.
Lets use this company, that owns this website, 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 and put these as shown below. Click test & check your inbox 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, price level alert and requote alert.
The various types of alert actions that can be set for any event can be selected by double clicking on event action, pressing the dropdown arrow & then selecting the alert action that you want from the dropdown list shown & illustrated below.
MQL5 Forex Trading EA Robots Community
The MQL5 community is a community where traders can find others and Exchange Expert Advisors and Forex Signals with each other. 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 and go to the window shown below and follow the instructions.
FX Trading Signals - MQL5 Forex Trading Signals
The 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 signal service
Enable Real time signal subscription – allow realtime transmission of trading signals to your platform.
Use Trusted Execution Token(TET) - Trusted execution token means you do not have to open your MetaTrader 4 on your computer to have signals executed, Trusted Execution Token will allow signals to be executed even if your MT4 is not started on your computer.
Copy Stop Loss and Take Profit Levels - Copy these levels from the signal provider automatically.
Use no more than - Option for money management, set an amount of 10% for aggressive traders and 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 & 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 and there when executing trades with your broker, especially if your broker is one of those that requotes you. (Get an STP Broker with No-Requotes Policy to guarantee execution of your trades and avoid these slippages).
