Options Setting on Tools Menu on MT4 Platform Software

Options button is used for a variety of many different tasks on the MetaTrader 4. Options button is listed within the tools menu in MT4 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 screenshot below. As a trader to edit anything on this window just click on any of these buttons & then change the settings.

Server

The server settings for MetaTrader 4 are illustrated below. A trader can edit from the tab, but most of the times it's not necessary as these options are automatically preset to the brokers' server settings by broker and there's no need to re-adjust them. However, just for tutorial purposes, Server will show the server of your broker and if it's a Demo or a Real Server. The account login & password will also be displayed below & as a forex trader you can change the password from this window for demo trading accounts, however be careful if you're changing passwords particulars make sure to remember them.

Other options are, enable proxy server, this is not required, Keep personal information at startup, this is checked by default, that way the platform will automatically remember your login & password so that you do not have to type and key them every time you sign in to your platform. Enable DDE server isn't required, Enable the news is ticked and you as a fx trader can use to receive real time news data to your MT4 on News options, located in the Terminal window, (Shortcut Ctrl+T).

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 set. This also will show the TP & Stop Loss levels. These trade levels lines appear as red broken lines marking these trade levels.

If there is no open trade, no level will be illustrated: if many trades have been placed, multiple lines will be displayed for these zones.

Use Alt key to drag trade levels isn't a very suitable option to use, because if you place many orders you might change wrong order, henceforth it is better to leave this as it is and 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 candle

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 five minutes, 15 minute or 1H Charts the period separator will draw a vertical line when the market closes for every day. (4 Hour separator is Weekly, for Daily and Weekly separator is Monthly).

Colour Print - To print in color and not black white which is set by default, use this option and then 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 and these can be accessed later at any time within.

Max bars in History, Maximum bars on Chart - To save computer resources RAM, Processor Speed & Hard disk Space, these bars stored are limited to a specific number that's 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.

Choose Object after creation - a technical indicator/line tool can be chosen by doubleclicking on it once it's plotted, to facilitate editing of its parameters.

Select object by single mouse click - choose a trading indicator/line tool using single mouse click not by doubleclicking, double clicking will display properties window of indicator/line tool

Magnet Sensitivity - immediately plot 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 they are intended without having to do much editing by aligning these lines to the nearest high or low point of price.

Trade

These are default used by the software 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 the last lot size, or set every trade to be default of 1 lot or 2 lots or 1 micro lot or 2 micro lots by select the default button & then selecting the number of lots from the drop don listing next to this option.

Deviation - Set the allowed number of pips that can move away when executing an order for example two pips, or zero pips if you want to specify to place trades at the exact level where you press.

One Click trading - Place trades buy/sell with one click. (don't 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:

following options are used:

Enable Expert Advisors - Allow for EA to be placed on the chart for automated execution purposes

Disable experts when trading accounts have been changed - log in to a different account deactivates Expert Advisors

Disable Experts when profile has been change - When you change profiles the EAs setting for allowing automated EA trading on the 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 currency exchange market.

(Ask Manual Confirmation - no needs for this if you're using Expert Advisors, leave this one as it's illustrated without checking it.)

Allow D.L.L. Imports - Dynamic Link Library, which are external, unless required this option should be left unchecked. (External which means that these libraries are referenced from an external source outside of your Desktop 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 set trading parameters.

Allow External Experts imports - This is used to allow your Expert Advisor to reference some data from another EA that's in another place, away from your Desktop computer, (External means these Expert Advisor Bots are referenced from an external source outside your PC computer, so be careful on this setting)

Notifications

To receive notification on your mobile 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 start receiving the notifications that get sent to your mobile phone through 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 MetaTrader 4 and follow the instruction you'll 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 set below.

Lets use this company, that owns this web site, www.tradeforextrading.com, click & check the button labeled "Enable" the respective mail settings are shown below & the SMTP setting is "SMTP: Port 465", Select and put these as illustrated below. Click test and 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 placed for different types of events such as timeout, connect, disconnect, news, Expert Advisor, EA confirmation, price level alert & requote alert.

The different types of alerts actions that can be set for any event can be chosen by doubleclicking on event action, pressing the dropdown arrow & then selecting the alert action that you want from the dropdown list shown & illustrated below.

MQL5 EA Bots Community

The MQL5 community is a forum where traders can find others and Exchange Expert Advisors & 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 & register in this community, sign in to your MetaTrader 4 software and navigate to panel shown below & follow the instructions.

FX Signals - MQL5 Signals

Signal settings are provided by MQL5, MQL5 is the creator of MetaTrader Software. The Signal 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 Realtime signal subscription - allow realtime transmission of signals to your platform.

Use Trusted Execution Token(TET) - Trusted execution token means you don't have to open your MT4 on your 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 PC.

Copy Stop Loss and Take Profit Levels - Copy these levels from the signal provider automatically.

Use no more than - Option for equity management, set an amount of 10% for the aggressive traders & 5% for the 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 online broker, especially if your broker is one of those that re-quotes you. (Get an STP Online Broker with No Requotes Policy to guarantee execution of your trades & avoid these slippages).

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