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Create Date: 2008-08-20 08:05:26 | Popularity Level: 21 |
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2008-08-20 08:11:17
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MetaTrader 4 Window
In this article I review MT4 window. You can easily manage the visibility of the elements of this window. You may also change the location of these elements. What I show you here could be called a typical arrangement of the MT4 window elements. You as the trader can decide which elements to see and where to place them. You can even change their sizes.
The attached image shows a typical MT4 window.
The 'Title Bar' of the window shows the name of the platform. The name of the platform usually refers to the name of the broker that you have obtained MetaTrader from. The Title Bar also shows the name and the timeframe of the current chart.
I have divided the MT4 window into different sections. The following pages explain each section. Here is a quick list of those sections:
Section 1: Menus and Toolbars
Section 2: Market Watch window
Section 3: Charts Area
Section 4: Navigator Window
Section 5: Terminal Window
Section 6: Status Bar
1. Menus and Toolbars
MT4 dropdown menus give you access to different capabilities of this program. To reach a menu you can either directly click on the menu title or press the 'Alt' key plus the underlined letter of the menu. For example 'Alt+F' opens the File menu. When a menu is open with Alt key you can press the underlined letter to select an option. For example when the File menu is open if you press 'N' you select the 'New Chart' option.
For more information about Menu options:
When MT4 is open press F1 or alternatively from the Help menu select 'Help Topics'.
The 'Userguide' window opens. Select the 'Contents' tab. This tab is active by default.
Click the + sign next to the 'User Interface' option.
Click the + sign next to the 'Main Menu' option.
Click on any item under this option to know more about the relevant menu. The following image shows you how to reach these help topics.
MetaTrader toolbars offer you several icons that make it very easy to access commands and features of MT4. You can control the visibility of the toolbars by selecting the Toolbar option from the View menu. If you click on the name of each toolbar you can toggle the visibility of that toolbar. See the following figure
2. Market Watch Window
The market watch window gives you the ability to quickly view the latest Ask and Bid price of the symbols you can trade. In MT4 'symbol' refers to the item that is available for trading. In most cases a symbol is a currency pair. Brokers may use different symbols for the same currency pair but they usually follow the ISO standard for naming the currencies. For example USDJPY refers to US Dollar versus Japanese Yen.
By default you see the name of the symbol and the Ask and Bid price of the symbol. You also see those symbols that are traded the most by users or are more popular among the customers of your broker. If you would like to see all of the symbols or add more information to this window you need to right click in the Market Watch window area. A menu appears. Select the proper option from this menu to activate or deactivate it. For example if you select 'Show All' you see all of the symbols in the menu. If you select 'Time' you see the last time the price of the symbol is changed. The following image shows the context menu of the Market Watch window.
At the bottom of the Market Watch Window you can see two tabs. The default tab 'Symbols' shows the price of the symbols. You can also select the 'Tick Chart' tab to see the tick chart of the selected symbol. Unlike standard charts 'tick chart' is independent of the time but depends on the movements of the price. Every time the price changes a line forms in this chart. Depending on the current situation of the market the time difference between two ticks could be less than a second or several minutes (assuming the market is open of course). See the following image for a sample tick chart. The default price in the tick chart is Bid.
3. Charts Area
In this section you can see one or more charts. You can open more than one chart at the same time. To open a chart you may select its relevant symbol from the Market Watch window. Right-click in the window. From the context menu select the 'Chart Window' option. You may virtually open as many charts as you want. Each chart contains valuable information. The following image shows a sample 'bar chart'. I discuss chart types under Forex articles and tutorials.
4. Navigator Window
This window gives you access to your accounts, Expert Advisors, Indicators, Custom Indicators, and Scripts. I discuss the last four items in other articles. To switch between accounts click the + sign next to the 'Accounts'. Double-click on the account name/number. A dialog box appears. Click 'Login' to login to the selected account. If you do not select 'Save Account Information' in this dialog box you need to enter your password prior to clicking 'Login'. The following images show the Navigator window and the login dialog box respectively.
5. Terminal Window
Terminal window consists of several tabs. Each tab shows you valuable information. Here is a list of those tabs and what they have to offer you.
Trade: This tab shows you your open and pending trades. It also gives you the ability to manage these trades. For example you can right-click on a trade and either Modify its settings or close it. You also see valuable information about your account such as your account balance, your equity, and much more. The following image shows a sample Trade tab inside the Terminal window. If you click on the title of each column MT4 sorts the list based on that column.
Account History: Shows you a list of closed or cancelled trades. You can create a history of your trades. Right-click in the tab area and either select 'Save As Report' or 'Save As Detailed Report'. MT4 prompts you for the name and location of the report file. The report file is in HTML format. The following image shows the Account History tab.
News: Shows the latest news published by your broker. Depending on the broker this section could be disabled. They usually get the news from an agency and then report it here. You only see the headlines. To see more details about each headline you need to double-click on it.
Alerts: You can build trading alerts in this tab. To create an alert right-click in the tab area and fill out the dialog box. See the following image.
Mailbox: This tab is similar to a communication centre. The broker sends messages to their customers through this tab. For example they may post messages about early closure of the market here.
Experts: If you use Expert Advisors to trade automatically or monitor the market movements you see messages about them in this tab. For example you could see error messages or messages about requesting a new trade or modifying and existing one by your active Expert Advisors.
Journal: This tab resembles a log file. It reports issues related to MT4 and your activity. For example a failed login, changes to a trade, and so on. You might like to know that MT4 also creates some log files based on these reports.
6. Status Bar
The status bar shows the connection status to your broker's server. It also shows you short help messages.
7. Other Windows
There are some windows other than those explained in this article. For example the 'Data Window' shows textual information about the current chart, or the 'Strategy Tester' window that you can use to back-test our automated trading systems. To view these windows, use the 'View' menu. The following images show these two windows respectively.
8. Keyboard Shortcuts
The following image shows the keyboard shortcuts to toggle the visibility of MT4 windows. As you can see if you press the 'F11' function key you can enable/disable the Full Window option.
See the full article here: www.forexbrace.com/content/view/16/52/ |
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