9 Practical MetaTrader Tips every Trader should know

MetaTrader is among the most used trading platforms and there are many reasons why this Forex platform has become so popular over the years. MetaTrader is not only super user-friendly, it also comes with a variety of great features and functions that make the life of traders easy. In this article, we take a look at the 9 most helpful features and tips that you have to know about when using this software.

Optimus FX Offers both Futures Trading(ES,GC,CL and NQ) and Forex Trading over MT4.

This is via the CQG FIX API bridge.

1. MetaTrader – Using Profiles for an effective routine

When it comes to organizing your MT4 platform, most people completely overlook the profiles function. Within a profile, you can combine and organize your charts much nicer.

For example, the screenshot below shows 4 different profiles: British Pound, Euro, Market Overview, Swiss Franc. When you open a new profile, for example, the British Pound, MetaTrader will show you a multi-timeframe analysis if the GBP/USD pair all in one view with top down timeframes.

So instead of flipping through timeframes endlessly, you can create multiple profiles for different markets that you want to watch. With the combination CTRL + F5 you can easily switch between the different profiles and create a more effective trading routine.

2. OCO order – “One cancels the other” order types for easy trading

The next thing about MetaTrader is that it makes entering a trade and managing orders very easy. The screenshot below shows the regular order execution window in MetaTrader. In MetaTrader, the COC order (One Cancels Other) is standard and it means that when you enter a trade, you can directly set your stop loss and take profit orders at the same time with your entry.

Furthermore, depending on whether price hits your stop loss or take profit order first, MetaTrader cancels the other. So when the price reaches your take profit order, the stop loss automatically gets deleted in MetaTrader.

Whereas you have to manually set stop loss and take profit orders and then also delete orders after you have exited your position in other trading platforms, this is completely automatized in MetaTrader.

3. Dragging orders and assessing risk

In MetaTrader, In addition to moving your stop loss and take profit orders around with one click you can also click on the order and drag it around – MetaTrader directly shows you the potential amount you can win or lose based on the order distance. This is ideal when it comes to managing risk, sizing positions or trailing your stop loss. In the screenshot below you can see that when you click on your take profit, for example, MetaTrader shows you the potential money amount you can win when the price reaches your order and it also gives you the pip distance.

If you enter a new trade, you can also just click on the entry order, hold your mouse down and MetaTrader will then allow you to create new stop loss and/or take profit orders.

4. The multi-purpose crosshair

The crosshair in MetaTrader is a great tool that makes the life of traders much easier. Simply click on your mouse wheel or use the MetaTrader hotkey CTRL + F and you will see the crosshair in the price chart.

When you click and hold your right mouse button, you can then activate the measurement feature of the MetaTrader crosshair. Move your cursor around and MetaTrader will show you the distance between the price level where you first clicked and your current cursor position.

The crosshair function is ideal to measure potential stop loss/take profit distances, explore chart pattern targets or measure other price distances.

MetaTrader will show you three numbers next to your cursor:

1) The amount of periods between your current mouse position and the start

2) The amount of pips between your current mouse position and the start

3) The current price level

5. Text on trendline

MetaTrader offers a lot of great chart studies and charting tools, but it’s very easy to lose track of what you were trying to show with the different trendlines and chart studies. You can annotate individual trendlines and then display the information right on your chart.

When creating a new trendline, enter the information you want to see on your charts under “Description” and it will show this text directly on the trendline.

When it comes to trendlines, MetaTrader has another feature. Once you have created a trendline, select it, press CTRL and MetaTrader will then copy the trendline. This is an especially helpful shortcut when it comes to drawing parallel channels or quickly creating a new line.

6. MetaTrader Window split

Many traders follow the habit of endlessly flipping through timeframes where they randomly go through the same charts again and again without really knowing what they are looking for. In the first point, we showed how to set up profiles in MetaTrader to structure and organize your trading platform effectively.

With MetaTrader’s function of splitting windows easily, you can create better views within your profiles. Simply click on Window in the top menu and choose from one of the styles that show up. MetaTrader will then take the currently opened charts in your profile and arrange them based on your selection.

7. MetaTrader’s free backtesting

Many traders spend hundreds of Dollars on backtesting software where MetaTrader offers a built in function for free. You can scroll back in a chart in MetaTrader and when you then hit the F12 button on your keyboard, MetaTrader scrolls forward one candle at a time.

This is a great way to replay previous price action and sharpen your skills. Some traders use the F12 backtesting method to replay their past trading week and see if they missed trades or could have done something differently.

8. Drag and drop orders on a chart

Not many traders know about this feature but you can visualize your closed trades directly on your charts. For that, open your terminal (hotkey CTRL + T), go to account history and then drag and drop a trade onto your chart.

MetaTrader will then draw the entry and the exit with 2 arrows and connect the distance with a dotted line. MetaTrader also visualizes the stop loss order and take profit orders with small red and blue lines.

This feature is especially helpful if you want to save screenshots of your older trades. This way, you don’t have to mark them manually and you can do the process much faster.

9. Using price alerts

Alerts are a great way to stay on top of things and using price alerts also makes sure that you don’t miss trades. In MetaTrader, creating price alerts is very simple. Just right-click on the price level where you want to set your price alert to, go to Trading and then select Alert. Then, MetaTrader will show you a red arrow with a dotted line on the right which indicates the price level of the alert.

Once price reaches the alert level, MetaTrader will output an audio signal and notify you about the event.

As you can see, MetaTrader is much more than a regular trading platform but its unique features can be used to help you organize your whole trading approach and stay on top of things, improving the way you handle your trading.

Click on the next link to view MetaTrader’s Tutorial Videos 

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