Now, if you happen to’ve spent virtually any time trying to find the word ‘Forex’…
…you’ve undoubtedly come across MT4, aka MetaTrader 4!
The MT4 platform might be one in all the very first platforms you’re introduced to in Foreign currency trading.
I mean, it’s written up at almost every Forex broker!
But if you happen to’re anything like me, there’s at all times been an enormous downside to it…
…every part looks so complicated!…
And to be honest, there’s a truth to that.
You really do need those extra tools. (eventually)
Luckily, within the previous guide…
I taught you the way to arrange your MT4 platform from absolute scratch in just 10 minutes…
…and it even shows you the way to manage your risk on the platform, too!
So, with that in place, I’ll share with you the precise workflow I’ve been using for years in today’s guide.
I’ve turn into ultra-efficient with it now, enabling me to research tens of charts and manage all of my trades in lower than 5 minutes a day.
You’re about to learn it too!
Specifically, you’ll cover…
- What your MT4 platform should appear like, and the way it’s meant for use
- The one element that it is best to at all times have in your trading plan to be sure that you never run out of trading opportunities
- My “secret” technique on the way to find trades across tens of charts in lower than 3 minutes
- The “best” tools you’ll be able to ever acquire and use for MT4
Ready?
Then let’s start…
MT4 Suggestions and Tricks: Simplifying your platform
On this guide…
I’ll teach you a repeatable process that you could follow to completely utilize MT4 – regardless of what trading strategy you will have.
And to attain that, “simplifying” your platform is available in three steps.
1. Declutter your platform
Your first step is to declutter every part in your chart…
Next, select only the tools you wish on the tabs (as you don’t need most of them)…
And yes, see those extra tabs?
Close them as well!…
Finally, press “F8” and customize the colours in your chart…
After that, you’ll have a platform that appears something like this…
As an alternative of this mess!…
2.Develop a template
The explanation why this is significant is that you could immediately apply your “chosen” indicators to any chart you see…
To do that, simply place the indications you normally use and save them as a template…
Now…
The whole lot you’ve learned thus far is in preparation for what you’ll see later.
A successful setup lays out the muse to execute your trading strategy!
But first, I’ll share with you probably the most crucial aspect to think about when constructing a trading plan…
MT4 Suggestions and Tricks: Define your market selection method
For those who take a look at every successful trader on the market with a trading plan, there’s at all times one thing they’ve in common…
A market selection rule
Every consistent trader has a technique on the way to seek for markets to trade.
For some, they’ve a set of markets completely fixed on their watchlists!
To be fair, it is a topic that deserves a latest guide by itself… (so watch this space!)
But for example, I actually have a set set of markets to trade, which you’ll be able to try below…
Major pairs:
- EURUSD
- GBPUSD
- USDCHF
- USDJPY
- AUDUSD
- NZDUSD
- USDCAD
Cross-currency pairs:
- EURCHF
- EURGBP
- EURAUD
- EURJPY
- EURCAD
- GBPCHF
- GBPAUD
- GBPJPY
- GBPCAD
- AUDCHF
- AUDJPY
- AUDNZD
- AUDCAD
- CADJPY
- CADCHF
- NZDJPY
- NZDCHF
- NZDCAD
- CHFJPY
Briefly, I don’t need to alter my watchlist as Forex is usually liquid enough to trade almost on a regular basis.
But again, that is just an example!
Stock traders use a stock filter, while some forex traders use a currency strength meter, which you can even try here.
The core principle stays:
You could have a market selection rule that you could execute consistently without counting on other trader’s opinions.
Next…
Once you will have established your watchlist, it is best to reap the benefits of MT4’s mult-chart tool…
Mainly, enter the markets in your watchlist (you’ll be able to split your watchlist if it’s too many) by opening multiple charts and pressing ALT + R…
After which click the “Default” text at the underside and save your template…
You possibly can repeat this process again, depending on what number of watchlists you will have!
When you’ve established your watchlist, you’ll be able to simply select the template, and your watchlist will likely be shown accordingly…
Now, what’s next?
How will we cope with all of those charts?
Do I tediously analyze them one after the other?
Well, you can try this – but that may take rather a lot longer than 20 minutes!
So, how can we streamline this process?
Let me show you in the subsequent section…
MT4 Suggestions and Tricks: Bottom-up approach
The very first thing you should do when presented with an ocean of charts is take a deep breath…
…and deal with your setups.
Your trading setup may very well be a particular chart pattern, reminiscent of the bull flag…
Or perhaps a false breakout setup…
What matters is that you just’re limiting what you seek for on a specific chart.
It’s going to make it easier to hit the buy button and understand how you propose to enter the trade itself.
I showed you price motion setups, but there are indicator setups as well, which you’ll be able to learn more about here.
Remember the watchlist templates I shared with you some time ago?
Good.
Because all that’s left so that you can do is to undergo all of those watchlist templates with multi-chart enabled…
Remember – the only thing that it is advisable search for is your setups.
Nothing else!
You don’t analyze the trend…
…you don’t discover support and resistance… (not yet.)
…you simply have to discover your trading setup!
So, in this instance, let’s use price motion setups.
Specifically, only flag patterns.
Ready?
So, let’s take a look.
On the 1st template (that are the most important pairs), do you see any valid flag pattern entries?…
Sure, now we have these…
But they haven’t broken out yet, so which means our setup isn’t yet valid. Moving on.
Next template…
None?
Yep, nothing here.
Next…
Also none!
Next…
OK, looks like we got one!
This time, it has indeed broken above the flag pattern and has formed a sound entry trigger.
So, pay attention to that currency pair and move on to the subsequent.
Finally, the last template for this instance…
…and, none there.
Done!
Pretty easy, right?
In lower than 3 minutes, you’ve checked out tens of charts but extracted only the markets that matter.
This protects a tonne of time and makes the trading process way more efficient!
So, what do you do with the Forex pair that has a sound entry trigger?
Well, that’s the one to research!
Now, because it seems, the worth is above the 200-period moving average…
At the identical time, the worth made an inverse head and shoulders pattern, and the flag pattern was only a confirmation…
This shows that the worth is showing signs of bullishness.
As for take profits, you’ll be able to consider selling before the closest high, and stops below the lows of the flag pattern…
Now, stop a moment.
Imagine if you happen to had to do that same process with 20+ charts… each time…
…you’d probably go nuts, right!?
As an alternative, you simply pick the market with a sound “entry trigger” out of your setup and analyze it from there.
As time goes by, you’ll find a way to finish this process in lower than 5 minutes, I promise!
(I trade off the every day timeframe, and I check the charts once a day, if you happen to trade the lower timeframes, you then’d have to examine more often)
With that said…
Let’s top things off with some tools you’ll be able to consider adding to your MT4 platform.
MT4 Suggestions and Tricks: Extra tools indicators and tools to enhance your trading
So perhaps every time you hear the word “indicator”, you mostly imagine something like this…
But on this section, I’ll share with you something far more sensible than that.
Ready for a game-changer?
Well, it’s FXBlue’s integrated trade management tool…
Yes, that’s right…
FXBlue’s trade terminal could be integrated directly inside your MT4 platform!
This advantages you more if you happen to’re a day trader, because it has multiple options for managing different sorts of positions.
Consider this as your trading portfolio’s ”air traffic controller.”
One other thing to think about using is FXBlue’s mini terminal…
An excellent aspect of this plugin is its multiple features.
It really simplifies risk management, and you’ll be able to even use a trend line as a stop loss!
However the thing that makes this tool one of the best is that you could literally use it as a simulator.
Just press CTRL + R…
Select the mini terminal…
You possibly can then practice your trading using historical data!
It’s so useful I’ve also got a guide on how you’ll be able to go about back-testing price motion like this here.
At any rate, these trading tools will help take your trading execution and management to a much higher level.
With that said, let’s do a fast recap of what you’ve learned today!
Conclusion
Despite its age, MT4 stays among the finest trading platforms for Foreign currency trading on the market.
It has available custom indicators and expert advisors (not necessarily trading robots) so that you can reap the benefits of.
By taking a while to integrate these MT4 suggestions and tricks, I’m certain you’ll be able to improve your trading efficiency very quickly!
Here’s what you’ve learned today…
- Methods to simplify your MT4 platform, declutter tabs, and develop a “master template” that features all of your indicators
- Understanding that market selection rule is crucial, benefiting from the multi-chart feature to take all of it in at a look
- Using the bottom-to-top approach with watchlists, only analyzing valid setups
- Exploring FXBlue’s free tools to assist you get one of the best out of the entire platform
And there you go!
A whole guide that further shows suggestions and tricks on the platform!
Note that I’ve been using this same process for around 3 years now, and I’m completely confident that this same process will assist you out immensely.
Now I actually need to know…
What’s your experience with MT4? (I’m sure you will have some!)
Do you will have certain setups you favor?
How does it compare to different trading platforms?
Let me know within the comments below!