The ChoosaBroker Trading Academy
13.2. How to Create and Adjust MT4 Charts
MetaTrader 4 charts are easy to set up and use. The wide array of in-built technical indicators and studies enable a trader to implement even the most complex of strategies. This tutorial contains the following basic information that you need to know to start working with MT4 charts:
- How to Create MT4 Charts?
- How to Add Technical Indicators?
- How to Add Chart Object?
- How to Select Time frame?
- How to Save Charts?
MetaTrader 4 Chart Settings
The appearance and properties of charts on the MT4 terminal can be set up individually by pressing F8. This result in popping up of the “Properties” window that can be used to define the following elements of a chart –
- Background Colour
- Foreground Colour
- Chart Grid Colour
- Up Bar Colour
- Down Bar Colour
- Line Chart Colour
- Volumes and Levels of Open Positions Colour
- Ask Line Colour
- Stop Order Level Colours
- Offline Chart – To stop charts from receiving price data.
- Chart on Foreground – Places a chart on the “foreground,” with all analytical objects appearing “under” the price chart.
- Chart Shift – Shifts charts from the right side of the window to the desired shift mark.
- Chart Auto-Scroll – Enables the chart to the automatically shift to the left after a new bar has begun to form.
- Scale Fix – Fixes the chart scale as “one-to-one.”
- Bar Chart – Chart are displayed as sequence of bars.
- Candlesticks – Chart are displayed as sequence of candlesticks.
- Line chart – Chart are displayed as a sequence of dots connected by a line.
- Show OHLC – Displays the OPEN, HIGH, LOW and CLOSE for each time-frame selected.
- Show Ask Line – Shows the last quoted Ask price level.
- Show Period Separators – Show the date and time of each bar on the horizontal axis of the chart.
- Show Grid – Displays grids in the chart window.
- Show Volumes – Makes the volume chart visible in the lower part of the window.
- Show Object Descriptions – Provides descriptions of the underlying asset contract in the chart.
Working With Indicators
In order to add a technical indicator to an MT4 chart the below steps need to be followed:
Step 1: Navigate to the upper left hand corner of the chart window and click on “Insert” in the tool bar.
Step 2: From the drop-down list, select “Indicators”
Step 3: Choose the indicator you want to insert in the chart. If it is a custom indicator, it will be available under the “Custom” tab.
Step 4: Next, a menu will open that will allow you to select the indicator settings.
Step 5: Choose the desired settings and press “Ok.” The indicator will now be displayed on your chart
Working With Objects
To add an analytical object to a MT4 chart, click on any of the default drawing objects available on the tool bar. From left to right, these are –
- Cursor
- Crosshair
- Vertical Line
- Horizontal Line
- Trendline
- Equidistant Channels
- Fibonacci Retracement Levels
- Text
- Arrows
To insert the object in a chart, click on it and then click on the chart location where you want the object to be added.
Changing Time Frames
To select or change a chart time frame, a user has to implement the following steps:
Step 1: Navigate to the upper left hand corner of the MT4 window and click on “Chart” in the tool bar.
Step 2: From the drop-down list, select “Timeframes”
Step 3: Choose the time-frame you want to view from the below available options –
- M1 = 1 Minute Chart View
- M5 = 5 Minutes Chart View
- M15 = 15 Minutes Chart View
- M30 = 30 Minutes Chart View
- H1 = 1 Hour Chart View
- H4 = 4 Hours Chart View
- D1 = Daily Chart View
- W1 = Weekly Chart View
- MN = Monthly Chart View
How to Save MT4 Charts
In order to save your charts in MT4, you will need to create and save Templates and Profiles. Templates will save indicators and other chart objects, while Profiles will save the way the chart window is positioned.
To Save A Template:
- Once everything you want to set up on your chart is present, go to Charts > Template > Save Template.
- Give the Template a name and click save.
- To load a saved Template, go to Charts > Templates and select the Template you desire.
To Save A Profile:
- Once everything on a chart is positioned the way you want, go to File > Profiles and press “Save As.”
- Give the Profile a name and then click “Ok.”
- To load a saved Profile, go to File > Profiles and select the Profile you want.
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