Options Settings on Tools Menu on MT4
The options button is used for a variety of many different tasks on the MT4. The options button is listed within the tools menu in the MT4 as shown below. The Shortcut keys for this - Ctrl+O.
MT4 Options Settings
These are displayed below: list of various buttons are displayed as tabs as displayed & shown on screenshot below. To edit something on this window panel just click on of these buttons & then change the settings.
Server
The server settings for MT4 are shown below. A trader can edit from this tab, but most of the times it is not necessary as these options are automatically preset to the brokers' server settings by the broker and there is no need to re-adjust them. However, just for guide purposes, the Server will explain the server of your broker and if it is a Demo or a Real Server. The account sign in & password will also be displayed below and as a trader you can change the password from this window for demo accounts, however be careful if you are changing passwords make sure to remember them.
Other options are, enable proxy server, this is not required, Keep personal data at startup, this is checked by default, that way the software will automatically remember your sign in and password so that you do not have to type them every time you sign in to your platform. Enable DDE server isn't required, Enable news is checked & you as a trader can use receive real time news data reports to your MT4 on the News options, located in Terminal window panel, (Short cut Key Ctrl+T).
FX Trading Chart
The following are marked on the Charts Options
Show Trade Levels - These lines will explain levels where orders were placed, it will also show levels where pending orders are placed. This will also show the Take Profit and Stop Loss levels. These trade levels lines appear as red broken lines marking these trade levels.
If there's no open trade, no level will be illustrated: if many trades have been placed, multiple lines will be displayed for these levels.
Use Alt key to drag trade areas is not a very suitable option to use, because if you place many orders you might change the wrong order, therefore 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 and Low Prices for every candlestick
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 5 minutes, 15 minute or 1 Hour Charts the period separator will draw a vertical line when the market closes for each trading day. (4 H separator is Weekly, for Daily and Weekly separator is Monthly).
Color Print - To print in color and not black white which is set by default, use this option and then next time you print it'll be a colored print and not black & white.
Save deleted charts to reopen - Save all forex charts that are deleted and these can be accessed later at any time within.
Max bars in History, Max bars in Chart - To save computer resources RAM, Processor Speed and Hard disk Space, these bars stored are limited to a specific number that is optimum, it is better to use the default number selected.
Objects
These are:
Show properties after creation - immediately display trading indicator/line tool settings after it is placed on forex chart to facilitate editing of their properties.
Select Object after creation - an trading indicator/line tool can be selected by double-clicking on it once it's plotted, to facilitate editing of its properties.
Select object by single mouse click - select an trading indicator/line tool using single mouse click not by double click, double clicking will show properties window of technical indicator/line tool
Magnet Sensitivity - immediately plot a line tool to the nearest low or high that is within 10 pixels of the point selected. This allows for lines drawn to more or less be placed on the levels that they are intended without much editing by aligning these lines to the nearest high or low of price.
Trade
These are default used by the platform to determine what currency pair you buy and what amount you buy.
Symbol by Default - Automatically set to the open forex chart which you have open
Size by default - Automatically use the last lot size, or set every trade to be default 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 list next to this option.
Deviation - Set the allowed number of pips that can move away when executing an forex order for example 2 pips, or zero pips if you want to specify to place trades at the exact level where you click.
One Click forex trading - Place trades buy or sell with one click. (Do not 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 illustrated below:
The following options are used:
Enable Expert-Advisors - Allow for forex trading Expert-Advisor to be placed on forex chart for automated execution purposes
Disable experts when accounts have been changed - sign in to a different account deactivates Forex Expert-Advisors
Disable Experts when profile has been change - When you change profiles the Forex EAs setting for allowing forex trading in the new profile is deactivated until you allow and manually place an Forex Expert-Advisor on this newly opened forex chart.
Allow Live Forex Trading - Give Permission to Expert Advisor to open trades on the live currency exchange market.
(Ask Manual Confirmation - no needs for this if you are using Forex Expert-Advisors, leave this as it is displayed without checking it.)
Allow DLL imports - Dynamic Link Libraries, which are external, unless required, this option should be left unticked and unticked. (External means that these libraries are referenced from external sources outside of your Desktop PC 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 trade parameters.
Allow External Experts imports - This is used to allow your EA to reference some data from another Expert Advisor that is in another place, away from your computer PC, (External means these Expert Advisor Forex Robots are referenced from an external source outside your computer, so be careful with this option)
Notifications
To receive notification to your mobile phone from your MT4 platform, use the notifications option shown below. Not that you require to have a registration ID, from Metaquotes to start receiving these notifications sent to your phone via text messages.
Check the option, Enable Push Notifications, put your ID, press test & you should get a test notification text message. You require to first register for this ID, to do so, use the following panel on your MT4 & follow the instruction you will get from this Notification window.
Email Settings
Most traders may not really need this, but if you are one of those who require, the settings can be set below.
Lets use this company, that owns this web site, www.tradegoldtrading.com, click & check the button key labeled 'Enable' the respective mail settings are shown below and the SMTP setting is 'SMTP: Port 465', Choose & put these as shown below. Click test & check your inbox to confirm you receive the message.
Events
Events on MT4 are notifications, either sound notification, an email or SMS alert. The notifications can be set for different events such as timeout, connect, disconnect, news, Expert Advisor, Expert Advisor confirmation, price level alert & requote alert.
The various types of alerts actions that can be set for any event can be selected by double clicking on event action, pressing the drop down arrow & then selecting the alert action that you want from the drop-down list shown & illustrated below.
MQL5 Forex EA Bots Community
The MQL5 community is a community where traders can find others and Exchange EAs and Forex 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 and register in this community, login to your MT4 software & go to window shown below & follow the instructions.
FX Signals - MQL5 Signals
The signal settings are provided by MQL5, MQL5 is the owner of MetaTrader Software. Signals service allows traders to adjust the following:
Signal - First Subscribe to a forex signal
Agree to Terms - Agree to the terms of using the forex signal service
Enable Real time forex signal subscription - allow real time transmission of forex signals to your platform.
Use Trusted Execution Token(TET) - Trusted execution token means you do not have to open your MetaTrader 4 on your PC 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 PC Desktop computer.
Copy Stop Loss and Take Profit Levels - Copy these levels from the forex signal provider automatically.
Use no more than - Option for money 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 percent to calculate this level for example if your equity is $10,000 then use 70%, that is $7,000 and set this amount: if the forex signal makes a loss up to this point the forex 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 broker, especially if your broker is one of those that re-quotes you. (Get an STP Broker with No-Requotes Policy to guarantee execution of your trades & avoid these slippages).
