What is MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and how do you use it?

 HOW DO I LOG INTO METATRADER 4 WITH MY ACCOUNT?

Open MT4, then click 'File'—'Log in with trading account'. In the pop-up window, enter your account number, trader password, and select 'OctaFX-Real' for real accounts or 'OctaFX-Demo' if you login with a demo account.

HOW DO I OPEN AN ORDER?

To bring up the 'New Order' window you can:

press F9 on your keyboard

right-click a symbol in the Market Watch window and select 'New Order' from the pop-up menu

right-click on the open chart and select 'New order'

click on the 'New Order' button in the toolbar.

In the pop-up window, please select the symbol from the drop-down list, set the volume of the order in lots, set Stop Loss or Take Profit level, and select the type of your order.

If you choose 'Market execution', simply click 'Buy' or 'Sell' below to open the position at the current market rate.

If you'd like to open a pending order, select it as the order type. Next, choose its type (i.e. Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop or Sell Stop), and specify the price at which it will be triggered. Click the Place button to submit the order.

To specify Stop Loss or Take Profit level, click the up or down arrow to fill in the current price and and adjust it to your Stop Loss or Take Profit price.

As soon as the position has been opened, it will appear in the Trade tab.

MT4 also allows you to open and close positions with one click. To enable One-Click trading, select Options from the Tools menu. In the Options window, open the Trade tab, tick 'One-Click Trading', and click OK to apply the changes.

With one-click trading you can perform trading operations on the chart. To enable One-Click Trading panel, right-click the chart and tick One-Click-Trading in the context menu. The panel can be used to place market orders with specified volumes.

You can also place a pending order from Trading submenu of the chart's context menu. Right click on the necessary price level on the chart and select the type of pending order you would like to open. Available pending order types at this price level will be displayed in the menu.

WHAT ORDER TYPES ARE AVAILABLE IN MT4?

Market orders and pending orders.

Market orders are executed at the current market price.

Pending orders are automated and may differ, depending on the conditions you set:

Buy Limit triggers a Buy order at a price below the current ask price

Sell Limit triggers a Sell order at a price above the current bid price

Buy Stop opens a Buy order when the price reaches the pre-defined level above the current ask price

Sell Stop opens a Sell order when the bid price reaches the order level below the current bid price.

HOW DO I SET STOP LOSS AND TAKE PROFIT?

To modify a position, please double click 'Stop Loss' or 'Take Profit' field of the position line in the Trade tab. Alternatively, you can right click the position line and select 'Modify order'. Then simply set the Stop Loss or Take Profit level and click 'Modify' button below. Please consider the following peculiarities for:

Sell order: Stop Loss should be above current ask price, and Take Profit below the current ask price

Buy order: Stop Loss should be below current bid price, and Take Profit above the current bid price.

Note that each trading instrument has a certain stop level, so if the Stop Loss or Take Profit level is too close to the current price, you will not be able to modify the position. You can check minimum Stop Loss and Take Profit distance by right-clicking a trading instrument in the Market Watch window and selecting Symbols from the context menu. Select the required trading instrument in the pop-up window and click the Properties button. You can also modify your order from the chart. To do so, enable the "Show trade levels" option in your terminal settings. Then click on a position level and drag it up (to set Take Profit for Buy positions or Stop Loss for Sell positions) or down (Stop Loss for Buy or Take Profit for sell).

HOW DO I CLOSE AN ORDER?

Find the order in the 'Trade' tab, right-click it, and select 'Close order'. In the pop-up window, click the 'Close order' button. You can also close a position by an opposite one. Double-click the position line in the Trade tab, then select 'Close by' in the Type field. The list of opposite positions will appear below. Select one of them from the list and click the 'Close' button. If you have more than two opposite positions, you can select 'Multiple close by' in the type field. This operation will close open positions in pairs.

WHERE CAN I SEE MY TRADING HISTORY?

All of your closed orders are available in the 'Account history' tab. You can also create an account statement here by right-clicking any entry and selecting 'Save as detailed report'. You can also find your trading history in your Personal Area.

HOW DO I OPEN A NEW CHART?

Right-click the required currency pair in the Market Watch window and select 'New chart' or simply drag and drop it to the currently open one. You can also select 'New Chart' from the File menu or click New Chart button on the toolbar.

WHERE DO I CHANGE CHART SETTINGS?

Right-click the chart and select 'Properties'. The Properties window has two tabs: Colours and Common. Chart elements are listed on the right side of the colour tab, each with its own drop-down colour box. You can mouse over any colour sample to view its name and click to select one of preset colours. In the common tab, you can select type of chart and enable such features as Volume, Grid, and Ask Line. You can also change chart type by clicking on the desired icon to apply bar, candlestick, or line price data. To change periodicity, click on the Periods icon or select the desired timeframe from the toolbar.

WHY AM I UNABLE TO OPEN A POSITION?

First of all, please make sure you have successfully logged in with your trading account. Connection status in the right lower corner will indicate whether you are connected with our server or not. If you are unable to open a 'New Order' window and the 'New Order' button in the toolbar is inactive, then you logged in with your investor password and should log in again with your trader password instead. An 'Invalid SL/TP' message means the Stop Loss or Take Profit levels you set up are incorrect. 'Not enough money' message means your free margin is not sufficient to open an order. You can check the required margin for any position using this tool.

I CAN SEE ONLY FEW CURRENCY PAIRS IN MT4?

To see all the available trading tools, go to your MT4 terminal, right-click on any pair in the 'Market Watch' window, and select 'Show all'. Press CTRL + U to enable trading tools manually.

WHAT ARE YOUR STOP LEVELS?

Each trading tool has its own stop levels (limits). You can check the stop level for a specific currency pair by right-clicking on it in 'Market Watch' and selecting 'Specification'. Please note that OctaFX has five-digit pricing, so the distance is shown in points. For instance, the EURUSD minimal distance is shown as 20 points, which equals 2 pips.

WHAT DO I DO IF I SEE "WAITING FOR UPDATE" ON THE CHART?

Open the 'Market Watch' window, left-lick and hold down the mouse button on the preferred pair. Drag the chosen pair onto the chart indicating 'Waiting for Update'. Release the mouse button. This will automatically update the chart.

WHY IS THE "NEW ORDER" BUTTON GREY?

It means that you have logged into your account using your investor password. That limits your access to the charts, technical analysis, and Expert Advisors. You are not able to trade if you log in to your account with your investor password. In order to start trading, you have to log in with your trader password.

WHY DO I SEE "INVALID ACCOUNT" IN THE CONNECTION STATUS?

An 'Invalid account' error indicates that you have entered incorrect login details. Please make sure that:

you entered the account number

you used the correct password

you chose the correct server: 'OctaFX-Real' for real accounts and 'OctaFX-Demo' for demo accounts

If you've lost your trader password, you can restore it in your Personal Area.

WHY DO I SEE "NO CONNECTION" IN THE CONNECTION STATUS?

No Connection indicates that you failed to connect to our server. You should do the following:

Click on the bottom right corner of MT4 where it is showing No Connection and select 'Re-scan servers', or select the server with the lowest ping

If the server does not respond, close MT4 and restart it again using 'Run as Administrator' mode

Check your Firewall settings and add MT4 to the 'allowed programs' or 'exceptions' list.

If this doesn't work, please contact our Customer Support.

DO YOU PROVIDE EAS OR INDICATORS? WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD THEM?

OctaFX does not provide or recommend any expert advisors (EAs) or indicators. However, you can download indicators for MetaTrader4 on the MQLSource Code Library. It is also possible to download Indicators and EAs from other sources.