This MT4 Tutorial covers the MT4 Navigation and Toolbars.
The Navigation and Toolbar windows help you be able to interact with the chart and place trades. They are very important to optimizing your MT4 trading experience.
MT4 Navigator Window
There are four drop downs in your Navigator: Accounts, Indicators, Expert Advisors and Scripts.
Accounts
This section enables you to jump between various accounts with different brokers or between a demo account and a live account. You can double click on the particular account and be able to take action immediately within the account with ease.
Indicators
The indicators listed when you first start using MetaTrader 4 are the standard indicators that come with any charting package, but what is cool about the Indicators drop down is that you are able to actually download and test out custom indicators.
Just scroll down in the Navigator and double click on the globe icon that says ‘1588 more…’
Take a look at what happens in your Terminal.
You have a list of indicators there in your Code Base ready for you to Download. Just right-click to be able to choose the Download option or double-click to learn more about the indicator in your web browser. When you download it, a Downloads folder appears and you can be able to apply the indicator immediately to your chart.
If you want to apply a particular Indicator in your list of Indicators to the chart, you can drag the indicator onto the chart OR right-click and then choose ‘attach to chart’. You will be able to choose your settings for the particular indicator after identifying that you want to attach it to the chart that is on the active tab.
Expert Advisors
Expert Advisors are programs that allow automation of the analytical and trading processes in the MT4 platform.
You can create your own Expert Advisor and test it out in a demo OR download an already existing Expert Advisor. Just double click on the globe to choose an expert advisor from the Code Base. You will want to test them out first before ever implementing them in a deposit environment.
Scripts
Scripts are small applications that perform one-time actions. For example, you can delete all objects from a chart or place a set of orders for an open position. Find here hundreds of applications that can automate small analytical or trading functions.
Much like Expert Advisors and Indicators, if you choose to access the Online Library, you will get a filtered version of the Code Base filled with all sorts of scripts that can help you.
MT4 Toolbars
Let’s go through each icon so that you can understand how to use the Toolbars.
New Chart
This highlighted icon above creates a new chart tab for you. You can then do what you want with the chart: Change the currency pair it is showing, insert indicators or scripts, put in place an Expert Advisor or whatever you feel like!
The icon to the right of it is for Profiles and you do not need to necessarily worry about that.
MarketWatch Toggle
This icon enables you turn the MarketWatch window on and off. Pretty simple. The icon next to the MarketWatch icon (on the right of it) enables you turn the Data Window on and off. By default, the Data Window is toggled off.
Navigator
This icon enables you to toggle the Navigator window on and off. Not too bad, it is on by default.
Terminal
This icon enables you toggle the Terminal window on and off.
Strategy Tester
You can toggle the Strategy Tester on and off to test an Expert Advisor creation of yours or an already existing Expert Advisor. Backtest the strategy and see how it does over the long term.
New Order
This button enables you to place a new order or trade. You can set stop losses and take profit prices for the currency pair of your choosing. By default, when you click ‘New Order’, the system will prompt you to make a trade for the currency pair that is on the Active Tab in the chart. If EUR/GBP is the active tab, EUR/GBP will come up as the currency pair that you wish to trade unless you wish to change that in the New Order window.
MetaEditor
Ever wish you could edit a particular indicator or Expert Advisor? Maybe you want to create your own. You would do it in MetaEditor.
AutoTrading
Turn Expert Advisors on and off as you please by pressing this button.
Chart Type
See these three types of charts. By default, you will have Pin Bars when you first launch MT4. You can change that to candlestick or line charts, if you wish. Just push the button and see the change applied.
Next to these are the zoom buttons and the multi-chart button that enables you to see multiple charts at once on one screen. Keep in mind with multi-screen there is still an active tab to be aware of when placing a trade.
Auto Scroll and Chart Shift
Auto Scroll automatically scrolls the chart for you so that you do not have to do it yourself. However, if you wish to go back and look at a particular chart historically, you will want to turn auto scroll off.
Chart Shift automatically takes you to the latest bar on the chart on a manual basis.
Indicators
Another way to add indicators to a chart without needing the Navigation Window.
Periods
Change the time frame of a chart. Want to see hourly, daily, monthly, 15 minute bars? You can make the change here. It is up to you how you want to do it.
Templates
Templates enable you to take the particular indicators on the chart and make them appear on any chart that you create without having to manually insert them. You can save what indicators you have on one chart and then load them onto another chart to see how a different timeframe or currency pair handles with the particular indicators. If you have success with a particular set of indicators together, templates can save you a lot of time and effort.
Cursor vs. Crosshair
The cursor enables you to just put your mouse on the chart without anything happening. The crosshair to the right enables you to see on the chart the time and price that your mouse is hovering over on the chart.
Drawing Tools
From left to right: Vertical line, Horizontal Line, Trend Line, Equidistant Channel, Fibonacci Retracement, Text, Text Label and Chart Arrows.
Just click on the button and then click and drag as necessary on the chart to create the lines.
That’s all you need to know about the Toolbars and the Navigation Window. The final MT4 Tutorial will about the Chart itself.