Most people download metatrader fire it up and immediately start slapping indicators all over the place without ever actually exploring what the platform can do out of the box. MT4 has been around since 2005 and in that time theyve packed in a load of features that most retail traders never touch.. which is mad when you think about it because some of them are genuinely useful and could save you a lot of time and probably money too.
Chart Templates and Profiles
This is hands down the most underused feature in the entire platform. You can set up a chart exactly how you want it with your preferred colours indicators timeframe and drawing style then save it as a template. Next time you want to apply that exact setup to a different pair you right click the chart go to template and load it in about two seconds flat. If youre someone who trades multiple pairs with the same chart setup this is an absolute game changer.
Profiles take it a step further. A profile saves your entire workspace.. every chart you have open their positions on screen their timeframes the lot. So if you trade London session with one set of pairs and New York with another you can switch between the two with a single click instead of closing and opening charts every time. Most traders have no idea this even exists.
One Click Trading
If youre scalping or day trading and youre still using the full order window every time you place a trade youre losing time and probably missing entries. One click trading puts a buy and sell button directly on your chart with the lot size right there ready to go. Enable it through tools options trading and tick the one click trading box. A small panel appears in the top left of your chart and from there its literally one click to enter a position. For anyone doing any kind of short term trading this is basically essential.
The Built In Indicators Nobody Talks About
Everyone knows about the popular ones like RSI MACD and moving averages but MT4 comes loaded with some genuinely useful tools that fly under the radar:
– Average True Range is brilliant for setting stop losses based on actual volatility rather than just picking a random number. If ATR is showing 15 pips on the 1 hour chart you know your stop needs to be at least that wide to avoid getting taken out by normal price movement
– Ichimoku Cloud looks intimidating but the cloud itself is a fantastic visual representation of support resistance and trend direction all in one. Even if you ignore everything else about ichimoku the cloud alone tells you a lot
– Fractals automatically mark swing highs and lows on your chart which saves you drawing them in manually and removes the subjectivity of deciding what counts as a swing point
– Zigzag is another one that cleans up price action by filtering out noise and showing you the significant moves. Useful for identifying chart patterns like triangles that you might miss on a busy chart
The Strategy Tester
This is probably the most powerful built in feature and its completely free. The strategy tester lets you backtest expert advisors and indicators against historical data so you can see how a strategy would have performed without risking real money. You can adjust the speed fast forward through boring bits and watch how price interacted with your setup in real time. Its not perfect because the data quality depends on your broker and the modelling can be a bit rough on lower timeframes but for getting a general idea of whether something works its invaluable.
You can also use it in visual mode which basically replays the market candle by candle. This is incredible for practicing your manual trading.. set it to a speed you can keep up with and trade the replay as if it were live. Its the closest thing to a trading simulator that MT4 offers and most people have never even opened it.
Custom Timeframes and Offline Charts
MT4 comes with the standard timeframes from 1 minute to monthly but through a simple script you can create custom ones like 2 minute 3 minute or even range based charts. The period converter script is built in and while its a bit fiddly to set up the first time once you know how it works you can create whatever timeframe suits your strategy. Some scalpers swear by the 2 minute chart because it gives them slightly more information than the 1 minute without the noise of tick charts.
Alerts
Setting price alerts is dead simple and means you dont have to sit staring at charts all day waiting for price to reach a level youre interested in. Right click on the chart at the price you want go to trading and set an alert. MT4 will ping you with a sound notification email or push notification to your phone when price hits that level. You can set alerts on indicators too not just price which opens up a load of possibilities for people who dont want to be glued to their screens.
The reality is MT4 isnt pretty and it definitely shows its age but underneath that dated interface theres a surprisingly capable trading platform. Most of its best features are hiding in plain sight waiting for someone to actually bother clicking on them.