MetaTrader 4

User Guide

Whether you are new to MT4 or an experienced user, this guide will show you all you need to know about the MT4 trading platform

Table of Contents
Vantage FX who?........................................................................................................................................ 3 About Vantage FX ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Message from Vantage FX ........................................................................................................................ 3 Vantage FX MetaTrader 4 platform Introduction ...................................................................................... 4 About the platform ................................................................................................................................... 4 Features at a glance .................................................................................................................................. 5 MetaTrader 4 platform Installation ........................................................................................................... 5 MetaTrader 4 platform Screen Customisation .......................................................................................... 7 Setting up the screen to your liking! Easy .............................................................................................. 8 Watch lists ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Charts .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Trading ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 Accessing the trade screen ..................................................................................................................... 14 Market Execution .................................................................................................................................... 15 Pending Execution................................................................................................................................... 16 Setting a Stop Loss and Profit Take level ................................................................................................ 17 Cancelling or modifying an order............................................................................................................ 18 Expert Advisors ........................................................................................................................................... 19 Installation .............................................................................................................................................. 19 Activation ................................................................................................................................................ 20

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Vantage FX who?
About Vantage FX
Vantage FX is an award winning Australian registered broker providing Forex trading capabilities to retail, high-net worth and institutional clients in Australia and the rest of the world. Vantage FX provide traders access to the Metatrader 4 platform, one of the most popular trading platforms, and offer some of the tightest spreads in the market, sourced from a variety of liquidity providers. Vantage FX is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Enfinium Pty Ltd (AFSL No. 322081), who acts as a licensee and outsource provider to oversee our compliance with Australian Financial Services Law and the requirements of holding segregated client funds at approved banks. As a financial services provider, we are regulated by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) under Australian law. Vantage FX is a one stop Forex trading destination. Not only can clients download a demo and set up a live account, but they can find almost anything about Forex trading on our website. Our extensive educational resources allow clients to delve deeper into Forex trading world through user guides and blogs, keep up to date about business, economic and currency news, get daily market commentary, daily currency highlights, watch weekly VDO market wraps, and attend Forex trading webinars.

Message from Vantage FX

Our greatest assets are our clients and our people. Here, at Vantage FX, we have been rigorous in selecting our employees and believe that we have found a great team to deliver outstanding service and value to our clients where required. All employees hold relevant industry qualifications and authorisations. We offer no personal advice as we believe the client is the person best suited to understand their own needs and control their own destiny. However, it is our role to ensure that we offer a quality service that allows clients to implement their strategies in an easy, seamless manner. If you dont yet have an account with us, click the link below to open an obligation-free trading account and gain free access to our expert Vantage FX MetaTrader 4 platform you wont be disappointed.

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Vantage FX MetaTrader 4 platform Introduction

About the platform

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform is the Forex industrys most popular trading platform (over 300 hundred brokers currently use this platform). Its popularity among brokers and their clients, is due to the high level of customisation available, which many other platforms fail to provide. Whilst being a convenient and adjustable tool for the active trader, its user friendly approach also caters for first time traders who may not be entirely sure of all their immediate needs. MetaTrader 4 is a powerful and flexible way to manage Forex trades and strategies. The MetaTrader 4 platform provides a wide array of market analysis tools (such as Expert Advisors) that can be used to gain insight into the patterns of the global foreign exchange markets, without the requirement of constantly scanning the market manually. Coupled with Vantage FXs tight spreads on currency pairs, forex traders are able to develop and implement strategies with minimal ongoing effort.

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Features at a glance
MetaTrader 4 comes packed with features to ensure the satisfaction of all types of FX Traders. Some of the features are displayed below, to provide a macro approach of this powerful softwares capabilities: Preset desktop to help first time users/traders Inbuilt customisable indicators (saves you from having to do the whole work) Ability to build custom indicators for investors who want to develop their own Back testing facility for testing indicators & strategies Paper trading is done with virtual money vs. a dummy account which many providers actually set up for you Vast array of information available on the internet to provide you with insight on what customisation and robots forex traders use Robots (Expert Advisers, EA) can be downloaded and shared with other, like-minded investors.

MetaTrader 4 platform Installation

Installing MT4 is easy! this section will guide you through installation and setting up the account. First step: Second step: Third step: download the MetaTrader 4 software. If you have not done so yet, please click here Run the vt4setup.exe file just like you would run any program Navigate through the screens to choose desired language, read the terms & conditions and also to choose where to install the software. (screen shots below)

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Once installed, the program can be run. Once logged in, the screen may seem somewhat overwhelming, appearances can be deceiving though. Time to customise the screen to your liking! 6 |MT4 Manual

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MetaTrader 4 platform Screen Customisation

As stated before, the screen is setup to provide traders with a glimpse of a popular screen setup. The screen will look like this:

The main features are: Main menu access to the program menu and settings Toolbars Quick access to features and settings Market watch window real-time quotes for various instruments (this is customizable) Navigator window quick access to your specifics (eg. Accounts, indicators, expert advisors) Chart window fully customizable, for all your technical analysis needs Terminal window quick access to the account and trading history Somewhat overwhelming, however, with only a few touch-ups we can turn this into something suitable for you, the trader who will utilise this screen to actively trade. It is important to realise, setting up the way your trading screen looks is probably the most important step. If you are not comfortable with the setup, you may find yourself lost, whilst in the middle of a trade dont worry though, the information displayed is clear and divided by windows, allowing you to control and monitor several positions at the same time. 7 |MT4 Manual

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Setting up the screen to your liking! Easy

Watch lists

Ctrl + M combination activates/deactivates the window try it out

You can access a context menu for the pair displayed, just by right clicking on the desired pair. New order open/close a position or place a new pending order; Chart window shows the chart for the selected pair; Tick Chart shows the tick chart for the selected pair; Hide deletes the specified pair from the list in the window; Hide all deletes all symbols from the list in the window, which are not used (eg. If you have open position or charts, its symbols will not be deleted); Show all displays all available symbols in the window; Symbols shows the window where you can manage all symbols simultaneously; Sets saves/loads/deletes the custom setting for the window; High/Low display/show columns with the highest/lowest prices for each pair; Time displays the column with the arrival time of the latest quote for each pair; Grid hide/unhide the gridlines Popup Prices pops up a window which contains all real time quotes for all the selected pairs.

Double clicking on any pair will display the order window

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Charts
Forex traders most useful tool this is why we will go into a lot of detail, in order to show you how to take advantage of this powerful analysis tool. MT4 has a three chart types, namely: 1. Line chart; 2. Bar chart; 3. Candlestick chart. Lets look at each one in more detail: 1. Line Chart

Generally, these charts are used for very short term intervals (maximum 30 minute, realistically 5 minute intervals).

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2. Bar Chart

The chart is created with the use of bars (hence the name). Each bar has a high (top) and a low (bottom) with a line on each side; right side being the opening price and the left side being the closing price for the selected time period (4 hours intervals selected in the example chart above). Generally these charts are used for intervals of up to 24 hours Different colors can be used to identify bars that close higher than the open (bull or up bars) or lower than the open (bear or down bars). The example above has green lines for up bars and red bars for down bars well learn how to change colors a bit later in this chapter.

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3. Candlestick Chart

This chart is created much like bar charts, the only difference being that candlesticks are used instead of bars. The candlestick charts provides clear graphics, and are generally used on longer term views (daily, weekly or monthly data). About candlesticks Comprised of a body (also called a real body). Namely, the difference between the open and close. This can result in an up candlestick the close is higher than the open and down candlesticks the close being lower than the high. In the chart example up candlesticks are green whilst down candlesticks are red. (If the open is equal to the close there will not be a body, just a line this type of candles are referred to as a doji) You would have noticed thinner lines present in the example above, these are called shadows. Above the body is the high and below the body is the low for the selected time period shadows dont necessarily need to be present. The Internet contains a vast array of information on candlesticks

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General charting customisation & tips The Chart Toolbar if you cant see this, please click View > Toolbars > Charts.

Display Bar chart (hot key ALT + 1) Display Candlestick chart (hot key ALT + 2) Display Line chart (hot key ALT + 3) Zoom In (hot key - +) Zoom Out (hot key ) Auto scroll when selected, the last available candle will be available Shift Tab when selected the chart will be shifted to a small, grey triangle at the top right hand side of the chart Indicators tab use this to add a multitude of indicators to the selected charts Time Period selection tab change to the time period desired (available: M1 , M5, M15, M30 minute(s) interval charts; H1, H4 hour(s) interval charts; D1, W1,MN Daily, Weekly and Monthly interval charts). Depending on preference, a selection toolbar is also available (view > toolbars > periodicity)

Templates click on this button to save/load/delete a template

The Object Toolbar if you cant see this, please click View > Toolbars > Line Studies.

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Cursor Standard arrow cursor by default for item selection Crosshair On the active chart window click and drag between two points to find out the number of time periods, the number of pips and price on the last point (Displayed as time periods/pips/price on the last applicable time period) Vertical line Places a line at the desired point on the active chart window. Double clicking on the line will select it, thus enabling the line to be moved to a new desired position. Clicking outside the line will de-select it. Horizontal line Exact properties as the Vertical line, it does however place a horizontal line on the chart at the desired position. Trend line Used for displaying/identifying trends. Click and hold between the two points on the chart where you want to identify trend. Double clicking enables the editing of the line. You will notice three squares. The square in the middle moves the whole trend line as it is. The one on the left/right modify the trend between two new desired points. Equidistant channels Much the same as establishing a trend line, this tool does however draw a second line, parallel to the first. Double clicking it will display four squares (three on the initial line and a fourth on the automatically drawn, parallel line). The three squares are used exactly as the trend lines squares, the fourth square is used to adjust the distance between the two parallel lines. Fibonacci Retracement Select between two points on the chart and it will automatically draw the Fibonacci Retracement lines. An additional dotted line will be displayed between the two points. Double clicking the Fibonacci Retracement lines will enable you to adjust the two points initially selected look for the small white squares at the points initially selected. Text tool enables you to write anywhere on the chart. It will also move with the chart. (use for tagging indicators) Text label enables you to write anywhere on the chart and is attached to the window, thus not scrolling with the chart. (use for naming charts) Arrows enables you to tag the chart with a multitude of graphical signs.

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Trading
Now that we have a comfortable screen, its time to start trading. This section of the handbook will walk you through the trading process, from placing the trade to closing it (hopefully, for profit rather than loss).

Accessing the trade screen

Depending on what style you, the trader, adopts there are a few ways of accessing the screen: Click Tools > New Order Double click on the desired pair on the Market Watch window Right Click on the desired pair on the Market Watch window and select new order (first option at the top of the context menu) Right Click on the Trade tab and select new order (first option at the top of the context menu) Press F9

All methods above will display the following screen:

The anatomy of the order screen contains the spread chart (left hand side) the order details (right hand side). The spread displays the level you can purchase (blue) and the level you can sell (red) at. Lets have a look at the order details part and all the options available:

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Symbol this is the desired pair/instrument you wish to trade in (above example Euro US Dollar pair) Volume quantity you wish to trade. (1.00 means 100,000 units. In this case 100,000 Euro) Stop Loss and Take Profit options are not available on Market Execution screen (well get to them very shortly) Comment any notes you wish to place regarding the trade Type there are two types available: Market Execution and Pending Order. Market Execution, is straight forward at market trading. You will be filled automatically at the current market price. Pending Order is an order which lets you set a level at which you wish to trade, which could be slightly away from the current spread in the market.

When all the parameters are set, depending on the position you wish to take, click the Sell button or Buy button. The dealer will confirm your order, depending on the order (market or limit) you will either have an open position or be placed in the market. Let us now have a look at the two types of orders.

Market Execution
Once you place sell at market or buy at market, your broker will confirm execution price. The screen will look like this:

The position will now be listed in your Trade tab in the Terminal window.

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Pending Execution
This type of order allows you to set a level at which you wish to enter (buy or sell) the selected pair. It is useful if you do not wish to monitor the market until your desired pair reaches a set level. You can also select an expiry date.

The example above shows a sell order for 500,000 Euros vs US Dollars being placed at a limit of 1.22838 when the market is at 1.22777-90. If the sell quote(red) reaches 1.22838, your order will execute. With this type of order you can also set the stop loss and profit take levels simultaneously. Example bellow illustrates this.

In this example we are about to place a buy order at 1.22791, with a stop loss at 1.22700 and a profit take at 1.22900, once again for 500,000 Euros vs. US Dollars. (Note: we have chosen an expiry date) 16 | M T 4 M a n u a l

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Setting a Stop Loss and Profit Take level

If you dont want to be watching the screen continuously, knowing how to set Stop Losses and Profit Taking levels is paramount. A stop loss is used to set the amount of loss a trader is prepared to take. A profit take sets a level where the trader is happy to close the stock and walk away with the profit. MT4 has two types of Stop Loss orders available: - Limit Stop loss straight through price selection at a point where the trader is comfortable with closing an unprofitable trade and would not like to incur further losses. - Trailing stop loss a type of stop loss which only activates once the position is profitable and will continue to adjust itself automatically to increase profits. (further explanation on Trailing Stop losses is available later in this chapter) Profit taking: - Limit Profit Take straight through price selection at a point where the trader identifies the chances of the position to continue increasing profits are limited. To access the Stop Loss/Profit Take screen for an executed order, simply right click the executed order in the Trade Tab (Terminal Window) and select Modify or Delete Order option in the context menu. To amend or modify your stop/profit level(s) simply right click on the order and select Modify or Delet Order. This screen will allow you to set new limits. If you want to completely remove a limit, select the price and hit the backspace key until the price displayed is 0.00000. Trailing Stop Losses This MT4 feature is an algorithm to manage a stop loss. Once a trailing stop has been set in place, it will only activate once your order is in profit the amount of points you selected. (eg. 15 points)

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How it works (the 15 point trailing stop loss example): - No stop loss is placed until the trade is in profit by 15 points - MT4 places a stop loss once the 15 point profit is set - If the trade gains a further 15 points, or more, the stop loss is amended to a new level, closer to the market - The process continues until the position is closed out due to the price hitting the limit To cancel or amend a Trailing Stop Loss, simply right click on the order with the Trailing Stop Loss and select one of the options (none for cancellation or 15, 115, 215 etc for new point selection. If you wish to select a different amount, please use the Custom feature).

Cancelling or modifying an order

Please note: this section only applies to Pending Orders.

Youve placed your order in the market and the price has moved significantly away from it. You reconsider, and wish to delete or modify your order. In the Terminal window, in the Trade tab identify your order and double click on it.

The order screen will show only delete available, as you have not modified the price. To delete the order, click the delete button. Otherwise, select your new price level and click the modify button to have the order placed at a new level.

You may need to amend your Stop Loss and Profit Take if you have set any

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Expert Advisors
Expert Advisors is a new way of trading, developed in MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL 4), they are set so they replace manual order placing and monitoring when certain conditions are met in the market. Expert Advisors can be downloaded or developed. MetaQuotes Language 4 is not very hard to learn and individuals with no prior experience in a programming language can start developing Expert Advisers or Custom Indicators in a matter of weeks. They can help with: Entering positions Monitoring and closing out positions Keeping track of current market situations Eliminating psychological elements from decision making 6 days per week continuous monitoring (you could be trading while youre asleep!)

Installation
Some Expert Advisors (robots) come packaged with an installation pack, which means you only need to load and complete the installation to have access to them. Others, require manual installation. To manually install a robot, follow these simple steps: Make sure you have previously installed MetaTrader 4 Download and save the file in an easy to access place (eg. Desktop, My Documents etc.) Identify if the file is archived or in its normal format (right click on the file and select Properties, at the top it will say if it is a MetaQuotes Language 4 file, if it is not, it is probably an archive) Identify where your MetaTrader 4 is installed (generally c:\Program Files\Vantage Fx Trader) Go to your MetaTrader 4 folder and, once inside, enter the Experts folder Paste the MetaQotes Language 4 file you have downloaded (or unarchived/unzipped) in the Experts folder

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www.vantagefx.com Youre done! just restart MetaTrader 4 and you should find the new Expert Adviser in the Navigator window.

Activation
To activate Expert Advisors, just follow these steps: Click on Tools > Options Select Expert Advisors tab Enable Expert Advisors and Allow Live Trading

Congratulations, Expert Advisors have now been enabled on your MT4 platform. 20 | M T 4 M a n u a l

We hope that you have found this MT4 User Manual informative and useful. A Product Disclosure Statement for this product is available from Vantage FX Pty Ltd and should be considered before deciding to enter into any derivatives transactions. Also, a financial services guide is available by going to www.vantagefx.com and clicking on the link at the bottom of the page. Margin FX carries a high level of risk to your capital. Only speculate with money you can afford to lose! Margin FX may not be suitable for everyone, so ensure that you fully understand the risks involved, and seek independent advice if necessary. Vantage FX Pty Ltd offers general advice only and no consideration will be given to individual investment objectives, financial situation and needs. Happy trading!

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