Technical indicators in MT4

The MT4 platform offers a wide range of indicators that simplify market analysis.

Most of them are based on some type of mathematical formula which is applied to price action over a specified time period.

Indicators save your time and visualize important things about the price chart.

To add a new indicator to the chart, click Insert – Indicators.

You will see the indicators in alphabetical order as well as the categories of indicators.

Choose an indicator, for example, a Moving Average.

It’s a line that shows the average price for a set number of latest time periods.

Set parameters of the indicator.

Choose a period: if you choose 14, the Moving Average will be calculated by the last 14 periods – last 14 candles or bars.

There are some other parameters but you do not need to worry too much about this in the beginning.

Choose how the indicator will look like – set the color and thickness of the line.

In the Visualization tab, you can choose the timeframes on which the indicator will be shown.

Click OK. The Moving Average was added to the chart.

Every time a new candle opens, the MA is recalculated.

There are 2 more ways to add an indicator to the chart.

The first is by double-clicking an indicator in the Navigator Window and the second is by clicking the Indicator icon in the main toolbar.

An indicator can either be overlaid on a price chart as was the Moving Average or shown in a separate window below it.

For example, RSI indicator is displayed in the panel below the chart.

MT has a default set of technical indicators but you can also add custom indicators which you have downloaded from the Internet.

Click File - Open Data Folder. Open the MQL4 file and the “Indicators” folder.

Paste the file of the custom indicator. Restart MT.

The indicator you uploaded will be in the “Custom” category.

The settings of an indicator can be changed.

Right-click in the chart window and choose “Indicators list”.

Select the desired indicator and press the “Edit” button.

Another way is to right-click the indicator itself and execute the "Properties…" command of the context menu.

In order to delete the indicator, right-click on it and choose “Delete Indicator” or “Delete Indicator Window”.

Thank you for watching. Our next topic is “Pending orders”.

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