How to manage charts in MetaTrader 4?
A vast pool of information can be accessed through price charts. It’s up to the traders to decide what information and data they use to develop their trading strategy. Read our step-by-step tutorial in managing charts in MT4. Also, try our free demo trading account and gain exposure to over 200 financial instruments with virtual funds.
Introduction to Managing Charts in MT4
With so much market data available, it is important to be able to interpret it correctly. Well-designed and readable charts in MetaTrader 4 will help the trader to react faster to any future market opportunities. If you are using MetaTrader 5, please read our MT5 article.
This MetaTrader 4 step-by-step tutorial will help you to:
- Open and arrange new charts;
- Change chart types and timeframes;
- Scale and shift MT4 charts;
- Add and remove indicators;
- Customize the trading charts;
- Use Chart templates and profiles;
- Export chart data.
How to open a new chart
If you have no charts open in your MetaTrader 4 when you first launch the platform, go to “File” and click “New Chart”.
A new menu will open with the most popular currency pairs listed at the top and the rest of the instruments available grouped by asset type. Select the one you need.
You can maximise the chart or keep it in a smaller window.
Arrange charts
You can easily close and manage charts as regular windows. Remember to have the chart highlighted while you are working on it by simply clicking on it.
You can open multiple charts and switch between them from the tabs below the chart or arrange them as tiles. To do that you can use the “Tile” button in the toolbar above the chart or by right-clicking on the chart tabs, where you can easily switch between the different views.
How to shift and adjust MT4 charts
If the price is sticking closely to the end of the chart, you can click the “Shift” button to shift the end of the chart away from the right border. You can adjust the distance from the border with the small gray error at the top of the table.
Right in front of the “Shift”, there’s a “Scroll” button that moves the chart to the latest bars automatically, so they are always displayed on the screen.
To make sure that all Charts buttons are visible in the toolbar go to the “View” menu, select “Toolbars” and make sure “Charts” is ticked.
If you want to make any changes to the chart just right-click to open the context menu. There you can remove or add a grid or volumes to the chart. You can also zoom in and out from there.
Chart types in MetaTrader 4
From the buttons on the Chart toolbar, you can also zoom in and out or change the way, in which the data is displayed: as a line chart, candlestick chart or a bar chart.
Additionally, charts can be zoomed very precisely by defining their borders. This is done through the “Properties” window of the context chart menu.
Scale options for MT4 charts
You can select the “Scale fix” or “Scale fix One to One” option. Click “OK” to save.
Scrolling left and right through the chart is done with the cursor keys of the keyboard, the mouse scroll wheel or simply by dragging the chart with the mouse. Charts can be also shifted step by step with F12 (scrolls by one bar to the left) and Shift+F12 (scrolls by one bar to the right).
If the scale of the chart is fixed, it can be also scrolled vertically.
Add navigators to MT4 charts
You can add indicators from the “Insert” main menu, from the “Navigator” menu by dragging and dropping or from the “Indicators list” button in the toolbar.
To delete indicators from the chart just right-click on the indicator and select “Delete Indicator” from the menu.
If you have a lot of indicators added you can right-click on the chart and select “Indicators list” from the menu. A window will appear where you can select as many indicators as you need from all activated ones and delete them at once.
You can learn more about working with indicators from EightCap’s “Open & edit charts. Add indicators to charts in MetaTrader 4” guide.
How to use chart templates and profiles
You can also load, save and delete chart templates from the toolbar.
Modify the chart timeframe from the toolbar or the “Periods” button.
Similarly to Templates, the Profiles option enables you to save and load entire chart groups and their settings. Profiles can be managed from the “File” menu or the “Profiles button” in the toolbar.
For your chart analysis, you can also use graphical objects that can be added from the “Insert” menu or the Line Studies toolbar.
How to customize MT4 charts
To customize a chart go to the context menu and then to “Properties” where you are able to change the colors of the different elements in the chart.
You can learn more about customizing the charts and working with templates from EightCap’s add and edit indicators to charts in MetaTrader 4 guide.
Export chart data
You can save the history data of active charts with the “Save as” or “Save as picture” commands from the “File” menu or by right-clicking on the chart. Charts can be saved in various formats like CSV, PRN, HTM, BMP or GIF. You can print your charts from the same menu.
Chart data should be updated occasionally if any errors occur. Just right-click on the chart and select “Refresh” from the menu.