An über-simple guide to customizing Metatrader

Automated traders love Metatrader 4, and most customize it, usually with the help of MetaQuotes Language 4, otherwise know as Mql4.

Here's a startup guide for how to customize your metatrader, with a focus on authoring Expert Advisors and Custom Indicators.

What are Expert Advisors?

EAs are arguably the most powerful feature of MT4. They allow for automated trading, including:

·         Opening and closing orders based on market events.

·         Modifying orders, for example, changing a stop loss or take profit.

For a full list of order-related functions see http://docs.mql4.com/

What are Custom Indicators?

There are several standard Technical Indicators that ship with MetaTrader 4.

But if you want to find new and creative ways to analyze market information, or include other information on charts, you can do this by developing a Custom Indicator.

Getting started

Metatrader ships with MetaEditor, a development environment for authoring Expert Advisors and Custom Indicators.

Here’s how you can launch MetaEditor.

Click the yellow diamond icon within MetaTrader.

Otherwise you can open it from within the file system.

MetaEditor

Let’s take a quick look at the interface.

This is where the EA and Custom Indicator code is written. Notice the Compile button at the top. EAs and Custom Indicators must be compiled before they can be used in MetaTrader. Notice also the Terminal button. This allows you to launch MetaTrader from within MetaEditor.

The Navigator contains a useful list of various MQL functions and code snippets.

A particularly useful area is the Toolbox. From here you can see if there are any errors in your code. You can also download existing EAs and Custom Indicators from the MQL4.com website.

In future articles we will look in more detail at MetaEditor, the mql4.com website and writing using the mql4 language.

Questions?  Feel free to ask them in the comment field.