How to Open/Close a position on MT4 (MetaTrader4)?

How to open a position on MT4 (MetaTrader4)?

In order to enable the “Order” window:

1. Right-click on the “Market Watch” window or on the “Trade” tab of the ‘Terminal’ window and select New order from the context menu; or
2. Use the Tools -> New Order menu sequence; or
3. Right-click on the chart window and select Trading -> New Order from the context menu; or
4. Double click on the currency pair in the “Market Watch” window.

The Order Window

In MetaTrader4 there are two ways of making deals: ‘Instant Execution’ and ‘Request Execution’.

Instant Execution

Instant Execution means that you do not have to request quotes as you see real-time dealable prices in the ‘Order’ window and in the ‘Market Watch’ window.

Once you have decided to buy or sell at the current price press the “Buy” or “Sell” buttons to open a long or short position. For the instruments which are traded in the ‘Instant Execution’ mode, all quotes which are in the “Market Watch” window are executable, not indicative.

For the instruments traded in the “Request Execution” mode all quotes in the ‘Market Watch’ window are indicative and the “Buy” and “Sell” buttons are inactive.

In order to make a deal you should request the quote from MetaTrader by pressing the “Request” button:

Request Execution

Once you see the quote it remains dealable for several seconds:

Once the “Buy” or “Sell” button is pressed and MetaTrader4 confirms the deal, you can consider your new long or short position open:

The position is now listed in the ‘Trade’ tab of the ‘Terminal’ window.

‘Instant Execution’ technology has many advantages over ‘Request Execution’.

Instant Execution only takes a few seconds to deal compared to the ‘Request Execution’ which can take up to 30-40 seconds (on the Demo Accounts all operations are made within seconds, as demo accounts are quoted automatically, whilst live accounts are quoted manually).

In the case of ‘Request Execution’, all quotes in the ‘Market Watch’ window are indicative, so they may differ from those offered by the company for making a deal.

Before you make a deal you can change its details in the ‘Order’ window:

Symbol

a currency pair or CFD you choose to make a deal.

Volume

number of lots.

Stop Loss

the level of Stop Loss order.

Take Profit

the level of Take Profit order.

Comment

any notes.

In order to close a position, highlight it in the ‘Trade’ tab of the ‘Terminal’ window and right-click to obtain the context menu:

Then select “Close Order”.

Left-double-clicking on the open position in the “Trade” tab of the “Terminal” window will generate the same result.

Next, the ‘Order #__ …’ window appears:

Closing the position – Instant Execution

For instruments which are traded in the ‘Request Execution’ mode, you have to request a quote before closing a position:

Closing the position – Request Execution

Once you press the Request button MetaTrader4 gives you the quote and the “Close position number” button becomes available:

If a currency pair or a CFD is traded in the “Instant Execution” mode there is no need to request a quote.

This is why once the ‘Order #__ …’ window appears the “Close #position number…” button becomes active.

If the market is stable then execution is usually made at the quote shown by MetaTrader4.

Sometimes, however, the market can be very volatile and the quote offered several seconds ago may become invalid (even before those several seconds, which are given to you for the decision-making process, run out).

In this case, the quote is revoked and the “Requote” window with a new quote appears.