FX Trading Pairs Greyed Out

Hello from UK,

Have MT4 on my phone, logged into my broker Pepperstone on MT4, however on the Quotes page in the Metatrader 4 app all the FX Pairs are greyed out meaning I cant place orders.

I deposited around £500 into this account. Does this mean I am only entitled to just a half a micro lot if I don’t use leverage? If Pepperstone broker gives me 1 full micro lot then that means I have 1:2 leverage correct? A Micro lot is 1000 units of any base currency correct? So for example if I am trading GBPUSD and have £500 account balance then I can only buy 500 x USD if I am trading GBPUSD if I use no leverage?

I don’t like the look of the charts in MT4, can anyone recommend the best chart settings for a phone screen in portrait. I want to see red and green candles on a chart, keep it simple you know what I mean.

For popular Forex pairs, which time frames is recommended for a beginner like me? In higher time frames like the 1D, 1W and monthly I can clearly see the long term in which direction that it will go from a quick TA overview however if I am day trading that long term TA overview wont matter so which time frame is safe for day trading? If I am trading the 1D chart then that means my trades will be held overnight meaning I have to pay holding fees? Is it possible to blow up a account if a 1D chart trade is held overnight with no stop loss.

Cheers,

2 Likes

Never hold anything for more than 3 minutes without a stop-loss.

3 Likes

I assume your trading the 1min chart and any time frame above 1min always have a stop loss you say?

What if the Market Makers hunt for my stop loss to stop me out of the market?

1 Like

I have never traded off 1-minute charts. I am rubbish as a day-trader, 99% of my stuff is off daily charts. Its incredibly expensive and risky for a broker to try and hunt stops on D1 positions. Plus the brokers I’ve always used are UK-based and it isn’t worth their while to do it - the regulator would kill them.

1 Like

You really need to trade on a desktop than on a phone. You can then open other better platforms on Pepperstone, and being able to see the charts clearly. and then you can choose what TFs and leverage suit your lifestyle.

IMO, I would never in my life trade FX on a phone.

3 Likes

In my site I have to select all pairs in ‘Forex.a’ folder from Add symbol, it means all pairs will have ‘.a’ at the end, example: ‘EURUSD.a’. I’m not sure how in UK, let check again. I think with balance 500, you can trade with a small size start from 0.01 to 0.1 for AUDUSD.

1 Like

Okay, you mean you trade on the daily D1 time frame, however how you enter your trade position based on using your technical analysis for the D1 time frame that does give a clear picture on the market trend/structure in compared to lower time frames in which I agree but how do you hold your daily trade for less than 3 minutes on Daily 24hr D1 time frame? Lets say GBPUSD is trading at $1:20 today but based on your D1 daily TA there’s a 90% chance that it will be $1.21 tomorrow so you go long today but how you go long on holding the trade just for 3mins?

Or do you mean any time frame below the Daily time frame requires a stop loss?

You saying stop hunting by Market Makers only happens on time frames lower than the daily D1 time frame?

Market Makers want the most trades executed as possible during their working hours. I don’t know whether market makers are real people or bots but their job is to execute the most trades as possible that is only possible on where the most liquidity cash is in the order books so the brokers and markets make the most money from fees from us traders risk free.

You saying that UK brokers/market makers are regulated so basically charts from UK brokers should look different to charts from a broker in a different country that isn’t strictly regulated, meaning charts on a UK chart you wont see stops being hunted?

I make 99% of my trades on D1 charts, and never look at anything shorter for these. My D1 trades always have a stop-loss. Don’t get hung up on the figure of 3 minutes - I meant simply that you should only have no stop-loss for the time it takes you to put on a stop-loss. No delay greater than that is worth the risk.

Maybe UK brokers’ charts do look different from those from brokers in other jurisdictions. If stop-hunting is a real thing, they should look different. But you seem to be saying stop-hunting happens - I’m not saying it happens, but that might be because I simply haven’t looked for it so I haven’t seen it.

1 Like

Most Traders use the MT4 app on their phones as its the most popular. What it is I’m at work most of the time and my phone is my only way to trade. I could trade on my desktop on the weekends, when you mention better platforms on Pepperstone, which ones you recommend that is better than MT4?

What is good to trade on a phone?

Cheers,

Okay the ones from the + Plus add symbol are not greyed out many thanks. These must be the compatible trading pairs that my broker supports correct? The ones that are greyed out on the main page must be the default mt4 demo selection pairs, I deleted my mt4 demo account as I had problems logging into it using the default login/password after I install mt4 app on my phone.

From the + symbol I see these folders:

  • FX SB
  • Exchange Pairs

I see currency pairs in both of these folders so what’s the difference between these 2 folders because for example I see AUDNZD_SB in the FX SB folder and I see AUDNZD in the Exchange Pairs folder. Sorry its confusing, what is the difference between these 2 pairs?

I deposited £500GBP into my broker account, with a £GBP balance, I can only trade GBP pairs? Or lets say for example I want to trade EURUSD, my broker exchanges my £500gbp balance into 500 something Euros first, how does it work?

You recommend I start with AUDUSD pair as a beginner?

Cheers,

Well, if you’re used to MT4 you could update to MT5, bearing in mind that the FX currency pairs market closes for the weekend.

Or try a different platform like Trading View.

But as you are using your live account MT4 on your phone, you would need to open a new platform account and then transfer your account to it.

1 Like

Okay what is usually available to trade on Mt4 for the weekends using a spread betting UK account?

If the FX pairs are not available to trade on the weekends then they should be greyed out no orders can be placed?

Far as I have heard no SB firms offer markets over the weekend, though their platforms are functional so you can use their charts and set orders, you just can’t open or close trades.

I’m not sure how it is in UK, but in my country, if I add any symbol (from the app on mobile phone or app on desktop) I have to use ‘.a’ at the end of the pair, the pair without ‘.a’, I can’t place any order. Before I could use any pair without ‘.a’ but recently the new rule has been placed in my country to limit leverage so I have to use all pairs with ‘.a’ to trade. At my side, an account with $200AUD I can trade any pair with the smallest size 0.01. So I think your account can trade with any pair that start from smallest size as well. I just gave you the sample, you can trade any pair that you want, not only AUDUSD. But for beginners, many traders here used to suggest to start with EURUSD.

Hope it help and good luck!

I deposited £500GBP into my broker account, with a £GBP balance, I can only trade GBP pairs? Or lets say for example I want to trade EURUSD, my broker exchanges my £500gbp balance into 500 something Euros first, how does it work?

You need to recognise that when trading forex we are not actually buying and selling currencies. So the currency in which you funded your account is not a factor. Your position is a speculation on the change in the exchange rate between two currencies, if you “buy”, that’s because you think the exchange rate will rise. The financial benefits if you are right are parallel to what you would have received if you had bought the base currency and sold the counter-currency. Its just that no currency is being bought or sold so no conversions are necessary.

i.e. We are betting.

Okay so only spread betting accounts where users only bet that is they don’t own the currency?

What about other accounts such as forex standard account and more types with the broker?

For sure the vast majority of private retail forex trading consists of betting on exchange rates, not buying/selling currencies. The industry don’t like to be very clear about this.

Trading exchange rates can be highly profitable. Buying and selling actual currency is very difficult and expensive to profit from, its mostly just for banks who actually need the currency to sell to large companies to pay for stuff.