Metatrader 4

Beginner Questions
1

I have been trading a practice account that uses the metatrader 4 platform. When I enter a buy position it always puts me in 20 points higher than the price was when I clicked buy and when I enter a sell position it puts me in 20 points lower.
This means every trade I do always starts off 20 points negative Also when I want to set a stop loss, a sell limit or a buy limit it wont let me unless I enter a price 40 points different from the current market price, all this makes it hard to make any money especially when the markets are not fluctuating much. Can anyone tell me is this how it always is with forex trading or do I need to try a different broker ?

2

You always start out the trade in the negative. This is called the spread, or in lamans terms what your broker charges you to make the trade.

So yes it happens on every trade. (i’m thinking by 20 points you mean 2 pips with the 0 a pipette prob the EUR/USD??) which actually is low, other pairs have a significantly higher spread.

Some brokers have a minimum stop and take profit from the current price.

Cheers

3

2 pips on E/U is actually pretty high. I’m used to getting 0.8-1.2 on E/U except during low liquidity/high volatility periods.

4

Thanks for replying, and for clarifying that for me I actually had no idea the last decimal place on the chart was a pippete I had been thinking that was a pip, it makes sense now thanks.

5

I dont usually trade the E/U but 2 pips is pretty much a generic standard…

6

go to Charts>Properties>Common>make sure “Show OHLC” and “Show Ask Line” are checked and you will get the Bid and Ask lines that show the spread and where your trades will actually open.

7

Look around for lower spreads if you are paying 2 pips on E/U and are scalping.
2 pips is high if you ask me. If you are not scalping a 1 or 2 pips higher spread might be fine if the broker was offering something else you need. A particular platform, or low withdraw or deposit costs something like that. It might be a trade off higher spread for the right service for you.

8

This is a pretty good tip!

Best Regards,
Matt Jones .