This Handbook provides information about MetaTrader that is specific to FOREX.com. For information about the general functionality of the MetaTrader platform, please refer to the platform Userguide which can be found by logging in and going to Help and then Help Topics within the MetaTrader platform.

Quick Links

RANGE OF MARKETS

MetaTrader provides trading in currency pairs (‘foreign exchange’ or ‘forex’), indices, metals, energies and soft commodities. For more information on markets, visit the markets pages.

TRADING HOURS

FOREX.com's trading desk is open 24 hours a day from 5:00pm ET Sunday through 5:00pm ET on Friday. On major holidays, this schedule is subject to change. Holiday hours are usually finalised two weeks prior to any date and customers are notified on a best efforts basis.

Foreign exchange markets are offered 24 hours a day from 5:00pm Sunday through 5:00pm on Friday (New York time), including most holidays. Commodity CFDs and Index CFDs are traded only during the hours when the underlying execution venues are open for trading. Full details of CFD trading hours can be found here.

Maintenance is performed on the MetaTrader servers daily from 5:30 to 5:45 pm New York time. The MetaTrader system is taken offline Saturdays at 12am New York time for approximately 20 minutes in order to perform weekly maintenance. You will not be able to access the live or demo environments at that time. 

FEES

FOREX.com charges no trading commissions or transaction fees. FOREX.com is compensated for its services through the bid/ask spread.

All banking fees, including but not limited to wire transfer charges, are the responsibility of the customer and will be deducted from the customer's trading account.

FOREX.com charges an account inactivity fee of $15 (or currency equivalent) per month if there is no trading activity or no open positions for a period of 90 days or more.

MARGIN REQUIREMENTS

The minimum margin requirement is dependent on your account type, base currency of the account and product.

Open positions are required to be fully margined at all times. There are no margin calls in forex trading. If a customer’s account balance falls below required 100% maintenance margin, all open positions are subject to automatic liquidation. Liquidations are handled in the following manner: the net open position with the greatest unrealized loss is closed first, followed by the next largest losing position and so on, until the maintenance margin requirement is satisfied or exceeded. Depending on the size and unrealised P&L of the open positions, customers risk having ALL open positions liquidated in order to meet the minimum margin requirement and incurring losses greater than the initial required margin.

To minimise the risk of liqudiation, you should make sure your account is funded in excess of your required margin and that you actively manage your positions using limit and stop orders.

Margin requirements are subject to change without notice, at the sole discretion of FOREX.com.

Margin Calls

Please note that it is your responsibility to maintain sufficient margin on your account.

FUNDING AND WITHDRAWALS

Account funding and withdrawal requests can be made through MyAccount at https://myaccount.forex.com, or by selecting MyAccount from the trading platform.

FOREX.com will not accept third party deposits or withdrawal requests. The name(s) on the FOREX.com trading account must be an exact match with the name(s) on the account of the other financial institution.

All banking fees, including wire transfer charges, are the responsibility of the customer.

Funding

There are four easy ways to fund your account:

• Credit or Debit Card -Deposits via debit and credit card are accepted. For fast and easy account funding you can link a credit or debit card to your FOREX.com account through MyAccount.
• Wire Transfer - Funds sent via wire are typically received by FOREX.com within 1-2 business days. All wire transfers should include the client's name and account number in the reference section of the wire. Please be sure that the beneficiary is listed as FOREX.com. Full wire instructions can be found on the funding page.
• Cheque -Funds sent via personal or business cheque take 5-10 business days (from date of receipt) to clear and be credited to client's trading account, according to our banking partner's posted schedule. This can vary depending on the bank and province of issue. CAD cheques from foreign banks may take several weeks to clear.
• Electronic Funds Transfer - Funds sent via Electronic Funds Transfer are typically received by FOREX.com within 2-3 business days.

Withdrawals

To withdraw funds from an existing account, please login to MyAccount. Withdrawal requests are typically processed within two (2) business days of receipt. Wire transfers will typically incur a fee of $15 CAD or USD.

TRADE EXECUTIONS

The MetaTrader 4 platform supports the following execution modes. This section should be read in conjunction with the Trade and Order Execution Policy.

Market orders

Market orders are executed at the best available price at the time the order is received.

Gapping/Volatility

When economic data releases or major news events are announced, prices may “gap” as the market reacts and adjusts to the news–i.e. prices may move dramatically in one direction.  We always aim to provide liquidity, but in extreme market conditions there may be no available liquidity for a very short period. Gap market conditions are also common when trading resumes after a weekend or holiday.   You should be aware of the following risks associated with volatile markets:

Stop and limit orders may be executed at a different price from the requested price, or the last quoted trade price at the time of order entry.  Orders may be partially executed or may be executed in several stages at different prices.

Opening prices may differ significantly from the previous day’s close.

Slippage 

Our quoted prices are executable the majority of the time.  In fast moving markets, orders may be executed at a price which has ceased to be the best market price. Limit order will always be filled at the price asked or better.

Execution Sources

Foreign Exchange

Our foreign exchange, gold, and silver price quotes are generally derived from prices provided to us by selected top tier global banks in the wholesale foreign exchange, gold and silver markets which we believe will provide the best available prices to you on a consistent basis.

Index CFDs

Our price quotes are generally derived from quoted or execution prices for the underlying reference assets from derivatives exchanges with respect to the given indices which we believe will provide the best available prices to you on a consistent basis.

Other Commodity CFDs

Commodity CFD price quotes are derived from quoted or execution prices from the derivative exchanges for commodities products.

ORDER TYPES

Market Order

Market orders are executed at the best available price at the time the order is received.

Limit Orders

Limit orders are executed at the order rate or better. Sell limit orders are filled when the bid reaches the requested rate; limit orders to buy are filled on the offer.

Stop Orders

A stop order is an order to buy or sell once a pre-defined price is reached. When the price is reached, the stop order becomes a market order and is executed at the best available price. It is important to remember that stop orders can be affected by market gaps and slippage, and will not necessarily be executed at the stop level if the market does not trade at this price. A stop order will be filled at the next available price once the stop level has been reached.

Stop Entry Order - this is an order placed to buy above the current price, or to sell below the current price. These orders are useful if you believe the market is heading in one direction and you have a target entry price.

Stop Loss Order - this is an order placed to sell below the current price (to close a long position), or to buy above the current price (to close a short position). Stop loss orders are an important risk management tool. By setting stop loss orders against open positions you can limit your potential downside should the market move against you. Remember that stop orders do not guarantee your execution price – a stop order is triggered once the stop level is reached, and will be executed at the next available price.

Time and sales reports for a specific period can be requested by contacting customer service.

One Cancels Other (OCO's)

A contingent order providing that one part of the order is cancelled if the other part is executed. If one part of the order is filled, the other is automatically cancelled.

If / Then

An If/Then order provides that if the first order ("If" order) is executed, the second order ("Then" order) becomes an active unassociated single order. Unassociated orders are not attached to a trade and act independently of any position updates. In cases where the “If” order does not execute, the “Then” single order will remain dormant and will not be executed when the market reaches the specified rate. When either part of an If / Then order is cancelled, all parts of the order are cancelled as well.

If /Then OCO

An If/Then OCO provides that if the first order ("If" order) is executed, the second order ("Then" order) becomes an active unassociated One Cancels Other (OCO) order. Unassociated orders are not attached to a trade and act independently of any position updates. The execution of either one of the two "Then" orders automatically cancels the other.
In cases where the 'If' single order does not execute, the "Then" OCO will remain dormant and will not be executed when the market reaches the specified rate. When any part of an If / Then OCO order is cancelled, including either leg of the OCO order, all parts of the order are cancelled as well.

Trailing Stops

A trailing stop allows a trade to continue to gain in value when the market price moves in a favorable direction, but automatically closes the trade if the market price suddenly moves in an unfavorable direction by a specified distance. When the market price moves in a favorable direction (up for long positions, down for short positions), the trigger price follows the market price by the specified stop distance. If the market price moves in an unfavorable direction, the trigger price stays stationary and the distance between this price and the market price becomes smaller. If the market price continues to move in an unfavorable direction until it reaches the trigger price, an order is triggered to close the trade.

All of the above orders may be entered as Day Orders, entered today and good until end of NY business day (10pm London time). Or, customers may choose to enter a Good 'til Cancelled Order (GTC), which is valid for 90 days from the date the order is entered or until the order is executed or cancelled.

Orders remain open until they are triggered or cancelled. If a position is closed manually, any order(s) relating to that position must also be cancelled.

Placing contingent orders may not necessarily limit your losses.

Minimum Placement Distance

Limits and stops must be set at least 1 pip away from the prevailing market price.

Order Expiry

End of Day (EOD) orders automatically expire at 10pm GMT on the same day the order was entered. Good ‘til Cancelled (GTC) orders automatically expire on the Saturday following the 90th calendar day from the date the order was entered.

Orders Left Over the Weekend or Holidays

FOREX.com’s trading hours are from Sunday at 5pm through Friday at 5pm New York time. Orders (e.g. Stops, Limits, and contingent orders) left pending over a weekend or holiday period will not be executed until FOREX.com resumes regular trading hours.

ROLLOVERS (FOREX)

FOREX.com automatically rolls forward all open positions following the close of New York trading at 5:00 pm. Trading is typically suspended for up to 1 minute during the roll process. The amount paid or earned depends on the direction of the open position and the interest rate differential between the two currencies involved. For example, assuming UK interest rates are significantly higher than Japan's, a trader long GBP/JPY (i.e. holding British Pounds), is paid interest upon rollover. Conversely, if a trader is short GBP/JPY (i.e. holding yen) interest will be debited upon the rollover.

Rollover credits or debits are applied daily to customer's account on each open position held overnight. Rollovers are process at 5:00pm New York time, so any open positions at that time will automatically be rolled forward and a debit or credit will be applied to your account.

Weekend and Holidays

Rollovers for positions held over the weekend will be posted in Wednesday; as a result the rollover applied on Wednesday will amount to three times that of Tuesday.

A holiday rollover will occur when the currency traded has a major holiday and the banks are closed. A holiday rollover will typically be applied two days defore the holiday.

Rollover rates are accessible from the MetaTrader 4 trading platform and in MyAccount.

TRADING

Maximum trade size

Each price quote is valid for  trade up to 25 contracts. 

Phone Trading

Phone trading is available to customers during market hours. To place a trade over the phone, contact customer service.

Phone Trading Instructions

• State your Account Number.
  You will be asked to verify the name on the account and answer other security questions
• Ask for the current price i.e.
  "I would like a price on Euro/Dollar"
• FOREX.com will provide the current bid/offer.
  "Euro/Dollar is trading at 1.28551/562" (the first number being the bid, the second the offer)
• If you wish to place a market order, state your interest.
  "I sell 50,000 of Euro/Dollar at the market"
• FOREX.com will provide verbal confirmation of the trade. Your trade will be entered on your behalf and the trade will appear in the trading platform immediately.
• If you do not wish to deal at the quoted levels, simply say "nothing done."
• You may also request that a stop or limit order be placed on your behalf. Be sure to indicate the type of order and the price.

All trades executed via the phone are subject to a pre-deal margin availability check and will be manually entered into the customer's account for integrated P&L analysis and reporting.

All phone orders will be recorded to ensure fairness and accuracy for all parties involved.

Holding positions over weekends or major holidays.

You can hold positions over weekend or major holidays.  Forex positions will be subject to FOREX.com's standard Rollover charges - see 'Rollovers' for more details.

Trade confirmations

Trade confirmations are provided online as soon as the trade is executed. Full transaction details may be accessed on screen, including date, time, rate, notional amount bought and sold, USD value, and reference number.

HEDGING

With FOREX.com CA MetaTrader you are able to open and hold multiple open positions and orders with the same trading product.

EXPERT ADVISORS

Expert Advisors (EA’s) are programs that can be used to automate trading and can be written using the MQL4 language or purchased from a third party. Keep in mind that EA’s run locally on your computer and will not execute strategies when disconnected from the server. For qualified clients, EA Hosting services are available to run your strategy on a secure VPS environment.* Click here to learn more.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, AND LOGIN

Fill our an application form on the open account page, we'll then automatically send you an email containing the download link. Then simply follow the steps described to download the platform.

Once the software has down loaded, click on the MetaTrader 4 shortcut on your desktop to start the programme. To log into your live account, click File and then Login. Enter the Login provided to you, the password you chose when you applied for your account, and the server name provided to you. Click Login when finished. You have successfully connected when you see kb numbers in the bottom right corner of the terminal.

Complete the “Open an Account” form to open a demo account.  Check “I agree to subscribe to your newsletters,” “Next,” and then “Finish” to complete the process.  Be sure to make a note of the login and password provided for future reference. You will be logged into your demo account automatically.

Please note: you will need to open port 443 on your firewall to properly run the MetaTrader 4 platform.

SOFTWARE

Operating system: Windows 2000, 2003, XP SP 2, Vista, or 7

Screen resolution: minimum of 1024x768

Internet: Connection speed of 36.6 Kbps or faster

Macintosh users

The MetaTrader platoform is Windows based and is unable to run on a Macintosh-based Operating system.  Users can acces the platform via their iPhone and customers using EA Hosting are able to log on to a hosted MetaTrader environment from a Mac computer.

AUTOCHARTIST

Autochartist, an independent research provider, automatically detects emerging chart patterns and trade ideas in the forex, indices and commodity markets. Continuously scanning during market hours, Autochartist's technical analysis includes auto generated trade ideas and detection of emerging and completed patterns within minutes of pattern formations.

Autochartist's features include:

• Trade Ideas—Concise and easy to understand, Trade Ideas contain entry levels, stop loss and take profit levels and cover currencies, metals and CFDs.
• Pattern recognition – Allows you to incorporate technical analysis into your trading plan while saving you time by highlighting opportunities that may otherwise be missed.
• Emerging Patterns- Identifies patterns where a breakout has not yet occurred and visually illustrates levels at which support or resistance is expected to help determine potential trading opportunities.
• Completed Patterns- Identifies patterns which have already broken out.

To access Autochartist analysis, drag Autochartist Web under Scripts onto any chart to generate a full list of available patterns.  To view a pattern integrated onto your MetaTrader charts, drag Autochartist Chart Patterns from the list of custom indicators in your Navigator window onto the corresponding chart of the pattern you wish to view.  Please remember DLL imports must be turned on to use this feature.  To enable, go to Tools, then Options, Expert Advisors, and then check Allow DLL imports.

REPORTING

Account reports are accessible from directly within the trading platform. Click on the Account History tab in the Terminal section and select Save as Report.

Account Statements

Daily and Monthly account statements are provided online in the Reports section of the trading platform. View current account balance (realised P&L) for a selected date or month, as well as all deposits, withdrawals, interest earned and fees charged (if any).

DEMO ACCOUNT

If you'd like to renew your Demo account please contact our helpdesk via phone or chat.

SETTING UP RATE ALERTS IN MT4

You’ll need to obtain your MetaQuotes mobile app ID – to do this you must download one of the MT4 mobile apps to your iPhone, Android or Windows phone. Once downloaded, open the app, log in, and go to Settings > Messages. The first message labelled “Hi” contains your MetaQuotes ID.

Go back to the desktop terminal and go to Tools > Options > Notifications and enter your MetaQuotes mobile app ID, check “Enable Push Notifications” and click OK. Click on the Alerts tab and right click to pull up the options menu.

To create a new alert, click Create, enter your specifications, and choose Notifications as your delivery method within the Actions section. You will then receive your rate alert as a push notification to your mobile device.