What are the Alerts in MT4 - Indicators with Alerts

Trading on the Forex market, the success often depends on a quick reaction to the trading signals. Some trading strategies can give signals to open the positions once a week, or once a month. Obviously, a trader cannot always sit at a computer, waiting for a successful opportunity. That's why we use alerts.

Alert can be sent on a smartphone or e-mail as a text message, sound, or by running the specified file.

Alerts have the same options as the orders. You can customize their settings by mouse clicking on the selected alert. Alerts can also be moved on the chart and you can change their color.

The trader can choose the condition for the notification triggering:

• If the Bid price has reached a certain level;
• If the Ask price has reached a certain level;
• At the chosen time.

Setting the Alerts in MetaTrader4

Press Ctrl+T, or select Main Menu > View > Terminal. Select the "Alerts" tab with the right mouse button, and click "Create" in the new window.

You can also change the settings of each alert by double-clicking on it with the right mouse button. Next, you will see a new window where you can configure the conditions for the alert activation, the form of the signal, and other properties. This menu we will consider in more detail.

1. Enable - if you uncheck this box, the notification will be inactive.
2. In this drop-down list, it’s possible to configure the actions of the program, at the time when alerts are triggered.

• Sound - a sound signal;
• File - opens the selected file;
• Mail - you will receive a notification by e-mail;
• Notifications - receiving signals on the smartphone.

3. Symbol. At this point, you need to choose which of the currency pairs will be used for alerts.
4. Source. Here you can choose which file you want to start when you receive a signal, or text that you want to see in notifications to an email address or smartphone.
5. Condition. The most important point where you choose, the conditions for the alert launching. There are several default options:

• Bid> The bid price has exceeded a certain mark.
• Bid< The bid price has fallen below a given level.
• Ask> The ask price exceeded a certain level.
• Ask< The ask price has fallen below a certain level.
• Time= Regardless of the price levels, you will receive an alert at a certain time.

6. Value. The alert will be launched at the moment when the asset value becomes equal to the selected value.
7. Timeout. The period of time between the moment of receiving the trading signal and the notification.
8. Maximum Iterations. The notification can be repeated several times.

You can also set a time when the selected alert will be deleted automatically.

Alert Features

Not all the traders understand the advantages of the notifications trading on Forex. However, this feature allows the trader to take a number of advantages.

For example, there are situations when the current price level isn’t profitable for opening the positions, but a trader doesn’t want to use the limit orders. Usually, in such cases it’s necessary to monitor the price fluctuations with accuracy, to catch the right time for the transaction. If you set up an alert, you can leave the workplace and start trading when you find out that the market has the right conditions.

You can receive notifications about a breakdown of the support and resistance levels, or at the opening of one of the world exchanges. It will also be useful to set up the notifications about the release of the important economic news.

Indicators with Alerts

It’s worth noting that almost all modern indicators have the option of notifications. Among the most popular tools with alerts, there are such as trend indicator, pattern indicator, Rubicon, Fourier Extrapolator and Scalper Dream.

You can combine the built-in alerts of the indicators with your own ones. However, don’t create too many signals, since your goal is not to miss the most important events, and to open a profitable position.