The foreign exchange (Forex or FX) market is a global marketplace for exchanging national currencies against one another.

High liquidity, 24/5 access, and the ability to trade with leverage make Forex attractive to individual traders.

Participants include banks, governments, financial institutions, corporations, and retail traders.

In Forex, you can make money in both rising and falling markets:

• Going Long – You buy the base currency, expecting it to rise in value.
• Going Short – You sell the base currency, expecting it to fall.

Example: If you go long on EUR/USD and the price rises, you profit. If it falls, you lose.

Understanding how price moves and how trade sizes affect your profits:

• Pip: The smallest price movement, usually 0.0001 in most pairs.
• Lot: A trade size. 1 standard lot = 100,000 units of currency.
• Mini Lot: 0.1 = 10,000 units. Micro Lot: 0.01 = 1,000 units.
• Spread: The difference between the bid and ask price. This is your broker’s fee.

Example: If EUR/USD moves from 1.1000 to 1.1005, that’s a 5-pip move. On a 1-lot trade, that’s ~€50 EUR.

Forex prices are quoted with two values:

• Bid Price: The price you can sell at (lower).
• Ask Price: The price you can buy at (higher).

The difference between them is the spread.

Example: EUR/USD = 1.1000 / 1.1003 → Spread = 3 pips

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is a free trading platform used to analyze charts, place trades, and automate strategies using custom tools. It’s offered by most Forex brokers and is available for Windows, macOS, mobile, and web.

• Real-time price charts
• Dozens of built-in indicators
• One-click trading
• Supports automated trading via Expert Advisors (EAs)

Key sections of the MT4 platform include:

• Market Watch: Lists real-time bid/ask prices of trading pairs.
• Chart Window: Where you analyze price movement and apply indicators.
• Navigator: Gives access to your accounts, indicators, scripts, and EAs.
• Terminal: Shows trade history, alerts, and your open/closed positions.
• MT4 Strategy Tester: lets you run your trading strategy on past market data to see how it would’ve performed—before risking real funds.

Tip: Right-click almost anywhere on a chart for more settings or options.

MT4 supports custom tools written in MQL4, a powerful scripting language for trading automation and analysis.

• Indicators: Visual tools added to charts to help identify trends, entries, and exits.
• Expert Advisors (EAs): Automated programs that can open, close, and manage trades for you based on defined rules.

To use custom indicators or EAs, place the file into your MT4 /MQL4/Indicators or /Experts folder, then restart MT4 or refresh the Navigator.

(Note: All Standen products are fully compatible with MetaTrader 4.)

This involves studying price charts to identify patterns and trends. Traders use tools like indicators, candlestick formations, and support/resistance levels to forecast future price movements.

• Indicators: RSI, MACD, Moving Averages, Bollinger Bands
• Chart Patterns: Head & Shoulders, Double Tops, Triangles
• Support & Resistance: Price levels where movement tends to stall or reverse

Most of the tools built into MT4 — including custom indicators — are for technical analysis.

This method is based on economic data, news events, and geopolitical developments that affect a currency’s strength.

• Economic Indicators: Interest rates, GDP, inflation, employment reports
• Central Bank Policies: Speeches or decisions from the Fed, ECB, BoJ, etc.
• News Events: Political instability, war, natural disasters, elections

Fundamental analysis helps explain why a currency might gain or lose strength over time.

Sentiment analysis looks at what other traders are doing or feeling about a market. It’s about gauging crowd behavior and potential overreactions.

• Positioning Data: Are most traders long or short?
• News Sentiment: Are headlines bullish or bearish?
• Volatility Indicators: Spikes in fear or uncertainty can drive sharp moves.

Used alongside technical and fundamental analysis, sentiment adds an extra edge to decision-making.

A trend-following indicator that smooths out price data. Simple MA (SMA) averages prices over a set period, while Exponential MA (EMA) gives more weight to recent data.

Measures momentum and identifies overbought or oversold conditions. RSI values above 70 suggest overbought; below 30 indicate oversold.

Tracks momentum and trend direction using two EMAs. The MACD line crossing above the signal line may suggest a buy; crossing below may suggest a sell.

Consists of a moving average and two standard deviation bands. When price touches or breaks a band, it may indicate volatility or potential reversal zones.

Compares a security’s closing price to its price range over time. Values above 80 suggest overbought; below 20 indicate oversold conditions.

Helps measure market volatility. A higher ATR value indicates a more volatile market; useful for setting stop-loss levels.

A multi-purpose indicator that provides support/resistance levels, trend direction, and momentum—all at a glance. Best used on higher timeframes.

Displays potential trend reversals by plotting dots above or below price candles. A dot flip suggests a change in direction.

Identifies potential reversal levels based on key Fibonacci ratios (e.g., 38.2%, 61.8%). Often used to plan entries during pullbacks in trending markets.