MetaTrader 4 Status Bar
One quick method to check the real time internet connection between your MT4 stocks platform & the server of your online stock broker is to check the MetaTrader 4 status bars on the MT4 platform interface - MetaTrader 4 Connection Bar on MT4 Status Bar.
On the stocks trading example illustrated and described below the MetaTrader 4 Connection Bars in MT4 Status Bar is Shown:
The MetaTrader 4 status bar is used to show if there is a connection to the trading servers or not, if there is a connection to the trading server, then a trader can place trades to the online stock market using MetaTrader 4 stock charts. When there is a connection MetaTrader 4 stock charts can then keep updating - if MT4 Stock Charts on your stock trading platform are Not Updating - you should first check the connectivity using the MetaTrader 4 Stock Trading Platform Connection bars on MT4 Platform Status Bar.
Green Bars - on the Connection bars on MT4 Platform Status Bar shows there is a connection, next to the green bars there will also be the kilobytes downloaded & uploaded indicated as a figure.
Red Bars - Connection bars in MetaTrader 4 Status Bar show that there is no connection and trades to the brokers' server cannot be opened.
Red bars may also mean that your internet connection is down, therefore if you are using a connection like dial up and red bars come up, then maybe it is your internet connection, and not necessarily the broker's server. A common question by stock traders is - Why are MT4 Stock Charts Not Updating? if your MetaTrader 4 stocks charts are not updating then you may need to first check the connection of the MetaTrader 4 stocks trading platform to your stock broker using this MetaTrader 4 connection bars on MT4 status bar - MT4 Stock Charts Not Updating.
To show the status bars on the MetaTrader 4 platform, a trader needs to use the "Status Bar" button on the 'View' menu options as shown below, Click to check, once the option is checked the MetaTrader 4 status bar will appear at the bottom right corner of your MT4 Stock Trading Platform.
How to check if there is an online connection on the MetaTrader 4 Software
MT4 Stock Trading Platform Connection Bars on the Status Bar - Green Bars show that the connection is online and Red Bars show that the connection is offline. The connection may be either your internet service provider or stock broker server. Most of the time it will be your internet service provider as the brokers have 2 to 3 simultaneous servers and there is no way all of them can be offline even if it is for 1 second.
