How to Add Horizontal Lines on MT4 Charts

Horizontal lines are the simplest drawing tool on MT4 and one of the most widely-used. They mark a single price level across the entire chart, regardless of time, and stay in place as new bars print. Traders use them to flag support and resistance levels, round-number psychological barriers, prior swing highs and lows, or any specific price they want to keep visible on the chart.

This guide covers the two ways to add a horizontal line on MT4, how to customise the line's appearance and price level, how to move or remove a line, and common use cases.

Why Use Horizontal Lines

A horizontal line marks a fixed price level. Whatever the chart's timeframe and whatever new bars print, the line sits at the same price until you move or remove it.

Common reasons to add a horizontal line include marking a support or resistance level identified from prior price action, flagging a round-number level (e.g., 1.1000 on EURUSD), placing a visual reference for a planned entry or exit price, marking the high or low of a significant prior session, or noting a key level mentioned in news or analysis.

Horizontal lines are purely visual. They do not trigger orders or send alerts on their own. To turn a level into an executable trigger, you would place a corresponding pending order or set a price alert separately.

How to Add a Horizontal Line

MT4 provides two ways to add a horizontal line to a chart.

Method 1: The Insert Menu

With the chart in focus, click Insert in the menu bar, then Lines, then Horizontal Line. The cursor changes shape to indicate that the next click on the chart will place the line. Move the cursor to the price level you want and click. The horizontal line is added at that price and extends across the entire chart.

Method 2: The Line Studies Toolbar

MT4 includes a Line Studies toolbar with one-click buttons for the most-used drawing tools, including the horizontal line. If the toolbar is not visible, enable it via View > Toolbars > Line Studies.

Click the Horizontal Line button on the toolbar, then click on the chart at the price level you want. The line is placed at that price.

Both methods produce the same result. The Insert menu is convenient if you rarely add lines; the toolbar is faster if you add them frequently.

Customising the Horizontal Line

To open the line's properties, double-click the line. The first double-click selects it (small handles appear at the line's centre). A right-click on the selected line opens a context menu; choose Properties.

The Properties dialog has two tabs.

The Common tab covers the line's appearance and behaviour:

Name and Description: optional label and note. The Description text is shown next to the line on the chart, which is useful for labelling levels (e.g., "Daily high" or "Sept low").

Style: choose between solid, dash, dot, dash-dot, or dash-dot-dot. Dashed and dotted lines work well for less important levels; solid is more emphatic.

Color: pick any colour for the line.

Width: line thickness. Standard is one pixel; you can increase for greater visibility.

Draw object as background: when ticked, the line draws behind the chart bars rather than in front. This is useful for cleaner chart aesthetics but makes the line slightly harder to see.

The Parameters tab shows the exact price level. You can type a precise value here if you want the line at an exact price (for example, exactly 1.0850) rather than clicking approximately at that level.

Click OK to apply changes. The chart updates immediately.

Moving a Horizontal Line

To move a horizontal line to a new price, double-click the line first (small handles appear), then click and drag the line vertically to the new price. Release the mouse to place it.

Alternatively, open Properties (right-click the selected line > Properties), go to the Parameters tab, and type the exact new price.

To deselect the line (so further chart clicks do not affect it), click anywhere on the empty chart area.

Removing a Horizontal Line

To delete a horizontal line, click it once to select it, then press Delete on your keyboard. Alternatively, right-click the line and select Delete from the context menu.

If you accidentally delete a line, Ctrl+Z reverses the action and restores it.

You can also delete all objects on a chart at once by going to Charts > Objects > Delete All. Use this with care; it removes every drawing on the chart, not just horizontal lines.

Common Use Cases for Horizontal Lines

Support and resistance levels. Identify levels where price has previously turned and mark them on the chart. When price approaches these levels again, the horizontal line is a visual reminder of historical significance.

Psychological round-number levels. Whole numbers, half-numbers, and major round levels (1.1000, 1.2500, 150.00 on USDJPY) often see increased order flow. Marking them keeps them visible regardless of which timeframe you switch to.

Reference prices for planned trades. Mark your intended entry, stop-loss, and take-profit prices as separate horizontal lines before placing the trade. The lines give a clear visual frame for the planned trade structure.

Daily and weekly opening prices. Some strategies key off the day's or week's opening price; a horizontal line marks it persistently so you can monitor how far price has moved from it.

Prior session highs and lows. Marking the Asian session high and low, or the London session high and low, helps with session-based analysis.

Practical Considerations

A horizontal line does not trigger any action by itself. If you want the platform to alert you when price reaches a level, set a price alert via the Alerts tab in the Terminal window (Ctrl+T) or right-click the chart at the price and select Trading > Alert.

Horizontal lines drawn on one chart do not appear on other charts of the same or different symbols. To replicate a set of lines across charts, save the chart's setup as a template (right-click > Template > Save Template) and apply that template to other charts.

If a chart becomes cluttered with too many lines, consider archiving old ones (delete the lines you no longer reference) or use less emphatic styling (thinner width, dashed style, or background drawing) for secondary levels so the most important levels stand out.

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