How to Detach a Chart Window in MT4

By default, all charts in MT4 sit inside the main platform window. That works fine on a single monitor but becomes limiting when you want to use multiple screens. Detaching a chart turns it into a separate top-level window that can be moved anywhere on the desktop, including to a second or third monitor. It is one of the more useful productivity features of MT4 for traders running multi-screen setups.

This guide covers how to detach a chart, how to work with the detached chart on a second monitor, how to reattach it to the main workspace, and what to do if your MT4 build does not support native detachment.

Why Detach a Chart

There are several reasons to detach a chart from the main MT4 window.

Multi-monitor setups. The most common reason. If you have a second monitor, you can detach one or more charts and drag them to the second screen, giving each chart its own full window while keeping the main MT4 workspace on the primary screen.

Larger chart workspace. A detached chart can be resized to fill the entire screen on its own monitor, providing more pixels per bar than would be possible with the chart embedded in the main MT4 window.

Independent positioning. Detached charts are not constrained by MT4's tile or cascade arrangements. They can be placed anywhere on the desktop in any size, layered with other applications if needed.

Focused trading view. Some traders prefer to detach the chart for the pair they are actively trading, keeping it as a dedicated focus window while the main MT4 holds reference charts and the order entry interface.

How to Detach a Chart

In current MT4 builds, chart detachment is available through the chart's right-click menu.

Step 1: Identify the chart you want to detach. Within the main MT4 workspace, click on the chart to give it focus. The chart's title bar (showing the symbol and timeframe) becomes highlighted.

Step 2: Right-click on the chart's title bar (the bar above the chart, not the chart area itself). A context menu appears with window-related options.

Step 3: Select the Detach Chart option from the context menu. The exact wording may vary slightly between MT4 builds, but the option to detach is the one you want.

Once detached, the chart becomes a separate top-level window. It is no longer confined to the main MT4 application window and can be moved anywhere on the desktop independently of the main platform.

If the right-click on the title bar does not show a detach option, your MT4 build may not support native detachment. See the alternative approach in the next section.

Working with a Detached Chart Window

A detached chart behaves like a normal application window. You can move it by dragging its title bar, resize it by dragging the edges, minimise or maximise it using the standard window buttons, and place it on a different monitor by dragging it across screens.

The detached chart continues to receive price updates, run any attached indicators, and respond to alerts exactly as it did when embedded. Trade entry from a detached chart works the same way: right-click the chart, select Trading > New Order, and the order entry dialog opens.

You can detach multiple charts simultaneously. Each detached chart is independent and can be positioned, resized, and configured separately from the others and from the main MT4 window.

If you close the detached window using the X button on its title bar, the chart is closed entirely (not just reattached). To preserve the chart and return it to the main workspace, use the reattach option described below.

How to Reattach a Chart

To bring a detached chart back into the main MT4 workspace, right-click the title bar of the detached window. The context menu includes an Attach Chart option (or equivalent wording). Select it, and the chart returns to the main MT4 window as a regular embedded chart.

Once reattached, the chart appears in the standard chart workspace and behaves like any other embedded chart. You can re-detach it again at any time using the same right-click method.

If you close the detached chart by accident before reattaching, the chart configuration (indicators, drawings, zoom level) is lost. To avoid this, always use the Attach option rather than the close button when finishing with a detached chart.

Alternative: Running Multiple MT4 Instances

If your MT4 build does not support native chart detachment, or if you prefer a different multi-monitor approach, you can run multiple instances of MT4 simultaneously on the same computer.

Each instance is a complete copy of MT4 with its own application window. You can install MT4 to a different folder for each instance (run the installer again and choose a new install path), then start each instance independently. Each instance can be placed on a different monitor, log into the same trading account (or a different one), and operate independently.

This approach is sometimes preferred even when detachment is available, because it gives you separate Market Watch, Navigator, and Terminal windows per monitor rather than sharing one set across detached charts.

A few notes if you use this approach: each instance consumes its own system resources (RAM and CPU), so running many instances can affect performance on lower-spec systems. Trade execution from any instance reaches the same account if you log into the same account from each, so be careful not to duplicate orders across instances.

Practical Considerations

Detached charts retain all settings and applied indicators. The chart looks and behaves identically whether embedded or detached.

If you save the current MT4 profile (File > Profiles > Save As) with one or more charts detached, the profile remembers which charts were detached and restores them in their detached state when the profile is loaded.

Alerts and notifications work identically on detached charts. The alert sound and pop-up appear regardless of whether the chart is embedded or detached.

For multi-monitor setups, the operating system's display arrangement affects how the detached chart can be positioned. Make sure your monitors are arranged correctly in the system display settings so that you can drag the chart between them naturally.

On MT5, chart detachment works in a similar way through the chart's right-click menu. The interaction model is broadly equivalent across both platforms.

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