The European Union has published new regulations applying to retail Forex, CFD, and the few remaining binary options brokerages in its territory. If you have an account with one such brokerage, the regulations will affect you when they come into force during the late spring and summer. This article will outline how the new regulations will impact your bottom line.
Details of the New ESMA Regulations
In March 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the financial regulator and supervisor of the European Union, announced new regulations concerning the provision of contracts for differences (CFDs) and binary options to retail investors. It is unclear exactly when the regulations will come into force, but some time in May or June 2018 looks to be the most likely date, and Forex and CFD brokerages located within the European Union (including the United Kingdom, for the time being) will be forced to comply. The regulations will need to be renewed by ESMA every three months to remain in force over the long term.
The regulation concerning binary options is very simple: they may not be sold. In simple terms, this is the end of binary options as a product sold from within the European Union.
The regulations concerning CFDs are more complex but still relatively straightforward. Firstly, there is some confusion as to what exactly is a CFD, with many traders thinking that spot Forex is not considered a CFD and will therefore be exempt from the new regulations. They are wrong: spot Forex is technically defined as a CFD. In fact, every asset you see available for trading at Forex / CFD brokers will most likely be subject to the new regulations.
The new regulations will implement the following changes for retail client accounts (more on who is a retail client; later).
-
The maximum leverage which can be offered will be 30 to 1. That will apply to major currency pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, etc.
-
Other currency pairs, major equity indices, and gold will be subject to a maximum leverage of 20 to 1.
-
Individual equities cannot be offered with leverage greater than 5 to 1.
-
Cryptocurrencies are subject to a maximum leverage of 2 to 1.
-
Brokers will be required to provide negative balance protection, meaning it will be impossible to lose more money than you deposit.
-
Brokers will be required to close a clients open positions when the account equity reaches 50% of the required minimum margin by all open positions. This ;margin call; provision can be tricky to understand, so will be explained in more detail later.
-
Bonuses or any other form of trading incentives may not be offered.
-
Brokers will be required to display a standardized risk warning which will include the percentage of their clients who lose money over a defined period.
Understanding the ;Margin Call; Regulation
The best way to understand the 50% margin call provision is to use an example. Imagine a client opens an account with a Forex broker, depositing ;100 in total. The client opens a short trade in EUR/USD, by going short one mini-lot (one tenth of a full lot). One full lot of EUR/USD is worth ;10,000, meaning one mini-lot is worth ;1,000. To find out the minimum margin required to support that trade, we divide the size of the trade (;1,000) by 30, which comes to ;33.33. This is the minimum required margin to maintain the trade. Half of that amount is ;16.67. Now assume the trade goes against the client, with the price of EUR/USD rising above the entry price. As soon as the price rises far enough to produce a floating loss of ;83.33 (;100 - ;16.67), the broker must close the trade out, even if the trade has no stop loss or has not yet reached the stop loss. In theory, this means that a client;s account can never reach zero. Examples involving multiple open trades will be more complex, but will operate according to the same principles.
What Will This Mean for Traders?
The regulations will only apply to ;retail clients;, so you might try to apply to be classed as a professional trader. To get a broker to classify you as anything other than a retail client, you will have to show you have financial qualifications, a large amount of liquid assets, plenty of experience trading, and usually that you also trade frequently. Most traders will be unable to qualify, although it is worth noting that one London-based brokerage, IG Group, has stated that their proportion of clients now classified as recently increased from 5% to 15% of their total customers.
The major impact these regulations will have on traders is simple ndash; the maximum trade size they can possibly make at brokers regulated in the European Union will shrink. Many will say that the maximum leverage limits still offer far more than any trader could need, and I agree. I am wary of leverage and I hate to see anyone using leverage greater than 3 to 1 for Forex under any conditions, or any leverage at all for stocks and cryptocurrencies. Commodities can also fluctuate wildly in value. Too many people forget that the biggest danger in leverage is not overly large position sizing, it is that a ldquo;black swan rdquo; event such as the CHF flash crash of 2015 could happen and wipe out your account through huge price slippage. However, there is another factor that is widely forgotten: why assume that a trader rsquo;s account at one Forex broker is all the money they have in the world? For example, a trader might have $10,000 in the bank. If they deposit $1,000 at a broker offering maximum leverage of 300 to 1, they can trade up to $300,000. At a leverage limit of 30 to 1, that trader will have to deposit their entire $10,000 fund to trade at the same size. In a real sense, that trader might now have to take on more risk to operate in the same way, because if the broker goes bust, while beforehand they might lose $1,000 now they could lose $10,000! Even without negative balance protection, that broker would still have to come after them to try to get an extra $9,000 which they theoretically risk. Yet we saw after the CHF crash that brokers don rsquo;t come after every single client whose losses exceeded their deposit, due to legal costs and reputational issues. This shows that although the stated purpose of the regulation is to protect traders from excessive losses, the story is not as simple as you may think.
Beyond having to deposit more margin, and automatic margin calls, the other major change for traders will be that they will enjoy negative balance protection. This is a positive development which hopefully will make brokerages focus more heavily on the risks they are taking with their business model in the market. At the same time, a possible side effect of the new regulation is the potential increase in average deposits, leading to brokerages being more stable and better capitalized with client funds. Two final notes: brokerages will have to report on their websites the percentages of clients who are losing and making money, although the period over which the statistics must refer to is currently not clear. This will help to shed light on the debate over what percentage of retail traders are profitable, although some brokerages have already released what they claim to be accurate statistics showing that clients with larger account sizes tend to perform better as traders. Additionally, bonuses and promotions will be banned. I welcome this, as not only do they trivialize the serious business of trading, they are almost always a trick offering the illusion of free money whilst preventing traders from withdrawing any profits until a large number of trades are made (read the fine print the next time you squo;).
What If Yoursquo;re Not Happy Remaining in the EU?
Traders with accounts at affected brokers who cannot obtain professional status classification and feel they really need higher leverage than the ESMA limits outlined above might look for a solution by opening accounts with brokers outside the European Union. The most obvious destination would be Australia or New Zealand, where it will still be possible to find reasonably well-regulated Forex brokerages offering leverage in the range of 400 to 1. A recent development that is not talked about much is the growing difficulty of transferring funds to and from Forex brokerages in less tightly regulated jurisdictions. You might decide to open an account with a brokerage in Vanuatu, but you may find that a bank within the European Union might just refuse to send your money there for a deposit. This means that going far offshore, depending upon where you live, may not be a feasible option. In any case, the new regule impossible to live with, and overall there is a compelling case that they are a net benefit to any trader, so why migrate?
MT4 Vs. MT5 – Which One Should You Use? | Trading Forex
Forex traders have a choice of which trading platform to use. However, this choice is interlinked with the choice of Forex broker, as not every type of trading platform is offered by every broker. Moreover, some brokers do not have true compatibility with certain Forex trading platforms, but offer access to them through a bridge, which is a piece of software that connects a Forex broker’s dealing system with the platform. This can work satisfactorily, but if the bridge malfunctions or is slow it can adversely affect trade execution and management.
The Metatrader 4 trading platform is very well known and can definitely be said to set the industry standard. I have never seen a Forex broker that does not either offer trading directly through the platform or through an in-house bridge to the platform, although this can be at the cost of a slightly higher spreads and/or commissions. The Metatrader 5 trading platform is somewhat less commonly offered, although it is produced by the same company (the Cyprus-based MetaQuotes Software Corporation). To understand why this is the case, we need to take a closer look at the platform.
What is MT5?
Because Metatrader 5 was released in 2010, five years after the release of Metatrader 4 and at a time when Metatrader 4 was already very popular, and due also to the number sequence in the platform names, there is a common misapprehension that Metatrader 5 was a new improved version of Metatrader 4, designed to do the same job better. This is not really true at all, although it is a trading platform and back testing machine just as Metatrader 4 is, and the graphical user interfaces look and feel fairly similar. Any adequate Metatrader review should point this out.Metatrader 5 was actually designed to do some things that Metatrader 4 could not do. In reality, it was aimed at a different market, and thus, there is really very little reason to enter a discussion about “MT4 vs. MT5”.
Essentially, Metatrader 5 was designed to be able to trade markets other than Forex, such as stocks and commodities, essentially because it is better able to plug into a centralized trading exchange. Forex is a completely decentralized market, with a number of major players providing liquidity into this huge market at slightly different prices, in an uncoordinated fashion. Stocks and commodities, the latter of which is traded largely as a futures contract (infact several contracts with different expiry dates), must usually be traded through a centralized process before ownership can change hands with full legal effect. At the time of the MT5 development and release, it can be assumed that Metaquotes foresaw a retail stocks and commodities trading boom, and designed the software to fit that market.
The other major differential design factor was its compliance with the U.S.A.’s “no hedging rule”, which states that clients of Forex brokers in the U.S.A. must deal on a F.I.F.O. (first in, first out) basis. This means that if for example a trader goes long 1 lot of EUR/USD, and then goes long an additional 1 lot of EUR/USD, the first trade must be closed before the second trade can be closed. While Metatrader 4 logs every trade individually and allows for management of each individual position separately, Metatrader 5 automatically aggregates all positions. Therefore, only Metatrader 4 can deal with hedging: Metatrader 5 caxnnot. This is fine for traders in the U.S.A. as they are legally barred from hedging in any case, but in most of the rest of the world, many traders find an inability to execute hedging operations a very annoying an unnecessary handicap. It is probably the major reason why many traders have come to feel annoyed at being “pushed” into using Metatrader 5 in the place of Metatrder 4 by their brokers and arguably by MetaQuotes as well.
So in a nutshell, Metatrader 5 was developed to attract non-Forex markets and U.S. markets and to meet the inherent needs of those markets better than Metatrader 4 could. That is the true story of MT4 vs. MT5.
What is the Difference Between MT4 and MT5 Forex Trading Platforms?
The two major differences have already been covered, but there are a number of others worth mentioning within any MT4 and MT5 comparison.Metatrader 5 uses a programming language called MQL5 as opposed to the MQL4 used by Metatrader 4. The exciting thing about MQL5 is that it allows “black box” programming which, in a nutshell, means that it is easier to program and so will logically be a better framework for users and developers of trading robots and other expert advisors. However, MetaQuotes expanded this capability into MQL4 in 2014, so it is not a difference between the platforms any more, although there is a likelihood that if the language is upgraded at some time in the future, MetaQuotes will not extend any upgrades into MQL4 as well as MQL5
It should be noted that there is no backwards compatibility. Programs written for Metatrader 4 cannot run on Metatrader 5. This can be a serious drawback for traders who were wishing to “upgrade”, and is a key reason why such a change shouldn’t be seen as an upgrade.
It is true that Metatrader 5 retains two key programming-related advantages over Metatrader 4. Firstly, its back testing functions where you can test programmed trading strategies execute at a much faster speed, which is a feature that can save you a lot of time if you are the kind of trader who needs to run a large number of back tests. It also allows simultaneous multi-currency pair back testing. Together this can speed up back testing procedures immeasurably.
Which Trading Platform is Better for You?
The answer to this question should seem pretty clear by now after reading the above MT4 and MT5 comparison. If you have to comply with U.S. regulations for whatever reason, want to do a great deal of back testing using the platform offline, or want access to stock and commodities exchanges that are hard to reach through Metatrader 4, then Metatrader 5 is the obvious choice for you.It has to be said that otherwise, there is no reason not to use Metatrader 4, which remains a tried and tested gold standard platform of the industry. It is far more popular than Metatrader 5, and for good reason: it is easy to use and manage and has generally less glitches than its browser-based competitor platforms.
A Trader’s Perspective
Most seasoned traders will tell you that all they really want from a trading platform is something that is reliable and easy to use, intuitive, and doesn’t crash. They will also tell you that although Metatrader 4 might have a few annoying features, it works well enough, and allows them to stay on top of their trades and charts at the same time. As the choice of broker is really more important than choice of platform, all the platform-centered advertising and Metatrader reviews are mostly just gimmicks that are best overlooked since practically every broker offers access to Metatrader 4.Source
MT4 Vs. MT5 – Which One Should You Use? | Trading Forex
Forex traders have a choice of which trading platform to use. However, this choice is interlinked with the choice of Forex broker, as not every type of trading platform is offered by every broker. Moreover, some brokers do not have true compatibility with certain Forex trading platforms, but offer access to them through a bridge, which is a piece of software that connects a Forex broker’s dealing system with the platform. This can work satisfactorily, but if the bridge malfunctions or is slow it can adversely affect trade execution and management.
The Metatrader 4 trading platform is very well known and can definitely be said to set the industry standard. I have never seen a Forex broker that does not either offer trading directly through the platform or through an in-house bridge to the platform, although this can be at the cost of a slightly higher spreads and/or commissions. The Metatrader 5 trading platform is somewhat less commonly offered, although it is produced by the same company (the Cyprus-based MetaQuotes Software Corporation). To understand why this is the case, we need to take a closer look at the platform.
What is MT5?
Because Metatrader 5 was released in 2010, five years after the release of Metatrader 4 and at a time when Metatrader 4 was already very popular, and due also to the number sequence in the platform names, there is a common misapprehension that Metatrader 5 was a new improved version of Metatrader 4, designed to do the same job better. This is not really true at all, although it is a trading platform and back testing machine just as Metatrader 4 is, and the graphical user interfaces look and feel fairly similar. Any adequate Metatrader review should point this out.Metatrader 5 was actually designed to do some things that Metatrader 4 could not do. In reality, it was aimed at a different market, and thus, there is really very little reason to enter a discussion about “MT4 vs. MT5”.
Essentially, Metatrader 5 was designed to be able to trade markets other than Forex, such as stocks and commodities, essentially because it is better able to plug into a centralized trading exchange. Forex is a completely decentralized market, with a number of major players providing liquidity into this huge market at slightly different prices, in an uncoordinated fashion. Stocks and commodities, the latter of which is traded largely as a futures contract (infact several contracts with different expiry dates), must usually be traded through a centralized process before ownership can change hands with full legal effect. At the time of the MT5 development and release, it can be assumed that Metaquotes foresaw a retail stocks and commodities trading boom, and designed the software to fit that market.
The other major differential design factor was its compliance with the U.S.A.’s “no hedging rule”, which states that clients of Forex brokers in the U.S.A. must deal on a F.I.F.O. (first in, first out) basis. This means that if for example a trader goes long 1 lot of EUR/USD, and then goes long an additional 1 lot of EUR/USD, the first trade must be closed before the second trade can be closed. While Metatrader 4 logs every trade individually and allows for management of each individual position separately, Metatrader 5 automatically aggregates all positions. Therefore, only Metatrader 4 can deal with hedging: Metatrader 5 caxnnot. This is fine for traders in the U.S.A. as they are legally barred from hedging in any case, but in most of the rest of the world, many traders find an inability to execute hedging operations a very annoying an unnecessary handicap. It is probably the major reason why many traders have come to feel annoyed at being “pushed” into using Metatrader 5 in the place of Metatrder 4 by their brokers and arguably by MetaQuotes as well.
So in a nutshell, Metatrader 5 was developed to attract non-Forex markets and U.S. markets and to meet the inherent needs of those markets better than Metatrader 4 could. That is the true story of MT4 vs. MT5.
What is the Difference Between MT4 and MT5 Forex Trading Platforms?
The two major differences have already been covered, but there are a number of others worth mentioning within any MT4 and MT5 comparison.Metatrader 5 uses a programming language called MQL5 as opposed to the MQL4 used by Metatrader 4. The exciting thing about MQL5 is that it allows “black box” programming which, in a nutshell, means that it is easier to program and so will logically be a better framework for users and developers of trading robots and other expert advisors. However, MetaQuotes expanded this capability into MQL4 in 2014, so it is not a difference between the platforms any more, although there is a likelihood that if the language is upgraded at some time in the future, MetaQuotes will not extend any upgrades into MQL4 as well as MQL5
It should be noted that there is no backwards compatibility. Programs written for Metatrader 4 cannot run on Metatrader 5. This can be a serious drawback for traders who were wishing to “upgrade”, and is a key reason why such a change shouldn’t be seen as an upgrade.
It is true that Metatrader 5 retains two key programming-related advantages over Metatrader 4. Firstly, its back testing functions where you can test programmed trading strategies execute at a much faster speed, which is a feature that can save you a lot of time if you are the kind of trader who needs to run a large number of back tests. It also allows simultaneous multi-currency pair back testing. Together this can speed up back testing procedures immeasurably.
Which Trading Platform is Better for You?
The answer to this question should seem pretty clear by now after reading the above MT4 and MT5 comparison. If you have to comply with U.S. regulations for whatever reason, want to do a great deal of back testing using the platform offline, or want access to stock and commodities exchanges that are hard to reach through Metatrader 4, then Metatrader 5 is the obvious choice for you.It has to be said that otherwise, there is no reason not to use Metatrader 4, which remains a tried and tested gold standard platform of the industry. It is far more popular than Metatrader 5, and for good reason: it is easy to use and manage and has generally less glitches than its browser-based competitor platforms.
A Trader’s Perspective
Most seasoned traders will tell you that all they really want from a trading platform is something that is reliable and easy to use, intuitive, and doesn’t crash. They will also tell you that although Metatrader 4 might have a few annoying features, it works well enough, and allows them to stay on top of their trades and charts at the same time. As the choice of broker is really more important than choice of platform, all the platform-centered advertising and Metatrader reviews are mostly just gimmicks that are best overlooked since practically every broker offers access to Metatrader 4.Source
MT4 Vs. MT5 – Which One Should You Use? | Trading Forex
Forex traders have a choice of which trading platform to use. However, this choice is interlinked with the choice of Forex broker, as not every type of trading platform is offered by every broker. Moreover, some brokers do not have true compatibility with certain Forex trading platforms, but offer access to them through a bridge, which is a piece of software that connects a Forex broker’s dealing system with the platform. This can work satisfactorily, but if the bridge malfunctions or is slow it can adversely affect trade execution and management.
The Metatrader 4 trading platform is very well known and can definitely be said to set the industry standard. I have never seen a Forex broker that does not either offer trading directly through the platform or through an in-house bridge to the platform, although this can be at the cost of a slightly higher spreads and/or commissions. The Metatrader 5 trading platform is somewhat less commonly offered, although it is produced by the same company (the Cyprus-based MetaQuotes Software Corporation). To understand why this is the case, we need to take a closer look at the platform.
What is MT5?
Because Metatrader 5 was released in 2010, five years after the release of Metatrader 4 and at a time when Metatrader 4 was already very popular, and due also to the number sequence in the platform names, there is a common misapprehension that Metatrader 5 was a new improved version of Metatrader 4, designed to do the same job better. This is not really true at all, although it is a trading platform and back testing machine just as Metatrader 4 is, and the graphical user interfaces look and feel fairly similar. Any adequate Metatrader review should point this out.Metatrader 5 was actually designed to do some things that Metatrader 4 could not do. In reality, it was aimed at a different market, and thus, there is really very little reason to enter a discussion about “MT4 vs. MT5”.
Essentially, Metatrader 5 was designed to be able to trade markets other than Forex, such as stocks and commodities, essentially because it is better able to plug into a centralized trading exchange. Forex is a completely decentralized market, with a number of major players providing liquidity into this huge market at slightly different prices, in an uncoordinated fashion. Stocks and commodities, the latter of which is traded largely as a futures contract (infact several contracts with different expiry dates), must usually be traded through a centralized process before ownership can change hands with full legal effect. At the time of the MT5 development and release, it can be assumed that Metaquotes foresaw a retail stocks and commodities trading boom, and designed the software to fit that market.
The other major differential design factor was its compliance with the U.S.A.’s “no hedging rule”, which states that clients of Forex brokers in the U.S.A. must deal on a F.I.F.O. (first in, first out) basis. This means that if for example a trader goes long 1 lot of EUR/USD, and then goes long an additional 1 lot of EUR/USD, the first trade must be closed before the second trade can be closed. While Metatrader 4 logs every trade individually and allows for management of each individual position separately, Metatrader 5 automatically aggregates all positions. Therefore, only Metatrader 4 can deal with hedging: Metatrader 5 caxnnot. This is fine for traders in the U.S.A. as they are legally barred from hedging in any case, but in most of the rest of the world, many traders find an inability to execute hedging operations a very annoying an unnecessary handicap. It is probably the major reason why many traders have come to feel annoyed at being “pushed” into using Metatrader 5 in the place of Metatrder 4 by their brokers and arguably by MetaQuotes as well.
So in a nutshell, Metatrader 5 was developed to attract non-Forex markets and U.S. markets and to meet the inherent needs of those markets better than Metatrader 4 could. That is the true story of MT4 vs. MT5.
What is the Difference Between MT4 and MT5 Forex Trading Platforms?
The two major differences have already been covered, but there are a number of others worth mentioning within any MT4 and MT5 comparison.Metatrader 5 uses a programming language called MQL5 as opposed to the MQL4 used by Metatrader 4. The exciting thing about MQL5 is that it allows “black box” programming which, in a nutshell, means that it is easier to program and so will logically be a better framework for users and developers of trading robots and other expert advisors. However, MetaQuotes expanded this capability into MQL4 in 2014, so it is not a difference between the platforms any more, although there is a likelihood that if the language is upgraded at some time in the future, MetaQuotes will not extend any upgrades into MQL4 as well as MQL5
It should be noted that there is no backwards compatibility. Programs written for Metatrader 4 cannot run on Metatrader 5. This can be a serious drawback for traders who were wishing to “upgrade”, and is a key reason why such a change shouldn’t be seen as an upgrade.
It is true that Metatrader 5 retains two key programming-related advantages over Metatrader 4. Firstly, its back testing functions where you can test programmed trading strategies execute at a much faster speed, which is a feature that can save you a lot of time if you are the kind of trader who needs to run a large number of back tests. It also allows simultaneous multi-currency pair back testing. Together this can speed up back testing procedures immeasurably.
Which Trading Platform is Better for You?
The answer to this question should seem pretty clear by now after reading the above MT4 and MT5 comparison. If you have to comply with U.S. regulations for whatever reason, want to do a great deal of back testing using the platform offline, or want access to stock and commodities exchanges that are hard to reach through Metatrader 4, then Metatrader 5 is the obvious choice for you.It has to be said that otherwise, there is no reason not to use Metatrader 4, which remains a tried and tested gold standard platform of the industry. It is far more popular than Metatrader 5, and for good reason: it is easy to use and manage and has generally less glitches than its browser-based competitor platforms.
A Trader’s Perspective
Most seasoned traders will tell you that all they really want from a trading platform is something that is reliable and easy to use, intuitive, and doesn’t crash. They will also tell you that although Metatrader 4 might have a few annoying features, it works well enough, and allows them to stay on top of their trades and charts at the same time. As the choice of broker is really more important than choice of platform, all the platform-centered advertising and Metatrader reviews are mostly just gimmicks that are best overlooked since practically every broker offers access to Metatrader 4.Source
MT4 Vs. MT5 – Which One Should You Use? | Trading Forex
Forex traders have a choice of which trading platform to use. However, this choice is interlinked with the choice of Forex broker, as not every type of trading platform is offered by every broker. Moreover, some brokers do not have true compatibility with certain Forex trading platforms, but offer access to them through a bridge, which is a piece of software that connects a Forex broker’s dealing system with the platform. This can work satisfactorily, but if the bridge malfunctions or is slow it can adversely affect trade execution and management.
The Metatrader 4 trading platform is very well known and can definitely be said to set the industry standard. I have never seen a Forex broker that does not either offer trading directly through the platform or through an in-house bridge to the platform, although this can be at the cost of a slightly higher spreads and/or commissions. The Metatrader 5 trading platform is somewhat less commonly offered, although it is produced by the same company (the Cyprus-based MetaQuotes Software Corporation). To understand why this is the case, we need to take a closer look at the platform.
What is MT5?
Because Metatrader 5 was released in 2010, five years after the release of Metatrader 4 and at a time when Metatrader 4 was already very popular, and due also to the number sequence in the platform names, there is a common misapprehension that Metatrader 5 was a new improved version of Metatrader 4, designed to do the same job better. This is not really true at all, although it is a trading platform and back testing machine just as Metatrader 4 is, and the graphical user interfaces look and feel fairly similar. Any adequate Metatrader review should point this out.Metatrader 5 was actually designed to do some things that Metatrader 4 could not do. In reality, it was aimed at a different market, and thus, there is really very little reason to enter a discussion about “MT4 vs. MT5”.
Essentially, Metatrader 5 was designed to be able to trade markets other than Forex, such as stocks and commodities, essentially because it is better able to plug into a centralized trading exchange. Forex is a completely decentralized market, with a number of major players providing liquidity into this huge market at slightly different prices, in an uncoordinated fashion. Stocks and commodities, the latter of which is traded largely as a futures contract (infact several contracts with different expiry dates), must usually be traded through a centralized process before ownership can change hands with full legal effect. At the time of the MT5 development and release, it can be assumed that Metaquotes foresaw a retail stocks and commodities trading boom, and designed the software to fit that market.
The other major differential design factor was its compliance with the U.S.A.’s “no hedging rule”, which states that clients of Forex brokers in the U.S.A. must deal on a F.I.F.O. (first in, first out) basis. This means that if for example a trader goes long 1 lot of EUR/USD, and then goes long an additional 1 lot of EUR/USD, the first trade must be closed before the second trade can be closed. While Metatrader 4 logs every trade individually and allows for management of each individual position separately, Metatrader 5 automatically aggregates all positions. Therefore, only Metatrader 4 can deal with hedging: Metatrader 5 caxnnot. This is fine for traders in the U.S.A. as they are legally barred from hedging in any case, but in most of the rest of the world, many traders find an inability to execute hedging operations a very annoying an unnecessary handicap. It is probably the major reason why many traders have come to feel annoyed at being “pushed” into using Metatrader 5 in the place of Metatrder 4 by their brokers and arguably by MetaQuotes as well.
So in a nutshell, Metatrader 5 was developed to attract non-Forex markets and U.S. markets and to meet the inherent needs of those markets better than Metatrader 4 could. That is the true story of MT4 vs. MT5.
What is the Difference Between MT4 and MT5 Forex Trading Platforms?
The two major differences have already been covered, but there are a number of others worth mentioning within any MT4 and MT5 comparison.Metatrader 5 uses a programming language called MQL5 as opposed to the MQL4 used by Metatrader 4. The exciting thing about MQL5 is that it allows “black box” programming which, in a nutshell, means that it is easier to program and so will logically be a better framework for users and developers of trading robots and other expert advisors. However, MetaQuotes expanded this capability into MQL4 in 2014, so it is not a difference between the platforms any more, although there is a likelihood that if the language is upgraded at some time in the future, MetaQuotes will not extend any upgrades into MQL4 as well as MQL5
It should be noted that there is no backwards compatibility. Programs written for Metatrader 4 cannot run on Metatrader 5. This can be a serious drawback for traders who were wishing to “upgrade”, and is a key reason why such a change shouldn’t be seen as an upgrade.
It is true that Metatrader 5 retains two key programming-related advantages over Metatrader 4. Firstly, its back testing functions where you can test programmed trading strategies execute at a much faster speed, which is a feature that can save you a lot of time if you are the kind of trader who needs to run a large number of back tests. It also allows simultaneous multi-currency pair back testing. Together this can speed up back testing procedures immeasurably.
Which Trading Platform is Better for You?
The answer to this question should seem pretty clear by now after reading the above MT4 and MT5 comparison. If you have to comply with U.S. regulations for whatever reason, want to do a great deal of back testing using the platform offline, or want access to stock and commodities exchanges that are hard to reach through Metatrader 4, then Metatrader 5 is the obvious choice for you.It has to be said that otherwise, there is no reason not to use Metatrader 4, which remains a tried and tested gold standard platform of the industry. It is far more popular than Metatrader 5, and for good reason: it is easy to use and manage and has generally less glitches than its browser-based competitor platforms.
A Trader’s Perspective
Most seasoned traders will tell you that all they really want from a trading platform is something that is reliable and easy to use, intuitive, and doesn’t crash. They will also tell you that although Metatrader 4 might have a few annoying features, it works well enough, and allows them to stay on top of their trades and charts at the same time. As the choice of broker is really more important than choice of platform, all the platform-centered advertising and Metatrader reviews are mostly just gimmicks that are best overlooked since practically every broker offers access to Metatrader 4.Source
MT4 Vs. MT5 – Which One Should You Use? | Trading Forex
Forex traders have a choice of which trading platform to use. However, this choice is interlinked with the choice of Forex broker, as not every type of trading platform is offered by every broker. Moreover, some brokers do not have true compatibility with certain Forex trading platforms, but offer access to them through a bridge, which is a piece of software that connects a Forex broker’s dealing system with the platform. This can work satisfactorily, but if the bridge malfunctions or is slow it can adversely affect trade execution and management.
The Metatrader 4 trading platform is very well known and can definitely be said to set the industry standard. I have never seen a Forex broker that does not either offer trading directly through the platform or through an in-house bridge to the platform, although this can be at the cost of a slightly higher spreads and/or commissions. The Metatrader 5 trading platform is somewhat less commonly offered, although it is produced by the same company (the Cyprus-based MetaQuotes Software Corporation). To understand why this is the case, we need to take a closer look at the platform.
What is MT5?
Because Metatrader 5 was released in 2010, five years after the release of Metatrader 4 and at a time when Metatrader 4 was already very popular, and due also to the number sequence in the platform names, there is a common misapprehension that Metatrader 5 was a new improved version of Metatrader 4, designed to do the same job better. This is not really true at all, although it is a trading platform and back testing machine just as Metatrader 4 is, and the graphical user interfaces look and feel fairly similar. Any adequate Metatrader review should point this out.Metatrader 5 was actually designed to do some things that Metatrader 4 could not do. In reality, it was aimed at a different market, and thus, there is really very little reason to enter a discussion about “MT4 vs. MT5”.
Essentially, Metatrader 5 was designed to be able to trade markets other than Forex, such as stocks and commodities, essentially because it is better able to plug into a centralized trading exchange. Forex is a completely decentralized market, with a number of major players providing liquidity into this huge market at slightly different prices, in an uncoordinated fashion. Stocks and commodities, the latter of which is traded largely as a futures contract (infact several contracts with different expiry dates), must usually be traded through a centralized process before ownership can change hands with full legal effect. At the time of the MT5 development and release, it can be assumed that Metaquotes foresaw a retail stocks and commodities trading boom, and designed the software to fit that market.
The other major differential design factor was its compliance with the U.S.A.’s “no hedging rule”, which states that clients of Forex brokers in the U.S.A. must deal on a F.I.F.O. (first in, first out) basis. This means that if for example a trader goes long 1 lot of EUR/USD, and then goes long an additional 1 lot of EUR/USD, the first trade must be closed before the second trade can be closed. While Metatrader 4 logs every trade individually and allows for management of each individual position separately, Metatrader 5 automatically aggregates all positions. Therefore, only Metatrader 4 can deal with hedging: Metatrader 5 caxnnot. This is fine for traders in the U.S.A. as they are legally barred from hedging in any case, but in most of the rest of the world, many traders find an inability to execute hedging operations a very annoying an unnecessary handicap. It is probably the major reason why many traders have come to feel annoyed at being “pushed” into using Metatrader 5 in the place of Metatrder 4 by their brokers and arguably by MetaQuotes as well.
So in a nutshell, Metatrader 5 was developed to attract non-Forex markets and U.S. markets and to meet the inherent needs of those markets better than Metatrader 4 could. That is the true story of MT4 vs. MT5.
What is the Difference Between MT4 and MT5 Forex Trading Platforms?
The two major differences have already been covered, but there are a number of others worth mentioning within any MT4 and MT5 comparison.Metatrader 5 uses a programming language called MQL5 as opposed to the MQL4 used by Metatrader 4. The exciting thing about MQL5 is that it allows “black box” programming which, in a nutshell, means that it is easier to program and so will logically be a better framework for users and developers of trading robots and other expert advisors. However, MetaQuotes expanded this capability into MQL4 in 2014, so it is not a difference between the platforms any more, although there is a likelihood that if the language is upgraded at some time in the future, MetaQuotes will not extend any upgrades into MQL4 as well as MQL5
It should be noted that there is no backwards compatibility. Programs written for Metatrader 4 cannot run on Metatrader 5. This can be a serious drawback for traders who were wishing to “upgrade”, and is a key reason why such a change shouldn’t be seen as an upgrade.
It is true that Metatrader 5 retains two key programming-related advantages over Metatrader 4. Firstly, its back testing functions where you can test programmed trading strategies execute at a much faster speed, which is a feature that can save you a lot of time if you are the kind of trader who needs to run a large number of back tests. It also allows simultaneous multi-currency pair back testing. Together this can speed up back testing procedures immeasurably.
Which Trading Platform is Better for You?
The answer to this question should seem pretty clear by now after reading the above MT4 and MT5 comparison. If you have to comply with U.S. regulations for whatever reason, want to do a great deal of back testing using the platform offline, or want access to stock and commodities exchanges that are hard to reach through Metatrader 4, then Metatrader 5 is the obvious choice for you.It has to be said that otherwise, there is no reason not to use Metatrader 4, which remains a tried and tested gold standard platform of the industry. It is far more popular than Metatrader 5, and for good reason: it is easy to use and manage and has generally less glitches than its browser-based competitor platforms.
A Trader’s Perspective
Most seasoned traders will tell you that all they really want from a trading platform is something that is reliable and easy to use, intuitive, and doesn’t crash. They will also tell you that although Metatrader 4 might have a few annoying features, it works well enough, and allows them to stay on top of their trades and charts at the same time. As the choice of broker is really more important than choice of platform, all the platform-centered advertising and Metatrader reviews are mostly just gimmicks that are best overlooked since practically every broker offers access to Metatrader 4.Source
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