Trading Terminal MetaTrader 4 in Foreign Exchange Market

Trading Terminal MetaTrader 4 in Foreign Exchange Market

According to the Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Over-the-counter (OTC) Derivatives Markets, the average daily money turnover in the Forex market changed from 1.2 trillion dollars in 2001 to 6.6 trillion dollars in 2019. It is more than a fivefold increment. It is easy to predict that the trading industry will continue to develop with huge steps. Likewise, it encourages more and more people to strive to dive into the Foreign Exchange (or simply Forex) market and get an enormous income easily.

However, there is a great variety of important factors that every trader (especially newcomers) should take into consideration if he or she wants to succeed. The main question is what tools to use for fast, secure, and well-analyzed operations within the asset market. Take a look at MetaTrader 4, a high-performing application for macOS, by following the link https://fbs.com/trading/platforms/mt4macos and start trading effectively!

MetaTrader 4: What Is It?

In this article, we will review one of the most widely admired trading solutions, technical platforms, and software systems named MetaTrader 4. It is focused on Foreign Exchange. The program was designed by an IT product company called MetaQuotes Software Corp., which is based in Russia. According to the author, MetaTrader 4 is the most appropriate software for traders, financial experts, bank employees, and brokers.

MetaTrader 4 has been used in the Forex market since 2005. Its creator MetaQuotes  Software Corp. has been innovating and improving the features that set the MT4 platform apart from the competitors in terms of its user-friendly interface and features such as scripts, Expert Advisors, indicators, and more.

It has an interface that is convenient for the customers and a huge number of functions that make the terminal a powerful trading system, compatible with various strategies and suitable for any level of knowledge. The MT4 platform is equally effective for both beginners and professional traders.

Why to Choose MetaTrader 4?

The key advantages of the mentioned platform system are described below:

• Served markets – the Information and Trading Platform (ITP) is designed to supply clients in fields like Forex, Contract for Difference, and Futures.
• Multicurrency of the complex – any monetary unit can be used as the base currency, and a trader can operate it within the entire system. That allows anyone to use the complex in different countries and makes transactions with unconnected currencies easy.
• Low-cost and good performance of the complex – the implemented data transference, operating algorithms, and protocols are highly economical. This allows the creators to host up to approximately five to seven thousand traders on just one well-performing server equipped with a Pentium 4.2 GHz frequency, an 80 GB HDD, and 512 MB of RAM. Modern methods of protocolizing also make it possible to place fewer demands on communication channels and significantly reduce the cost of their operation.
• Reliability of the complex – if recorded data is damaged, ITP provides backup and recovery systems for all databases. In addition, you can retrieve broken datasets in a matter of minutes by using another server within the MetaTrader 4 system thanks to the established synchronization.
• Safety – to ensure security, all information exchanged between the components of the technical system is reliably coded with 128-bit keys. Supplementary user identification strategies relying on the RSA formula (1024 bits) have also been implemented. This solution guarantees the safety of the transmitted information and the impossibility of its use by third parties. A special in-built protection structure from DoS attacks improves the stability of the server.

To secure against DoS attacks, a fundamentally new scheme of system functioning was developed. With its help, hackers can’t reveal the server’s IP address thanks to special data centers. They are also equipped with a built-in DoS protection system that can recognize and block such attacks. When attempting distributed hacking of the network, data centers can block it while the MetaTrader 4 platform is functioning. As a result, using a protection method like this increases the resistance of the entire system to DoS attacks by several times. The implemented mechanisms for delimiting access rights make it possible to organize the functioning of the protection complex effectively and minimize the probability of malicious actions on the part of company employees

• Multilingual support – MetaTrader 4 includes built-in language assist, and all editions have the MultiLanguage Pack application, which allows you to convert the user interface into the language of your choice. With its help, you can easily and quickly prepare and then integrate support for any language into the program. This platform innovation helps to place MetaTrader 4 as close to users in any country on the planet as feasible.
• Open interfaces – open server terminal (MetaTrader 4 Server API) allows you to customize the operation of the ITS in accordance with your wishes. Using the server API, you are capable of doing a lot of processes:

1. Create your own analyzers to determine the trend in the monthly growth of traders.
2. Design applications that can be integrated into other systems.
3. Enhance the server’s functionality.
4. Implement some mechanisms for monitoring the operation of the system, as well as solve many other problems.

• Web applications connectivity – to let clients get better services, the complex has a built-in solution for fast consolidation with online web services (WWW, WAP). This allows you to, for example, publish quotes and charts on your site in real time, dynamically generate tables with reports on the state of contest accounts, and solve many other tasks.
• Flexibility of the system – the platform has a wide range of customizable features. It provides the ability to configure all parameters, including the time of the trading session and up to the detailed characteristics of financial instruments of specific groups of clients.
• Subadministration platform allows you to run many Introducing Broker systems on one server. Just one MetaTrader 4 server is enough to process all the accounts and orders of existing IB clients.

The MetaTrader4 trading platform has all the necessary and modern functionality for exchange operation. The platform provides traders and other specialists with a wide range of opportunities. That’s why it is quite easy to interact with the mentioned software solution.

MetaTrader 4 vs. MetaTrader 5: Something You Need to Bear in Mind

MetaQuotes Software Corp. continues to grow, and it would be naive to think that the organization will stop their product development process. Any trader would question whether there are some other web solutions to provide fast, well-analyzed and convenient operating opportunities. The answer is yes. MetaQuotes Software gives diversified support platforms for trading. The most widespread applications that any trader can come across are two versions of MetaTrader: fourth and fifth. You might think the latest edition is better than the first, but there are some significant differences between them:

• Different target aims – foremost, MetaTrader 4 was designed to work exceptionally well with trading on the Foreign Exchange market. MT5 is a universal product that works with both currency and the stock exchange. Different possibilities of use entail other dissimilarities between MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4.
• Development language – another difference between the two platforms is the programming language in which they are written. MQL4 was used for MT4, MQL5 was used for MT5, and they are incompatible with each other. MetaTrader 5 has enhanced object-oriented logic and a developed test system for checking the performance of expert advisors on historical data, as well as advanced analytical tools.
• Analytics – both platforms come with a multitude of technical indicators and analysis instruments, but MT5 has more: for example, 38 built-in indicators versus 30 in MT4. The developers also added the possibility of wave analysis using Elliott waves. Charts are presented in the same types — Japanese candlesticks, bar and linear. The number of used ones at the same time reaches one hundred. If necessary, additional indicators can be obtained from the Library. The updated MetaEditor does not require in-depth programming knowledge and allows you to create expert advisors and indicators on your own, while the Strategy Tester allows you to pre-test them on historical examples using different assets. An additional difference is the ability to overlay indicators for a smoother picture. The obvious disadvantages include the incompatibility of Expert Advisors developed for MT4 with the new version of the platform. MT5 includes fundamental analysis capabilities — an economic calendar and a news feed that displays real-time coverage of major financial events. You had to follow the updated data in separate sources in the previous version.
• Reporting – to analyze the results of a chosen trading strategy, it is possible to display reports on the operations performed. In the fourth version, they are available exclusively in tabular form. In the fifth version, graphs are additionally used. Five indicators can be evaluated: the number of transactions, profit expectation, average profit, loss and profit factor.
• Order options – MetaTrader 4 uses four options for pending orders. The updated platform has six of them, which allows you to create a more flexible trading system. The new Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit set an additional mark on the execution of the usual operations. Setting the first one gives an order to execute a Buy Limit at a price lower than that indicated in the pending order. The second one sets a Sell Limit, provided that the market price is higher than the set one. Partial order execution is allowed. A frequent complaint about MetaTrader 5 was the lack of hedging. The situation was fixed after the release of the updates. But the possibility of opening an order without locking has been preserved.
• Server software – MetaTrader 4 has one dedicated server and is limited in its connection with other servers. There are four of them in MetaTrader 5 that are focused on access, trading, history, and backup. It certainly speeds up the process.
• Interface – despite the completely different programming languages, the developers have retained the familiar design of the working window when releasing MT5. The new version adds a Depth of Market, which allows you to keep track of up-to-date data on quotes and transaction volumes.
• Timeframes – MetaTrader 4 has a total of nine timeframe options — four minute, two hourly, day, week, and month. In the updated version, there are already 21 of them. The range of minute and hour charts has been significantly expanded. You can choose the appropriate one in the “Charts” menu section.
• Copy trading – the function of copying operations of the best traders is available in the fifth version through the Trade Alerts service. An analysis of the results of the auction is carried out and a subscription is issued. It may or may not be paid. With indicators above average, the user is more likely to become the object of subscriptions.
• Alerts – for a timely reaction to market events, MT5 provides special sound signals — alerts. You can set up duplicates on your phone or email.
• MetaTrader Market – MetaTrader 5 has a special store where you can buy various robots, applications and literature related to trading. Additional products do not require separate installation, but are activated immediately after purchase.
• Versions for smartphones – trading terminals have mobile counterparts with functionality that is practically no different from the original full package for a computer. The ability to trade without being tied to a specific location is very convenient. Such applications are developed for the two most common operating systems — Android and iOS.

It is difficult to decide what version of MetaTrader to use. Bear in mind that they are targeted at slightly different aims, and it is possible to use the various strengths of each of them. Remember that you should focus on personal preferences and goals.

The Takeaway

Using this platform is not difficult to work on. It is convenient and simple, both for a beginner and an experienced trader. Any person who has just started asset operations will quickly figure it out. The technical requirements are not high: anyone with a computer, laptop, or mobile device can use the platform.

Considered as the “gold standard” among other platforms, MetaTrader 4 provides free access to Forex trading and various financial instruments such as CFDs, futures, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

The copy trades feature allows beginners to draw on the experience of professional traders. MetaTrader4 increases the chances of making a profit through the use of trading advisors.

The platform is available to traders through the websites of brokers who individually license the platform. According to MetaQuotes Software, the system is currently available from over 750 brokers and banks, serving millions of traders.