How MetaTrader 4 Dominated As A Forex Trading Platform
Foreign exchange trading is still the world’s most active and largest financial market, with USD$6.6 billion worth of currency traded worldwide daily. Open for trading 24 hours, five days a week, trading reached a total value of more than USD$2.4 quadrillion. Every currency in the world is traded on the foreign exchange market; traders, when it comes to forex trading, have hundreds of currencies from which to choose. Modern technology has made forex exchange accessible to a growing number of people. Digitization of transactions and trading tools resulted in the remarkable growth of online trading. However, foreign exchange traders must work with an FX Brokerage using an online currency (or forex) trading platform. So, what is a forex trading platform? A foreign exchange or currency trading platform can be an app, online, or downloadable program that a brokerage or broker provides to their clients. Their clients can participate in the forex markets through this software interface through this platform. These platforms also offer research tools and not just for processing orders. The most popular Forex Trading Platform is MetaTrader 4, developed by MetaQuotes Software and released in 2005 and brokers use worldwide. Since then, this platform has been regarded as the standard fx trading platform suited for traders of all types. But what makes MetaTrader 4 (MT4) “the standard?” Reasons why MetaTrader 4 is the dominant forex trading platform MetaTrader 4’s popularity is such that it’s now licensed by most brokers all over the world. Its high demand also compels brokers to offer the platform to their clients. Its newer iteration, the MetaTrader 5, got a few upgrades and was designed for a wider audience. Both MT4 and MT5 today lord it over the other platforms, but MT4’s popularity still makes it the “one platform to rule them all.” Here are a few reasons why: 1. Easy and convenient to use MT4’s design is easy to use. Even beginners have no problems navigating its interface. Its features and indicators simplify trading, making the trading process less intimidating for anyone new to forex. If you’re a client, the rates and symbols make it easy for you to explore and make things straightforward. Moreover, the programming language used in MT4, the MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4), is designed with customer technical indicators to help analyze conditions in the financial markets. The programing language also enables you to write automated strategies of your choice for forex trading. MQL4 runs in real-time and creates customized graphical tools to help make trade decisions easier. With MQL4 under its hood, MT4 makes it convenient for third-party participants, programmers, brokers, and traders to design and use trading bots and Expert Advisors (EAs) indicators. 2. Versatility MT4’s features make the trading platform versatile. Its features let you trade in different markets. You can trade contracts for difference (CFDs), commodities, forex pairs, and stock in a single marketplace. You can also find about 40 technical indicators on the platform. Below are some of the most popular indicators: Pivot points: This is used to measure market movements and gives the option of adding alerts. Order history: This gives you the chance to analyze past trades, superimposed over MT4 charts, for an easier review of your previous successes and failures. Renko: This can help with easier analysis of price movements. High-low: This is used for checking historical highs and lows at any time frame and on any chart. Freehand drawing: This gives you the option of doing a freehand drawing on any chart. Chart group: This can make changing symbols on the charts easier. Besides the interactive charts, there’s also a news bar that gives you real-time updates on forex market news. MT4 also introduced social trading to its platform, allowing traders to link up with other forex traders and automatically replicate other traders’ strategies. As a user, you can also access the tabs in the Terminal window, such as the Code Base and the Market tab, to get connected with the MQL5 (MetaQuotes Language 5) community. This ability is helpful if you want to buy expert advisors, indicators, and scripts. These extra plugins can be purchased using your account balance without leaving the platform. 3. Accessibility and reliability The MT4 platform requires neither a high-end system nor a fast internet connection, making it accessible to all traders. You can also use MT4 to trade from any browser and operating system (Windows, Mac, or Linux). Moreover, MT4 is also optimized for mobile devices. Its multiple account manager or multi-trader feature allows users to simultaneously work on different devices using only a single account. The feature can, for example, enable you to start your forex trades from your computer, do the monitoring on your mobile device, and continue trading on your browser, if you prefer. Its server also is stable and can support thousands of trades simultaneously. And since forex accounts often contain cash balances, security is a vital component of the platform. MT4 has a high-security standard; data transmission between platform servers and end-users is encrypted. Additionally, the platform uses the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman or RSA digital signature. Summary The MetaTrader 4 platform, since its release in 2005, has been the premier forex trading platform used by many traders and brokerages. It has become the standard forex trading platform for measuring other platforms. 
