MetaTrader 4 is a favourite platform for traders accessing a wide range of financial markets. As of 2021, more than 80% of brokers worldwide offered MT4 to their clients and the platform had an estimated user base of more than 8 million traders. As a feature-rich platform, traders can perform various trading activities, including charting, technical analysis, market monitoring, and automated trading with Expert Advisors.
What is the MetaTrader Platform?
MetaTrader is trading software offered by many recognised brokers, free of charge, allowing traders to access a range of financial assets on their desktop or mobile devices. WebTrader is the web-based version which requires no downloads. MT4’s software is lightweight and allows for fast trading and instant execution which is paramount when trading in a volatile market such as forex.
Why trade on the MetaTrader 4 platform?
MetaTrader 4 has many trading features that you won’t find anywhere else. From tracking the price movement of financial instruments to implementing complex strategies and research, MT4 is a great trading platform. The platform supports the following chart types:
- Candlestick, line, heiken, and renko charts.
- MT4 allows you to easily set up take profit orders, trailing stop loss and pending orders.
- The use of Expert Advisors (EAs) can help you automate your trading and save time.
- You can also view your trading history, download historical trading data per currency pair, request detailed reports, and track past charts.
MetaQuotes Language 4
MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4) is a fast, flexible and effective programming language for developing trading strategies. These strategies allow traders to create a wide range of useful instruments to enhance their abilities when trading forexes such as trading robots, technical indicators, scripts, and function libraries for use on the MT4 trading platform.
MQL4 is an object-oriented programming language for the development of trading robots and technical indicators. Because of the operation speed and flexibility of the language traders can easily develop complex programs and manage almost all Expert Advisor and indicator parameters.
Traders can use MQL4 to develop various programs for analysing the markets and for trading automatically.
- Expert Advisors or trading robots: can perform trades and analyse the market on your behalf.
- Custom Indicators: they help with market analysis. You can develop an indicator and program any algorithm into it.
- Scripts: you can execute repeated but straightforward actions with these applications, such as deleting all objects from the chart, or closing all orders.
- Library: you can store and distribute algorithms that are frequently used in custom applications.
MT4 Features
MetaTrader 4 is a platform for trading Forex, analysing the financial markets and using Expert Advisors. The platform offers a wide range of features to traders of all different skill levels: advanced technical analysis, flexible trading system, algorithmic trading and Expert Advisors, as well as mobile trading applications.
Signals and Market
MetaTrader 4 provides access to some additional features and services such as the Signals and the Market. The Signals service allows you to copy trades, while the Market is an online marketplace from where you can buy Expert Advisors and Technical indicators.
The MetaTrader 4 trading system
Traders can execute complex strategies easily with a range of tools. From the Market and pending orders to instant execution and trading from a chart, stop orders and trailing stop, a tick chart and trading history, MT4 makes trading flexible and convenient.
Traders can use:
- 3 execution modes
- 2 market orders
- 4 pending orders
- 2 stop orders and a trailing stop
The MetaTrader 4 analytics
Analytical functions are one of the biggest advantages of the platform.
Online quotes and 9-period interactive charts let you explore quotes and react quickly to price changes.
23 analytical objects and 30 built-in technical indicators
With more analytical options such as the free Code Base and built-in Market where you can access thousands of indicators, you can instantly detect and react to market movements.
The MetaTrader Market
From MT4, you can access the Market where you can find a wide variety of Expert Advisors or the latest technical indicator to choose from. You can buy trading robots or indicators and launch them within the platform.
Algorithmic trading
All the work is done automatically, as almost any trading strategy can be implemented by an Expert Advisor. Trading bots can control both trading and analysis, freeing you from everyday market analysis. MetaTrader 4 provides a complete environment for developing, testing and optimising algorithmic/automated trading programs. You can use your own applications, publish them in free code libraries, or sell them on the market.
Mobile trading
If you move a lot and are very busy, you will want to know you can trade from anywhere. Smartphones and tablets are essential in trading and many traders prefer these devices as they can trade on the go, 24 hours a day. Traders can use the mobile versions of MetaTrader 4 on their Android devices or their iPhone/iPad to trade in the financial markets. The mobile trading platform’s functionality is impressive with full support for the trading functions, and a wide range of analytical capabilities with technical indicators and other graphical objects.
Alerts and financial news
With MT4, traders have access to the latest financial news while alerts can inform you about certain events so you can prepare and make the right trading decisions.
Advantages of MT4 at a glance:
- Real-time currency quotes
- A user-friendly interface
- Automated trading options
- Stability and accessibility
- Expert advisors
- Security
- Flexibility
Cons of MT4
MT4 has some downsides that traders may need to consider. Some users report difficulty when customising the platform to their needs, as they need to have some programming knowledge. Others have criticised the platform as better suited to businesses and brokerages than individual traders. Recent platform updates have been widely discussed among traders. In contrast, some traders have complained that adjusting certain structures such as Fibonacci charts and trend lines has become complicated due to the way the database is organised.
While some drawbacks exist, MT4 remains the standard in online trading and the most popular online trading platform. IronFX offers access to MetaTrader 4 which can be easily downloaded on Windows, Android devices, macOS, and iOS devices and is accessible online without any downloads via the WebTrader.
