I just signed up for an Active Trader account with FXCM and tomorrow is my first real serious live trading day after several weeks of demo trading and a few days with a starter micro-account.
Prior to signing up, I had purchased some online courses and watched countless YouTube videos, all of which pushed MT4 as the universal trading platform, to the exclusion of everything else. Thus, I have a plethora of MT4 indicators that I have accumulated and have grown fond of.
My question is: are indicators freely interchangeable between the MT4 and FXCM’s Trading Station platform? I am interested in using their Speculative Sentiment Index (SSI) which is on their Daily FX On Demand service, but I don’t want to give up my cherished MT4 indicator treasure trove.
Are there any other factors to consider in deciding which platform to use ultimately - MT4 or Trading Station?
As far as strategies go, does the SSI indicator work in MT4-based strategies or is it’s use limited to FXCM’s homegrown strategies like Range 1 & 2, Breakout 1 & 2, etc.
Indicators for MT4 and Trading Station are written in different languages: MQL4 and Lua respectively. That means indicators are not interchangeable between the two platforms. However, it’s still possible for you to have the best of both worlds.
You can set up your Active Trader account to work on both MT4 (desktop and mobile) and Trading Station (desktop, mobile and web). Then you can take advantage of the indicators available for either platform.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out the many free indicators available for both MT4 and Trading Station on FXCMapps.com and FxCodeBase.com. As an Active Trader account holder, you’re also entitled to a free credit towards the premium apps on FXCMapps.com. You can speak with your account manager for more details.
Having been hit by Brexit during my equities trading days, I have now resolved to never again hold any position overnight - I will leave that to my 401-K financial adviser. I am definitely going to limit my forex trading to a mix of scalping and intra-day trading. Any pointers/tips that would lead me towards my goal of making a modest lifestyle-sustaining income from intraday trading would be appreciated.
Brexit was certainly a day of extreme volatility. I shut my own automated strategies off leading into the event and didn’t switch them back on until a week after.
That said, you may be interested in a brand new indicator FXCM introduced specifically for short term traders. It’s called Grid Sight Index (GSI) and uses the power of big data (large sample size) to address a common problem with traditional technical indicators when applied to short term trading (small sample size).
My colleague Walker England is hosting a live webinar on GSI on Thursday.
