Trading Platform

[Analytic]

[B]MY TONGUE IS MY PROFIT[/B]

“My tongue is my enemy”, the ancients once said. They could not have even imagined that after just two millennia, the meaning of this phrase would flip 180 degrees. Of course, if you only consider human language, everything has remained the same. “Silentium est aurum” (Silence is gold), “Silentium videtur confession” - we can endlessly recall proverbs and sayings about the need… to talk less. However, let us recall that not too long ago humans developed a need to communicate not just with their own kind, but also with computers, that have proven to be incredibly useful and essential in everyday life. As a result of this evolutionary process a new group of languages has arisen on Earth – programming languages, on which you can talk without even opening your mouth.

I have to admit – I am a complete ignoramus in programming. In the last-century early 80s, when I was studying in university, the portable “computer” in the department of higher mathematics was nothing but a board with holes (ie jacks). By connecting those with wires and plugs, we would force this technological wonder to solve problems such as 2 times 2 and would get really excited when the machine answered with the number 4.
In the lab where I started working once I graduated from university, everything turned out to be much fancier – the “Minsk-32” computer took up a whole room and as far as the number of shelves it occupied it could be compared to the wardrobe of the English Queen or Madonna herself.
This machine benefited us in one and only way – the person in charge of this monster used to be frequently given several litres of alcohol for degreasing the contacts, and, as you can imagine, this alcohol would then be quickly drunk by our friendly team (this was at the time when Gorbachev decided to wage war with drunkenness and no alcohol was to be seen on the shelves of shops across the whole of the USSR).
As time passed, progress was being made, and at one point our lab received the mini-computer “Electronics” that could fit on a desk and consisted of a keyboard and a conventional television that functioned as a screen, while the information carrier was your most common audio cassette. It was fantastic!

You have probably already understood in what circumstances I was introduced to the world of computing, and why I have yet to master even the basics of programming. However, regarding Forex, I have become a fervent supporter of algorithmic trading and I enjoy constantly producing my own advisers. This might surprise you, but some of them have been working for several years now on real accounts and are bringing me quite substantial profit.

At first I was convinced that everything genius is simple. As a result, my advisers were very simple, but, as it turned out, not quite genius. Now they have smartened up a bit – their settings include dozens of parameters and (now I’m bragging) they can even fight deposit drawdowns.

I have realised that in Forex, just like in real life, you should not try to grab the biggest piece of the pie. A collective effort is stronger than an individual one, and two minds are definitely better than one (mine).

By this logic, in the same manner as Henry Ford had developed the conveyer belt, I split the process of creating robots into two (!) whole steps: on the first step, I write up an algorithm, and on the second, a programmer brings my “genius” ideas to life.
It really is not difficult to write a detailed algorithm – you just need to clearly know what you want and not forget about Murphy’s law: if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.
This law, in my opinion, is actually fundamental in Forex and so when, for example, you open a “sell” position, you can be certain that with a probability of 99.99% the price will move in the opposite direction. This axiom should lie in the foundation of every good working adviser.

So, we have sorted out the algorithms. Now it is step number two – writing the programme. There is no need to mention that the majority of indicators, scripts and advisers are written in the MQL languages for working on the MT4 and MT5 platforms. In my opinion, these are the very best and the simplest trading platforms, which are convenient and well harnessed for Forex languages (and this now is the opinion of professionals).
Since both the platforms and the languages are the babies of the same artisans from MetaQuotes, it is pretty easy to take full advantage of them.
Firstly, by opening the “Help” tab at the top of your private terminal, not only do you get instant access to the mega-portal mql5, but also textbooks on programming on both the MQL4 and MQL5 languages.
(By the way, a very close friend of mine, having lost his job, quickly mastered the intricacies of programming and is now working for one of the respected broker companies).
Furthermore, in the Code Base section of the mql5 portal you can find a multitude of ready programmes for the MetaTrader client terminal – take these as examples and they will help you in the creation of your own indicators and advisers.
By following this route, you will have to spend a certain amount of time studying the intricacies of programming, but you will save the money you would have spent on hiring programmers. Then, before you know it, you yourselves will be able to make certain profit by sculpting programmes for “dummies” like me.

“We’ll take the roads less travelled”, Lenin once said. So I decided that you “better go about than fall into a ditch”, and, bypassing other sections of the portal, I reached the absolutely wonderful section “Freelance”. This is a real auction, a heaven for the client, where anyone can order practically any programme for MetaTrader – on very favourable terms at that, since 400 programmers (just think about this number!) compete with each other to fulfil your order.
This really is a cool tender! I was not just pleasantly surprised – I was literally shocked, when, having published my first order, I got almost 20 offers from programmers willing to fulfil my order the same day. Moreover, I specified in the comments that I was willing to pay up to 100 dollars for the work under the condition that it is completed within a week. In the end, I got my “money-making machine” not in seven days, but in three, and not for 100, but for 55 dollars.

For those who have decided to independently master this fantastic means of communication between human and computer, the MQL language textbooks can be freely downloaded on the portal of MetaQuotes, available in nine different languages. And what next? Next, we will recall the words of the Nobel prize winner and member of the Académie Française Anatole France:
« In order to digest the knowledge it is necessary to absorb it with gusto».
Bon appétit, ladies and gentlemen!

[sistemfx]

Really nice thread sir…
Many knowledge there. Sir, why do the metalanguage need update??

[orni308]

MT4 has been one of the most widely used platforms, as its very user friendly and easy to use.

[Analytic]

FOREX WITHOUT RISK
How to earn money on Forex without risking losing your deposit.

Can you earn money on Forex?
Surprisingly, any answer to this question is correct. Whatever it is – a lot, a little, nothing, a million or two, you can lose everything – every one of these options can become reality. For each individual trader, this reality depends, above all, on his or her knowledge and skills; and on the ability to use at least 50% (or better all 100%) of the opportunities provided by the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms.
At this point – I am sure! – most of the readers exclaim: “What’s hard about that? Just some graphs, indicators, advisers, a tester. Open a deal, close it and…”. And… look above for the possible options. Surveys clearly indicate that a significant number of users of these platforms cannot even imagine that through them you can earn a good amount of money… without even making any trades on Forex, in other words without risking anything.
A host of bookmarks on the terminals MT4 and MT5 («Help-Community», «Help», «Market», «Signals», «Code Base») will bring you to the portal mql5.com, on which you can:

• sell your own indicators and advisers on the “Market”,
• fulfil orders as programmer in the “Freelance” section,
• become a provider of trading signals, registering them in the section of the same name,
• become a participant of the partner programme, advertising the products of other developers and traders,
• and, finally, publish your own articles, blog, comment and socialise on the forum,
  and for all of that earn real money!
  If you allow, let us quickly go over each of the aforementioned ways of earning money.

1. The “Market” section is good in that thousands of buyers visit it daily, because it is that easy – just click on the corresponding bookmark at the bottom of your terminal, and you are there. Thus, as a seller, you can rest assured that you have received a very good market place free of charge. As a confirmation of this, we will just say that by the middle of last year over 6,300 products were sold on “Market” with a total worth of over $522,000, and over 24,500 buyers had used this service.
   Of course, the success of your trading depends, above all, on the quality and the price of the goods you are selling – the script, the indicator or the adviser. Note that not only can you sell, you can also rent your products for very different periods of time. To make it easier for you to choose the right price, we advise you to not only study the price tags of other sellers, but also the number of sales of each of their products (the “Activations” indicator).
2. The “Freelance” section – this is a job market of sorts for programmers. It is widely known that among millions of traders, only a few are fluent in the programming languages of MQL4 and MQL5, but many want to either create their own robots, or modernise the robots of others. Such a person, who has come up with an algorithm for the automation of their own trading, posts an announcement indicating what, for what money and in what timeframe they would like to get. You then answer them by offering your services as a programmer for fulfilling the specified task.
   Statistics show that the majority of such requests are fulfilled, depending on difficulty, for the price of $15 to $100 within 5 days, and a programmer working actively in “Freelance” can fulfil on average 500 to 1000 orders, and so earn $50,000 and $100,000.
3. “Signals”. Becoming a provider of your own (one or several) signals is quite easy – all you need to do is to register your trading account in the corresponding section. Note that you do not need to open a new account at some or other specific broker. You can continue working on the same account as you worked on previously, and all the information on your trading (including your trading history) will be automatically fed to your page in this section and will be available to potential subscribers.
   Usually the price of a subscription is $20 per month, so, for example, if 100 people copy your signals, your monthly revenue will be $2,000 (although you would have to give 20% to the portal as commission). We just need to note that the best signal providers can have more than 500 subscribers.
4. Things are quite simple with the partners programme too – in the “Market”, choose one or several products and post links to them, for example, on your website. The same applies for subscriptions to signals. The size of your commission reward can be 10%, 20%, or sometimes even more.
5. And, finally, the monetisation of your activities as an author of articles, a blogger or simply an active person who likes commenting on other peoples’ ideas, voicing your own ideas or socialising on the forum. You may think of it as a big brother, but these and all your other actions on the mql5 portal will be strictly recorded online in the “Achievements” section, and each step will bring you bonus points, which will then add up to a very precise amount of $1 for every 50 points. Personally, I have only been able to earn a bit so far – around $40 – but it is still pleasing. And what is doubly pleasing, is that in order to withdraw this money you do not need to trade for half a year to gain a certain number of trades, as is sometimes required by other brokers.
   The only slight issue, in my opinion, is that it would have been nice to have a wider range of payment systems available, but the developer of the portal – the company MetaQuotes – has promised to resolve this (admittedly not really significant) concern.

[Analytic]

[B]PPP: Programmers Proof Program
How to get a quality advisor at a reasonable price[/B]

It is well known that the MT4 and MT5 terminals contain quite a lot of useful functions, and one of those is acting as a bridge between a trader wishing to develop their own advisor and a programmer who is able to do just that. All you need to do is press the “Help” tab in the top part of the terminal, then “MQL5 community” and “MQL5 Jobs”, after which you will be redirected to a world called “Freelance”, which is inhabited by approximately 500 programmers, who are specialists in the automation of trade on financial markets.

“Freelance” is essential a labour exchange for programmers competing for the right to bring a trader’s wishes to life. All you need to do is post your order with a description of what you want to get and specify an approximate price and timeframe. As an example: “An advisor that trades based on the “Alligator” and MACD signals with a resizable lot needed. Price – from $40 to $50. To be completed within 10 days”. After this, you just observe how the list of programmers willing to take on this job grows and choose the one who will write the code for your “grail”.
It must be noted that, when applying to complete your order, programmers may simply accept your terms or offer their own. These can even be better than the initial terms – for example $30 instead of $40. And the time frame – not ten days, but a week.
“But cheap and quick does not always mean well-done and of good quality!” a hard-headed trader would rightly claim. So how should a novice customer who knows nothing about programming choose a qualified specialist capable of completing the set task in a professional manner?
Here you just want to exclaim: “MetaQuotes, you think about us!”, because the employees of this company have already offered traders a whole set of instruments that can help make the correct decision.
Thus, having studied all the applications, you already have three criteria for selecting a programmer: the price, time frame and… language. To be clear, “Freelance” works on five languages (English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese) and, naturally, it is very important that there is a mutual understanding between you and the programmer.
Moving on. There is a detailed dossier on each programmer, in which all their completed works are listed, as well as reviews of customers and their ratings. For example, we can see that programmer A has completed 155 projects, of which 148 were “excellent”, 7 were “good” and 0 were “unsatisfactory”. Then we read the reviews of the customers: “Excellent work!”, “Good quality, fast, patient – definitely recommend!”, “Very thoughtful approach, helped compile TOR, completed in time!”, and a few dozen similar reviews, after which you decide that you can trust this specialist, and… you move on to the next dossier – programmer B, from which you can see that he has only completed 3 projects so far – 2 were “good” and 1 “unsatisfactory”. I think that you do not need to be a rocket scientist to realise that you should refrain from working with this person, even if he is willing to do the job practically for free.
If after such a casting not one, but two, three or even more contenders make it to the final, you can make the ultimate choice by, for example, the most time-tested method – write down all the names on pieces of paper, mix those in a hat and, with closed eyes, pull one out. The objectivity of this method is beyond any doubt.
Apart from the aforementioned way of posting your order, you can approach a specific programmer and discuss with them personally whether they will take on your task and under what terms. For this purpose, there is information available about all the programmers in “Freelance”, as well as a TOP-10 rating compiled by the MetaQuotes company.

An important point: the money for paying for the order are set aside on your private account in MQL5 community and are transferred to the programmer only (!) in the case that you accept their work.

So you posted your order, chose a programmer and received a ready advisor. Then you tested its work in a tester of a trading terminal (not forgetting about visualisation), on a demo account, in reality and made sure that everything is working the way it was described in the TOR. In this case, you give an excellent rating to the programmer and leave a laudatory review. The programmer then receives the promised reward and deep moral satisfaction from your praise.
However, if you are not happy with the result, apart from low ratings and angry reviews you have every right to file a complaint, and the MetaQuotes company will act as an independent arbitrator, and will also involve external experts if necessary. This is why I suggest you adhere strictly to the rules and procedures of “Freelance” – they are indeed really well thought out, and will not only protect your money, but also in case of disagreement, will allow for a maximally fair hearing.

[Analytic]

HOMEWORK FOR THE TRADER

Service “Freelance” at the MQL5.com portal provides a unique opportunity: by selecting one of the 500 (!) programmers, the trader can use him to create his own trading robot. But for the robot to be successful, high quality Terms of Reference are required.
So how do you make up such Terms of Reference?

There is no need to prove that trading in financial markets, thanks to the development of computer technology and the Internet in recent years, has become a high-tech process. Of course, there is no unanimity as far as automated trading is concerned, but it is obvious that, according to statistics, over 60% of all trading transactions are now carried out using trading robots. And we are talking not only about the private traders, but also large, once very conservative, financial institutions, banks and funds. I don’t think I will be wrong if I assume that just in couple of years the called 60% will turn into 80, and then to 99%.
The sixth human feeling called intuition sometimes might help, but in conjunction with a strained nervous system it often interferes with a sober analysis and leads to disastrous results. As far as advisers (robots) for automated trading are concerned, they are able to work tirelessly 24 hours a day all 5 working days a week, devoid of any emotion, and make decisions in a split second according to their inherent algorithm.

And here arises a very important question: how to make the program under which the adviser matches exactly what its creator wanted it to be? We do not mean a higher power by the creator, but the trader who developed the trading system, and the programmer who shifted the system to the MQL5 language .
It is great when the trader is the same person as the programmer. In this case it is quite probable that they will find a common language.
But what if they are two different people? And one of them (the trader) knows absolutely nothing about programming? What is to be done in such a situation?
As practice shows, the only means of communication in this case is the Terms of Reference (TOR), in which the trader (the customer) should be clear and easy to understand as much as possible to describe what he wants to see cast in lines of a computer code.

As they say, as many people, so many opinions. But in our case it is not true. This author has analysed about fifty variants of the requirements that programmers impose to the structure and content of the TOR, and realized that at least four fifths of them are all the same. But the remaining 20% allow - though indirectly - to judge how competent the programmer is and what complicated advisers he can create.
If we talk about the averagely tricked advisers (we do not talk at all about neural network advisers), the requirements for the TOR would look like this:

1. The trading platform, where the adviser will work;
2. Currency pairs and time frames;
3. Indicators used (if non-standard, apply);
4. Full description of the system parameters (optimized and not);
5. The rules of work with the trading system (entries, exits, support positions. Here it is better to make clarifying screen shots);
6. Types of orders: market, deferred. Presence of StopLoss, TakeProfit, TrailingStop and NoLoss (if required);
7. The rules for managing capital (fixed lot or the formula for calculating its size, percentage of deposit, etc.)

There are about 500 experienced programmers in the “Freelance” department at the portal mql5.com (MT4 and MT5 terminal menu tab “Help - MQL5 community - MQL5 Jobs”) with the help of which one can fairly quickly, cheaply and, most importantly, with high quality put this technical reference into life, receiving as a result an adviser ready to work.
Here are some useful tips on compiling the TOR:

• remember that the programmer is not responsible for the profitability of the strategy. Therefore, before you begin working with the adviser, test the profitability of trading on a demo or real cent account yourself;
• to avoid misunderstandings, check with the programmer all necessary terms and definitions;
• and know that the program debugging and error detection is always the responsibility of the customer. It is not excluded that after testing the adviser you will have to communicate with the programmer a number of times to make the robot as good as you want it to be.

And here, if you do not mind, the author will give you some additional tips based on his own experience.
I. Warn the programmer in advance that your adviser is a Christmas tree which you will decorate later with more and more toys. The toys will be additional indicators and filters that specify terms of entry into a position and exit from it, connecting to the time of different trading sessions, various options for calculating the lot size, the procedure for opening hedging positions … You never know what other ideas come to mind during the operation and improvement of the adviser!
If you do not provide for the possibility of such modifications in advance, you will have to pay for the new adviser each time (from my experience $50 - $100). If you do, you just pay for its modification, that is about $10 - $15. As they say, feel the difference.
II. This point comes out from p.I. You can never be 100% sure in the beginning which of the Christmas decorations will be of use and which will be useless and even harmful. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you provide a possibility to disable each (!) function in the settings of the adviser (on/off button). This will facilitate the process of optimising the operational parameters of the adviser in the MT4 and MT5 terminals tester.
A simple example: you originally envisaged closing position at TP, and then decided to add the possibility of closing at the crossing of MA as well. As a result, we have four options: closing only at TP, closing only at the MA, closing at the first onset of these events and closing at the onset of both events. The buttons on/off TP and on/off MA are required in order to figure out which one is the best.
III. Finally p.III which supplements the previous two. Do not hesitate to load the programmer and provide a possibility of optimization for every parameter of the adviser. I must say that this wonderful feature built in MT4 and MT5 sometimes gives the most amazing and very unexpected results. And the process of optimization is so fascinating that could replace any life-long hobby of yours.
As for trading in real accounts, I strongly advise against treating it as a hobby: money is a serious thing. Making up proper Terms of Reference is one of the components of the business process.

[Analytic]

EXPERTISE FOR EXPERTS
How to Test a Product in Meta Trader Market for Free

Anyone who has read my articles knows that the purpose of these publications is to share extra options provided to traders by MT4 and MT5 platforms. We say extra, as we talk not about transactions, but about access to useful services that allow you to make these transactions more profitable.
Today, I would like to elaborate on just one of these services, as this service is not only useful, but also quite unique among Forex trading services.
We are talking about the service “Market” - a huge shop, in which you can, on the spot, i.e., from the monitor, buy indicators, scripts or advisers (experts), of which there are plenty in the “Market” tab - hundreds, or even thousands. Embarrassment of riches! And for the visitor to be able to lift up his head, the developer offers a number of ways, the most attractive of which should be called “Trust, but verify!”. But before you do this test, you must first get to the store.

Access is allowed!
It is very easy to do this - either through the tab at the top of the terminal - “Help - MQL5 Community - MQL5 Market”, or through the tab “Market” in the bottom.
Personally, I prefer the second option, simply because this way is shorter. The only small inconvenience in this case is that at least a few charts of currency pairs, a navigator, and perhaps also a strategy tester are normally open in the terminal at the same time, so there is not much space for the “Market” window, and you should clear some. But, as you know, this operation takes only a few seconds, and then there is nothing to stop you to examine the proposed product in a relaxed environment without distracting to quotes and orders.
By clicking on the icon of the proposed product, you can get acquainted with its description, and decide whether to buy the product you liked, or to rent it for a certain period, for example, for a month (which is, of course, cheaper), or … . to test it absolutely for free!

Trust, but verify!
Selling their products through the “Market”, owners and creators themselves set up a price (the trading marketplace will charge a small fee) and for the products to sell better, sellers attach a detailed description, as mentioned above.
Well, who would write anything bad about their own product! Therefore, you will hardly find a list of shortcomings in these descriptions, although there are some for sure. And in order to obtain an objective assessment of the quality of the acquired product, that is an indicator or an advisor, visitors are offered to carry out their own testing for free. And if you wish, you can carry out optimization as well.
So you either buy the products immediately, or rent them, or test them first. To do this, simply click on the “Download Demo”, and literally in the blink of an eye there appears a folder “Market” in the Navigator on your terminal, see “Advisors”, which will automatically collect all your selected experts.
I should say, you will not be able to see how their paid versions work on demo or real accounts (this does not rely to free advisors - there are plenty of those in the “market”). But you can test and optimize both of them in the strategy tester as much as you want. At the same time you can compare advisors worth $ 5,000 to those that are offered for nothing. Those who know say that the price is not the only difference…

[Analytic]

Meta Trader: Golden Carriage for Binary Options

Binary options (BO) trade is a relatively new service in the market of on line services, it appeared only a few years ago, and immediately caused a lively debate. Someone finds them amusing entertainment, such as computer games, someone calls them casino and scams, and someone sees them as an opportunity to significantly improve their financial situation. The discussion in this material will be for the latter and about the latter.
But first of all I should say that, as a form of income, BO are absolutely transparent - you bet $ 100, make a forecast that, say, in five minutes, the Euro will grow against the dollar, and you can go for a smoke break (although better not, smoking is harmful). And after these few minutes, if the rate has really grown up, your $100, as if by magic, turn into $175. Isn’t it great? Absolutely, except for the fact that your prediction may be wrong, and then the end will be sadder than even in the Cinderella fairy tale. It is in the fairy tale that at the appointed time (when trading BO it is called expiration time) the carriage turned into a pumpkin, here your hundred will just evaporate without a trace. But, in any case, everything is fair - you know in advance what the prize will be in case of winning, and the correctness of quotes can be easily verified by consulting with quotes from other brokers.
Although all of it looks pretty much the same as a roulette table - red or black, even or odd, with only one, but very serious, exception - all the methods of technical and fundamental analysis are applicable to the BO trade, which strongly unites it with Forex.
Just as is the case with Forex, a lot of different trading platforms are designed for binary options. And now, according to the rumours that I heard, the company MetaQuotes, which has produced the most popular platform Meta Trader, is thinking about enriching their favourite child - the MT5 platform with a function that will allow to trade binary options!
I would not like to do any advertising for anyone, so I’ll just focus on the benefits of MT5 (observable and unobservable), which - in my opinion only! - turn the platform into an effective tool for earnings using BO.
The first of them - is the fact that the platform not only allows the use of everything that has been developed in MQL5 language for technical analysis, but also a transfer of binary options trade to a fully automatic mode with the help of robots-advisers, signals copying systems and other joys that have been brought to us by scientific and technical progress.
I heard some criticisms, such as (I quote): «Meta Trader is not well suited for working with binary options, as it was not designed to do this: the quotes there look very much global (large-scaled and stretched over time). And it is a strictly limited time expiration that is important for binary options."
What can I say? Yes, that everything is the same as with Forex. Expiration time (option execution) usually starts from 1 minute, and then 5, 15, 30, 1 hour, 4 hours … Doesn’t this resemble anything to you? These are standard time frames! Therefore the BO trading strategies often resemble the Forex ones from scalping on minutes to thoughtful four-hour chart analysis. And for those who love super-delights and super-precision, MT5 offers about 20 different time frames. There are M2 and M3, M4 and M6, M12, H2, H3, H6 … I do not know why and who needs it, but if someone does, MT5 has it!
Returning to BO, I can say that, regardless of the time frame, it is possible to make money here times faster than in the Forex market - because your income does not depend on how many points the price will pass,1or 100, its any tiny step brings you a fixed income. The only thing I would not recommend to anyone, is to get involved with super-scalping but to take advantage of technical analysis at intervals of 5 minutes and higher, it will be a winning strategy for binary options .
Another objection to the use of Meta Trader for BO trading, which I had a chance to hear, was the fact that tools list for binary options trading is much broader than the classic set of currencies in these platforms. Indeed, I personally have not seen price quotes for cocoa beans. rubber or tobacco in this platform, but, in all honesty, do you need them? Are not a few dozen other tools sufficient? Moreover, according to statistics, in real life an experienced trader uses a maximum of 4-5 trading tools. The MT5 platform, remember, allows you to trade on multiple markets from a single account: Forex, stock market, deals in futures and contracts for difference. And if the rumours are true, all this will soon be joined by BO!
Now, having discussed criticisms and being a fanatical supporter of algo trading, I would like to remind you of two useful functions that Meta Trader contains:

• Opening the tab “Market” at the bottom of your trading terminal, you get the opportunity to buy or download free advisors and indicators not only for Forex, but for binary options trading;
• And through the window “Help - MQL5 community - MQL5 Jobs” traders who wish to cast their trading ideas and strategies into ready indicators and experts, open the way to more than 500 professional programmers, they will help you quickly and accurately translate these ideas into reality.
  If we add about 80 technical analysis tools to the above, I am sure that such arguments will convince most sceptics, and even they will agree that using the Meta Trader is possible to make the golden carriage never turn into a pumpkin, no matter what expiration time is.
  In the meantime …there are still two monitors in front of me. One shows a terminal for BO trading. The other has MT5, giving me signals for opening transactions. What can I say? It is working!

[Analytic]

Testing Advisers:
Measure Thrice and Cut Once

The wisdom of our ancestors is limitless. It would be just silly to discard the experience acquired over the centuries and millennia, especially when money is involved. Suffice to recall the stone Rai coins that were in circulation in Micronesia. Their weight reached 5 tons, diameter - 4 meters. And imagine how hard it was for Aboriginals to split off at least one such coin from the cliff! You batter for a year, for another, and then it turns out that you have missed the calculations, and instead of providing for your whole life, you own an absolutely non-convertible cobblestone.
Anyhow, life progresses, and now we it is not an archaic axe that we use for trading but computers fitted with the MT4 and MT5, but the basic principles of currency transactions have not been cancelled, and they continue to operate until now, including the one we mentioned in the header.
In order not to dwell any longer on the history of Forex, I propose we finish with Rai and continue the discussion of how to take advantage of advisers that lie behind the tab “Market”, located in the lower part of the terminal MT4 and MT5.
It seems that everyone knows (and those who do not know will learn now know) that the “Market” makes it possible to buy the right indicator, script or adviser (expert) just in a few mouse clicks, choosing it from many hundreds of others that are presented in the window of this service.
The keyword is “right”. Indeed, how can you understand what you need exactly this trading adviser, and that it will bring you not expenses but quite real profit?
Of course, you can flip a coin, but, alternatively, I can offer three not so difficult, but much more efficient methods of choice. More precisely, we talk about three steps, because together they will help you buy not a pig in a poke, but exactly what you need, and for the money that it is really worth.
Step 1. First, having identified what you need and for what task, you start studying showcases of the “Market”. Focusing on the description of goods and responses of consumers, you select variants for purchase.
Step 2. Download a free demo version of the advisor, use it in the “sweat of the brow” in the strategy tester, and if the test and optimization results at least agree with what the seller wrote in the description of the goods, go to step 3.
Step 3. The opportunity provided by this stage is rare in the world of Forex and is called “rent”.
We are used to renting a car, for example, but to rent a robot that will make money for you? It is very rare that you hear about things like that. You won’t argue that it sounds tempting, but it is not so simple.
I would like to remind you that all the prices - both for sale and rental - are determined by the seller (developer). (MetaQuotes only charges a small percentage for the provision of trading “square” in the “Market”), and that these prices can be very, very different.
For me personally it is quite annoying to see an advisor worth several hundred dollars without possibility to rent. In this case, I start to suspect that they want to sell me that very pig mentioned above. (Although, this is purely my feeling, and I do not rule out that this “modest” amount can make me an owner of the “Holy Grail”, which will in a few years transform into a yacht and a small island with a cosy palace with forty or fifty rooms).
I do not really like the second option of prices, which can be found in the window “Market”. This is when the purchase price and the price of rent is almost the same. For example, I met across cases when the purchase with the right of perpetual use was $ 88, and the price for 1 month rent was $ 66. Well, I can not understand the logic of this pricing!
But what definitely warms my heart and soul, is the third option (there are a lot of these in the “Market”), where the purchase price and the cost of rent differ significantly. I personally can not afford to pay straight $ 2559 for a super-fancy advisor, but I can easily pay $ 58 rent.
If you divide 2559 by 58 we get 44 - that’s really a fair balance! You rent it for a month, earn $ 116, reinvest $ 58 for rent, and put the remaining $ 58 to your deposit. Now do the maths and calculate how much you can earn this way over 44 months, that is almost four years!
It is quite natural that sceptics will say, “Hey, what if the advisor only loses the deposit?” But, gentlemen, do not forget that I had already performed the first two steps before I rented the advisor:

• Firstly, I studied not only with the product description (which may not be entirely correct), but also its reviews of fellow traders. And if a few dozen people write that the adviser does work, why should I not to believe them?
• And secondly, I tested this advisor for free on different currency pairs, different time frames and different history segments, with different settings, and made sure that the beautiful chart drawn by the seller was not a marketing ploy;
• And it is only after that I would venture to lay out… no, not $ 2,559, but only $ 58 to finally be sure that it is the product that I really need.
  By the way, if fifty dollars seem unaffordable sum for somebody, I would say that not all advisers in the “market” cost $3000, there are those priced at $ 199 (which can be rented for only $ 18 / month), there are advisers at 15 and 10 dollars apiece, as well as there are those that can be downloaded for nothing …
  In general, gentlemen, do try, experiment, and most importantly - do not stand still and do not worry if you have very little money in your deposit. Looking at the balance of the account, remember Benjamin Franklin’s words - “Remember that money have the ability to reproduce.” Maybe, just like his, it will be your portrait that will adorn a hundred dollar note:)

[Analytic]

Three Caveats of the “Signals” Service

How to make a profitable subscription to trading signals in MT4 and MT5

We are confident that the vast majority of traders are already familiar with the “Signals” service from the company MetaQuotes,which allows you to copy trading signals on line. Many thousands of these traders have become providers of signals and thousands of others - consumers of the product, in other words, subscribers to them. AND…
And having examined carefully the signals shopping window, having analysed the basic monitoring data and having made a subscription, the trader is all of a sudden surprised to notice that the results in his account and in the provider’s account vary greatly, and while the supplier has a stable income, the trader loses steadily his deposit.
Why is this happening? Let’s look at some nuances that are not very noticeable at first glance but can have a strong impact on the copying results.
Among the obvious advantages of service “Signals” are:
● embeddedness into MT4 and MT5 platforms, which allows to subscribe to trading signals from the home terminal just in few clicks;
● high level of security for traders and suppliers of signals;
lack of third-party access to their accounts and balance sheets -while subscribing even investor password is not requested;
● absence of any commissions for transactions and absence of spread expansion;
● possibility to use virtual hosting, and trade in fully automatic mode, without even turning on your computer;
● offers a huge selection of signals exceeding 3500;
● low fixed cost of the subscription averaging about $20 dollars a month (regardless of the size of your deposit);
● special system of protecting subscribers from the wrong calculation of the size of lots traded and excessive load on the deposit;
● full transparency of trading history, including around fifty parameters of online monitoring to help the subscriber to select the most profitable signals.
I would like to draw your attention to some of the above mentioned issues, because, despite the seemingly obvious advantages, they also contain a number of pitfalls that can cause serious damage to your deposit.

1. Firstly, it is a fixed price of subscription.
   Some social trading platforms make their profit by charging a commission on each transaction or expanding the supplier spreads and if the supplier trades at a broker with a spread of, say, 1.0 points, the same transaction may reach you with the spread of 2.0 points and what it becomes at the time of important news release - generally a closely guarded secret. As for the “Signal” on MT4 and MT5, then there are no secrets, everything is clear and transparent: you pay for subscription and get trading signals exactly, as the supplier. However, please note that in this case the subscription for the same signal can be both profitable and unprofitable. It all depends on the size of your deposit.
   Example:
   Suppose the signal on which you decide to subscribe, shows an average monthly income of 20%, while the cost of subscription is $ 20.
   If your trading account deposit is $ 1,000, an increase of 20% would equal $ 200. Subtract the cost of subscription, and it turns out that your monthly income is $ 180, ie, 18% a month. or 216% a year, which, as you will agree, is more than good.
   Now imagine that your account has only $ 50. Profit in this case would be $ 10, which, taking into account the subscription price of $ 20, will bring you a loss of $ 10. Thus, in just five months, you do not just reset your deposit, but lose another $ 100 you had paid for the subscription.
2. Another important point, which will also affect the amount of income that you receive. Depending on the size of your deposit, a special system of protecting subscribers from the wrong calculation of the size of traded lots may not allow you to copy the transaction in the same amounts as the at the signal supplier.
   For example, if the supplier deposit at the moment is $ 500, and he opens a transaction of 0.1 lots, then, with the deposit on your account of $ 100 the transaction that will open will be 5 times smaller, that is 0.02 lots.
   Therefore, in order not to experience frustration, when choosing a supplier it is essential to pay attention to the current balance of the account. The difference in the size of opened transactions will be particularly noticeable if the supplier trades on cent account, and you are going to copy it on a standard dollar account.
3. And one more thing concerning the calculation of the size of lots traded. Getting to the tab “Signals” (“Tools”> “Settings”> “Signals”) on your terminal, you can manually set the load percentage on the deposit. And in this case we must also be very careful.
   Let’s take the same initial data as in claim 1. If your deposit is $ 1,000 and the supplier of signals has the same amount, an increase of 20% is equal to exactly $ 200, since the transaction will be copied in the ratio 1: 1.
   And everything is good, but, having examined the provider’s trading history, you see that the maximum drawdown for his account is of, say, 80%. This risk seemed unacceptably high to you, and you have decided to reduce it in half. Make it very simple (and it is also a definite plus of the service) - you set the maximum load for the deposit of not more than 50% in the tab “Signals”. Thus, if the provider opens a transaction of 0.1 lot,the transaction on your account will be twice smaller, that is 0.05 lots. But with the risk reduction of risk, it is natural that your profit will decrease as well, which, instead of 216% per annum will now be equal to 108% (which, frankly, is impressive).
   But if your account is only $ 50, the picture is quite different. With the double reduction of the maximum load on the deposit the profit will be halved and will be not $ 10 but $ 5 that, taking into account the subscription fee of $ 20, will bring you a loss of $ 15.
   There is another very important aspect that affects the success of the trade - it is when you have to choose out of possible 3,500 subscriptions the only one that will bring you a good and stable income. We have repeatedly described how to do this, and, of course, will return to this topic in the future. And meanwhile …

Happy New Year!

[osanograham]

Would it be OK to ask in this forum for advice on which trading platform to use? I’m not particularly impressed with the one I’m using, and would like to know what members use and recommend

From my own experience, MT4 is the most widely used platform, there must be a reason. Is it good and you can do your own programming to add strategies in, if you know how to. Very user friendly.

Some brokers also have good platforms, I like FreshForex’s platform, it works for me. Play around with some and see what you like and dislike.

[Megha_Saini]

From my own experience, MT4 is the most widely used platform, there must be a reason. Is it good and you can do your own programming to add strategies in, if you know how to. Very user friendly.

Some brokers also have good platforms, I like FreshForex’s platform, it works for me. Play around with some and see what you like and dislike.

Some brokers also have good platforms, I like FreshForex’s platform, it works for me. Play around with some and see what you like and dislike.[/QUOTE]

Yess, MT4 is the most widely used platform. But do you find it user-friendly?
I am currently using 2 platforms- one is MT4 and the other is FinPro Station both with different brokers.I find FinPro Station much better as it is very handy and easy to understand. Its advanced charting capabilities and strategy builder is really nice. :8:
But I am open to any other new platform as well, which provides me with better technical and chart features!:35:

[amy4x]

MT4 has been one of the most widely used platforms, as its very user friendly and easy to use.

[SebastianWiz]

MT4 would be my recommendation for anyone, just because it’s so widely recognised. I’ve had luck with FXCM’s in the past and also more recently Tradable.

[Analytic]

MetaTrader Platforms: Knowledge is Power!
Or a Movie on How to Make Money

In 1597, the English philosopher Francis Bacon said, «Knowledge itself is power». Although this statement was made over 400 years ago, it still has not lost its relevance. Quite the contrary.
I think that there is no trader in the world, who does not know about the MetaTrader platforms - MT4 and MT5. However, as it turned out, not everyone is familiar with the opportunities that they contain, and therefore a lot of people lack the forces that their creators sought to give traders.
For me, MetaTrader is a bit like a computer action game: you go to the left - you find a treasure, you open the door to the right - you find an extra life. However, when it comes to Forex, the word “extra” out of place here: both treasures and lives - all come in handy. Still it would be great to find a secret map where all points of entry into position are marked.
Thus, wandering around the “nooks and crannies” of MT4 and MT5, you can find a lot of interesting and useful information that can give new strength to the trader to win in this exciting game - “Conquer the market.” We are talking about services such as “Signals”, “Market”, “Freelance”, “Virtual hosting”. But when opening these “secret doors”, it is not enough to see what is behind them, it is also necessary to know how to use all this arsenal with the maximum benefit for yourselves.
And here not only educational articles and videos a variety of which can be found in the portal mql5.com come to the aid, but also video instructions on the MetaQuotes official channel in YouTube (MetaQuotes Official - YouTube). I had a chance to read in the news that during 2015 alone, this collection was replenished with 30 new “films” that help make money.
Personally, trading in the Forex market, I find these videos useful. Moreover, as a journalist I was interested which MetaQuotes services are at the top of trading charts. Therefore, among the leaders appeared:

• 7 episodes of “series” “Where Can I get a Trading Robot or an Indicator?”:

1. “A Free Download from the Library of Trading Robots”,
2. “How to build a trading robot in MQL5 Wizard”,
3. “How to Order a Trading Robot in Freelance”,
4. “How to Buy a Trading Robot or an Indicator in the Market”,
5. “How to Find the Right Application in the Market”,
6. “Free Testing of Indicators and Advisers before Buying”,
7. “Renewal, Extension of the Lease and Installation of Products”;

• The following section - “Virtual Hosting, and Round the Clock Trading,” only 3 episodes:

1. “How to Rent a Virtual Platform”,
2. “Preparation of Robots and Signals for Migration”,
3. “Control over Resources and Subscription Management”;

• And finally, section “Trading Signals and Copying Transactions” of 7 episodes:

1. “Showcase of Trading Signals”,
2. “The Basic Parameters of Trading Signals”,
3. “Statistics, Charts of Growth, Means and Balance of Trade Signals”,
4. “Risks, Distribution, Comments and News in the Trading Signals”,
5. “Displaying Provider Transactions Directly on the Chart”,
6. “Subscribing to a Trading Signal”,
7. “Report on Subscriptions to Trading Signals.”
   I have been watching what is going on and how it is going on in the sphere of algorithmic trade and social trading (in other words, copying signals). The conclusion is clear: the future belongs to them, not to “manual" trade. It is not by chance that they say, "One mind is good, but two are better!” And if they are not two, but 10022? And half of them are the brains of high-speed computers? Think about how much work they are able to perform for you!
   Personally, I have a following picture on the monitor - eight terminals are open, four of them have robots trading, three - subscription signals, one is for amusement, for manual trading. In addition, note, there is still time not only for this, but also for writing posts. Such as this, for example.
   That is how the things are!
   
   
   
   

[TradeWiseFX_Official]

Mt4 is the platform that is choice of every new comer and no one can deny it.

[Analytic]

MT4: Is It Possible to Earn a Million on Subscription?
Deposit Growth, “Reverse Martingale” and Other Interesting Parameters

Opening the tab “Signals” in the bottom of the MT4 terminal, the trader is able to become… an investor. That is, having ceased trading on his own and having subscribed to the signals of another trader, you go into a passive state, and only watch your deposit increase or, alas, dry.
So after all whom and how do you choose out of more than 4,000 suppliers of signals in order to enjoy stable profit? Of course, the opinion of colleagues can help with this. It will therefore be interesting to analyze in more detail which signals subscribers prefer. And most importantly - why they are so popular with them and what the subscribers are is facing.

As of January 2016, top-10 most popular among subscribers signals are as follows:
I. Joker (increase of 14 228%, 377 subscribers)
II. MenjadiTrader PAMM 144842 (increase of 45%, 265 subscribers)
III. LidziyaForex (increase of 43227% 166 subscribers)
IV. Xedj BG (increase of 610%, 136 subscribers)
V. Blitzkrieg (increase of 771%, 128 subscribers)
The first step of the podium went to signal Joker. It is understandable - an increase of 14228% in the 23 weeks will drive anyone crazy (all the data given for 01/31/16). Just think - more than fourteen thousand percent! And with a quite tolerable drawdown of 36%! This is a living answer to those who say that it is impossible to become a millionaire in half a year!
I have been watching the preferences of subscribers for several years and you do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out which one is the main criteria in the selection of a signal - of course, it is increase in the deposit. The Joker increases your deposit on average of 2 or even 3 times each month.
At the same time I would like to draw attention to the fact that during over 23 weeks of its work the Joker has made more than 15,500 transactions, i.e. about 700 transactions per week, or 135 per day. Apparently, we are talking about an active Scalping of just several pips with averaging the position. The fact that the signal does not have stop-losses speaks for this too. Therefore, before risking 1000, 2000, or 10,000 dollars, I would strongly advise you not to be greedy and spend $100 (this is the cost of a monthly subscription) in order to test the functionality of the signal on a demo account with your broker.
For example, in January, the most frequent with the Joker were deals on EUR/USD with 0.01 lot size and profit $ 0.33, i.e., just 3p. (The broker from whose account the signal is broadcast, the average spread for the pair is 0.75p.). Hence it is clear that the spread and slippage here will play a dominant role here.
It is clear that for investors with small deposits such subscription does not make sense. The reason for this is not even ‘biting’ subscription cost of $100/month, but the drawdown, which, taken by equity in absolute terms, reached $ 1100 (35.80% of the deposit).
Therefore, I personally think the place that the signal occupies in the ranking of MetaQuotes - 37th - is fairer.

In stark contrast to the Joker is the silver medalist of the rankings - the signal MenjadiTrader PAMM 144842. Compared to the rest of its “colleagues” from the “magnificent five” it looks an “ugly duckling” - where others show an increase in the hundreds or thousands of percent, the signal in almost 2 years showed a profit of 45% - some months 3-4% plus, some - minus 2-3%.And at the same time it turns out to be in the second place in the popularity rating! The reasons for this, apparently, are two:

1. The life span of the signal is 96 weeks on the market with a drawdown of less than 19%
   and
2. Free subscription to the signal, which allows to use it even for small deposits, the average size of which, according to statistics, in this case, does not exceed $350.
   As for the MetaQuotes rating, the MenjadiTrader PAMM 144842 occupies not the most prestigious 390th place there. But I’m almost certain that this rating does not in any way take into account the impact of such a strong factor as free subscription.
   In the third place is a signal LidziyaForex. I can explain its place in the top 5 only by a 4500% increase in deposit in less than 3 months.
   To be as “politically correct” as possible, I would not hurry with a subscription to this signal. Firstly, despite the “new-born” age, it has already demonstrated a rather high drawdown of 57%. Secondly, the lack of stops and 95% profitable trades say that in the case of loss-making position the author is inclined to wait for the trend to turn into the desirable direction and make minus into a plus.
   And what if it does not turn?
   Well, there is another aspect, which I dubbed “reverse martingale effect.” It is the fact that a trader, first with a high degree of risk “speeds up” the deposit, and then begins to reduce the risk and, and, consequently, the profit. The presence of this effect is evident in LidziyaForex: November - increase + 1327% December - +107% January - +55%. I do not undertake to predict what the increase will be in February. Apparently, the MetaQuotes ranking system doubts its prospects as well - I have not found the LidziyaForex at least among the top 500 ranking signals.
   The fourth place is occupied by the Xedj BG. This is a signal something like a LidziyaForex, with the difference that it is not 3 months old but 20, i.e., almost 2 years. At the same time here we have an impressive maximum drawdown of 72%, and a “reverse martingale”: December 2014. - + 95%, January-February 2015 - from +23 to +29%, followed by two months at + 13%, and then an average of 3 - 4%.
   Here, once again I want to stress the importance of the time of subscription to the signal. For example, if you had subscribed to the Xedj BG in November 2014, it would be one story, if you subscribe now, it is quite different.
   Finishing the review of the Xedj BG, I decided to be patient and find the place that the signal occupies in the MetaQuotes ranking. But I didn’t have enough patience and gave up after the eighth hundred. To be honest, out of the obvious advantages, I only found one - the subscription to the signal is free of charge.
   Finally, the last signal of our Top 5 is Blitzkrieg. In this signal I found more pros than cons - it’s quite long lifespan (over a year), and a low maximum drawdown - 16% (despite the presence of stop-losses!), and quite a stable income - the average for the I quarter of 2015 was + 27.6%, in the II quarter. - + 24.2%, in the III quarter - +16.3%, in the IV - + 11.7%. (Although the “reverse Martingale” is also present).
   And there is another plus - in the MetaQuotes ranking the Blitzkrieg … occupies the second place! And this is the rare case when the opinions of subscribers, MT4 / 5 developers and my humble one are practically the same.
   I’ll be sure to keep track of what happens to these signals in the future and, of course, will not hold the information in confidence and will make it public. In the meantime, let me repeat what I said at the beginning of this review - if you select a subscription, of course, you can be guided only by the percentage of deposit growth. But it would be wise to glance at other options of online monitoring. Especially when the MetaQuotes have over fifty of them.
   
   
   
   

[Analytic]

Signals at MT5: Stability is a Sign of Skill

We have earlier looked at the preferences of subscribers to trading signals for MT4. It is understood that the tab “Signals” is also available at the MT5 platform, and it has its own leaders and its own outsiders.

The Top 5 of subscribers’ preferences at the end of January 2016 here is as follows:
I. Alfa Scalp (367% increase),
II. Performance CoolLite (748% increase),
III. Performance xTREME (472% increase),
IV. Leonardo Acc with Full Automated EAs (238% increase),
V. Accurate signal (123% increase).

The first place in popularity here is taken by the signal Alfa Scalp, whose main advantage, in my opinion, is its life span - 112 weeks, i.e. more than two years. It was during this time that it has shown an increase of 367%, so it is difficult to recommend it to those who want to become a millionaire in a few weeks. But for those who are just not satisfied with the interest rates on deposits, it will certainly be very interesting - bank rate of the largest Russian bank - Sberbank - on rouble deposits is about 12%, while here the forecasted increase is 10 times higher, 118%, without any expenses, as the given signal is free of charge.
Overall, there are 7 signals of this author represented in the MT5 showcase, one of which - Alfa Scalp 3 year - takes the 4th place in the ranking of the capital increase - + 565%. This is also a survivor; it was born in April 2013.
The specifics of these signals under the «Alfa» brand is enhanced by the fact that they all work on rouble accounts (RUR), although in his address to the subscribers the author offers to contact him and get recommendations for trade in other currencies.

The second place in popularity among subscribers takes the signal Performance CoolLite. It occupies the same second place in the MetaQuotes ranking. This “classic” social trading signal, the author of which, according to the ideal direct line of the deposit growth, “tops up” the negative position by averaging or martingale, and does not hurry to close them, waiting for them to give a positive result. As a result there are more than 97% winning trades and 29 profitable (not a single unprofitable one!) working months. The deposit growth is in the range from 3% to 20% per month and a maximum drawdown has not exceeded 38.5%. It happened last spring, after which no serious drawdown has been reported, which undoubtedly can be attributed to the advantages of this signal.

The third place is occupied by the signal Performance xTREME and, it is not difficult to guess, it is the work of the same author as the previous signal. And almost everything that has been said about Performance CoolLite, can be attributed to the Performance xTREME, except for a slightly higher drawdown - 52.0%
The fourth ranking signal - Leonardo Acc with Full Automated EAs - has been created by a hot Brazilian guy named Leonardo, and it fully reflects the South American temperament - from -31% to + 65% per month with a maximum drawdown of 32%.

Finally, the fifth signal in our top 5 - the Accurate signal. So far, everything looks very good - an average of more than 20% growth in deposits per month. There is only one minus - the age of the signal is only 3.5 months. Although the fact that the other signal by the same author - the Time system - has lived for almost two years, makes it possible to hope that the Accurate signal will live happily ever after.
In addition to the above, there is another signal, to which I would like to draw the attention of subscribers running the MT5 platform. Precious is another product «made in Brazil», the leader in the ranking of deposit growth - + 4457% in just 8 months with a very small drawdown of 25%. However, to be honest, despite all the advantages of this signal, there is quite a significant disadvantage - the one that I call “reverse martingale” - it is its sharply damped profitability:

• July 2015 - + 288%
• September - + 92%
• November - + 24%
• December - + 6%
• January of this year - even minus 8%.
  I would like to say that this phenomenon has to be observed in a sufficiently large number of suppliers of signals, it is likely not characterized by their loss of skill but by psychological factor - after achieving certain results they no longer want to risk so that not to lose the hard-earned funds. This point should definitely be considered when subscribing, selecting the signals that give maybe not so high, but steady income.
  
  
  
  

[mlawson71]

I have a question about the browser version of MT4. I know that the original MT4 software developer added a bunch of new indicators to it and people use it, but still, how secure is it? I’ve never used it before, isn’t it more vulnerable to hacking attempts than the actual platform that you have to install?

[Analytic]

MT4 and MT5: Is the Best the Enemy or the Friend of the Good?

I have been dealing with Forex for a long time - starting from those “grey” times when it just started, with the use of Internet, to actively interfere in the life of an ordinary person. That was around 2008.
Initially I tried a number of trading platforms with different brokers, and did so until the moment when the fate brought me to know MetaTrader. I will not prevaricate, but it is thanks to this platform, that I abruptly changed my life, surrendering to Forex with my body and soul. I literally fell in love with the MT4, having learnt it upside down and, like any lover, could not find a slightest flaw in it.
And here came a terrible thing… I remember that fateful 2010, when it appeared on the horizon, MT5, the rival! I know that millions of MT4 fans worldwide faced a choice, where to give their heart - to the same reliable and proven companion, which they had for many years, or to a young, modern, and, as instructions stated, more nimble rival?
Frankly, I myself still have not solved this dilemma and therefore decided to collect and systematize the opinions of traders in the various forums, who turned out to be many.
So, here are some quotes:

1. “A more convenient opportunity to switch the timeframes, it is not necessary to download any scripts and mumble with the minutes settings. I am very pleased with the 12 hours frames.” In addition, I should note that there are 21 timeframes available in the MT5.
2. “Transition of the interface from one language to another.” I, for example, have Windows in English. And when I try to translate the interface of MT4 terminal into Russian using the Languages function, there appears a meaningless set of characters instead of words. In the MT5, the same function works flawlessly.
3. “In addition to a modern design and pretty buttons there appear additional graphical objects that the user can place on the graph.” Moreover, the terminal MT5 allows you to open up to 100 charts simultaneously.
4. “There came Depth of Market, which displays information about applications for the purchase and sale of a financial instrument”.
   As developers write: “MetaTrader 5 platform is designed to give the ability to trade stocks, futures, options and other exchange-traded instruments in real markets. Therefore, Depth of Market is available both for symbols that are traded in the stock exchange during run-time, and for non-exchange symbols. For stock symbols, Depth of Market displays real prices and the volume of trade orders. The Depth for OTC instruments is a scalping tool which allows one-click market and pending orders.”
   We will talk separately in more detail as to how to use this Depth of Market, in the near future. In the meantime, let us say that one more built-in function of MT5 - “Symbols” - is intended to facilitate such trade. This issue will also be useful and interesting as after MT5, the Depth of Market appeared on MT4 as well.
5. "The new MQL5 programming language used in MT5 has become much faster than the MQL4. That is why the MT5 is preferred for the automated analysis systems and / or trade. In MQL4, the robot worked by tick, in MQL5, there appeared events: the timer, at any trade action, changing the user’s depth of market, with action on the chart. "In connection with what has just been said, setting a particular indicator, script or Expert Advisor to the terminal, traders should definitely pay attention to which of the platforms - MT4 or MT5 - it has been written.
6. “In MT5 there is a very handy thing - the news release time is shown directly on the chart, ie there is no need to look every once and again to the calendar.”
7. “The MT5 has a very big advantage - it is the tester, there the testing speed is much higher, plus the ability to test the scalping, plus the ability to test the multi-advisors on several currency pairs.” There can also be noted that a tester supports multiple processors (not only its own, but also a local network of computers) for optimization strategies. We will also discuss the ways to use it in a separate article.
8. “There are practically no indicators or expert advisors for MT5.” Here I beg to differ - open the tab “Market” in the terminal and see how many products there are in its “Navigator” - hundreds! Of course, they are not so many as for the MT4, but note that the MT5 is twice younger than its rival.
9. And finally, the last point, which was the cause of many of the fiercest disputes. Of course, it is automatic merging of several orders on one instrument into one general position, and as a consequence, inability to put “locks”, opening opposite orders. In other words, if in MT4 each order exists on its own, in the MT5 all open orders are accumulated into one.
   For those who are accustomed to use counter-positions, grid advisors or Ilan type advisors, this causes a permanent displeasure. Although, in my opinion, there is a very simple way out: two trading accounts and two terminals - at the first one buy positions are averaged, on the other - the sell ones.
   But that’s not all! According to unconfirmed rumours, which have reached me from very reliable and authoritative sources, the possibility of hedging (opening countervailing transactions in the same instrument) will be available soon on MT5 as well. Meanwhile, intensive work in this direction is going on in the MetaQuotes.
   What is it? Is it beginning of the end of the MT4 era? Probably yes. At least, I have downloaded the “five” on my computer and I study it thoroughly, as it is awkward to drag at the tail of progress.