15 May 2024 - 6min Read

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MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is a popular downloadable online trading platform created by the Russian software firm MetaQuotes Software Corp. Released in 2005; the MT4 trading software became immensely popular with retail forex traders. Popularity is mainly due to its simple-to-use features and the potential to even aid automatic trading by enabling users to develop their own trading scripts and trading robots (commonly known as expert advisors).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Key takeaways

  • MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is a reliable and user-friendly online trading platform.
  • Multiple timeframes and chart types help you to do technical analysis in various ways.
  • Two types of market orders and four types of pending orders allow traders to use different approaches to enter and exit markets.
  • A robust strategy tester and features such as auto trading are also built in MT4.
  • With MT4, you can trade on a desktop PC, web browser, and mobile devices.

Marc Aucamp

Content Writer

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How MT4 works?

MT4 is the most popular online trading platform for accessing worldwide markets and the most efficient software for retail foreign currency trading (i.e. especially developed for individual online traders). You can trade on real market prices and increase your profit potential by using trading tools such as live news feeds, charting tools, and even trading robots.

MT4 Main Features

  • Expert Advisors, built-in and custom indicators
  • One-click trading
  • Do your technical analysis with over 50 indicators and charting tools
  • MetaQuotes Language 4 helps create custom indicators and expert advisors
  • Multiple order types, stop-loss, take profit, and trailing stop
  • Nine timeframes
  • Export/import of historical data
  • Internal mail delivery system
  • MetaQuotes Marketplace

Is MT4 trialled and tested?

Along with the emergence of internet trading platforms, a fast-rising part of the foreign exchange market formed, consisting of people who could access global markets and trade online through brokers and banks: retail forex. This market category enabled small investors to enter and trade with lower sums of money than that employed by financial institutions. 

The need for technically more complex trading systems, particularly for retail forex trading, increased, as did consumers' need to trade the global markets directly. The MetaTrader 4 online trading platform, released in 2005, was the kind of software that enabled many retail forex traders to speculate and invest in currency exchange and other financial products from nearly any location on the planet.

MetaTrader Application (MT4)

Currently, thousands of traders use the MT4 platform in their daily trading practices, benefiting from a wide range of features that help them make better investment decisions, such as automated trading, mobile trading, one-click trading, news feed streaming, built-in custom indicators, the ability to handle a large number of orders, and an impressive number of indicators and charting tools. 

MT4 is today's ultimate trading programme in nearly every part of the world, suitable for novice and seasoned traders with diverse trading experience and tactics.

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MT4 and Automated Trading

Online investors are familiar with automated trading as a useful tool for automatically processing trade orders with exceptionally quick response times. This is done with the help of expert advisors (EAs), a set of predetermined trading rules (such as entry and exits) put up by traders using MetaTrader 4's MQL programming language. 

The MT4 platform's cutting-edge technology includes automated trading as a fully integrated function, allowing it to execute orders at a pace that would be unachievable with manual trading. For many traders, this saves a significant amount of time from the routine of market monitoring and trade execution.

Backtesting (the practice of testing trading methods on historical prices) is another benefit of automated trading since it applies trading rules to past market data. On implementing effective backtesting, traders may readily analyse and fine-tune trading ideas, which they can subsequently employ in their own trading practices for improved outcomes.

MQL4

The MT4 platform implements trading strategies using MQL4, a proprietary scripting language that allows traders to create their expert advisors (i.e. trading robots), custom indicators, and scripts, as well as test and tune their EAs using the MT4 strategy tester.

MQL4 has a plethora of capabilities that allow traders to analyse previously received and current quotations, track price movements using built-in technical indicators, and manage and continually monitor their trading orders. 

MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 4 for Mobile were created with all of the needs and ensuring flexibility at its finest, with mobility at its heart. This is why, in addition to Windows and Mac-based PCs, the MT4 mobile trading option enables investors to access the trading platform straight from their smartphones and tablets. 

Managing a trading portfolio as well as several trading accounts and/or monitoring them is, therefore, realistically doable while on the road. 

The ability to manage multiple trading accounts from a single interface and from portable devices such as smartphones, pocket PCs and tablet PCs gives investors a distinct advantage in trading, while the software's compatibility with the iOS operating system allows Mac users to monitor market changes 24 hours a day and place trades directly from their iPhone or iPad.

MT4 mobile trading makes it exceptionally simple for online investors to monitor the worldwide markets at any time and from anywhere, place and execute orders instantaneously, and maintain their accounts even while away from their home PCs. Furthermore, mobile trading offers a broad range of analytical options as well as the graphical presentation of quotations for optimal account management.

Because the MT4 mobile trading choices are the same for smartphones and tablets as they are for desktop and laptop PCs, online investors may trade at the same pace and with the same trading tools for the best outcomes.


People also asked

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MetaTrader 4 (MT4), created by MetaQuotes, is one of the world's most popular forex trading platforms. When you trade with us using MT4, you can trade CFDs on various popular currency pairs, stock indices, and commodities. Expert Advisors (EAs) are automatic programmes that monitor the markets and may be programmed to trade on your behalf in MT4. You may design your robot or utilise an existing EA.

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Our trial account allows you to test all of the platform's capabilities in a risk-free environment. A demo user may experiment with trading methods and approaches utilising $100,000 in virtual money. ​

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The MT4 platform does not support spread betting, but you may trade CFDs, including FX, stock indices, and commodities.

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One of the most powerful capabilities offered on the MT4 platform is auto trading, sometimes known as algorithmic trading. It's a cutting-edge function that enables you to test and implement Expert Advisors (EAs) and technical indicators you've created or purchased.

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