Forex trading has become one of the leading financial services many people worldwide use digitally. Because of its accessibility, convenience, and profit return, more people are starting their journey in the forex market. There are many forex broker companies online that you can choose from. And most of them use MetaTrader 4 and 5 as their trading platforms.
MetaQuotes Software developed and released MetaTrader 4 in 2005. Since then, MetaTrader 4 has become the leading electronic trading platform. Foreign exchange brokers that use the platform to provide services to their clients have terms of use licenses with MetaQuotes. Five years after MT4, the company released MetaTrader 5.
People think MetaQuotes released MetaTrader 5 to replace MT4. However, that’s not true at all. The purpose of MetaTrader 5 is to help traders automate their portfolios through the use of fundamental analysis, trading robots, signals, and more. But despite being newer than MT4, many still prefer MetaTrader 4 as their platform.
The truth is both are equally incredible, depending on your trading preferences. However, many prefer MetaTrader 4 to MetaTrader 5. In this post, let’s look at why.
One of the ultimate reasons many still use MetaTrader 4 is its simplicity. This feature is highly enticing to beginners and new traders still trying to understand the forex market. As we know, trading can be an overwhelming activity. That’s why having a platform that traders can easily navigate and familiarise with is essential.
Its simple platform features are one of the reasons most forex broker companies offer MetaTrader 4 over MetaTrader 5 to their clients, especially those just starting.
According to many MetaTrader platform users, MetaTrader 4 has fewer glitches than MetaTrader 5. Of course, this doesn’t mean that MT5 always glitches when you use it. Again, MT5 is a great platform–it’s just that many find MetaTrader 4 more suitable to their preferences and trading needs.
Since MetaTrader 5 also has stock, commodities, forex, and other trading services, it could be why it’s more prone to system glitches. And since MetaTrader 4 only focuses on forex trading, it’s less likely to have glitches because it doesn’t run other programs for other financial trading services.
I mentioned in my previous point that MetaTrader 5 also offers services for all financial markets, including forex, stocks, indices, commodities, CFDs, cryptocurrencies, and more. And since it’s a one-stop shop for traders who prefer managing different portfolios, it can be complicated for those only after the forex market.
I also mentioned in my first point that since MT4’s platform is simpler than MT5, more beginners and new traders prefer MT4. If you’re a trader only after the forex market, there’s no reason to trade currencies in MT5 unless you’re after its other tools that MT4 doesn’t have.
I said earlier that many forex broker companies recommend MT4 to new traders. Another reason they do so, aside from the platform’s simplicity, is because it created a standard in the industry on how trading platforms should be. Many new trading platform software that start-up developers create take after the MT4 features.
And since MT4 is the standard and precursor of the trading platforms in forex, there’s no reason for people not to use them.
One of the things that people look for when trying a financial activity is people they can talk to about it. In short, a community that traders can rely on in their trading journey is essential. Compared to MetaTrader 5, MT4 has a larger community where traders can ask questions, help in their accounts, and trader tips on when to sell or buy their currency pairs.
One of the downsides of MT4 is it has no technical support feature like MT5. But since it has a massive community, it’s easier for new traders to find solutions to their trading problems.
FIX API Access is the acronym for Financial Information Exchange API, an essential tool for trading. FIX API makes it easier for traders to build black-box strategies or private algorithms for forex trade analysis. Because of FIX API, traders can access financial information when trading on any platform that offers FIX API integration.
Aside from traders, market regulators also use FIX API to share critical data before and after trading. It also includes getting information regarding confirmations on new and executed trades. Even though MetaTrader 5 offers more financial markets, it doesn’t have access to FIX API.
Lastly, MT4 has a straightforward programming language. Traders using both platforms say that MT4 and MT5 have custom programming languages. The difference is that MT4’s programming language is easier to launch, develop, and install.
MT4’s programming language is ideal for new traders because it only requires minimal steps to set up its functionality. MT5, on the other hand, has more complex programming language features that give traders the ability to write or alter scripts.
The seven points I shared are reasons many prefer MetaTrader 4 over MT5. But these seven points don’t make MT5 a platform that is not worth exploring. Again, it varies depending on your trading needs, preferences, and activities. If you’re only focusing on the forex market and are new to trading, MT4 may be for you.
Written by Bianca Banda
