Although the basic outlook is the same, there are several differences between MT4 & MT5 trading platforms. MT4 is the worldwide known forex trading platform that is used by most of the retail traders. On the other hand, MT5 is the upgraded version of MT4 that has a lot of improvements from Metaquotes.
AtoZ Markets: In the forex trading industry, retail trading is becoming famous day by day. Moreover, it has become obvious to find the best forex trading platform for traders & investors. As the retailers' involvement is increasing, the Best forex trading platform is essential for new traders. Hence, MT4 and MT5 is the easiest way that is the most user-friendly platform. However, there are many differences between MT4 & MT5, but the basic contents are mostly the same.
In this article, we will see the difference between MT4 and MT5. Before proceeding further, we will see how the forex trading platform becomes an unavoidable part of the retail trading.
Retailers Involvement in Forex Market
Forex trading is a unique place to buy & sell currencies to make a profit from the increase and decrease in the prices of different currencies. Trading happens electronically over-the-counter (OTC), via computer networks between traders and financial institutions around the world.
The global forex market makes the transaction of approximately $5.3 trillion every day, which holds liability to the increasing number of institutional trade every day.
After the financial crisis of 2008, the economy was nearly cleared away. Thanks to the arrival of Forex Trading, this was growing at that time. Corporate investors exchanged their currencies to escape bankruptcy, and retail traders started to involve in the market.
The improvement in technology increases the involvement of the retail traders in the forex trading much than before. By using some forex-trading platform, anyone can easily buy and sell currencies to make a profit from home.
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Forex Trading Platforms
Forex trading platforms are available for retail traders & institutional traders. The institutional platforms are very sophisticated and costly and not suitable for retail traders. The retail forex trading software industry is heavily dominated by Metaquotes Corp- the producer of the Metatrader 4 & MetaTrader 5.
Here is the list most used forex trading platforms:
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NinjaTrader
The NinjaTrader trading platform was created in 2004. And it is designed for mostly active Forex, futures, and stock market traders.
This platform offers advanced charting, trade simulation, and automated strategy building. The person wishes to execute trades from their platform must buy a lifetime license or lease the platform on a timely basis.
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cTrader
Spotware develops cTrader as a competing trading platform for Forex traders. This platform offers advanced charting and trading features, and the structure is similar to the MetaTrader platform.
This trading platform is available in a web browser, but now cTrader provide their platform in Android and iOS devices only, which is preferable for most of the traders.
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ProRealTime
The ProRealTime trading platform is a technical analysis software that is developed in France by IT-Finance. The platform is a unique web-based software that is backed up by the company's cloud network. A wide range of advanced charting and analytical tools are available in this software, with the ability to create customized market scanners and trading strategies.
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MetaTrader 4 review
MetaTrader 4 is the most common Forex trading platform among the retail traders, which is especially for Forex trading. However, the retail Forex is relatively new in the industry; it did not have other reliable third party software available except the MetaTrader 4.
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MetaTrader 5 review
Metatrader 5 is quite similar to MetaTrader 4 and nowadays, which is one of the best Forex trading platforms.
From the platforms mentioned above, MetaTrader 4 & MetaTrader 5 is the most user- friendly. Therefore, there is a possibility to increase the uses of those in the coming periods. It also comes with a larger amount of indicators and has some other features.
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Difference between MT4 and MT5
Now let's have a look at the difference between the MT4 & MT5
Outlook
The overall structure of MT4 is very user-friendly. There are no complicated options, so new traders find it very easy to use. The users can easily customize the interface to match their trading needs.
MT5 is the updated version of MT4. There are some additional features added to MT5 that is very handy for advanced traders. The additional timeframes, integrated economic calendars- allow professional trading. In MT4 vs MT5 comparison, the MT5 will be ahead in terms of the outlook and design.
Technical indicators
For technical analysis - there are 30 trading indicators available in MT4 where in MT5, there are 38. Both MT4 & MT5 allows custom indicators from metaquotes website or personally made.
However, the technical indicators vary from users to users on their trading needs to match the strategy.
MT5 Timeframes
There are 9 Timeframes in MT4, while MT5 features 21 timeframes. The 21 timeframes are not a big deal for a novice trader. But for advanced traders, it creates the opportunity to monitor the price actions from various angles. This multiple minute chart is suitable for scalping strategy while the multiple Hourly charts are suitable for swing traders.
Graphical objects
There are 44 suites of graphic objects in MT5 and for MT4, there are only 31. Therefore, MT5 users can analyze by using more tools to mark patterns, zones, levels for trading.
Expert Advisors
Expert Advisors are a predetermined algorithm. The MQL4 enables to create a personal advisor or robot of any complexity. Traders can use the EA's from the built-in app store 'MetaTrader Market' and the free library 'Code Base.'
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In MT5, the traders are not restricted from using the built-in analytical resources. The MQL5 coding is simpler than MQ4 so that traders can create their trading robots or Expert Advisors.
Real Volume Data
In MT4, traders are unable to know the real trading volumes like contracts or lots. They can only assess the tick volume data. The tick volume is the number of price changes on a particular candlestick bar.
In MT5, traders have access to real volume-traded data, and not only tick volume data. After pressing the right click of the mouse from the chart, this option will appear.
Download Tick Data on MT5
In MT4, traders are unable to know what the most traded price or cluster in the particular range was. Traders can only save tick data manually with lots of limitations.
In MT5, traders can download and consult tick history from the broker.
Backtesting
Backtesting is available in both MT5 and MT4, but there are a few differences. It is a command of a trading robot to shift through historical data of a specific strategy and identify the performance. In the case of MT4, traders can backtest only for a single pair that takes a lot of time. However, with MT5, backtesting is much more user-friendly.
Broker’s support
Forex Brokers usually prefer MT4 comparing to the MT5.
However, the situation may change in 2020, as the MT5 trading platform attracts the traders for the enormous features. The difference between MT4 and MT5 trading platforms may change in the coming days according to the choice of the users. The best forex trading platform in the coming days might be MT5 due to its user-friendly structure.
Additionally, The MT5 is the upgraded version of the MT4 among FX traders. In the MT4 vs MT5 comparison, MT5 will be ahead of the best forex trading platform 2020. However, the trader should follow only one that helps him to make a profit.
Conclusion
We had enough discussion about the MT4 & MT5 in this article. However, now it is time to choose the right platform.
Do you Want to Trade in MT4 or MT5?
Ok. Let me give you a small suggestion. If you are new in the forex market or you are in the market for a long time but still struggling to be overall breakeven, you should go for MT4.
After getting some experience in MT4, you should go for the advanced platform, MT5.
However, for AI based trading, MT5 is the best compared to the MT4.
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