Choosing an electronic forex trading platform is one of the most demanding choices a novice forex trader has to make. Many forex brokers have an option for consumers, but many only provide access to either MetaTrader 4 or Metatrader 5 (MT4 and MT5).
From the outset, one item new forex traders can watch out for: Certain brokers sell their forex trading platforms with so-called “bridges” to MT4 or MT5. This will trigger issues; it might disrupt the trading on the MT4 network, as though there are difficulties with the bridge.
How to choose between the two most common forex trading platforms around, both manufactured by MetaQuotes Software, the same Russian company?
With the individual trader in mind, each forex trading platform has been created, and each provides a tremendous amount of information and resources to help us all make winning trades. It is not challenging for the amateur to make trades in both platforms, but the specialist can discover several valuable extras. For learning to exchange, both platforms are acceptable.
But between the two platforms, there are significant variations, and although the inexperienced trader does not realize them at first, they may become relevant when he/she grows more mature.
There are three primary differences between the platforms: MT5 provides the opportunity to exchange stocks and goods as well as forex. MetaQuotes aimed to draw traders on the same platform who wished to do every kind of trading. However, this does not alter much because of its rich offering of forex trading features.
The second fundamental distinction is the question of hedging transactions: US regulators no longer allow forex trades to be hedged. Once again, many beginning traders may not be influenced by this. However, more seasoned ones will want to bear this in mind.
But here’s a distinction that all sorts of traders may think about: MT5 is faster than MT4. It is a multi-threaded, 64-bit platform. MT4 is a mono-threaded 32-bit platform with a memory maximum of 2 Gb. This imposes certain constraints on functionality, such as the scale of historical data files or backtesting, that more seasoned traders can find useful.
There are some smaller variations then, but some traders do not believe they are insignificant!
The user interface is different
There are several small but significant changes between the MT5 user experience and that of its predecessor.
Several consumer concerns were that the buttons used for basic functionality and some of the tools were too complicated to see on MT4, Meilleursbrokers.com notes. Still, MetaQuotes rendered them more popular on MT5 and also put more room between them. Some claim that it is harder to use the revamped GUI.
Fibonacci bonanza on MT5
All MetaTrader platforms have a wealth of instruments-that ratio for users who exchange the Fibonacci retracement based on a specific set of numbers discovered by the Italian mathematician.
According to the Trading Fibonacci page, MT4 has four separate Fibonacci retracement methods (there could be extra charges for these tools): Fibo Machine Pro produces trading alerts based on Fib calculations; AutoFibo automatically finds the Fibonacci levels on any chart; QuickFib measures on any chart the peaks and bottoms of a Fibonacci structure, so when you switch to the next, it fin For trade spreads or price breakouts, the forex predictor is used.
Yet MT5 has both of these and two more: MetaTrader 5‘s Auto Fibonacci indicator is an automatic MT5 Fibonacci indicator. It identifies the higher and lower points in every chart view immediately and then measures and draws Fibonacci levels and applies multiples of Fibonacci to define and draw significant levels of support and resistance. The Fibonacci Pivot Points Indicator uses Fibonacci’s multiples to identify and remove substantial levels of support and resistance.
The more relevant offer of instruments on MT5 can be enjoyed by genuinely devoted Fibonacci traders (like this writer).
MT4 has offline charts
Keep your horses in case you get the feeling that MT5 has it all. With MT4, a trader can always generate charts or save charts offline. Anything gets accomplished online with MT5.
This might seem a slight downside, but it’s easy to use the data in other applications of offline charts that sophisticated traders may prefer.
There is no doubt that with some of the problems that occurred on MT4 in mind, MT5 was created. But for a starting trader, the more nuanced MT5 may not be the right option. Before moving up to MT5, you may want to learn the ropes on MT4, which is unquestionably a tried-and-true solution.
