Why is MetaTrader 4 so Popular?
Although there are many platforms to choose from, over 80% of retail traders opt to use MT4. So the question is; Why is Metatrader 4 so popular? To answer this question let’s look at the functionality of the platform and compare it to some of the other options out there.
Metatrader 4 Community
Although a product of the initial popularity of the MT4 platform, the large online communities that have been formed through online forums have become one of the main contributing factors to the current popularity of Metatrader 4. Some of these forums include MQL 5 (The Official Metatrader 4 Forum), Forex Factory, and Forex Peace Army.
On these forums, various trading strategies are discussed with peers from across the globe. The communities are a great place for new traders to find valuable information on trading techniques and functionalities on the Metatrader 4 platform. Retails traders can also find reviews of commercial trading products that plug into MT4 which makes it easy when purchasing 3rd party trading products.
Building of EAs (Forex Robots) and Custom Indicators
An Expert Advisor or EA is also often referred to as a Forex Robot. Simply put, this is a piece of software that automatically trades when certain conditions are met. The idea of a piece of software mining profits for you automatically is amazing and MetaQuotes, the software company that developed MT4, saw the potential of this. MetaQuotes added the MQL Language Editor to their platform. This tool allows traders, with basic coding ability, to code their own robots according to their trading strategy. For most of us this still seems very complicated. This brought about a new market, MT4 Coding.
For a relatively small amount of money you can get a forex robot coded according to your criteria. If you have a trading strategy you can have it programmed to trade automatically. If you do not have a trading strategy you can buy a ready coded robot on the MQL Market which can be found here.
Ease of Use
The Metatrader 4 platform is very easy to use. It may look complicated to beginners but you only really need to know the functions of about 5 buttons to be able to open and close trades and set your take profit and stop-loss levels. There is a lot of free literature out there and we would be happy to show you the most important functionalities of the platform. See more articles on Metatrader 4 here. Once you have learned how the MT4 platform works it is very easy to use. It is a lot like getting the hang of Excel or Word. Once you’ve got it, it is very user-friendly.
Charting
We mention this last but it is probably the most important. The charting on the Metatrader 4 is second to none. When Metatrader 4 was first released it was head and shoulders above all other retail trading platforms. Many platforms have copied or tried to copy the charting capabilities of MT4. The one major difference, again, is the ability to customize the charts with the MQL Language Editor. You can change virtually every single part of the chart to suit your preference and trading style. There are hundreds of preloaded indicators and tools that can help asses markets and assist in making informed trading decisions.
There are many trading platforms available in the market today. Metatrader 4 remains the most used platform even though MetaQuotes has released Metatrader 5 more than 5 years ago. This just shows you how it has a winning recipe. MetaQuotes is rumored to have stopped new updates on MT4 in a bid to move interest to MT5 but we will have to wait and see if this is true. Metatrader 4 is the ultimate trading platform, get it today, for free, Click here to open a trading account and get MT4.
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