COMMENT
Making the switch to MT5: A traders perspective I’m a MetaTrader baby. It’s a term I coined for those of us who’ve ‘grown up’ in the FX Markets trading on the MetaTrader platforms. Even when I graduated from retail trading, I still found ways to trade using the MetaTrader platform. I was there for the switch from MetaTrader 3 to MetaTrader 4 and although MetaQuotes has pledged to support MetaTrader 4 until the last brokerage stops using it, another switch looms on the horizon. The switch to MetaTrader 5.
M
etatrader 5 is a huge step in the right direction for both trading and MetaQuotes as a company. It’s closing in on a more institutional type trading platform rather than the retail platform it was originally designed as. Some of the improvements that I see that will be beneficial to traders are: • Availability of more timeframes • Vastly improved programming language • The ability to utilize LAN and cloud computing resources for backtesting and optimization • Portfolio backtesting • Multi asset class trading • Depth of market availability MetaTrader has always felt like home to me. From customizing indicators, to writing order management scripts for when I step away from the computer to writing algorithmic trading systems or as MetaQuotes calls them, Expert Advisors. MetaTrader is the platform of choice for not only myself, but for a huge percentage of FX traders. MetaTrader 5 brings a lot of new things to the table, but has also aroused quite a bit of criticism from die-hard MetaTrader 4 traders. The price of progress
There are basically two much criticized points about MetaTrader 5: The first is the fact that MQL4 will not be compatible with MQL5. This is the price of
progress however. Can you imagine the limitations if we were still programming in BASIC? MQL5 brings in OOP (Object Oriented Programming) which offers up a vastly greater range of analysis and execution possibilities for algo traders. Anyone who’s familiar and programming MQL4 currently should be able to pick up on the intricacies of MQL5 with relative ease. For those who don’t program but have scripts, indicators or EA’s programmed in MQL, MetaQuotes has launched a Jobs Service that will effectively match up traders and developers to facilitate rewriting of these MQL5 files. The second widely criticized change in MetaTrader 5 is the fact that hedging will not be allowed. This I think only requires a bit of education to fully comprehend the fact that hedging is no longer an option, effectively changes nothing when it comes to profit and loss. In an order based system, a hedged position locks in a profit or in 99% of cases where people hedge, a loss. In an order based system like MetaTrader 4, the loss is not in balance, but in equity. In a position based system like Metatrader 5, this loss is simply in both. A complete video explanation of position based vs. order based trading can be found on Fair trading Technology’s YouTube Channel here: http:// www.youtube.com/user/ FairTradingTech MetaTrader 5 is another great platform, and from a technical perspective a huge leap forward for MetaQuotes. As a trader I’d like to see more charting features such as range bars and Renko charts, but who knows? Maybe in MetaTrader 6 ! McLean Van Cleve
156 | july 2011
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