MetaTrader 5 Is More Than Just An MT4 Upgrade

This is the first in a 5-part series on MetaQuotes upcoming release of the MetaTrader 5 Trading Platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real Read this Term. The new MT5 platform is not an upgrade of MT4 but rather an entirely new client terminal, written from scratch. As I wrote in a previous Forex Magnates post, MT5 will feature:

• 5 order types and 4 execution modes available for trading
• Implements practically any trading strategies
• Built-in reports on all trading activities
• Built-in indicators and graphical objects
• Allows quicker analysis of quotes and trade decision making
• 3 chart-types, 21 timeframes and over 70 analytical tools
• High performance and outstanding speed
• Strategy tester MetaTrader 5

This week I will try to give some insight into what these features really are and how they might impact your trading.

Up first, the new Depth of Market (DOM) feature. What DOM affords a stock trader is a view of current market activity for a particular stock. Market depth information is generally not available for retail Forex traders because their is no central exchange from which to derive the data. The best a Forex broker can do is provide a mechanism to show a consolidated view of available orders from their Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term providers. A small broker, for example, with only one liquidity provider is more restricted in what they can offer a trader. Since their pool of orders is smaller, the trader may not get an order filled at the price requested. A broker with more liquidity providers will have a larger pool of orders from which to match a trader's order and trading generally runs smoother. Fewer requotes and less slippage.

Tradeview Forex's Platinum trading platform offers DOM information, but market depth data has been generally unavailable to retail traders up to this point. MT5 will change all that. Here's an example of how it might help you as a retail trader.

Let's say, for example, that you want to place a buy order for 1 lot EUR/USD and the market depth window on the platform indicates that, on the buy side, there are 10 lots available at 1.4000. Knowing this information, you can feel assured that your request to trade 1 lot can be guaranteed an immediately filled at 1.4000. There's no requote and no slippage. You should then see the DOM window reflect the change in buy-side order availability. With your current MT4 broker, and no market depth information, the retail trader really has no idea of what the market conditions really are other than what is evident from analyzing the trading chart.

Access to market depth information can take a lot of anxiety out of the trading environment and potentially change a lot of traders' strategies.

In part two, I'll try to shed some light on MT5's 21 timeframes and how this feature could make a big difference in your trading.