MetaQuotes Software Corporation today published on its official blog an overview of the ‘Time & Sales’ feature, one of the available options in the new MetaTrader 5 build 1375 which was launched last week.

The most recent addition from the software developer of MetaTrader terminals, the widely used trading platforms in the forex retail market, enables users to view in-depth trading data for all exchange transactions directly from the Market Depth window. Information on every trade includes the time when the trade was executed, buy or sell, as well as the price and volume of the trade.

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

According to MetaQuotes, trade volumes are displayed as a histogram, with a color coding of different trade directions. For easy visual analysis, the new tool uses different colors to indicate different trade directions: blue is used for buy trades, pink for sell trades, green means undefined direction. The new MT5 version also features the ability to export the data to a CSV file to allow further analysis using third-party applications, such as MS Excel.

How to help understand the market

Providing data about trade volumes and frequency, the new feature allows traders to prepare a more detailed market analysis. For example, trade execution speed and the volume of trades on various price levels help traders to estimate the importance of individual levels. Furthermore, an increasing activity of buyers and sellers can indicate the upcoming rise or fall in security prices. What is more, the volume of trades also allows traders to understand the behavior of market participants, as well as to estimate the activity of the players.

“Although the Time & Sales option is primarily used by intraday traders, it also provides useful data for long-term traders who prefer to hold their positions open for a few days,” the company noted in the official blog.

In order to test the new Time & Sales feature, your broker’s platform should be updated to version 1375, which also allows you to take full advantage of the MetaTrader 5 capabilities in exchange trading.

The new upgrade comes a few months after the software company introduced the netting model to trade exchange instruments and the hedging model for currency trading on the MT5. According to MetaQuotes, the move has led existing and new brokerages to license MetaTrader 5 and begin offering the suite to their clients.