MetaTrader 4 – commonly known as MT4 – is the retail trading market’s most popular online trading platform. Currently, over half a million retail traders are using the MT4 platform in their daily trading practices, and they’re reaping the benefits. Not only does the interface allow strategy implementation of varying sophistication, but it also allows traders and investors to take full advantage of market and pending orders, stop losses and take profits, and easily access powerful, real-time charts.

What’s more, all of this can be done on-the-go. MT4 gives you the ability to manage multiple trading accounts from one interface on portable devices around the world.

MT4 is used for online forex trading in the foreign exchange, contract for differences (CFDs – see also what are CFDs) and futures market. Like other online (or electronic) trading platforms, the downloadable platform is used to analyse price, place trading orders, and manage trades of various financial instruments through a network of brokerage companies that facilitate online transactions between buyers and sellers. Financial instruments include currencies, equities, bonds, futures, and options, and trades occur instantly.

Both professional investors and first-timers can use the platform and have access to charts, live price streaming and news feeds, technical analysis tools, and customisable automated trading settings.

Developed by MetaQuotes Software, MT4 was released in 2005. 14 years later, the Russian software company is licensing its MT4 software to brokers, banks and their clients around the world. Why? Because it’s easy-to-use, allowing even small investors to access the markets, speculate and invest in currency exchange and other financial instruments and because the platform gives traders the ability to facilitate automated trading.

Of course, the evolution of foreign exchange (forex) platforms began back in 1996 when the first generation of internet-based forex trading platforms emerged, effectively allowing forex to develop and customer markets to expand quickly. Suddenly, individual customers were able to access the global markets and trade on currencies directly from their own computers, albeit on basic software. Since then – and with the release of MT4 – we’ve seen more user-friendly interfaces, the integration of technical analysis and charting tools, and, of course, mobile compatibility.

MetaTrader 4 was designed for the 21st century. By having the platform available on Android and Apple and compatible with iOS, investors can manage their accounts, monitor markets, and trade quickly and easily virtually anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, MT4 is also available for download through Hantec on PC and Mac.

While the mobile compatibility of the MT4 platform has made trading more convenient and fast paced, it was the introduction of automated tools and trading that make it especially attractive for and popular amongst individual online traders.

Through MQL4 – the cutting-edge programming language of MT4 – traders can set up Expert Advisors (EAs) and a series of trading rules (custom indicators and scripts) specifying their entry, exit and money management criteria.

Through these trading rules, traders are able to eliminate emotion from trading and instead carry out trades mechanically. These ‘settings’ can essentially trade for you, factoring in historic market data and analytics for the best possible outcome at speeds simply not possible through manual trading. Not only does this equate to less time watching the market, but also more effective trading strategies and seamless trade execution.