The MT5 is the 5^th generation MetaTrader platform developed for forex trading by Metaquotes Inc. First developed in 2010, the MetaTrader5 or MT5 platform did not make the immediate impact that its makers hoped to achieve. Many forex traders were simply enamored by the excellent trading features of the MT4 that they simply refused to switch to the newer version of the platform. Metaquotes Inc then decided to incorporate some features of the MT5 into the MT4, starting from Build 400. This move enhanced the popularity of the MT4 to the point where many brokers decided to offer only the MT4 and jettison the MT5. However, the effect of the enhancement of the MT4 taught Metaquotes Inc one lesson: creating enhancements to its platform could pull off the desired effect.

MT5 for mobile trading by metatrader5.com

Metaquotes went back to the drawing board and in October 2016, launched the new MT5 platform with the following new features designed to boost trader confidence in the platform and address some problems that were noticed with previous versions of the MT4 and MT5.

• Tool Tips for the Trade Buttons

The MetaTrader 5 platform update which was conducted on October 14, 2016 features the addition of tooltips for the trade buttons in the trade dialog boxes that open when a trade is to be opened or closed manually. The information displayed shows:

• In a price quote, the number of units of currency in base currency being bought or sold for the counter currency.

For instance, if a buy order for 0.1 lots of the EURUSD is being opened at 1.3457/1.3459, the dialog box will show that 10,000 units of the Euro are being bought with 13,590 units of the US Dollar. This display helps beginners to acquire more knowledge about what price quotes translate into.

• Addition of new icons for positions, deals and orders in the Trading tab located in the terminal window.
• In the terminal window, the display of information about the depth of the market, tick charts and other sales data is much faster and better optimized.
• Fixed synchronization of tick history during non-trading hours. The process could consume an excessive amount of network traffic in some cases.
• Display of the ticket of a closed position for all deals and orders in the trading history when the hedging mode is activated, thereby enabling the trader to locate aspects of the trading history more easily than before.
• There has been a change in the way entries made in the Journal tabs are made. Older entries are now displayed first, which makes it easier to follow the items in the journal in a sequential order.
• There have also been fixes to some errors affecting the trade process. For instance, the erroneous copying of the stop loss and take profit settings from active positions to new ones on the same currency pair, especially when using the One-Click trade mode, has been eliminated.
• The time frames have been expanded and are displayed on the top of the platform interface for traders to use.
• Hedging has been reintroduced. This allows traders to open positions on one currency pair and in both directions (long and short) simultaneously.
• Traders can visualize not just the pricing of assets in active positions but also the volumes. This is an advantage to the trader.
• It is now possible to save documentation from the platform in XML format, making it amenable to being opened, edited and worked on MS-Excel. This is a great tool for those who use Excel for analyzing their trades.
• There has been an expansion to the suite of technical tools and indicators.

Other changes have been made in the Metaquotes Language programming section of the platform. These include:

1. Addition of statistical functions to the Standard Library.
2. Improved functionality of some of the tools of statistical data analysis and processing.
3. There have also been updates in some of mathematical/statistical functions in the Standard Library.

In the Strategy tester sector of the MT5 platform, the following updates have been made:

• Advanced settings have been introduced which allow traders to test forex robots under various market conditions, with or without custom set delays.
• The ‘M1 based OHLC’ mode has been adjusted to include generation of a fixed volume of tick bars.
• Old tick errors appearing in strategy testing using multiple time frames or multiple currencies have been eliminated.
• Improvements in the speed of the performance of the CopyTicks function.
• Results of strategy testing can now be viewed graphically for easy analysis.

Summary

The re-introduction of the hedging feature has coincided with a noticeable increase in the number of traders signing up for the MT5 platform, something that was not seen with earlier versions when hedging was eliminated. This fact was confirmed by sales teams of several polled brokers. The changes to the MT5 have excited brokers in other markets as well. Many binary options and stock brokers such as Binary.com have also adopted the MT5 platform for their product offerings.

Updates of the MT5 mobile versions have also hit the market. The MT5 for Android as well as the desktop version features a chatting functionality which allows users to chat with other MQ5 Community members directly from the MT5 platform.

A new update to the MetaTrader 5 trading platform (Build 1495) is scheduled for November 24, 2016. Time will indicate whether these updates will lead to increased traction of the platform among brokers and traders alike.