Make no mistake; the forex market remains the single biggest financial entity of its type in the world, with an estimated $5.3 trillion dollars traded every single day through this platform.
Much of this trade is now conducted through online trading plaforms like Oanda and MetaTrader mobile apps, which enable investors to access the market in real-time and from any conceivable location.
Despite since being superseded, it’s the MetaTrader 4 platform that continues to dominate the market and hold the attention of forex investors. But why is this the case, and what advantages does the app hold over the MetaTrader 4?
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The MetaTrader 4 – A Brief History
Since 2002, MetaTrader developers MetaQuotes Software have released several versions of their mobile trading platforms, with the fourth iteration having been launched back in 2005.
It was this release that saw the MetaTrader brand become a household name in the financial marketplace, and between 2007 and 2010 a large number of brokers began to offer the MT4 app as an alternative to their own proprietary software.
This was a seismic development, and one that emerged from the overwhelming popularity of the MT4 among forex traders across the globe.
This enduring popularity continued even after the release of the MetaTrader 5 in September 2010, as the MT4 remained the platform of choice amongst investors. By 2013, the MQL4 Programming language has also been upgraded, in order to maintain the functionality of the MT4 and its meet the needs of users.
Why is the MetaTrader 4 so Popular?
In simple terms, the MetaTrader 4 remains the world’s most used and popular mobile trading platforms.
As a result, this software is now licensed regularly to brokers throughout the world, who provide the software to their clients alongside various auxiliary services and additional technology.
At the heart of the apps appeal is its analytics, with the MT4 offering a huge range of tools and functions that enable users to inform their decisions. From online quotes to interactive charts, traders can use historical and real-time data to respond to price changes and execute orders in a matter of moments.
There are 30 built-in technical indicators included with the MT4, and this is deceptively large range that offers targeted value to investors.
The MT4 was also one of the first apps to introduce the concept of social trading, which enables you to automatically copy deals from other investors.
While this idea has since been evolved by other trading platforms, the MetaTrader 4 enables users to subscribe to specific signals and instruct their terminal to copy the relevant transactions.
The Last Word
These excellent features are not enough to explain the enduring popularity of the MT4, however, especially as the MetaTrader 5 offers similar and in many cases enhanced alternatives.
In fact, the key factors are arguably the ease-of-use and the familiarity of the MetaTrader 4, which have removed many barriers to the financial market and built up significant loyalty amongst users.
With every passing year, the MetaTrader 4 has become increasingly revered by traders, and the simple fact remains that many are loathe to transition from a platform that they love and trust.
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