MetaTrader 4, also known as MT4, is an electronic trading platform widely used by

online retail foreign exchange speculative traders. It was developed by MetaQuotes

Software and released in 2005. The software is licensed to foreign exchange brokers
who provide the software to their clients. The software consists of both a client
and server component. The server component is run by the broker and the client
software is provided to the broker�s customers, who use it to see live streaming
prices and charts, to place orders, and to manage their accounts.

The client is a Microsoft Windows-based application that became popular mainly due
to the ability for end users to write their own trading scripts and robots that
could automate trading. In 2010, MetaQuotes released a successor, MetaTrader 5.
However, uptake was slow and as of April 2013 most brokers still used MT4. While
there is no official MetaTrader 4 version available for Mac OS, some brokers
provide their own custom developed MT4 variants for Mac OS.[2][3][4]

Contents
1 History
2 Functionality
3 Components
4 Products
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
History
Its developer, MetaQuotes Software, had previously released a number of versions of
the MetaTrader platform starting in 2002. MetaTrader 4 was a significantly enhanced
version and was released in 2005.[5]

Between 2007 and 2010, a number of brokerages added the MT4 platform as an optional
alternative to their existing trading software due to its popularity with traders
and the large number of third party scripts and advisors.[citation needed]

In October 2009, a significantly re-coded MetaTrader 5 went into public beta

testing.[6] The first MT5 live account was subsequently launched by InstaForex in
September 2010.[7] In 2013 and 2014, the MQL4 programming language was completely
revised eventually reaching the level of MQL5. Starting from build 600, MQL4 and
MQL5 use unified MetaEditor.[8]

Functionality

A chart from the MT4 trading screen

The client terminal includes a built-in editor and compiler with access to a user
contributed free library of software, articles and help. The software utilizes a
proprietary scripting language, MQL4/MQL5,[9][10][11] which enables traders to
develop Expert Advisors, custom indicators and scripts. MetaTrader's popularity
largely stems from its support of algorithmic trading.

Yahoo! hosts a large group (over 12,000 members) devoted to development of free
open source software for MetaTrader.[12]

MT4 is designed to be used as a stand-alone system with the broker manually

managing their position and this is a common configuration used by brokers. However
a number of third party developers have written software bridges enabling
integration with other financial trading systems for automatic hedging of
positions. In late 2012 and early 2013, MetaQuotes Software began to work towards
removing third-party plugins for its software from the market, suing and warning
developers and brokers.[13]
MetaTrader provide two types of trading orders, Pending Orders and Market Orders.
Pending orders will be executed only when the price reaches a predefined level,
whereas Market orders can be executed in one of the four modes: Instant execution,
Request execution, Market execution, and Exchange execution.[14] With Instant
execution, the order will be executed at the price displayed in the platform. Its
advantage is that the order will be executed at a known price. However, a good
trading opportunity can be missed when the volatility is high and the requested
price cannot be served.[15] Request execution mode enables trader to execute a
Market order in two steps � first, a price quote is requested, then, a trader
decides whether to buy or sell using the received price. A trader has several
seconds to decide if the received price is worth trading. Such mode offers a
certain knowledge of price combined with guaranteed execution at that price. The
tradeoff is the reduced speed of execution, which can take a lot longer than other
modes.[16] With Market execution, the orders will be executed with broker's price
even if it is different from that displayed in the platform. The advantage of this
mode is that it allows trading without any sort of requotes. However, deviation can
get considerable during volatile price changes.[17] In Exchange execution mode, the
order is processed by the external execution facility (the exchange). The trade is
executed according to the current depth of market.[18]