MetaQuotes (MT4) - What are the alternatives?

In a story I have been following closely, MetaQuotes has published on its broker support site that it is urging brokers to cease operation with third party developers that they believe to have ‘hacked’ their MT4 trading platform and are violating the firm’s license agreements. Mentioned in the letter to brokers are copy trading provider ZuluTrade, Tradency, Tradeo and Myfxbook. A similar announcement led to the banning of a popular third party user interface plugin from MT4i.  According to sources, MetaQuotes is presently in the process of trying to ban IPs being used by these four service providers.

The overriding opinion is that while there are in fact cases where plugins are detrimental, conference goers believed the marketplace was a ploy by MetaQuotes to increase revenues on the back of their platform.

Below is the entire message from MetaQuotes to brokers. Forex Magnates is currently reaching out to brokers and third party developers for their opinions and will be updating this story as we receive more information.

Unfortunately, some third-party developers have hacked MetaTrader 4 trading platform’s network protocols violating end user license agreements and terms of contracts with brokerage companies.

As a part of our active efforts to improve MetaTrader 4 system, we are starting to upgrade the network protocols and block all services based on the hacked versions.

We urge you to cease any cooperation with ZuluTrade, Tradency, Tradeo, Myfxbook and other companies that use the hacked protocols violating our rights.

Further to MetaQuotes issuance of a warning urging brokers and traders to desist from using third party copy trading platform providers this morning, Tradency has been the first of those mentioned to respond.

The company has announced that it has with immediate effect ceased operation with MetaQuotes systems, shifting its Mirror Trader brokers to various currently available proven solutions.  Tradency stated that its various integration solutions will be offered to those of its clients that have been previously using Mirror Trader with MetaQuotes services. The on-going transition process has been in motion for some time now, and is expected to accelerate in light of recent events.

Tradency sent a clear message in a corporate statement today that the company will continue to offer its growing client base with top-tier technological integration solutions away from MetaTrader, including Currenex, FXCM, ACT and additional proprietary solutions. These solutions are already in place with a series of brokers, therefore paving the way for what Tradency expects to be a straight-forward transition.

Support Growing For New Platforms

Tradency’s step, while seemingly bold, could also be viewed as being far from a step into the great unknown.

The early part of this year has seen some of the world’s large banks pledge their support for new platforms such as ParFX and cTrader, and discussion among some senior figures last week at the IFXEXPO in Cyprus favoring open platforms, this could be the dawn of a new era.

Dukascopy CEO Alain Broyon addressed delegates at the IFXEXPO conference last week in Cyprus in favor of open platforms. “The Jforex platform is built in with different interfaces that can be set by the broker. Every platform should have a detail that is different, to help it be global and allow the technology to be in line with regulation.”

Tim Haman, CEO of Fair Trading Tehcnology added that third party applications and tools are important to traders who want to use EAs and signals. He explained : “They may not be programmers therefore they need to be able to have a list of options to customize their platform to suit trading style.”

Gold-i CEO Tom Higgins considers the server-side as important as the user interface side: “We see a lot of server side integration, copy trading, multi-account managers. We are very big on the server side. There is a lot of demand for back office integration so that databases can be managed and reports to regulators can be easily pulled off the system.”

The general consensus among the panel was that the participants were very much pro open trading platforms. It was agreed that party providers which can link a broker to appstore and provide on-the-move open applications can really make a difference to the reach of a broker.

When asked if the future is open platforms, the answer was a resounding yes. It was the view of the panel that closed platforms are not offering enough solutions to brokers or traders, therefore it is down to programmers and developers to continue to engineer open platforms and third party solutions which integrate with such platforms.

Please comment on alternative platforms or sign up and discuss in the SteveHopwoodForum, links to relevant posts are below.

cTrader seems to be the leader, but there are many others.  

In an email I sent to Amibroker, Thomaz said he would release the code fo iBControler.  The email is below

Hi Amibroker guys;

 

I own version 5.4.

 

I wanted to let you know that there is considerable pushback from MT4 users now – Metaquotes have done some stupid things, one of which is forced upgrades resulting in some not being able to access there account.

You probably have heard of the rumblings since its your line of business, if not, here is a start....

 

http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2267

 

http://www.stevehopwoodforex.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2291&start=10

 

What this email is about is just to give you some thoughts....

 

There could be a business opportunity for you, adjust Amibroker for the MT4 users who want to leave to another platform.. Some are considering cForex or jForex but those platforms aren’t quite right.

 

The reason I don’t use Ami any longer to trade is the trading interface.  I want data and a trading interface that is not clunky, it needs to be built in.  I want to trade, not program interfaces.  I traded with IB but found to much of the actual trade interface to be a pain in the ass.  I wrote TipsterTrendlines, I know you have heard of it.

 

You should give some consideration to connecting traders to brokers, the FXCM’s of the world.  I don’t like the order2go plug in, or importing/exporting data.  I like to turn on the software, the data comes in, the connection is made with the broker using programming from an expert (like you guys) and I do the trading.  You could write a back end or use another platforms, maybe jForex, its open source, but I don't know anything about it (just suggestions)

 

If you want to get more of a feel and some good feed back from some traders I suggest you sign up at SteveHopwoodForex.  Friendly bunch of people who were fed up with ForexFactory so they started their own forum.  I hope to see you there.

 

Brian (AnotherBrian)

 

Hello,

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

What I am planning is to release source codes for existing IBController with a free license to
create derivative works and some docs regarding
how to connect 3rd party solutions to GetTradingInterface function of AmiBroker.
This should provide enough ground for 3rd parties to add their own trading interfaces.

At the moment I can not promise that I will develop anything especially for MT4 users since
our resources are limited, and trading interfaces require lots of maintenance as brokers change their APIs.
But I think that opening sources for IBController may be good first step.

Best regards,
Tomasz Janeczko
amibroker.com

Hear the Market

A great way to study the market with the Market Pace indi.

This indicator was posted on FF and I've used it occasionally to "hear" the ticks. It's sort of like watching the level 2 screen but easier. Since SHF is where I usually go for forex related info, I thought I would post it there.
Set it up on a 1 minute chart and listen as price goes into supply and demand areas, or tests new highs and lows. It will sit there for a while then a big pop can be heard, the bigger the pop, the more points it just travelled.
As I don't tend to scalp very often I don't use this much but I do listen as I do other things sometimes. It sort of tells you when things are heating up....
If you scalp, you might want to try it out.
rooicol wrote this gem.  I you have issues installing there are a few posts on FF that might help. Some users have had difficulties getting the correct sounds to play. Read the instructions and the posts on FF if you have issues. Feel free to post questions here as there are many brains willing to help.
It's attached here so you don't have to go get it.

Drawing Levels on MT4

This is a new script I wrote and have been using.
TT2P_DrawLevels
Drag and drop the script to the top part of the level you want to identify and it will draw two horizontal lines from that point to the right of the chart. If you drop it above current price it's red, below is green. So post on page 18 for a picture. If you turn on "show object descriptions" in the chart properties, the level will also show the timeframe where you found the level.

TT2P

Just a reminder that Tipster Trendlines is available for MT4 totally FREE from this web site

Questrade and MT4

Canadian broker Questrade now offers MT4. I don't have any info or details on the "rule set" but there is a demo available. If you sign up, use this promo code pa1ink35, you get some free trades (50 bucks) but I'm not sure that applies to MT4, it might only be stocks.
They are regulated by IIROC and your account would be protected by CIPF, and that's killer protection!!

Money Management idea for MT4 EA’s

Lots of EA’s out there don’t place stops and the idea or risking a percentage of the balance isn’t really accurate.  So you leave yourself open to more risk.

Here’s an idea that might help assuming your EA is profitable.

When an account grows and the lot size is determined by the risk value, the lots can get too big. Then the account gets hammered.
I know when I would kick this in for a demo but for a real account, would you really let it trade 1 lot? Maybe, but this way you can adjust it to your own appetite. This also lets you not worry to much about making withdrawals on time to gain back your initial investment or monthly withdrawals.

If you want to see the system performance and not colour the results with MM, use a constant lot size. The equity curve should be a relatively straight line. Then you use MM to curve it upwards. BUT, don;'t use MT4 to do this, it's not of ANY use.
To test this, start a demo and use a low lot size that would be lower than if your set the risk to 10. I would do this but I don't have any space for more demos. I might, however, try this add on to one of my existing experiments....

Then add your max lot size code and do another test.

The Spread in Forex (MT4)

I’m testing an EA called Crossfader (CF), this post discussed the spread as it impacts that EA.

Spreads are more on the exotics, less on the majors.  This gets amplified in low liquidity  So, my thoughts on exotics and the spread.....

Firstly, the CF biotch works great with EURUSD, the most proven and reliable pair.  Hooking her up to an exotic?  Why would you do this (other than a demo as an experiment), are you looking for a hidden treasure, are you subconsciously trying to ruin your account?  That's purposely making your growth task much harder. 

Slapping this EA on exotics and trying to then fix it with filters is a waste of time and increases your risk, not to mention work load and stress level (if live, not sure anyone is doing this yet...)

If you're trading live or planning to trade live at some time,
I recommend slapping it on the 6 majors, on a demo account.  For analysing pairs.
Here's what I do, and consider I have a small nugget on a live test account with CF running;
Have 1 demo running 6 majors on all the time;

• Risk 10
• 100% DD
• check each week and month for each pairs performance.  This will tell you what pairs to run live.  [*]On MyFxBook you can analyse by pair.
  Even put some additional pairs on it as you wish
• The only purpose of this is to track pairs, not to see if the EA works or test DD or risk level, although you can glean some of this info from this demo

Spead Filters

• Let's say you are running biotch CF on EURUSD only. 
  Do you need a spread filter?
  What number should it be set for?
  Should it stop entries or entries AND exits?
  Should it stop trading when spread is over or under your number (strange question right?)

When price is moving fast, like after a news event, is spread big or small?  small, sometime there is no spread as there are so many trades going on.

When it's off hours and price is standing still, no bidders want to hit the ask, no sellers want to pay the bid, what happens?  Large spread, price doesn't move, stalemate. 

How about just before a news release?  Wide spread, nobody wants to trade, they are waiting for the news.  The market is open, lots of participants right?  Nobody wants to trade. 

wide spread = nobody wants to trade

What happens during market hours when price runs into daily support / resistance level?  I bet most of you never watched a chart real time to see this....  As price approaches the level, you see many ticks, it slows as you arrive at the level, then you see nothing.... you check your internet connection, wtf?  I lost my feed... then you see TICK....  the spread widens.  This is where you want to enter or exit, a turning point possibly, or a breakout. 
Don't believe me? 
Run a spread recorder, install the market pace indicator so you can "hear" the market, and watch price on a 1 minute chart.  Mark off area where price stalls. 

Market pace is a nice piece - when price is moving slowly you hear a low volume tick pop sound.  when price is at a level and stall, let's say price is rising, hits a level and stops.  After about 30 seconds price will go down by the value of the wide spread, this larger movement makes a louder sound POP!!!  It really is neat to watch this, it may help you understand the auction process.

Back to the questions above -

• Do you need a spread filter?  entries, probably not if you turn the EA on for liquid session and use one of the majors. 
  What number should it be set for?  use the spread recorder to find the right number.
  Should it stop entries or entries AND exits? Probably both - apart from off market hours increasing spread, there are S/R areas and news events that increase spreads and I don't want to trade at that time, BUT - to get out of a trade at  the profit level and worry about another pip, that doesn't concern me.
  Should it stop trading when spread is over or under your number (strange question right?)  This was the point of this post, now your thinking maybe I should enter when the spread is big during market hours?  You must figure this one out on your own. 

What am I doing?  I'm adding a spread filter that just takes out the really stupid spreads, for example, EURUSD would not allow entry or exit on a spread of more than 4 pips.  (that's actual pips, not fractional pips).  Exotics, not trading them, those pairs are there for companies that do business in other countries, not for traders.)

MT4 to Amibroker data feed and becktesting

We all know MT4 is a piece of shit for back testing (as well as some other things but lets stay focused!)

I want to test a system in Amibroker that has been written in MT4.  First thing I’ll do it convert the code.

Then run it live in Amibroker with a data feed from MT4, to see if the same trades are opened and closed.  This tell sme the code has been converted OK.

Next, I can back test it in Amibroker which has a robust back tester.

Here’s the plug-in to connect the two platforms.

http://www.marketcalls.in/amibroker/mt4-plugin-for-amibroker.html

MT4 and tick charts

I found this tick chart

 

http://www.marketcalls.in/metatrader/how-to-setup-tick-charts-in-metatrader-4.html

Questrade offer MetaTrader (MT4)

Next step - What Canadian broker has MT4 and is covered under CIPF, and accepts USA or other countries?

I know that Questrade is going to be introducing MT4 in August some time.

UPDATE - They have MT4 now, here is the link



FXCM uses a company called Friedburg Direct, and the web site claims to offer MT4. I've sent an email to clarify, since I checked 3 months ago they did not have MT4 accounts in Canada (went to UK for MT4). I have a small FXCM account in UK. Here is the MT4 FXCM page.

I've looked at a bunch of brokers over the past week, I always look to see what country they are in. I found one in Mauritius (HotForex). I've been there. I wouldn't go with that broker with your money!! The broker would have to be in one of the large stable countries (with a half decent auditor!!!)

Alternatively, I'm looking at TradingStation II and Strategy Trader both offered by FXCM. I'm not using EA's except for TipsterTrendlines to place pending order. It's not an auto trading strategy, it's atool that does all the grunt work for my manual trades. So depending on what the next 2 months holds, I might go to that platform. After being hit by both MF Global AND PFG, I'm ONLY going with CIPF firms. There are to many f'n crooks in the finance world. The Canadian finance sector including banks are well regulated and offer a solid foundation, the credit crises really never screwed up our banks and real estate in Canada, not sure if anyone outside of Canada realises that. 

So, I'm not saying that anyone should jump to Canadian firms, just that from my experience, any firm covered under IIROC and CIPF is well worth looking at in your comparison.

IIROC and CIPF

Here is some information that might help out the person wishing to open an investment account in Canada. 

Protection and regulation are really two different things, depending on what you mean when you say “protection”. I define protection (for the purposes of this post) to be protection of my personnel funds in the case of another MF Global or PFG Best.  Even if the regulator does not do their job (put your hand up American regulators!!!!) you will still get your funds returned to you. 

I was part of the MF Global non-sense, got every penny back, and it didn’t take very long either. I had an MF Global account that was registered in Canada.

Definitions

IIROC - Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.

CIPF - Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

IIROC is the Canadian Regulator.  CIPF Members are Dealer Members of IIROC.

Mission Statement: To contribute to the security and confidence of customers of Canadian investment dealers by maintaining adequate resources to return assets to eligible customers in cases where a Member becomes insolvent.

In the unlikely event that the Member you are dealing with becomes insolvent, CIPF will ensure the securities, cash and other property that are held in your account are returned to you in accordance with our Coverage Policy. 
Investment dealer insolvency doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, since CIPF’s inception in 1969 there have been only 18 Member insolvencies. CIPF has made payments of $36 million, net of recoveries, and no eligible customers have suffered a loss of property.

So, for anyone outside of Canada (except AUSA residents), take a look at this page.... it tells you what and who is covered under CIPF.

http://www.cipf.ca/Public/CIPFCoverage/ ... olicy.aspx

Does it matter if I do not live in Canada, or if I am not a Canadian citizen or a Canadian resident?

No. CIPF coverage does not depend upon residency or citizenship. CIPF coverage is available to you when you open an account with a CIPF Member.

If you are living in the USA, forget it.  The U.S regulators are soooo terrible that they demand your money stays inside the U.S.  Imagine if this rule didn't exist, there would be a whole lot of American funds being transfer outside the country.  Other countries respect the regulator so they don't open accounts for Americans.  I have money sitting in the bankruptcy case with PFG – so I don’t have anything good to say about the US financial system. 

Free Online Charting

Here is a list of online charting applications.  They all run on your browser, chartingstation can also run on your desktop.  I use the first one listed since it was the first one online and I’m used to it now.  If I was to start fresh, I think I would go with chartingstation as they have less advertising on the screen real estate.

Take a few minutes and explore each of them. They are all free, free data from the BATSA exchange, meaning I wouldn’t trade intraday off those quotes but it gives you a great idea of where the market is. I mostly use it for my long term holding check, and to look at the US dollar index on the weekends.

In the end, pick one and stay with it. 

http://www.freestockcharts.com/

by Worden brother.  Although I like this, its heavy advertising and a push to upgrade or go with there platform TC 2000.  I stay with the free version as it does what I need.

https://www.tradingview.com

Community based, tons of features. 

http://www.chartingstation.com

• Multi-screen end-of-day stock charting software
  7 chart types (Candle, Point & Figure, Renko, Kagi, Heikin-Ashi, Line, High-Low)
  16 drawing tools (Fibonacci tools, Gann tools, Channels, Andrew's Pitchfork, Text, Basic Shapes)
  70+ indicators and chart transformations
  Access 3 free stock data providers (Yahoo!, Google, MSN Money)
  Load custom Comma Separated Value (CSV) files
  Multi-platform: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
  Use from your desktop or web browser