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
Hello,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....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)
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
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