MT4 Account Security?

[Ian]

I'm still fairly new to FX trading and using/understanding the MT4 platform, but are there any security concerns with the short and generally insecure passwords used on demo and real trading accounts issued by myFXBook and the various brokers? I see most generate 7-8 character passwords with numbers and letters, no special characters.

I do appreciate that all MT4 - broker communication is encrypted over port-443. 

Is there any risk to account passwords getting compromised, brute forced or are there some protections built into MT4?

example: https://www.ecl-labs.org/2013/11/13/metabreaking-metatrader.html (pdf here: https://www.ecl-labs.org/papers/metabreaking-mt4-v6.pdf)

Its from 2013, but I'm not sure how often MT4 updates & auto-patches their software and platforms, maybe these have been addressed?

On my demo and live account(s) I have generally changed both the master and investor passwords to ~20 characters with complexity.

If you delete your investor password does that just disable read-only mode, or make it open / read-only for everyone?

Thoughts? 

[Michael Charles Schefe]

Ian:

On my demo and live account(s) I have generally changed both the master and investor passwords to ~20 characters with complexity.

If you delete your investor password does that just disable read-only mode, or make it open / read-only for everyone?

Thoughts? 

I believe that this depends on the broker. I have been on a broker that when you deleted the password for investor, the investor access was disabled. But most other brokers, when i delete the password, mt4 copies the password of your real account, as the investor password. So, for security, NEVER delete your investor password, but change the investor password to be different to your real account password. And if your broker does not give you an investor password, that probably means that the investor password and your real account passwords are the same. So, if you open a real account, then for security you should always change your investor password, even, before you make your deposit, for security.

[Ian]

Revo Trades #:

I believe that this depends on the broker. I have been on a broker that when you deleted the password for investor, the investor access was disabled. But most other brokers, when i delete the password, mt4 copies the password of your real account, as the investor password. So, for security, NEVER delete your investor password, but change the investor password to be different to your real account password. And if your broker does not give you an investor password, that probably means that the investor password and your real account passwords are the same. So, if you open a real account, then for security you should always change your investor password, even, before you make your deposit, for security.

Thanks for the clarification, it makes sense. 

Any thoughts on the other topics/questions such as account take-overs via brute force guessing and the PDF which outlined MT4 weaknesses?

I tried to find some MT4/MT5 support contacts to clarify but everything steered toward the forum.

[12744058]

I am trying to close my account but unable to do as it said to close my 'deals' first. How do I find and close my 'deals' are not clear. Is there anybody who can help me?

[Pak Hong Poon]

you can instead spend time worrying losing in trades, that would be more productive

[Michael Charles Schefe]

Ian #:

Thanks for the clarification, it makes sense. 

Any thoughts on the other topics/questions such as account take-overs via brute force guessing and the PDF which outlined MT4 weaknesses?

I tried to find some MT4/MT5 support contacts to clarify but everything steered toward the forum.

i remember reading that pdf a long time ago, and if i remember correctly, it was not long after that that both mt4 and mt5 had major updates, and there was a discussion on this forum with messages from mq that discussed that very issue, so I think that those issues were resolved.

[Michael Charles Schefe]

12744058 #:
I am trying to close my account but unable to do as it said to close my 'deals' first. How do I find and close my 'deals' are not clear. Is there anybody who can help me?

that means that you have trades or pending orders open. close those first.

[Ian]

Revo Trades #:

i remember reading that pdf a long time ago, and if i remember correctly, it was not long after that that both mt4 and mt5 had major updates, and there was a discussion on this forum with messages from mq that discussed that very issue, so I think that those issues were resolved.

Thanks for the clarification, that is reassuring. 

[ahmad hosini]

Hello every body.i have aproblem to verify my phone number in mql5 in security.i enter my number but no code send to me.it's 4days and every time i click resend code&it just 3time do that&next says try 24h later

I will be preciate for you help

[Sergey Golubev]

ahmad hosini #:
Hello every body.i have aproblem to verify my phone number in mql5 in security.i enter my number but no code send to me.it's 4days and every time i click resend code&it just 3time do that&next says try 24h later

I will be preciate for you help

You can write to the service desk (look at "Contacts and requests" link at the bottom of this page:

By the way, your post is offtopic here on this thread ...