Why is it better MT5 than MT4?? Does it have fewer limitations ???

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Well, due to the conversation of this thread, I have considered it opportune to open a new one to expose the pros and cons of MT4 versus MT5, and why I consider MT5 to be better.

Basically, MT5 has many more interesting features that help in trading, and MT4 has too many limitations in my opinion.

Let's cite some of them below.

     

  • MT5 is faster than MT4. It is a 64-bit, multi-threaded platform. MT4 is a 32-bit, mono-threaded platform with a 2 Gb (or 4 Gb memory limit if you use it on a 64-bit operating system, in which case a 32-bit system is emulated, which is not optimum). It is important, especially to do backtesting, since if your historical data file exceeds this limit (which happens especially if you use tick data), you have to split this file into several parts and do an individual backtest of each part. If you use tick data usually that memory limit is exceeded with a history of 2 years or so, but can also be exceeded even if you use standard M1 bar data.
  • MT5 is a Multi-Market platform, which means that you can trade in both
    • Centralized Markets (Stock Exchanges, Futures markets, etc.) where you can trade stocks, indices, commodities, futures on all of them, etc,  and 
    • Non-Centralized Markets, like Forex and other OTC markets.

In MT4 you can only trade in OTC markets (mainly Forex). If you trade other assets through MT4, these are CFDs, which are issued by OTC brokers for a kind of domestic market only for their customers, so they act as market makers in these assets (they make you the counterpart).

  • Due to this, in MT5 it is possible to get real volume traded data, and not only tick volume data. In MT4 it's not possible. The tick volume means the number of price changes that have occurred in the course of the bar. Nothing else. You do not know the real volume (contracts, or lots) that has been traded.
  • In MT5 you can download and consult ticks history from your broker. In MT4 you can't, you only can save tick data by yourself (with the help of some tool), but it has many limitations. You must have platform turned on 24 hours a day, and still you'll NEVER keep all the ticks, for many reasons.

Why is this important ??? It's a very easy thing. There are many traders who use tools like Market Profile, Delta Volume, etc., etc.

Well, in MT4 you can never know what exactly was the most traded price or cluster in the selected range. You have to make an approximation / estimation using only M1 bars. For example, if you are in M15 timefame you would have to analyze the 15 M1 bars in that section, see their maximum and minimum prices and the tick volume of each one of them and assign that volume in equal parts (or use the criterion that you want) to each of the prices or clusters between the maximum and minimum prices of that M1 bar. And so, try to calculate APPROXIMATELY, how much could be traded at each price. The real data you never know, you have to estimate it.

That is why in MT4 these types of tools are not very useful. There are many people who use them without knowing all these things, and believe that they offer you the real POC / VWAP / Profile, levels. But it's not like that. In MT4 I do not recommend using these tools.


  • In MT5 you have access to the tape (Times & Sales), so you can create Order Flow, Cumulative Delta, etc. indicators. In MT4 you have not.
  • In MT5 you can backtesting robots with the closest possible conditions to the real market natively  (real tick data, real variable spreads, lag, slippage, etc). In MT4 you can't natively. You only can if you pay for a third-party software. If so, you also have to download history data from a few sources (there are many few, almost everyone uses the same source), transform it to MT4 format and open the platform through this third-party software in order to patch MT4 behavior. You take many hours to complete this process, and you have to repeat it every time you want to incorporate new data.
    We have all seen hundreds of robots that obtained spectacular results in backtesting, but when operating in real account the results were very bad. This is mainly because they were made with conditions that had nothing to do with real market conditions.
  • In MT5 you can backtesting Multi-Symbol strategies natively. In MT4 you can't.
  • In MT5 is not possible to import your own historical data.  In MT4 it's possible.
    Really, how many tick data sources do you have available in MT4 to import ???, Dukascopy and Integral / Pepperstone ???. Just the two of them mostly, right? .
    Almost everyone uses Dukascopy data, and almost nobody has the real tick data of their broker, does it matter so much ??? Who has the real tick data of their broker ??.
    For me it is not very important because in MT5 if you have the data of your broker. Although you can not import those of Dukascopy.

    Is everyone a Dukascopy customer ??? Or does everyone want their own broker's data ?? "

    I think that almost everyone wants their broker's data and not those of Dukascopy. In MT5 you can have the tick data of your broker and you do not have to import those of Dukascopy.

    If you are a client of FxPro, ActivTrades or RoboForex, what do you want the Dukascopy tick data for ???. I'll tell you, that's because in MT4 you did not have tick data, so if you wanted tick data it was only possible if you imported Dukascopy data, but in MT5 there is no need for Dukascopy data, since you can Have the tick data of your broker.

    Therefore, in my opinion, it is not a relevant feature in MT5.

  • In MT5 you can't create offline charts. In MT4 you can. In my opinion this is the most important thing (perhaps the only) that MT5 lacks.


This is just a few limitations from all the ones MT4 has.

To be continue.


Regards.



When are you planning to move on MT5 ?
When are you planning to move on MT5 ?
  • www.mql5.com
I am planning to do it in this week ? in a month within 3 months within 6 months within a year within 2 years within 5 years Never...
 
Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez: Well, due to the conversation of this thread, I have considered it opportune to open a new one to expose the pros and cons of MT4 versus MT5, and why I consider MT5 to be better.

In response to the your post that was deleted on the "other" thread, regarding your question to @Ovo Cz about the features missing in MT4, I believe that his reply would probably be in regards to "Offline Charts", which MT5 does not have.

It may seem to you that it is not a very important feature, but unfortunately it is very important for many traders that use Non-Timeframe Charts. Many such users of Renko, Point & Figure, Constant Range Bars, Kase Bars, Tick Volume Bars and others, use the "Offline Charts" for this because it is a normal Chart onto which they can place all the normal indicators onto it, be it Bollinger Bands, Fractals, ATR or any Custom Indicator.

Also, given that it is a "normal" chart, they can also drop onto it normal EAs that will trade off those non-timeframe charts without any difficulty.

In MT5 however, there is no such feature and the only possibility is the use of a Custom Indicator that displays for example Renko Bars, but since it is an Indicator and not a normal chart, one cannot freely place on top of it, any other Indicator one my wish to use, nor can you run any normal EA off it either and would require that such an EA be purposely built for it.

There has been talk on the Russian forums that this was being implemented in MT5, but such talk was more than a year or two ago, so I am beginning to doubt it will ever be implemented.

NB! Please note that this post is mostly just to inform you of this fact and not a sign to start any heated discussion about it. It is simply a FYI Post (For Your Information).

 

MT5 is very slow

placing orders is much faster in mt4 

 
Osiris:

MT5 is very slow

placing orders is much faster in mt4 

I do not think so. I think it's just the opposite. Can you prove what you say? Regards, and many thanks for your comment.
 
Osiris:

MT5 is very slow

placing orders is much faster in mt4 

MT4 is very slow compare with MT5.
We can make HFT in MT5 (if necessary for example) but we can not do it in MT4 - there are few articles about it with the figures, stats and proofs.
Tha is why many brokers are starting to propose MT5 especially for stock market for example. 

 

Example:

Форум по трейдингу, автоматическим торговым системам и тестированию торговых стратегий

Asynchronous requests to the server

Renat Fatkhullin, 2016.09.25 20:01

Yes, in MQL4 it has long been available to 8 simultaneous trade orders of the experts. And tt will not be decreased.

It is possible to provide 100-200 trade transactions in the second from 8 parallel experts Under ideal conditions on MT4.

The MT5 even from one expert synchronously and consistently without much straining can make 1000 sales transactions per second. If multiple robots, several thousand transactions per second. If asynchronous methods, it is also several thousand per second.

Here is an example from 1000 successive transactions in 1 second on the MetaTrader 5 server MetaQuotes-Demo:


The code is taken from the article Comparison of MQL5 and QLUA - why trading in MQL5 to 28 times faster?

 
Fernando Carreiro:

his reply would probably be in regards to "Offline Charts", which MT5 does not have.

It may seem to you that it is not a very important feature, but unfortunately it is very important for many traders that use Non-Timeframe Charts. Many such users of Renko, Point & Figure, Constant Range Bars, Kase Bars, Tick Volume Bars and others, use the "Offline Charts" for this because it is a normal Chart onto which they can place all the normal indicators onto it, be it Bollinger Bands, Fractals, ATR or any Custom Indicator.

There has been talk on the Russian forums that this was being implemented in MT5, but such talk was more than a year or two ago, so I am beginning to doubt it will ever be implemented.

NB! Please note that this post is mostly just to inform you of this fact and not a sign to start any heated discussion about it. It is simply a FYI Post (For Your Information).


Fernando, I do not know if you know, but I value your opinion very much. That's why it hurt me so much what you said in the other thread. I did not expect that from you. I do not think I'm a closed-minded person. I was expressing my opinion, just like all the other people who intervened in that thread. Just like you.

I know you're not a closed-minded person and I think you're not anchored to MT4. You are open to admited pros a cons of MT4 and MT5.

I have used MT4 for many years, but there came a time when, at least for me, MT5 brought many more advantages than MT4 provided. That's why I switched to MT5.

I have seen you answering many threads about doubts, and I believe that you are a very valuable person for this forum. Surely more than me.


I think you're absolutely right in what you are talking about here, it really is the only feature that has Mt4 and it does not have MT5 (as far as I know). And it is closely related to the fact that I said that it can not import external historical data into MT5. I know that may be important to many traders, but, please, I would like you to recognize that it is only one feature, and that MT5 has other 6 or 7 very interesting features that does not have MT4. In this case I think it would be 7 against 1.

Yes, I know it was announced that the developers of MetaQuotes were working on this issue, but there is still no news. I hope they can implemented it as soon as possible.


In any case, I have my opinion, and each his own. I believe that mine is as valid as any other, but objectively, I would like, please, at least you, to recognize that MT5 has more features and less limitations than MT4, with the hand in the heart and objectively.

But that's just a wish, you do not have to recognize anything. You can have your own opinion and keep it forever.


On the other hand, I know you're a very good programmer. I'm not as clever as Albert Einstein, but still I was able to adapt and learn the mql5 language. So I think you can too. I think you can code in mql5 equal to or better than me, (if at the moment you can not).

Do not be afraid or frustrated about mql5. If you need something, I'm here to try to help you, and many other programmers as well. Anyway, I don't think you need it, because you probably already know more about mql5 than me.


Thank you very much that you have contributed your opinion in this thread.

Regards and a big hug.


PS:  I love you, but only in figurative terms, nothing to be in love or things like that, hahahahaha.

 
Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez: Fernando, I do not know if you know, but I value your opinion very much. That's why it hurt me so much what you said in the other thread. I did not expect that from you. I do not think I'm a closed-minded person. I was expressing my opinion, just like all the other people who intervened in that thread. Just like you.
I know you're not a closed-minded person and I think you're not anchored to MT4. You are open to admited pros a cons of MT4 and MT5.

I have used MT4 for many years, but there came a time when, at least for me, MT5 brought many more advantages than MT4 provided. That's why I switched to MT5.

I have seen you answering many threads about doubts, and I believe that you are a very valuable person for this forum. Surely more than me.

I think you're absolutely right in what you are talking about here, it really is the only feature that has Mt4 and it does not have MT5 (as far as I know). And it is closely related to the fact that I said that it can not import external historical data into MT5. I know that may be important to many traders, but, please, I would like you to recognize that it is only one feature, and that MT5 has other 6 or 7 very interesting features that does not have MT4. In this case I think it would be 7 against 1.

Yes, I know it was announced that the developers of MetaQuotes were working on this issue, but there is still no news. I hope they can implemented it as soon as possible.

In any case, I have my opinion, and each his own. I believe that mine is as valid as any other, but objectively, I would like, please, at least you, to recognize that MT5 has more features and less limitations than MT4, with the hand in the heart and objectively.

But that's just a wish, you do not have to recognize anything. You can have your own opinion and keep it forever.

On the other hand, I know you're a very good programmer. I'm not as clever as Albert Einstein, but still I was able to adapt and learn the mql5 language. So I think you can too. I thimk you can code in mql5 equal to or better than me, (if at the moment you can not).

Do not be afraid or frustrated about mql5. If you need something, I'm here to try to help you, and many other programmers as well. Anyway, I don't think you need it, because you probably already know more about mql5 than me.

Thank you very much that you have contributed your opinion in this thread. Regards and a big hug. PS:  I love you, but only in figurative terms, nothing to be in love or things like that, hahahahaha.

As I stated in my post, it was only a F.Y.I. due to the fact that your post was deleted and that @Ovo Cz would not have replied to your query, not knowing about your original post.

I already know how to code in MQL5 very well thank you and my skills at both are on equal par. However, I currently code my EAs and Indicators to work on both versions with the same source code. It compiles on both and runs on both! I don't code exclusively in just one version at a time. I code for both simultaneously and that is where the "frustrating" differences come into play. There are not many coders that can say that their code runs on both versions! So, yes, I have to be very aware of the differences and I cannot view them independently of each other.

I am not arguing or disputing the pros or cons of MT5 vs MT4. I simply wanted you to understand that you cannot just blindly say that MT5 is better than MT4. Users have different tastes and priorities. It makes no difference to them if MT5 has more features than MT4, if they don't use or need them. They base their preferences on those features they use or need. I just want you to accept that for many users MT4 is better than MT5. Neither side is wrong nor right. Both points of view are valid irrespective of which one has more features or not.

 
Fernando Carreiro:

As I stated in my post, it was only a F.Y.I. due to the fact that your post was deleted and that @Ovo Cz would not have replied to your query, not knowing about your original post.

I already know how to code in MQL5 very well thank you and my skills at both are on equal par. However, I currently code my EAs and Indicators to work on both versions with the same source code. It compiles on both and runs on both! I don't code exclusively in just one version at a time. I code for both simultaneously and that is where the "frustrating" differences come into play. There are not many coders that can say that their code runs on both versions! So, yes, I have to be very aware of the differences and I cannot view them independently of each other.

I am not arguing or disputing the pros or cons of MT5 vs MT4. I simply wanted you to understand that you cannot just blindly say that MT5 is better than MT4. Users have different tastes and priorities. It makes no difference to them if MT5 has more features than MT4, if they don't use or need them. They base their preferences on those features they use or need. I just want you to accept that for many users MT4 is better than MT5. Neither side is wrong nor right. Both points of view are valid irrespective of which one has more features or not.

I hink my post is more positive than yours, hahahahaha. I think many traders don't really know about real differences. I know you do. Many thanks for your opinion. I still think that MT5 has only one disadvantage respect MT4. Would you like I edit my first post to include it???. If so, I will include it.

Thanks.

 
Sergey Golubev:

MT4 is very slow compare with MT5.
We can make HFT in MT5 (if necessary for example) but we can not do it in MT4 - there are few articles about it with the figures, stats and proofs.
Tha is why many brokers are starting to propose MT5 especially for stock market for example. 

Yes, you are right. MT5 is faster. There is no doubt about it. Many thanks for your opinions. They are always WELCOME. Regards and a big hug.
 
Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez: I hink my post is more positive than yours, hahahahaha. I think many traders don't really know about real differences. I know you do. Many thanks for your opinion. I still think that MT5 has only one disadvantage respect MT4. Would you like I edit my first post to include it???. If so, I will include it.

It is up to you if you want to change your post or not, but in relation to features that MT4 has that MT5 does not, I count at least 4.

However I really do not wish to discuss this matter further, because it will only create another flame war and I don't really think that MetaQuotes is very interested in seeing their flagship MT5 being criticised too much.

Lets just leave things as they are.

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