Some 'Basic' Comparisons between Mt4 and Mt5
Have you also noticed that when you put a fibo fan on the screen they have added an angle measurement in degrees that don't give the same measurement than the angular trendline, or is just me ? It's crazy. two same angles don't get the same measurement... it starts from the same basis 360 (=0) for a flat angle and then when you go up, the fibo fan angle goes faster than the angular trendline.
Same thing if you compare the angular trendline with the basic trendline. I'm not sure what the angle measurement of basic trendlines is based on, can you tell ? Thanks.
It all depends on the platform that each trader prefers to trade with, personally I prefer the mt4 platfor because t is more user friendly than the mt5 platform. Though I heard that they are working on a new platform that will incorporate both the mt4 and mt5 on a single platform. Can’t wait to trade with the new platform on Profiforex trading platform
Not possible to have only one platform (trading wise)
The way how orders are handled is so different that it can not be done without clear distinction what and when is done. No way
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When Mt5 was first released with all the rave about it, I downloaded and installed it. It was like hitting a stone wall, to me at least.
The 'super fast' backtesting was not part of the platform and the coding, though it might be more c++ similar, was almost impossible to comprehend.
I uninstalled and ignored Mt5 from there on out, doing fine with Mt4. Just recently, I decided to reinstall Mt5, I mean it has been years since it was initially released, so I figured that by now it should have improved.
Firstly, to FIND a broker that supports Mt5 was not easy. Mt4 is downloadable at almost every broker and his pet dog even knows how to use it. Mt5... invisible. So I downloaded it from Metaquotes and I got a MIGBank Demo version of it, which is now up and running.
The download itself is no longer a download. This seems to be the way of most programs on the net these days. You get a +-400kb installer program that downloads and installs the rest afterwards. This to me makes no sense at all. Just like everyone else, I have various situations that need addressing, be it upgrading from Windows XP to Windows7 (another is it better upgrade) to having bugs in the OS and having to re0instal it. In the past, this was fine because I always keep my Downloaded programs which makes them easy to reinstall. Now, it ALL has to be redownloaded and reinstalled.
I have (just like you) over the years downloaded and installed many different brokers Mt4 programs. Metaquotes, instead of creating a 'universal' Mt4 with an add on patch for the specific differences that each broker requires, sends out a broker unique version of the platform. Each upgrade, reinstalls the same infrastructure instead of just the parts that have been changed. Very modular... not.
The same lack of simplicity/efficiency resides in Mt5. Where something can be done with 1 line of code in mq4 it requires an array, a handle, a setup, a procedure, a ceremony, a burial, an after party and a congressional hearing to do the same in mq5. By trying to be more efficient and precise, they became the opposite.
Mt4 has lots of really useful options that most of us have used from time to time, both coders, traders and coder/traders. One example of this is the Strategy Tester. If one gets an idea that might be useful/profitable for trading, one simply starts up the tester in visual mode, then attaches all the relevant indicators to test the new theory. The settings for the indicators can be changed at will and indicators can be removed and replaced with others. Most indicators work in back testing, so if the strategy has any validity, it is partially seen in this way. I use an Mt4 EA which is actually a visual Trading system. I have Buy, Sell, Close buttons and a Money Management system. I have horizontal Line trade activation if touched which convert to SL and TP at the flick of another button. My screen shows me everything I need to know, How Many trades I have open, my Margin percentage, Profit/Loss per trade as well as Lots:- Buy, Sell and Combined.
Now Mt5 has a Strategy Tester as well. Better than Mt4? Not a chance. It has moved backwards into the dark ages. You can test one indicator for which you set up before commencing the test. Once up and running, you can not change any of the indicators properties and you can not have an EA running to simulate live trade.
For EA's with visual turned off, the Mt5 Tester is faster, at least it is in the limited EA testing I have done. In truth though, Metaquotes have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
Both Mt4 and Mt5 still have no math capability for 5^3 or 354^(1/3) the ^ (to the power of) math function is not in the mq syntax.
They have attempted to overcome the inherent scale issues, which in essence exist due to using time in seconds as the x axis of the charts. An x-axis with missing parts. No weekends, no public holidays. This has to be patched together to form a solid linear chart structure.
Mt5 has an Angled Trend Line, which is great. The only problem is that it is a visually based angle related to the visual horizon and it totally ignores the scale change from M5 to H4. The x axis 300 seconds per bar, while the H4 is 14400 so whatever the Angled Trendline was pointing to in one timeframe becomes obsolete in another. From a coders point of view it makes an angled trendline practically useless. From a traders point of view it is also pretty much useless because who needs a moving trendline?
The Gann Lines and Grids have been 'enhanced'. From having only scale in Mt4, they now have 'Gann Angle' as well as scale, represented in Pips per Bar. If they call a ratio an angle, it becomes obvious that someone is missing the picture. When one changes timeframe, they actually reset the Gann Angle for you. Yiha! Gan Lines and Grids that still point where they were pointing.... Uhhhmmm, No, not at all.
Take a Gann Line, on an H1 timeframe. Set it to 26.54 'Gann Angle' with Scale set to 1.0 Pips per bar. If you change to M1, M5 and H4 and check the Gann Line properties, you will see that the scale remains 1.0 while the Gann Angle changes.
Here is what I got starting as I did on H1:- 26.54, M1 0.46, M5 2.29 H4 95.03 D1 568.25
Besides noticing visually that the line does not point the same place on each timeframe, one can calculate it.
H1 26.54/60 = 0.442333 where M1 shows 0.46; 0.44233*5= 2.211666 where M5 shows 2.29; 0.442333*240 = 127.392 where H4 shows 95.03 (!!!) 0.44233*1440=636.96 while D1 shows 568.25 (!*!*!)
If however you alter the 'Gann Angle' back to 26.54 (the initial setting on H1) while changing the Pips per Bar (scale) to 1/60, 1/60*5, 1/60*240, 1/60*1440, you will see that the Line points to the same place in all timeframes. in other words H1/60 = 1 minute so 1/60 = scale per minute multiplied by minutes per timeframe respectively.
If one uses M1 as the initial Timeframe for setting the Gann Line, using a wide enough space to still have a visible angle in D1, this is what happens: M1 0.66 'angle' scale 1.0 - 1837 bars (minutes) 123.8 Pips top to bottom (123.8/1837=0.06739392487) Now where does the extra 0 in front come from? Well they call the scale Pips Per Bar, but they count the sub Pip (The fifth digit) as a Pip instead of 1/10th of a pip. So 1238/1837=0.6739392487.
The number gets rounded down....? to 0.66 and YES, if you copy the 0.66 and paste it in Excel, it IS 0.66, not just a visual representation of a double number.
H1 Timeframe reports 37.74 1238/33 Bars =37.74 Miracle of Note.
H4 reports 138.38 1238/9Bars =137.555 .... So, NO, there is no consistency here either.
Now jump to the D1 timeframe. This Gann Line gets confused, it states 1000 Gann Angle at 1.0 Pips per Bar So with 1 Bar = 1238/1Bar =1238 (surprisingly enough). So the Gann Line has a limit of 1000:1 ratio
So give them credit, they tried to get scale to work but just climbed on the wrong bus.
The interesting part that the new 'Pips Per Bar' feature is that it addresses the x-axis dilemma that it converts to in chart form. The accuracy of any and all indicators are linked to the accuracy of scale. More than this however is the possibility of doubt. No trader in a doubtful mindset produces profitable trades.
From a coders perspective, these little inconsistencies create interesting puzzles to get their indicators/EA's to actually do and be what they were planned for.
In the end, the most shocking of it all is the discovery that double numbers are rounded down to 2 digits. It is like saying Pi = 3
On the other hand, some of the new aspects in Mt5 are really good. Mt4 is tick based and can not proceed with code without a tick to shape it. Mt5 is also Tick based, but has various methods and ways of initiating code without ticks, be they events or changing timeframes.
The networking and Cloud aspect will eventually develop into a solid infrastructure for coders to trade their wares and traders to share concepts, be they Elliot, Fib, Gann or whatever fans.
The Code Base tag is useful, but will be much better once they add a search bar. It is great to be able to install and compile an indicator or EA from inside the terminal.
The Storage is also cool, one can access their virtual office from any computer anywhere in the world, and the EATree (3 year old say eat tre, eat tree) is also an impressive piece of software.
The grumbles are that lots of 'little' things are irritating from an operation perspective. You can not grab one side of a trend line and slide it along the top backwards to scroll the chart as you can with Mt4. You also can not double click on a text item to get properties to open. You can not copy the time in any of the items due to the calendar addition. You can not set a Gann Grid Angle without typing it as numbers in the properties.
One great thing about Mt5 is that all the charts stem from the same data. This lessens the dataflow which in the long run improves congestion avoidance.
Do I prefer Mt4. Difficult to say, my indicators and my trading style all already work with Mt4, but my trades occur with Desktop. Once I figure out how to code more efficiently in mq5, perhaps I might make 'better brighter shinier' indicators, but in the end the math is the same and the EA's as self running traders never make a profit. They are only really useful to test strategies and in that aspect Mt4 wins hands up. Until one can add and remove indicators and modify them at will in the Mt5 Tester, it will be basically useless (Just like those angled Trend Lines).
BlueMental