The great and terrible MT4 forever (or how to strategise a transition) - page 28
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Many pages have been written, but it seems to me that the whole discussion was not too close to the topic.
I will continue to discuss the topic of MT4 and how to move to MT5 painlessly.
A small map was presented in my first post. In a nutshell, we need to improve the MT4 programming language to the level of MT5 Light so that eventually all code will be cross-platform.
I.e. the code, written on MT4, should compile on MT5 (not necessarily the other way around). To do this, new commands must be added and old ones removed (with an indication during MT4 compilation that the commands are obsolete and will no longer be supported in 1-2-3 years).
This would allow current programmers to retrain as they go! The admins have written that MT4 and MT5 are equally complex. And without prompting, this will indeed be the case. Years of learning MT4, and then years of learning MT5. But will the programmer want to do it? To be an ace in MT4 and a beginner in MT5. And this on the assumption that MT4 has 2-3 times more users?
I repeat my rhetorical question. If something brings you the main profit, where will you invest it and in what proportions?
There are plenty of examples in real life too. Niva is so popular that they didn't stop making it, the new versions "didn't catch on", we had to update it in the old body and now we have the new Niva Legend.
When the MT4 came out, there wasn't much competition. It managed to conquer its market. But now with the new terminal (not about Metatrader) it has not won the championship. These terminals are like mushrooms after rain.
Do you want to know why users do not rush to MT5? First, it is probably the choice of brokers, but no one wrote about it when I asked, I think so myself. Second, it seems to them that it became inconvenient.
I would add personally that although the tester has become mega-advanced, it seems inconvenient for some reason. Earlier I couldn't even immediately find out how to turn it on. It was all in one window, now the windows are different, I did not always understand how to unload the statistics.
OK, it's a matter of habit, but it should have been easier. Something like simple (as it was in MT4) and advanced tester, as in MT5. The tester is a separate story in both terminals, I will not describe my suggestions here, not today.
I will not describe my proposals here not today. I do not like some strange brakes and bugs in MT5 when switching to chart and timeframe, when quotes are slow to be loaded.
It is worth adding that I myself had to adapt the code for this "feature" so that in the process of loading quotes the indicator smoothly and without lags (I hope) changed and added objects.
Well, here we come to the main reason why MT4 is still popular. This is a huge number of courses and products that have been and are being released by the authors. All the forums, sites, websites are flooded with them.
It's a well-trodden path that's been all over the Internet for a long time. It's hard to get out of the deep rut. A beginner comes in, gets into the rut of MT4 and now he is already riding the rut, studying courses and products that are written for MT4.
I'm not rooting for MT4. I want to switch to MT5! But the majority is still unprepared. That's why I propose to develop MT4 to the level of MT5 Light.
And when all products on the marketplace from the MT4 section will be able to be seamlessly recompiled to MT5, it will be a complete transition. Moreover, there won't be a single obsolete product left in the market.
Who will not update the product to the new build, will be deleted. Down with the old stuff that doesn't work.
This topic can be developed, everything will be solved with the codebase too. First, move everything to the archive and from the archive the programmers will take out only the working codes.
You must be able not only to develop and save, but also to scrap something. Otherwise, the project is doomed. The phenomenon of mixi-fatigue (mixi is Japan's largest social network) is when too much information causes a complete loss of interest in a topic.
This is why old projects die because they have become too cumbersome. That's why the same Apple, the new wind 11, the new android try with each new version to become not only better but also simpler by removing everything unnecessary from menus and settings. In addition, there is always a settings search. The MT5 terminal is already quite cumbersome in terms of functionality. Is there a settings search? Can I press search in the chart and select an indicator out of the ones that are installed? Is menu really comfortable? Is the design really modern? Although a dark theme is needed, which will be a hit in videos of new course authors, but white (or rather light gray) seems outdated to me as well. Open up access to terminal colours and shortcuts, i.e. creating cover themes, and I'll show you what I can squeeze out of it.
OK, I'll call it a day for now. MT4 should be developed, MT5 should be improved, made more beautiful and simplified. In the end there will only be MT5, beautiful, simple, popular and functional.
Read the news that MetaTrader 5 has surpassed MetaTrader 4 in popularity among brokers, so you won't be under any illusions
I hope all changes will be commented on.
Read the news that MetaTrader 5 has surpassed MetaTrader 4 in popularity among brokers, so as not to be under any illusions
This is good news indeed. Congratulations (sincerely). It has reached brokers after more than 10 years.
But I'm not under any illusions, a simple analysis of market sales and what's going on in forums, websites, what courses and new products are released (including off-market) shows that MT4 is still in the lead.
I really hope that what I am saying does not cause any animosity, because I'm not an opponent of MT5. I'm already slowly trying to use MT5, I understand that its future. It has its disadvantages, but everything can be solved.
Sooner or later I will stop writing anything on MT4. I have a lot of ideas, more than a hundred, but the programming speed, alas, is not high
Many pages have been written, but as I see it, the whole discussion was not too close to the topic.
The first small step to bring the user's transition from MT4 to MT5 closer:
1. Make the list of alerts and the log not bottom-up, but top-down.
Such a small thing, and yet it is inconvenient to rearrange your attention between terminals. Making it the same will make it easier later on.
And you can also do the Market upgrade in the terminal, in the chart window, like in MT5. Plus a separate button to call the Market from the interface.
As they say, strike the iron while the iron is hot. If something brings money, let it bring more.
The first small step to bring the user's transition from MT4 to MT5 closer:
The average life time of a trader is six months. Switch brokers to MT5 and almost all traders will switch to it automatically.
As for the very thin layer of traders: who have been living on MT4 for many years. Then for them switching to another platform has to be motivated. No motivation - no migration.
However, there is no point in targeting them. This is an exception to the six month rule.
The average lifetime of a trader is six months. Brokers switch to MT5 and almost all traders will switch to it automatically.
And where do traders come from? Probably from forums and hundreds of websites. But traders may live in their profession for 6 months on average. But authors of strategies, website and forum creators live long, and as long as there is demand, they will not go away.
And on all of these old, mature sites, where users start trading, the vast majority of topics are filled with indicators on MT4.
If there were no forums, platforms and training schools, there would be no traders at all. People would go to the official exchange, and it is not certain that they would choose MT.
For example on one forum this year statistics shows that MT5, Ninja and Quick have equal audience and MT4 have more of them together. So far
MQL developers should be justifiably proud that their products are TOP. As long as a trader chooses between MT4 and MT5, he is a customer of the company. But MT4 is not the lizard's tail, without which the company will feel good, it's half of the lizard.
For example on one forum this year the statistics show that MT5, Ninja and Quick have an equal audience, while MT4 outnumbers them all combined.
There must be at least one good reason to switch MT4->MT5. I have several such reasons, and all have to do with the fact that it gives more profit from trading.
I think you have no reason to switch. Only the desire.
I repeat my rhetorical question. If something brings you the main profit, where will you invest it and in what proportions?
There are many examples in real life too. The Niva is so popular that they didn't stop making it, the new versions 'didn't catch on', we had to upgrade to the old bodywork and now we have the new Niva Legend.
1.The question is not rhetorical. Take the Boston matrix - there are product-milking cows and there are product-stars.
Profits from the cows are invested in the stars.
2. As fxsaber said, you don't have to push for cow users to switch to star products. It's just that the old generations of users will stay on the cows and the new ones will move on to the new models.
3. Getting mql4 code to compile into mql5 is not a problem. But making it work with the same result is not always possible. Otherwise there would be no point in creating MT5.