Is this even legal what MT5 collects?
It needs the installation path to access other parts of the terminal.
It requires the screen resolution to properly display the charts.
The names are freely provided by Windows to every program you run.
I am not a lawyer as well. But if you are talking about the logs in the Journal tab of Metatrader so it is for the user, and this log is stored in user's computer only.
So, I do not think that MetaQuotes is collecting all those things (they do not need it).
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Why Metatrader is showing this information for the user?
Example:
If one user is having some technical issue as a possible bug with Metatrader so the forum members (or moderators, or admins, or the service desk) may ask the simple question: "What is your OS? 64 bit or 32 bit?" and so on ... why? because the user only is having this technical information ... MQ is not having it ... they should ask in case this information may help to fix something for the user.
The user may reply that he is having Windows 10 or Windows 11 64 bit and so on.
But it is financial world, means: no one trust anyone and no one believe in anything. And the forum members (or moderators, or admins, or the service desk) will ask for proof.
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This is my proof (Metatrader is telling me that in the Jorunal tab):
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So, I think - MQ is not collecting this information.
Summary thread/post:
- 2023.06.20
- www.mql5.com
It needs the installation path to access other parts of the terminal.
It requires the screen resolution to properly display the charts.
The names are freely provided by Windows to every program you run.
Hey all,
So I get that MetaQuotes needs to collect some basic stuff for things like crash logs and identifying users, that's fine and it's in their privacy policy. But I noticed they're also grabbing things like my PC name, Windows username, install path, when the OS was installed, screen resolution... that feels a bit much to me.
Seems like they're using all that to build a fingerprint for tracking, and honestly I don't remember seeing those specific things clearly mentioned anywhere in the agreements.
Not a lawyer or anything, but is this actually allowed?
The relevant document is Metaquotes' Privacy and Data Protection Policy. The terms and conditions therein are broad enough encompass the collection of just about anything and everything.
A former FX broker-dealer employee informed me that a broker-dealer and/or its software can read all MT4/5 Journal entries in real time. Use anonymized indicator and EA names with internal fixed settings (not inputs) if you want to hide your trading tools.
Metaquotes has to collect some data, at least insofar as the Market is concerned. Else, Metaquotes would not be able to limit usage of Market products.
FYI, I have a law degree, but you really shouldn't need one to understand the privacy policy.
Machine translation to the English:
Форум по трейдингу, автоматическим торговым системам и тестированию торговых стратегий
Do brokers see the installed EAs
Renat Fatkhullin, 2017.02.19 13:22
The question constantly pops up, the answers were repeatedly given.Sergey Golubev #: (quoting Renat Fatkhullin, majority owner of Metaquotes Ltd.)
To be afraid of knowledge by the broker ("trader trades by EAs") does not make sense.
To be clear, deciding whether to anonymize work depends on the specific way that a trader is trading.
Executed orders are readable by a broker-dealer─to which Renat alludes. Interestingly, those executed orders print to the Journal of MT4/5 which is consistent with the information provided by a former FX broker-dealer employee─Journal entries are readable by a broker-dealer. Let's assume that the trader generates a custom chart using an EA that also generates a descriptive custom symbol. The specific custom symbol name prints to the Journal. Now let's assume that the EA calls several custom indicators that contain input parameters. The specific names of those indicators, along with those set input parameters for each indicator, also print to the Journal. Therefore, it is possible for a broker-dealer to deduce the "base" logic of a relatively simple EA.
As to the question of whether a broker-dealer is actually actively working to do so, it is doubtful. That same former broker-dealer employee who disclosed the readability of the Journal also stated that the average broker-dealer employee really doesn't have time to sort through a boatload of Journals (most of which show losers, by the way) in an effort to deduce traders' strategies.
Even so, I'm a staunch supporter of Murphy's Law. I tend not to rely on what might not go wrong, but I instead plan for what could go wrong. The fact that it's a logical possibility is enough for me to anonymize my work. To each her/his own, I suppose.
In any event, fear/"afraid" is an emotion which is irrelevant.To be clear, deciding whether to anonymize work depends on the specific way that a trader is trading.
Executed orders are readable by a broker-dealer─to which Renat alludes. Interestingly, those executed orders print to the Journal of MT4/5 which is consistent with the information provided by a former FX broker-dealer employee─Journal entries are readable by a broker-dealer. Let's assume that the trader generates a custom chart using an EA that also generates a descriptive custom symbol. The specific custom symbol name prints to the Journal. Now let's assume that the EA calls several custom indicators that contain input parameters. The specific names of those indicators, along with those set input parameters for each indicator, also print to the Journal. Therefore, it is possible for a broker-dealer to deduce the "base" logic of a relatively simple EA.
As to the question of whether a broker-dealer is actually actively working to do so, it is doubtful. That same former broker-dealer employee who disclosed the readability of the Journal also stated that the average broker-dealer employee really doesn't have time to sort through a boatload of Journals (most of which show losers, by the way) in an effort to deduce traders' strategies.
Even so, I'm a staunch supporter of Murphy's Law. I tend not to rely on what might not go wrong, but I instead plan for what could go wrong. The fact that it's a logical possibility is enough for me to anonymize my work. To each her/his own, I suppose.
In any event, fear/"afraid" is an emotion which is irrelevant.No. Journal entries are NOT readable by a broker. They are strictly local to the computer where MT5 Terminal is running.
No. Journal entries are NOT readable by a broker. They are strictly local to the computer where MT5 Terminal is running.
Please provide some technical evidence if you'd like to convince me.
As far as the intent of some broker-dealers goes (without reference to MT4/5):
"I used to work at one of the largest retail FX (forex) dealing desks, basically a bucket shop operation, [broker-dealer name redacted]
So, I've seen a lot of people recommending failed investors/traders to start trading forex instead of stocks/futures/bonds. Having worked at one of the largest dealers, I can tell you that this is a huge mistake. 25% of the time I was trading the firm's money, while 75% of the time I was tasked with figuring out which clients we could bet against and which clients we should target to attempt to reverse engineer their strategies." [broker-dealer name redacted] (citation to third party forum name redacted).
Regarding MT5:
Forum on trading, automated trading systems and testing trading strategies
Alain Verleyen, 2021.10.15 20:43
Doesn't make sense. Technically they could, but why would they do that ? They don't care about your code.A former FX broker-dealer employee informed me that a broker-dealer and/or its software can read all MT4/5 Journal entries in real time. Use anonymized indicator and EA names with internal fixed settings (not inputs) if you want to hide your trading tools.
As a security enthusiast, I can analyze program binaries to trace what goes into and out of an application, and I can confirm the following based on my findings particularly regarding the Metatrader platform. I've taken note of complaints from the MQL5 community about random account bans and imposed financial limits, and my analysis aligns with these concerns. Specifically, I've observed that Metatrader uses what is claimed to be diagnostic data to construct a unique device identifier for each user.
This raises a red flag: if you're managing multiple MetaTrader 5 accounts from the same machine, you may be at higher risk of restrictions or limitations. To protect your privacy and reduce fingerprinting risks, I strongly recommend running the platform inside a virtual machine or through a VPS, especially if you want to keep your host machine's hardware and software identifiers concealed.
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Hey all,
So I get that MetaQuotes needs to collect some basic stuff for things like crash logs and identifying users, that's fine and it's in their privacy policy. But I noticed they're also grabbing things like my PC name, Windows username, install path, when the OS was installed, screen resolution... that feels a bit much to me.
Seems like they're using all that to build a fingerprint for tracking, and honestly I don't remember seeing those specific things clearly mentioned anywhere in the agreements.
Not a lawyer or anything, but is this actually allowed?