The trading system of the MetaTrader 5 terminal was re-written from scratch, as well as the whole platform. As compared to MetaTrader 4, trading possibilities of the new terminal are much wider. First of all, the MetaTrader 5 terminal allows working in various markets. Directly from the terminal you will be able both to execute trading operation in Forex and work with options, futures and stocks.
Secondly, in addition to already familiar Market Watch, the Depth of Market will be available in MetaTrader 5. This tool is necessary for working in stock markets. Thirdly, the order system is extended: the total number of order types is equal to 5 (in MetaTrader 4 there are 4 types of orders).
MetaTrader 5 terminal supports 4 types of operation execution: Market, Instant, Request and Exchange. The new execution type Exchange is developed for processing trade operations with stock symbols.
Profound differences between notions of position, order and trade appeared in MetaTrader 5. Order is a request to execute a trade operation, the result of which can be a trade. A position is the total state of trades on a certain financial security. Any financial security can have only one position.
Special reports are available in the new terminal for the convenient analysis of trading activities. Reports show not only initial and final deposit values, but also other parameters. Using these reports, you will know such results of your trading as, for example, GHPR, Z-score, Profit Factor and others.
Analytics
Analyzing price dynamics of financial securities is the most important component of a successful trading experience. In MetaTrader 5 we tried to provide traders with as many analytical tools as possible.
Three types of charts are available in MetaTrader 5: broken line, Japanese candlesticks and bars. For the analysis of these data 38 built-in indicators, 39 graphical objects and the large variety of MQL5 indicators can be used. All these analytical tools can be combined in different ways: objects can be applied to indicators; indicators can be built on the basis of other indicators and so on.
The history of quotes in MetaTrader 5 is stored only in M1 form and all charts are built based on them. This solution allows extending the number of timeframes up to 21, so that any period from minute to month can be used to analyze quotes. The main limitation on timeframes is their multiplicity: one hour must contain the integer number of minute periods. The following timeframes comply with this rule: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M10, M12, M15, M20 and M30.
Besides, format of history data storing in MetaTrader 5 is space-efficient. For example, M1 history of GBPUSD quotes for ten years occupies about 10 MB only. This history being downloaded once, you will be able to build any charts on this symbol starting from M1 till MN1.
Autotrading
The integrated development environment MQL5 is responsible for the development and use of Expert Advisors, custom indicators and scripts in MetaTrader 5. It includes MetaEditor 5, MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester and MetaQuotes Language 5 (MQL5).
The MQL5 language for programming trading strategies is distinct for high speed of execution and approaches C++ in terms of this parameter. As compared to MQL4, the new language is 4-20 times quicker. This allows using more complex Expert Advisors able to process large amounts of data per time unit and therefore obtain more precise forecasts of price dynamics. Besides, the new language is object-oriented which makes the development of Expert Advisors quicker and easier.
For writing Expert Advisors MetaEditor 5 is used, which includes the new IntellySence system. It automatically completes various constructions of the language thus quickening the EA development process. The built-in debugger allows to quickly find errors and fix them. After the EA is ready and its compilation is performed, it automatically appears in the terminal and can be immediately started to work in the market.
MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester is a very powerful tool for any developer of Expert Advisors. It helps to obtain results of an EA behavior on the history before using it in real trading. Detailed reports on a trading system allow to estimate the Expert Advisor and detect its weak points, as well as to compare the EA with other developments. Besides, optimization of Expert Advisors allows to define the most efficient parameters of their variables and make the EA maximally profitable.