Metatrader MT4 is the most popular and widely used trading platform for trading in the forex market and derivates contracts for difference (CDFs). MT4 was developed by the company MetaQuotes Software Corp. in 2005. The majority of forex brokers offer this type of platform to their traders.

In 2010, MetaQuotes launched an updated and upgraded version: the MetaTrader 5 platform.

The user interface in MT5 has been kept very simple and similar because it is the main reason for the success of the MT4 platform. However, there are fundamental differences between the two platforms regarding functions and properties. MT5 was designed from scratch to compensate for MT4’s shortcomings and limited use outside of investing and trading in the Forex and CFDs market.

In this article, we will learn about the most important differences and similarities between the MT5 and MT4 platforms so that you can decide which is more suitable for your investment goals.

Simple user interface

MetaTrader 4 platform’s success is due to its extremely simple user interface, which any market novice trader can understand in just a few days. At first glance, it is impossible to notice the differences between the interface of the two platforms. The MetaTrader 5 platform, although it can be used to trade in other financial markets, has maintained a simple interface design.

Despite their simplicity, the MT5 and MT4 platforms provide many analysis tools, technical indicators, charting tools, trade management, and a unique programming language to create indicators, algorithmic trading programs or advisors.

 Available markets and financial assets

The MT4 platform is intended for trading only the Forex and CFDs market, while the MT5 platform is also designed to trade other financial assets such as stocks, futures, bonds and cryptocurrencies. Therefore, the MT5 platform can be directly linked to stock exchanges or cryptocurrency exchanges to trade on these assets and own them. This point is significant, especially for long-term investors who aim to buy and hold financial assets for the long term.

Technical Analysis Tools

The MT5 and MT4 platforms offer plenty of technical analysis tools, such as technical indicators and charting tools to analyze historical price movements, on many different time frames ranging from a minute to entire months. It is also possible to customize the view of the charts and create templates with selected technical indicators, to apply them every time with a single click.

However, the MT5 platform offers more tools and functions and also the number of financial assets that can be traded on the platform, as shown in the following comparison table:

Tools	MetaTrader 5	MetaTrader 4
Number of technical indicators	38	30
Time frames	21	9
Drawing tools	44	31
Maximum financial assets	1024	Never ending
Market depth	Yes	No

Trading orders

When the price reaches a certain level, both current market orders and pending orders at different prices are activated. There are many valuable uses for these pending orders, including stop loss and take profit orders. Generally, traders can execute two main trading orders in the money markets to open and close deals.

In the MT4 platform, in addition to the spot market order, there are four pending market orders: buy limit, sell limit, buy stop, and sell stop.

In the MT5 platform, there are two other types of pending orders: buy stop and sell stop, which are used mainly when the trader is afraid of slippage.

Automated Trading Programming Language

In the past few years, many traders and investment funds have started using automated trading to automize the decisions about buying and selling stocks. This kind of trading is called high-frequency trading, which helps control the volume of trades in financial markets.

The MT5 platform is equipped with a new MQL5 language to program automated trading, expert advisors, technical indicators, and Scripts, small computer programs that execute specific orders and tasks, such as a script to close all trades with one click.

MQL5 is more potent and faster than MQL4, as the execution speed can be doubled up to 20 times and almost at the same level as the C++ programming language, which is very similar and is among the fastest programming languages ​​among developers.

Speed ​​of execution is critical in trading, especially in volatile market conditions, as it increases the software’s level of protection and security.

In general, developers can make programs more complex, efficient and more easily using MQL5, so it is one of the most important advantages of MT5 versus MT4.