Trading software has evolved positively since the dawn of discounted brokerage firms as more and more individual investors have been lured to the financial markets with the prospects of making money.

Technical analysis is the main tool used by those who trade financial instruments daily and relying on a platform such as MetaTrader facilitates the process of making multiple operations at once or building a robust system that triggers trading signals based on certain pre-defined parameters.

In this article, we dig deeper into the advantages of MetaTrader to show our readers why the popularity of this platform has grown so quickly.

What is MetaTrader?

MetaTrader is an electronic trading system that can be used to analyze different financial instruments – primarily forex – and place trades with hundreds of brokerage firms.

MetaTrader was launched in 2005 by a firm called MetaQuotes with the mission of empowering individual traders who do not have access to the sophisticated software used by institutional trade desks.

Even though it was initially conceived for forex operations, it is now used for trading multiple other financial assets including stocks, futures, options, and even cryptocurrencies.

#1 – Hundreds of video tutorials available

Since MetaTrader is used by thousands of traders, going from the most seasoned professionals to beginners, those who know their way around the platform have created tons of content to guide those who are just getting started.

These videos cover a wide range of topics including how to perform technical analysis on an asset, how to change leverage on MT4, how to create a trading bot, or how to connect the platform with your preferred broker.

Most of these tutorials are for free although some advanced courses can also be found if you are willing to invest a few hundred bucks. It all depends on how seriously you plan to take trading.

#2 – Wide range of features

MetaTrader offers dozens of valuable features that traders can take advantage of to increase their win rate or spot the best opportunities in the market. Some of the most prominent ones are the following:

• Trade orders: regardless of how basic or sophisticated your trading system is, you probably want to have as many types of trade orders at your disposal as possible. MetaTrader supports a wide range of orders including market, stop, limit, and take-profit.

• Charting tools: charting is the cornerstone of technical analysis and no trading software is complete without an extensive library of indicators and tools that can be used to analyze the price action and volumes of the different assets supported by the platform. In this regard, MetaTrader offers the possibility of analyzing up to 9 different time frames and supports hundreds of indicators including the typical ones (RSI, MACD, Bollinger Bands) and others that are used less frequently.

• Reports: when it comes to analyzing the performance of your portfolio, MetaTrader has your back as it enables traders to create customized reports using the information gathered by the platform during the different trading sessions. These reports cover things like taxes, profit & loss, historical transactions, and commissions and fees.

• Algorithmic trading: if your trading system involves some programming, MetaTrader offers access to an algorithmic trading feature powered by Python to either spot trading signals or automatically execute trades once a set of pre-defined parameters are fulfilled.

#3 – Available for multiple operating systems

Both MetaTrader 4 and 5 – the currently active versions of the software – are available for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

The desktop version of the software is the one that supports the most features due to the obvious screen space limitations that phones have. A mobile version is available for Android and iOS devices.

The software can be downloaded for free as brokers are typically the ones that pay the company a fee for integrating the solution with their internal systems.

#4 – Supported by most brokerage firms

The popularity, ease of use, and an extensive number of advanced features offered by MetaTrader have made it the go-to solution for brokers that don’t have the resources or willingness to develop a proprietary trading system.

As a result, MetaTrader is now supported by hundreds of brokers from multiple corners of the world including well-reputed CFD trading platforms such as Capital.com, XTB, and IG.

Bottom line

Trading gets easier if one counts on the support of a robust platform such as MetaTrader. If you are just getting started in this activity, take your time to browse through the vast universe of available tutorials and educational materials to wrap your head around how the platform works and how you can fully exploit its potential before you start executing your first trades.