I just recently found out that the very popular ECN brokerage firm, MB Trading, is planning on introducing support for the MetaTrader 4 forex trading platform. I believe I am reasonably echoing the sentiments of many forex traders when I say – it’s about time!!
I for one absolutely love the MT4 platform. I love the ease of use, the flexibility, and the possibility of coding and running expert advisors (forex robots) on it. But up until recently using this platform meant that you would be stuck with having to use a dealing desk broker. The reality is that MetaTrader was designed specifically for dealing desks.
Recently though I noticed a few ECN brokers taking on the challenge of offering the MT4 platform to their clients. I believe the majority of them simply slap on an “ECN to MT4 bridge” program, and that’s it. What MB Trading has managed to do on the other hand is completely eliminate the dealing desk functionality of the MT4 Server backoffice.
What this means is that you get the benefits of the MetaTrader platform without dealing desk interventions, fixed-slippages, and stop/limit proximity limitations.
What does Metatrader 4.0 through MB Trading offer?
- Direct ECN connections and execution
- Tight ECN spreads and quotes
- A true non-deal desk environment
- NO proximity restrictions when placing entry or exit orders
- Scalping available
Because you will be trading in a pure ECN environment there ARE some differences between MB Trading’s MT4 and your typical MT4 dealing desk broker’s platform.
MBT MetaTrader 4 vs. Generic MetaTrader 4
In order to integrate Metatrader 4 with MB Trading’s ECN/STP execution, some behavior related to deal desks is not available. The following list describes certain functions of Metatrader (referred to as Generic Metatrader 4) and how they behave differently with MB Trading’s Metatrader 4. Click here to download a PDF of this info.
Generic MetaTrader 4 allows you to add a stop loss and take profit to your market order via “Instant Execution,” whereas if you place a market order in MBT Metatrader 4, those columns cannot be changed because you must use the “Market Execution” order type.
Generic MetaTrader 4 allows you to rescan servers by clicking on the Connection Status in the lower right hand corner of the screen, where as MBT MetaTrader 4 does not.
Generic MetaTrader 4 differs on the close order box. You can check “Enable Maximum deviation from quoted price.” This option also comes up when you right-click to modify your order and then change it to market execution:
The MBT MetaTrader 4 order closing box does not have this:
When closing or modifying an existing order in Generic MetaTrader 4, at the bottom it says “Open price you set must differ from market price by at least x pips.” Also when you place a “Modify Order Type” the bottom reads “Stop Loss or Take Profit you set must differ from market price by at least x pips”:
MBT MetaTrader 4 version shows “0 pips at bottom,” reflecting that you are connected to an ECN:
Also when you place a “Modify Order Type” the bottom reads “Stop Loss or Take Profit you set must differ from market price by at least 3 pips”
MBT MetaTrader version shows “0 pips at bottom again”
Generic MetaTrader 4 quotes to a pip (four decimal places on most pairs, two on JPY-based pairs), as seen in this screenshot:
MBT MetaTrader 4 quotes to a tenth of a pip (five decimal places on most pairs, three on JPY-based pairs), as seen in this screenshot:
In Generic MetaTrader none of your orders change the quote. MBT MetaTrader, any limit order (to get into or out of a trade) reflects in the quote. The target (limit) side of a TTO, however, does NOT reflect in the quote because a TTO is waiting for either price to hit. Example below shows the Order window while setting up a Buy Limit between the spread on the GBPJPY on MBT Metatrader 4:
This next window shows the quote of GBPJPY after the order has been entered, reflecting the bid at 188.25:
There are some adjustments that need to be made to Metatrader Query Language scripts (Expert Advisors) due to differences between Generic Metatrader 4 and MBT Metatrader 4. These include, but are not limited to:
- Scripts that use Instant Executions to place market orders with take profit and/or stop losses attached will not work. Instead, a market execution must be placed and then a take profit and/or stop loss added to the position.
- Hard coding of +/- calculation of pips for profits may need to be adjusted to reflect the fifth decimal place of the ECN trading environment.
Generic Metatrader 4 platforms typically quote forex pairs in pips, which means 4 decimal places on most pairs and 2 on JPY-based pairs. MBT Metatrader 4 quotes pairs to the tenth of a pip, which adds a decimal place. Trailing Stops in Metatrader 4 are measured in “points,” not pips. Thus a 15 point trailing stop on Generic Metatrader 4 must be entered as a 150 point trailing stop on MBT Metatrader 4 to get the same 15 pip trailing stop results.
Getting a DEMO account
At the moment MB Trading’s MT4 platform is still in BETA, so DEMO accounts are not yet available. However please check this link on a regular basis or contact their “MBT University” for more details:
http://www.mbtrading.com/metaTrader4Demo.aspx
I suggest you just fill out that form and I’m sure they will notify you when they’re ready to roll out MT4 Demo accounts.
MB Trading Rebates
I was thinking of offering trading rebates for MT Trading platform. I’m not sure if there is enough demand for this though so if you’d be interested please get in touch with me. You can get a hold of me by sending a private message to “alan” on the following forex forum:
*bear in mind that that the moment I’m not setup with MB Trading as and IB to offer this, but I will do so if there is enough demand*
To find out more about MB Trading, their new MT4 platform offering and other such info feel free to visit their homepage at:
http://forexnirvana.mbtrading.com
Btw, they offer more than just forex.
That’s it for this post.
Cheers,
Alan
http://alansforexblog.com
Thank you Sir. I really appreciate the comment, and I am glad to hear you confirm MB Trading’s reputation. I definitely look forward to running my expert advisors on a manipulation free price freed 🙂
Thanks for visiting my blog btw.
Happy trading.
Alan,
I’ve been intrigued with MB for a while but just couldn’t bring myself to try them without MT4. I’m caught between trading with or without MT4 (no option, most of the time I’m on a Mac and cringe at the thought of a windows partition). But I’m warming to the idea and realize that I probably need MT4 for my strategy.
For all of the newer traders out there, MB has earned a pretty darn good reputation from the big dogs that I know, so don’t be afraid that they’ll never cut you a check!
I am on the MB Trading M4 beta group. I am blown away at the level of integration. I also run the M4 next to the MBT Navigator. What a joy to see no monkey business on m4 quotes. I expect to go live with m4 at MBT in the next two weeks, exciting is an understatement.
Definitely..I’ll be going live too.
Good luck Frank!
Hi, thanks for the information. There is 1 point which has left me still quite suspicious – if the program has eliminated most of the back office functionality, why is the file size BIGGER than that offered on the MetaQuotes website?
Jason that’s a very good question. I’d have to ask MB Trading support about it to give you a solid answer. My guess would be that they’ve had to add some extra code to make it work properly without a dealing desk on the SERVER end. When they say they eliminated most of the backoffice functionality they mean that they’ve done so on the MT4 Backoffice server – ie the server the platform connects to. Still though there shouldn’t that much of a difference between their version and the plain vanilla version offered by MetaQuotes.
How much bigger is the MB Trading MT4 platform compared to the original?
Hello, the size of the file downloaded from MBTrading is approx 5.38 MB (5,646,512 bytes). Alpari-IDC offers a 5-digit pip version (not too sure about the inclusion of other features) at 4.40 MB (4,615,808 bytes). The original 4-digit pip version offered by Metaquotes on their website is approximately 3.5 MB. With this discussion on file sizes, you can pretty much guess my concerns..
Alan, once again – thank you for the articles sharing your findings. They have been a great help!
Hi Alan, any response from MBTrading on this matter?
Alan, what is the answer to Jason’s question? I’m interest to know also. Thank
Alen, can u make a fast answer please because this is very urjent to me. Thank
I’m trying to reach them via skype, but it seems they aren’t responding. If you’d like and answer to this question ASAP I’d suggest the following contact methods:
Customer Service (in US)
(866) 558-3342
Customer Service (International number)
(310) 414-4522
Forex Order Desk (in US)
(866) 628-3003
Forex Order Desk (International number)
(310) 647-4279
MetaTrader Support (Non-trade)
(877) 212-1112
Cashiering (in US)
(866) 628-3006
New Account (in US)
(866) 628-3005
Cashiering and
New Account Fax
(310) 356-3115
General Fax
(310) 356-3115
Chinese Spoken Rep
(310) 491-9299
alan,
it will take time, more then we want that mbtrading will be live with their mt4 platform.
for now i trade via mbnavigator (and connect from protrader multistation (supports mql) from pfsoft.com to it.
rebates i get from http://www.cashbackforex.co.uk
(also for mbtrading. although not advertised. just mail them for the info)
MB Trading is now live with MetaTrader and it works great! Exactly what we’ve always wanted. The file size is not relevant…the deal desk functionality is server side and not client side.
Hey Steve thanks for the heads up..I just confirmed this piece of news and let me just say that I’m jumping for joy! I can’t wait to let my EAs loose on my shiny new MB Trading MT4 account 🙂
Posted about it here:
http://alansforexblog.com/2009/10/02/mb-trading-metatrader-4-platform-is-now-live/
I’m really liking MB Trading and their platform..
Hi Tony. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I like MB Trading so far, especially their low spread. This makes them an especially good broker for scalpers…just be careful not to hold positions pass the swap roll-over time (5:00pm) !