The platform isn’t the provider. Hundreds of providers offer the same software, with different prices, order handling and terms. So your choice of provider matters far more than your choice of platform. This page describes what really differs between platforms in order types, charts, automation and the mobile app. It ends with what to check on any platform before your first real trade.
Key points
- The platform is only software. Your provider sets the prices, the order handling and the terms. The same platform can behave very differently at two providers.
- MetaTrader 4 and 5 differ mainly in how they handle orders, how many types of pending order they offer and the programming language used for automation.
- cTrader and TradingView links provide more modern charts and show depth-of-market displays that list the orders waiting at each price. Providers’ own platforms vary from complete to bare.
- Automation follows a rule without judgement, whether it takes the form of an expert advisor, a cBot or a script. Like any other strategy, it has to clear the expectancy hurdle: a positive average result per trade after costs.
- There are five things to check on any platform: the exposure display, the margin level, how clearly financing is shown, the order confirmation box and the contract specifications. Your margin level is your account’s value as a percentage of the margin in use.
The platform is not the provider
The platform is not the provider, and that difference matters more than any feature comparison. A provider licenses an outside platform such as MetaTrader, then connects it to its own price feed, its own order handling and its own margin rules. So two providers using the same platform can show different spreads, the gap between the buy and sell price, on the same pair at the same moment. They can also fill the same order differently and can charge different overnight rates.
A provider’s own platform is its own software. How that platform behaves is down to the provider alone. Every question that matters for your money is a question about the provider: the cost of a trade, how well orders are filled and which protections apply. The choosing a provider page deals with these points. All the platform decides is how easily you can see trade costs, order filling and protections, and how easily you can act on them.
The main platforms compared as software
As software, the main platforms differ in where they come from, how they handle orders, their charts and their automation. This comparison looks at the software only. Each provider sets it up in its own way.
| Platform | Origin and typical use | Order handling | Charts and analysis | Automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Long-established outside platform, still widely offered for forex CFDs | Market orders and four pending order types. Allows hedged positions, a buy and a sell on the same instrument at once | Adequate, but fewer indicators and timeframes than newer platforms | Expert advisors written in MQL4, with a large library of third-party tools |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Successor to MT4, built for trading many kinds of asset | Six pending order types. Netting mode (one combined position per instrument) or hedging mode, depending on the provider. Depth of market where the provider supplies it | More timeframes and indicators, with an economic calendar built in | Expert advisors written in MQL5. MQL4 code has to be rewritten to run on it |
| cTrader | Outside platform marketed on transparent order handling | Advanced order types, depth of market, charts you can pull out into separate windows | Modern charts with many indicators | cBots written in C#, and they can run in the cloud |
| TradingView integrations | Charting service that providers connect to through its trading panel | Depends on the connected provider. Usually market, limit and stop orders | The strongest charts and community scripts of the group | Alerts and strategies in Pine Script. The provider may limit trading straight from a strategy |
| Proprietary web and mobile | Built by each provider | Ranges from a full set of orders to market and stop orders only | Ranges from full charts to a single price line | Usually none, or the provider’s own interface |
The MetaTrader 4 and 5 page gives a detailed comparison of the two versions and shows where to download them safely.
What really differs
Four areas account for what really differs between platforms, and in every case the difference is narrower than the marketing suggests.
Order types
Order types differ in how many there are and what they do. Most platforms give you market, limit and stop orders, while some providers’ own platforms include only market and stop orders. Most let you add a stop-loss and a take-profit to a trade, which close it automatically at a set loss or a set profit. MetaTrader offers trailing stops that follow the price, but they run in the program on your own computer and stop working when you close the program. Some newer platforms run trailing stops on the provider’s server, so they keep working when your computer is off.
Charting
Charting varies in how many indicators, drawing tools and timeframes a platform offers, and in how smoothly it runs multiple charts at the same time. TradingView and cTrader lead the pack, MetaTrader is adequate, and providers’ own platforms differ. None of these differences alters what you can read from a chart. The technical analysis page explains that.
Automation
With automation, a rule can trade even when you’re not there, through expert advisors on MetaTrader, cBots on cTrader or strategies on TradingView. It strips out hesitation, and it strips out judgement just as much. Through a news event, a wider spread or a price gap, an automated rule follows its instructions to the letter. The only thing that decides its result is its expectancy after costs (trading strategies). Copying another trader’s orders automatically is a separate service (copy trading).
Mobile parity
Mobile parity is how many of your desktop platform’s features appear in the trading app on your phone. Most mobile apps let you open and close trades and set stops, but fewer display the full margin picture, depth of market or financing charges. If you mainly manage trades on your phone, check that the margin level and the exposure figure are visible there before you need them.
What to check on any platform before trading
Before trading on any platform, check the displays you’ll rely on when the market moves fast. Look for each one first on a demo account, and make sure you understand it.
- The exposure display. Where the platform shows the notional value of each trade and of the whole account. That’s the full size of the trade, and a percentage move in the market applies to it, not to your margin (leverage and margin).
- The margin level. Your platform displays your equity as a percentage of the margin your trades need. Equity is your account’s current value. The platform should also show the level where the provider’s margin call (a warning) and its close-out (which shuts your trades) kick in. If the company that opens your account is regulated in the EU or the UK, the close-out point for retail accounts is 50 % of the margin needed (ESMA ESMA Decision (EU) 2018/796, FCA PS19/18). A global company in the same group sets its own close-out level.
- Financing transparency. Whether the platform shows the overnight rate for each instrument, the daily cut-off time and the triple-charge day, when three nights are charged at once. Some platforms leave these to a separate document (costs and fees).
- The order confirmation. Whether the platform confirms size, direction and stop before sending an order, whether one-click trading is on by default, and how you reverse a mistaken order.
- Contract specifications. Where the platform shows each instrument’s contract size, tick value (what the smallest price step is worth), trading hours and what happens at expiry.
Questions about trading platforms and trading apps
Most questions about trading platforms and trading apps come down to what a platform is, how safe it is and how to pick one.
What is a trading platform?
A trading platform is the software you use to view your provider’s prices and send orders. You can run it as a desktop program, in a browser or as an app. The prices, the fills and the terms come from the provider behind it, so the same platform behaves differently at two providers.
Is a trading app the same as a trading platform?
A trading app is a trading platform designed for a phone or tablet. It links to the same account as the desktop or web version, and displays the same prices. Apps usually omit some details, so check that yours shows the margin level and the financing charges.
What is an online trading platform?
An online trading platform is one you reach over the internet. Today all of them qualify. People often use the name for the version that runs in a browser with nothing to install, also called a web trader. The MetaTrader page describes the browser versions of MT4 and MT5.
Which trading platform or trading app is the one to choose?
No trading platform or trading app suits everyone. TheTraderWiki doesn’t rank them. Because the provider sets the prices, fills and protections, it matters more than the software. The comparison shows which platforms each broker offers. The list above covers what to look for on any of them.
Which is the safest trading platform?
A trading platform is only as safe as the provider you log in to. The software doesn’t hold your money, nor does it decide your protections. Those protections come from the provider’s licence, which you can check on the regulator’s own register (is trading safe).
Risk warning
A better platform doesn’t change the odds of a leveraged trade
A better platform doesn’t change the odds of a leveraged trade, a trade much bigger than the deposit you put down. Whether you place the order on a detailed desktop program or on a phone, the same spread, financing, price gaps and close-out rule apply. In 2018 ESMA reported national regulators’ findings that between 74 % and 89 % of retail accounts lost money (ESMA press release, 27 March 2018). Every platform this page describes saw those losses.
Sources
The original documents this page cites, in the order they first appear.
- European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA
- ESMA Decision (EU) 2018/796 of 22 May 2018 to temporarily restrict contracts for differences in the Union, Official Journal of the European Union (EUR-Lex), 2018-05-22
- PS19/18: Restricting contract for difference products sold to retail clients, FCA, 2019-07-01
- ESMA agrees to prohibit binary options and restrict CFDs to protect retail investors, ESMA, 2018-03-27