MetaTrader 4 and MQL 4 overview
Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 1:28 pm
Hi everybody,
Michal asked me to introduce our trading terminal and strategy developing IDE.
MetaTrader 4 Client Terminal
Terminal possesses both analytical and trading abilities. In trading, there is three execution technologies and full set of trading orders. Along with trading there are about 50 analytical tools: 30 technical indicators and 20 line studies. And its very important fact. From one application you can analyze markets and conduct trading operations immediately. This also allows automating your trading activity with MQL4 (listed below) and Expert Advisors. For those who worrying about where he can use these advantages, I want to inform that now about 85 brokers and banks worldwide using MetaTrader 4 under different labels.
MQL 4
If you fell that there are not enough built-in technical indicators you can write your own with MQL 4. For each indicator you can use 8 indicators` arrays, i.e. in each indicator you can use 8 lines. For example, you can create an indicator which will draw 8 different Moving Averages. Using abilities of MT4/MQL4 you can even built new charts (for example, heiken ashi). From one indicator you have access to any security and period in terminal. If indicator is applied to D1 period chart, it can use data, for example, from H1 or M15. Also using MQL 4 you can work with any data. Some traders are need to use exotic timeframes (2,3,6-hours, 2,3,5-days and so on). Using period converter (its a MQL4-Script) and lesser periods they can get these timeframes. This ability also allows to build new securities basing on the data of existing in terminal financial instruments. For example, Alex Silver builds USD Index.
MQL 4 IDE allows Experts to contact each other in the frame of terminal. Such feature brings, for instance, a synchronization function - if several experts are trying to conduct trading operations at the same time, there will be errors. But it possible to avoid this situation when synchronization is on. As against to Custom Indicators, Expert Advisors and Scripts can not only use data from any secucurity/period, but also to trade in any different securities/periods. If one using very complicated strategy which is analyzing data from several securities and can open positions on any of them, this ability is indispensable. MQL 4 allows to use several functions in body of one expert.
Usage of DLLs broadens the abilities of MQL4 greatly. For example, the same period converter script appends HST-file opened as offline-chart and sends to terminal command using PostMessage WinAPI function to refresh chart. Second example, is to use Speech API.
MetaTrader 4 Terminal got built-in strategy tester. Everybody knows what is it and whats its purpose. So I will take you attention to main features only. Except of testing abilities there two types of optimization: step-by-step and optimization based on principles of genetic algorithms. Both of them allows to find the best input parameters for your Expert. There is a limitation on genetic optimization: if there are less that 2000 combinations, genetic optimization is not running - its just have no sense. Instead of it, one can use usual step-by-step. Important feature of genetic optimization is a caching of results. It means that if such combination already was met in previous generations, testing with these params will not be run once again. Tester just takes the results of already held run from the memory and writes them for this testing too. Strategy tester maximaly accurate emulates work of server. I mean it calculates rollovers, margin levels, commissions etc.
Hope this brief info give answers to some questions.
Michal asked me to introduce our trading terminal and strategy developing IDE.
MetaTrader 4 Client Terminal
Terminal possesses both analytical and trading abilities. In trading, there is three execution technologies and full set of trading orders. Along with trading there are about 50 analytical tools: 30 technical indicators and 20 line studies. And its very important fact. From one application you can analyze markets and conduct trading operations immediately. This also allows automating your trading activity with MQL4 (listed below) and Expert Advisors. For those who worrying about where he can use these advantages, I want to inform that now about 85 brokers and banks worldwide using MetaTrader 4 under different labels.
MQL 4
If you fell that there are not enough built-in technical indicators you can write your own with MQL 4. For each indicator you can use 8 indicators` arrays, i.e. in each indicator you can use 8 lines. For example, you can create an indicator which will draw 8 different Moving Averages. Using abilities of MT4/MQL4 you can even built new charts (for example, heiken ashi). From one indicator you have access to any security and period in terminal. If indicator is applied to D1 period chart, it can use data, for example, from H1 or M15. Also using MQL 4 you can work with any data. Some traders are need to use exotic timeframes (2,3,6-hours, 2,3,5-days and so on). Using period converter (its a MQL4-Script) and lesser periods they can get these timeframes. This ability also allows to build new securities basing on the data of existing in terminal financial instruments. For example, Alex Silver builds USD Index.
MQL 4 IDE allows Experts to contact each other in the frame of terminal. Such feature brings, for instance, a synchronization function - if several experts are trying to conduct trading operations at the same time, there will be errors. But it possible to avoid this situation when synchronization is on. As against to Custom Indicators, Expert Advisors and Scripts can not only use data from any secucurity/period, but also to trade in any different securities/periods. If one using very complicated strategy which is analyzing data from several securities and can open positions on any of them, this ability is indispensable. MQL 4 allows to use several functions in body of one expert.
Usage of DLLs broadens the abilities of MQL4 greatly. For example, the same period converter script appends HST-file opened as offline-chart and sends to terminal command using PostMessage WinAPI function to refresh chart. Second example, is to use Speech API.
MetaTrader 4 Terminal got built-in strategy tester. Everybody knows what is it and whats its purpose. So I will take you attention to main features only. Except of testing abilities there two types of optimization: step-by-step and optimization based on principles of genetic algorithms. Both of them allows to find the best input parameters for your Expert. There is a limitation on genetic optimization: if there are less that 2000 combinations, genetic optimization is not running - its just have no sense. Instead of it, one can use usual step-by-step. Important feature of genetic optimization is a caching of results. It means that if such combination already was met in previous generations, testing with these params will not be run once again. Tester just takes the results of already held run from the memory and writes them for this testing too. Strategy tester maximaly accurate emulates work of server. I mean it calculates rollovers, margin levels, commissions etc.
Hope this brief info give answers to some questions.