MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader and TradingView

These four names appear throughout the platform directory and on many broker pages. They are not four versions of one product, and this guide does not rank them. Each section says what the vendor’s own page says the software is for. Account terms, prices and which of those features a client can actually use are set by the broker that provides the account, not by this page.

Tools that sit around a platform, rather than the platform itself, are in the software catalogue. Mobile apps, the MetaTrader 5 Python package and the cTrader Open API are recorded there. To click through an order ticket or a symbol specification, use a demo account.

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 is MetaQuotes’ platform for forex and futures trading. The product page says it can analyse markets, run trading robots called Expert Advisors, and copy other traders’ deals. It lists three execution modes, including instant execution, two market orders, four pending orders, two stop orders and a trailing stop, plus nine timeframes and built-in indicators.

Automation is written in MQL4. The MQL4 reference describes Expert Advisors that can send orders, custom indicators that cannot trade, scripts that run once, and libraries. MetaQuotes’ automation page lists the same pieces: the terminal, MQL4, MetaEditor and the strategy tester. An Expert Advisor does what its code says. A backtest on historical prices is not a prediction.

MQL4 programs do not run on MetaTrader 5. The directory entry records a desktop terminal, a browser platform, and iOS and Android apps. Which of those a broker installs, and which order types it enables, is the broker’s choice. The MetaTrader 4 software listings are the add-ons, copiers, journals and other tools catalogued against that platform.

MetaTrader 5

MetaTrader 5 is MetaQuotes’ multi-asset platform. The product page describes it as software for forex, exchange instruments and futures, with desktop, mobile and web versions. It says the platform supports hedging, so several positions can be open in one symbol, and netting, the single-position method used on exchanges. It also lists two types of market order, six types of pending order, two stop orders and a trailing stop.

Programs are written in MQL5, which MetaQuotes describes as a C++ based, object-oriented language specialised for trading. An Expert Advisor can analyse quotes and trade. A custom indicator is for analysis. A script runs a simple action once. An Expert Advisor written for MetaTrader 4 is not a program for MetaTrader 5.

The MetaTrader 5 help is also where this site’s quoting examples for margin, points and execution modes come from. Those pages describe the terminal. They do not set the leverage a UK retail account is allowed to offer. That cap is in COBS 22.5 and is explained in how FX trading works.

MetaQuotes publishes a Python package that talks to a running terminal. Where a broker page in this directory says retail clients can use it, the broker entry records that separately. The package itself is the MetaTrader 5 Python package in the software catalogue. Other listings filed against the platform are under MT5 in the catalogue. Official and community MCP servers that speak to a terminal are in that catalogue too, under AI and MCP. They are connectors. They are not the platform, and they are not a reason to point a live account at an assistant. The vendor’s own getting-started material for automation belongs on a demo login.

The three execution modes, including the requote behaviour of instant execution, are a software description. They are not a market-maker, STP or ECN label. Those words are separated in broker execution models.

cTrader

cTrader is Spotware’s FX and CFD platform, offered through brokers that use it. Spotware’s product page describes apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and the web. It says the broker-side suite includes administration, a server and an Open API, and that the trader-side tools include charting, copy trading under the name cTrader Copy, and algorithmic trading with cBots.

The cTrader Open API is Spotware’s interface for programs that send and receive messages with the cTrader backend. The help page says anyone with a cTrader ID can create an application, and that the API is available to someone registered with a cTrader-affiliated broker. Messages are JSON or Protocol Buffers. The documented uses include real-time market data, the trading operations the official apps allow, and history of deals, orders and positions. Official SDKs are listed for C# and Python. The help page says non-historical requests are limited to 50 a second per connection, and historical requests to 5 a second per connection. It recommends a demo account for development. The Python SDK is catalogued as cTrader Open API.

“Open API” here is Spotware’s name. Other firms use the same words for their own interfaces. It is not the FIX protocol. Execution speed, prices and which tools a client can use are a matter for the broker. The cTrader listings in the software catalogue are the surrounding tools, including copy and the mobile app.

TradingView

TradingView describes itself, on its about page, as a charting platform and social network for following markets. That page does not define order types or a broker’s execution model. The directory entry also records Pine Script, screeners, alerts, and trading through selected brokers, from TradingView’s own product description, plus browser, desktop, iOS and Android apps.

A chart on TradingView is not an account at a broker, and a drawing on a chart is not an order. Where a broker page in this directory lists TradingView, that comes from the broker’s own pages. The charting product is also a software entry, because people use it beside other platforms as well as through a broker connection. The TradingView listings collect the catalogue rows filed against it.

How to read a broker’s platform list

A platform name on a broker page means the firm’s own pages, when they were checked, said clients could use that software. It does not mean every feature in the vendor’s brochure is switched on, and it does not mean the firm’s execution model is the vendor’s. Proprietary platforms sit in the same list when that is what the firm publishes. They are not covered here because they are not one product.

If you want to see the order types, the contract size and the execution mode, open a demo account with the firm and read the specification for the symbol. Do not deposit in order to find out the legal entity. That check is the register, described in how to check whether a broker is regulated.

The same platforms appear in the strategy studies. Those studies run a stated rule on historical prices. They are not a forecast, they do not rank a platform, and they are not a script to paste onto a live account.

This guide is for education and reference only. It is not financial, investment, tax, or trading advice, and it does not recommend a firm, product, or strategy. It does not provide signals, rankings, or profit claims. Contracts for difference, spread bets, and other leveraged products can lose money quickly. Worked figures are illustrations from the cited sources, or arithmetic on those figures. Where a guide asks you to look at a platform, use a demo account.