I am currently using another charting platform (Metatrade4) for trading forex and would like to hear from current Metastock users reflecting on the learning curve, their success (% profitable trades & pips using various strategies) and whether they feel that add-on strategies offer superior trading methodologies to the out-of-box strategies.

Since many other charting packages are free, I would like to also hear the advantages of paying for Metastock vs. other Forex charting/indicator/signal packages ?

Since Metatrader4 also has programmable indicators is anyone aware of where I can find 3rd party indicators for MetaTrade4 that are the same as the best indicators for forex trading in MetaStock.

Thanks in advance !

 

 

brucef,

I am just starting to dip my toes into the FX world using MS and MT4.  It doesn't mater what trading platform you are using, if someone is selling you a "system" then it probably doesn't work!  Call me cynical, but its just the way I am!  You need to come up with your own strategies instead of copying someone else's.

There is a LOT of information available for free on the web for MT4, use Google.  You will find more people spend their MT4 time programming experts than indicators so you end up with a lot of codes that don't plot anything, except when orders are generated.  This may/may not be useful.  What is of use however, is you get to see the codes and can quickly start to program your own codes using other people's code as a "template".  There are also some excellent MT4 training materials available for writing your own code, again Google is your friend.

The MT4 programming is vastly superior to the basic MSFL but it is also vastly more complex, but MT4 and MSFL were designed for two different reasons.  Writing codes for MT4 requires "proper programming" skills whereas the MS environ is very basic so that anyone can achieve most of their aims without too much learning overhead.  What this means is that when you want to start writing your MT4 codes, start VERY simply and build up.  You should not aim to build a fully autmomated complex trading system in your first attempt at coding for MT4.  It's also easier to do something REALLY bad with MT4.  Where MS would protect the user from their own stupidity/ignorance MT4 lets the user do pretty much whatever they like, in code!

Hope this helps.

wabbit

---

MS: 6.52 EOD, 7.x EOD, 8.0 PRO, 9.2 PRO w/QC, 10 PRO w/QC & MDK
For custom MetaStock programming : http://www.wabbit.com.au
My SkyPE status :
My SkyPE account : wabbit.com.au

wabbit:

brucef,

I am just starting to dip my toes into the FX world using MS and MT4.  It doesn't mater what trading platform you are using, if someone is selling you a "system" then it probably doesn't work! 

Agreed on this one with wabbit. The only way to buy a strategy is if one could make some hystorical testing with EST&Tradesim before paying and the results would look like the ones presented by the author and the signals were stable and not dynamic (....i don`t like to call them expiring) and the author could prove that before paying for the strategy.

wabbit:

Where MS would protect the user from their own stupidity/ignorance MT4 lets the user do pretty much whatever they like, in code!

Not always, as i have mentioned earlier many new metastock users fall in to trap of using hidsight functions or they buy strategies that are using hindsight functions
Another way used by system sellers is to tell you that their strategies must be traded subjective with some signals that you may or may not take and letting you do the judgement. Now, the reason why people belive that they could pick the right trades if they were unable to do so before is beyond my understanding.

Cheers 

*PP:

wabbit:

Where MS would protect the user from their own stupidity/ignorance MT4 lets the user do pretty much whatever they like, in code!

Not always, as i have mentioned earlier many new metastock users fall in to trap of using hidsight functions or they buy strategies that are using hindsight functions
Another way used by system sellers is to tell you that their strategies must be traded subjective with some signals that you may or may not take and letting you do the judgement. Now, the reason why people belive that they could pick the right trades if they were unable to do so before is beyond my understanding.

I could have been a bit less vague, I suppose?  I wasn't actually talking about using hindisght and the such as MSFL and MT4 will let you look into the future from the past.

With MT4 and its automated trading, if your code is wrong you could place a MASSIVE bet in the wrong direction and be wiped out in a nanosecond!!!

Also, as the programming langauge used by MT4 is much more akin to languages like C/C++ it has some serious memory management capabilities and other features that if used wrongly could seriously crash, if not permanently disable your entire computer.  Its very hard to do this sort of damage in the relatively shallow-end-of-the-pool MSFL.



wabbit

---

MS: 6.52 EOD, 7.x EOD, 8.0 PRO, 9.2 PRO w/QC, 10 PRO w/QC & MDK
For custom MetaStock programming : http://www.wabbit.com.au
My SkyPE status :
My SkyPE account : wabbit.com.au

wabbit:

*PP:

wabbit:

Where MS would protect the user from their own stupidity/ignorance MT4 lets the user do pretty much whatever they like, in code!

Not always, as i have mentioned earlier many new metastock users fall in to trap of using hidsight functions or they buy strategies that are using hindsight functions
Another way used by system sellers is to tell you that their strategies must be traded subjective with some signals that you may or may not take and letting you do the judgement. Now, the reason why people belive that they could pick the right trades if they were unable to do so before is beyond my understanding.

With MT4 and its automated trading, if your code is wrong you could place a MASSIVE bet in the wrong direction and be wiped out in a nanosecond!!!

wabbit

I did assume that one has brains inside his/hers head i guess i was wrong because in all those years spent sometimes trading sometimes watching the markets i saw/heard a lot of things that i could not belive my eyes/ears.