Meta Trader is a trading platform available on the Internet which is open source and free to use. The software operates on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X platforms. It has been built by some of the world’s largest financial institutions such as HSBC, JP Morgan Chase and UBS AG.
On first sight, it appears as though Meta Trader is a great way to get involved in trading. It is free, can be easily installed from the Internet, and provides a solid platform for trading on the Internet.
In this article, we will take a closer look at Meta Trader 5 and use it as an example in order to show you how you can make money using Meta Trader.
Will it Cost You Money?
Meta Trader 5 is free to use, but it can cost you money. You can definitely start using Meta Trader 5 for free by utilizing demo accounts! Some of the drawbacks include:
- Commission fees;
- Monthly maintenance costs (if applicable);
- Transaction costs (i.e. spread).
How much will these cost and how do they apply?
Commission fees: For example, at the time of writing, Meta Trader 5 provided a discount for execution on HSBC’s “FX Pro” account. This commission fee is 0.1 pips or $5 per lot (i.e. 100k units of currency). If you trade regularly with such a commission fee, this would amount to a significant cost.
Monthly maintenance costs: This is quite a substantial monthly charge for Meta Trader 5, but the benefits might be worth it in some cases. The cost depends on whether you use a standalone or network-enabled version of Meta Trader 5 and how many computer screens you want connected to your account.
Transaction costs: The transactions costs are very low compared to the likes of Oanda for example. However, they do vary depending on whether you use “ECN” or “STP” accounts, the latter carrying a 0.3 pip spread over the interbank rate.
How Can You Make Money with Meta Trader?
You can make money with Meta Trader in three ways:
- Using it as a “charting software”;
- Making trades manually;
- Automating your trade strategies.
Making Money Using Meta Trader 5 As A Charting Software
Using Meta Trader for charting is the main focus of this article, so let’s have a look at how this works.
Meta Trader provides a very powerful charting package that allows you to display a large amount of information on your chosen currency pair. Using Meta Trader, you can do everything from drawing basic trend lines and displaying “MACD” signals, to applying complex indicators like “CCI”.
Let’s take a look at the main features available in Meta Trader:
- Real-time charting;
- Range and tick charts;
- Multiple time frames (MTF);
- Drawing tools;
- Text drawing functions.
Real-Time Charting: One of the best features of Meta Trader is that you can see your currency pair’s price dynamics in real-time, as the data flows directly from your broker. The platform provides you with several types of real-time charts, including line and bar charts with advanced indicator tools like “Stochastic” and “MACD”.