Before finding this forum, I had concluded that MetaTrader is the best platform. Obviously, with the programming capabilities and all. Some brokers charge for API support. There is Gain that has free API support, but, you are locked into Gain if you go that route. But, I have seen a few mentions of some other programmable platforms, v-something-or-other, and o-something-or-other, don't remember exactly.

So, I was just kinda curious as to how some other programmable platforms might compare, just as a "future reference" information.

As a side issue, what is the longevity of MetaTrader? I think its probably going to be around for a while, given that a lot of brokers offer it. But I was just curious as to possible trends. What kind of features might be planned for a MT5 at some point in the future? Will MT become ubiquitous, or will other platforms come up and take its place?

Anybody familair with the company itself, like how many developers they have?: Do they do anything else? Any known plans for the future?

Of course nothing is written in stone, I was just curious as to people's opinions.

Few brokers are offering 2 or 3 trading platforms.
E.g. FXCM is testing MT4.
The clients will have a choice.
b.

The best and most professional choice is Tradestation. Only issue with it is that indicators that are not a part of it's standard built in set are expensive to buy, it's rare that you can get them for free.

The platform itself is free if you trade a number of lots roundtrip.

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I didn't know that TradeStation did Forex. But it appears you have to use Gain. Metatrader you have the choice of brokers. But, thanks for the tip!

You have a choice of bucketshop brokers, there is not a single MT broker atm that can be regarded as a 'proper' broker - they all either take the other side of your trade, or benefit indirectly from you losing money. Don't forget, they have paid Metaquotes a princely sum (purportedly $100,000) for a platform whose performance is biased (rigged!) in favour of the brokers - afterall, we get to use it for free...

Technically, as any programmer will tell you, Metatrader also sucks - no debugging features, limited programming language and crap graphics. Just one example of a far superior platform is Amibroker - better in absolutely every respect. Also, Metaquotes' removal of key features like the 'Recalculate' option, prevent any 'real' EA development from ever happening.

But then, it was never designed for this - afterall, a good development platform would see brokers losing more, which in turn would see less of them purchasing from Metaquotes to begin with...

Regrettably, Metatraders real strength is in allowing the masses easy access to trading with very little capital, which Metaquotes exploits to the fullest extent...

Well, I'm a programmer, but I haven't done any yet with MT. I've just looked through Codersguru's instructions. It didn't look "ideal" to me, but, given that some brokers charge a high price for any kind of API access, I thought MT was probably as good as there was. I was not aware of Amibroker. Nor did I know TradeStation worked with Forex. So, this is good info. AMI is not free, but its cheap. So, I'd be happy to pay for it. But, I need to find out more about the broker.

Thanks for this info!!!

Most 3rd party platforms are not associated to certain brokers. They are just data anaylsis platforms, the attraction of MT4 is that it is integrated with a broker so a lot of the buy and sell function is already programmed into the platform. That is a great feature, only if it wasn't tied to bucketshops and their feed on the other end. So it is great and terrible at the same time.

Now if MT connects with Oanda or IB, then that would make it a lot more attractive.

Amibroker is only a data anaylsis platform, you would need another 3rd party application to get it to place trades directly with any broker. Tradestation is integrated with their own data and broker, so it is similar to MT.

P.S. What's a "bucketshop broker"?

Also, FXDD claims they have set up their system to eliminate conflict of interest. But, we all know Forex brokers are all liars, its just a matter of which ones lie least.

I don't understand bucketshop.

IB - Interactive Brokers right? I have them for my options. I hate their platform though, and so I don't use them for forex any.

I've heard of Oanda, but don't know much about them. I thought they offered some kind of programmable platform too, not sure.

Does this exist? With what brokers? Since I'm already with IB, Amibroker with IB might be of interest if there was a way to do it.

For a programmer I believe NinjaTrader is the best tool nowadays.

Though it's not attached to the brokers, so it's a bit more involved before you can actually start losing money with it. MT4 is much easier for that.