MT5 a step backwards?? - page 2

Well, it seems that the language has taken a huge step forward. Personally with my current EA's I really feel the limitations of MQL4 as a programming language. It lacks so many basic features that any complex program is very difficult to write. I know it can be achieved via dll's but I look forward to be able to write OOP oriented programs with native MQL5.

What I am really hoping for is the ability to use Tester on multi-assets, cause I think that's the number one weakness of MT4 platform. Any real hedging strategy simply cannot be tested on MQL4 platform (yeah, I know their are certain workarounds, but they are complex and imperfect...).

Lastly, lack of 'hedging' - although I don't understand the logic behind hard coding it for everyone, I don't think it's a deal breaker. Just my opinion.

All the currency traders I know don't care about multi assets.....we trade currencies not multi assets.......and we make ALL.....(LOTS OF) money using hedging strategy. MT5 is totally worthless....useless. It IS a deal breaker for Metaquotes They will lose many traders. If MT4 goes so do a lot of loyal supporters.

Just to bring your post to its logical conclusion, if you lot are making LOTS OF money, they could not possibly be too sad to lose you guys as royal supporters then, would they... especially for the market-makers.

They probably do very well...we make many trades and they make the spread over and over...every one is a winner..the broker and us traders. With MT5 it will be Metaquotes who is the loser..

Not for a market-maker. You win, they lose.

And you can't separate between brokers and Metaquotes. It is the broker who pays Metaquotes, if one wins, the other wins too. And vice-versa.

Yes you are correct...but I think they have the option to (if you are identified as a normally profitable trader) to offset pass through your orders.... Brokers don't lose

too often LOL

When I say 'multi-asset' I don't mean CFD's and futures (I don't care about those either), I mean being able to Test on multiple symbols at the same time. You don't care about that? If not then what kind of 'hedging' do u do (as far as I know the definition of hedging is dividing your risk among different assets - different currency pairs)?

By" Hedging" we mean opening a Buy and a Sell on the same pair at the same time....Many strategies use this...

We open 2 orders.... The currency goes up the Buy closes at a profit, it goes back down and the sell closes at a profit.

This coupled with various Martingale/scalping strategies make a lot of profit on MT4 and are

completely impossible to do on MT5.

Do a search there has been a HUGE "debate" about this...the people who use it are livid at losing it...the people who don't are

oblivious to its profits and potential. This is a deal breaker for MT5.

Regarding backtesting "Multiple symbols" on MT5..the Beta doesn't even have backtesting capability yet...where did you get info on

Multiple pairs testing?

Your usage of the word hedging is a bit off. From Wikipedia:

Opening 2 opposite positions in the same currency pair does not lower your risk. At the moment the buy closed you are even and not at a profit. Your balance went up but you are at exactly the same loss with the sell order which is still open. Actually u are at a net loss of 2 spread since u no longer have an option to 'close by'. Now IF (and that's a big IF) it goes back down then of course u can make a net profit. But who said it will? If it goes in the other way then u r at a loss... That did not lower your risk. Imagine u didn't open the buy/sell in the first place. Instead u waited till the point where u would have closed the buy. At that moment open a sell - you would be at a better situation - u only loss one spread, your equity is the same (+ 1 spread) and u still dont know if it will go up or down. So u are in the same situation but lost only 1 spread instead of 2. I don't see how what u r doing is lowering risk? Furthermore I don't see why do it in the first place since it made u lose 2 spreads instead of 1?

I have read many threads on this subject, but there is very little proof or examples of how opening opposite positions in the same symbol is advantageous.

I did not say it has it, I said "What I am really hoping for is the ability to use Tester on multi-assets" - I am HOPING it will have it.

I agree that the word "hedging" is not quite right. But I disagree that both buying and selling the same pair at the same time is not advantageous. It is quite feasible to have three profitable EAs on the one pair, eg one working on daily charts as a long term trend follower, another working on hourly charts as a swing trader, and a scalper on 5 minute charts. There's little reason for each of these EAs to agree on the direction of the pair at any one time, but it is likely that their system drawdowns will not occur at the same time, which will reduce risk. Of course, the three EAs could be re-written into a single EA that doesn't hedge, but this would be a complicated EA to write. Alternatively, check out my latest blog post for the beta test of my Virtual Order Manager, which will enable "hedged" trades on MT5.

Paul

http://paulsfxrandomwalk.blogspot.com/