IG Forex Platform Vs MT4

Futures Trading Platforms MetaTrader 5 (MetaQuotes 5)
1

I am trying to make a decision on what is going to be simplest but comprehensive enough for order placement going forward in forex trades. I was a ninja trader user before and understand a lot of the ins and outs of that, so there is a learning curve for me on both the IG web platform and MT4. I started off on the IG platform and it is very user friendly. My biggest concern is that when placing an order, you can only set your stop loss and take profit by either pips away or price away from wherever the order happens to take. So whatever the spread is at the moment you order, that is how far off your stop and profit orders are going to be off by. I decided it might be better to learn MT4.

And on MT4, you can indeed setup your stop and profit orders by exact price, so that’s great. However, you do not get all the same information as you do on the IG platform, particularly what your per pip value is going to be. (Or maybe there is a tool for this available in MT4?). This bit me recently when I used an outside tool to calculate my desired lot size, had the trade hit my take profit later, but then found that my profit was about 1/3 of what I was expecting. I then discovered that various websites gave me various lot sizes with the same input, and none of them lined up exactly with what IG was currently saying the pip value would be. I don’t want to be trading in the dark with what my actual risk and profit potential is, and I also want to keep things as simple as possible without having to check multiple websites and/or trading platforms while getting ready to put on an order.

I would welcome any thoughts, feedback, or leads on additional functionality available in MT4 or the IG platform.

1 Like
2

By the way, I wanted to take the opportunity to add that Matt and Jake with Optimus have been INCREDIBLE with helping me get set up and navigate a few things I had trouble figuring out how to work properly as I got started.

2 Likes
3

I have already answered my own question (as so often happens in life), and I am copying here what I posted on the thread about setting stop loss and profit target levels on the IG platform:
“I have a new thought on this after spending a week interacting with MT4 and missing some of the other super straightforward features on the IG web platform, particularly the ability to see immediately what your per pip value is going to be at the lot size you’ve set. Last night I decided to put a trade in on the IG platform, set my SL (stop loss) and TP (take profit) by pips away and then go into the positions tab to adjust them once the trade was executed. Using the up/down arrow buttons to move the SL and TP a few pips up/down to where I originally wanted them to be took less than 10 seconds, and it also gave me a chance to do that one last double check. I’m not sure why I thought it was going to be such a hassle to do this–maybe I thought there would be more steps (as there indeed are if you are doing this on MT4), and so I was hyper concerned about more chanced to introduce user errors into the process. But making the adjustment after the fact is about as easy as you could hope for, SO, I am back to sticking with simple and using the IG platform for my trade entry. With apologies to Jake for the time he took helping me get set up on MT4. But, at least I know for sure now. Thanks again Jake and Matt.”

As far as dealing with making sure I arrive at the correct lot size with the least amount of headache, I decided to still use a web-based lot size calculator, but then when I plug the number into the IG platform and see what the per pip value is, I can convert that to US dollars and multiply it by the number of pips in my stop loss to double check that everything looks good and I will be risking pretty close to the dollar amount I had intended to.

1 Like
4

@michaelhallhorn

Finding the right trading platform is always going to be an experience in itself. Each platform is packaged with a slew of different features that are scattered in different locations throughout the interface.

For the most part, both platforms offered through IG Trading: IG Trading Platform and MT4, are fairly straightforward and features are clearly accessible. It’s good to know that you were able to find a solution to the roadblock you were encountering! At the end of the day, this is a marathon not a sprint. Take the time to learn the ins and outs of the platform and become comfortable with it.

Thank you for following up with your own response to the question you asked, i’m sure traders that stumble upon this topic with a similar issue will find this quite helpful!

Thanks for participating in the forum and we look forward to answering future questions of yours!
Thanks,
Jake
Optimus Futures Support :optimus_logo_no_backroug:

5

Thanks again, Jake.
Please let me know if you’d like me to post this as a separate post. I am having trouble transferring my funds from “IG MT4 Forex” back over to “Forex”. When I attempt to do so, I get an error message: “Sorry, we were unable to process your request. Please try again.” I tried doing it with the full amount that was in my MT4 account, and also with smaller amounts, but got the same message. The steps look pretty straight forward, so I don’t think I should be missing anything there. Any thoughts?
Michael

1 Like
6

Issue resolved. I tried again this morning. Instead of starting from my MT4 account and transferring funds out to my “Forex” account, I started from my “Forex” account to transfer funds in. The rest of the process is exactly the same, but for whatever reason, this did the trick.

1 Like
7

Hi @michaelhallhorn,

Thanks for your question and thank you for following up with an accurate answer as well.

For any traders that stumble upon this down the line looking to transfer their funds between platforms and are having issues, this should serve as a great guide for them.

Thanks for your contribution,
Jake
Optimus Futures Support