Actual trading

Trade simulators offer the most potent approach to paper trading because they let novices set up workstations that mimic actual real-time market conditions.

Free forex bonuses

Pros and Cons of Paper Trading, actual trading.

Many brokers now offer this service for free to customers, letting them use the same trading software as real money players. This connection is invaluable because it allows seamless transition from a simulated into an actual trading environment once the student is ready. A final approach can be used at any time, even during weekends when the financial markets are closed. Have a friend or spouse pick a technical chart at random, print it out and hand it to you with the right side covered by a second piece of paper. Make sure the chart has all the technical indicators you want to use in real-world trading. Take the second sheet and move it to the right one price bar at a time, while you choose where to buy and sell.

Pros and cons of paper trading

Paper trading is a simulated market environment in which the participant writes down buying and selling decisions, rather than placing actual orders at a brokerage. The process can be simple, with a few numbers jotted on a napkin, or complex, with spreadsheets breaking multiple elements into component parts for reflection and analysis. New traders are often instructed to paper trade until they learn basic strategies, while many experienced traders utilize the practice from time to time, especially when working on new ideas and approaches.

In theory, paper trading can build insight and improve skill sets at every step in a trader's journey, from novice to market professional. But does it really work as intended, or are there better ways to develop ideas and strategies? What are the key benefits and limitations, and how can market novices get the most value from the experience? Finally, can paper trading actually hurt financial performance, rather than help it?

Ways to paper trade

The simplest approach to paper trading identifies an appealing stock through a chart on a website or an analysis by a market personality, writes down the ticker and chooses a time to place a hypothetical buy order (or sell order if desiring to sell short). The novice jots down the opening price if entering at the start of the session, or watches the chart and ticker during the trading day, picking a spot that looks like a good entry.

The choice of entry price and time varies considerably, depending on the basic tutorials used to learn the trading game. The same holds true during the management phase, when deciding where to place the stop and how long to hold the position. Whatever the approach, an exit price is finally written down, and the novice repeats the process until enough data is gathered to analyze progress.

While pen and paper works perfectly well for paper trading, the spreadsheet provides a more powerful analytical tool for detail-oriented individuals because they can add additional columns to capture:

Stop placement

Time of day

Volume

Sector

Holding period

Day of the week

Market internals, including index direction and market volatility

Trade simulators offer the most potent approach to paper trading because they let novices set up workstations that mimic actual real-time market conditions. Many brokers now offer this service for free to customers, letting them use the same trading software as real money players. This connection is invaluable because it allows seamless transition from a simulated into an actual trading environment once the student is ready.

A final approach can be used at any time, even during weekends when the financial markets are closed. Have a friend or spouse pick a technical chart at random, print it out and hand it to you with the right side covered by a second piece of paper. Make sure the chart has all the technical indicators you want to use in real-world trading. Take the second sheet and move it to the right one price bar at a time, while you choose where to buy and sell.

Key benefits

Let's outline key benefits of paper trading, looking at the ways it shortens the learning curve so that novices have an advantage when it's time to play the game with real money.

No risk: it costs nothing, and you can't lose money with bad decisions or poor timing. It also allows you to observe all of the flaws in your analytical process so you can begin the arduous task of building a well-defined trading edge.

No stress: trading evokes the twin emotions of greed and fear, often blinding participants to key information needed for effective risk management. Paper trading bypasses this emotional roller coaster, so the new participant can focus fully on the mathematical process, not the pitfalls.

Practice: the participant gains experience in every element of the trading process, from pre-market preparation to final profit or loss taking. When accessing the broker's simulator, they learn how to use real money software in a relaxed environment, where the wrong keystroke won't trigger a financial disaster.

Confidence:making a series of complex decisions that gets rewarded with hypothetical profits goes a long way in building the novice's confidence so that they can do the same thing when real money is at stake.

Statistics:paper trading for several weeks up to a month builds useful statistics about the new strategy and market approach. The results are likely to be discouraging, forcing the next step in the new trader's educational process, in turn requiring additional paper trading and data sets.

Key limitations

Now let's outline the limitations of paper trading and the ways it can hurt the novice's performance, if key lessons aren't learned.

Market correlation:paper trading fails to address the broad market's impact on individual securities. The majority of equities move in lockstep with major indices during periods of high correlation, which is common when the market volatility index (VIX) rises. While results may look great or terrible on paper, broader conditions may have created the results, rather than the virtues or pitfalls of the individual position.

Slippage and commissions: real money traders deal with all sorts of hidden costs from slippage and commissions. This is exacerbated by wide spreads that are poorly captured in most paper trading techniques. For example, the momentum stock you think you're buying on paper at $50.00 may cost you $50.50 or more in the real world.

Emotional reality:paper trading doesn't address or evoke real-world emotions produced by actual profits or losses. In the real world, many traders cut profits short and let losses run because they lack market discipline. Those self-destructive calculations don't come into play when dealing with hypothetical numbers.

Formfitting:paper traders pick out ideal entries and exits, missing the minefield of obstacles generated by the modern computer-driven environment. These shakeout levels become all too obvious to real-world participants who have watched dozens of technically sound positions go up in flames when algorithms shift into predatory mode and seek out their stops.

The bottom line

Paper trading benefits new participants by letting them act out key steps in risk taking, from the selection of securities to the final exit, but the process has limited value because it underplays the impact of index correlation and emotional reactions in a typical market day. In addition, it doesn't address the impact of algorithmic strategies that routinely target the flesh-and-blood crowd.

Even so, most novices should spend a considerable amount of time paper trading their new ideas and strategies before risking real capital, gaining as much experience as possible. The exercise will pay excellent dividends, shortening the learning curve while allowing limited profitability much earlier to initiates as opposed to new participants who pass on the opportunity.

Against actual

What is an against actual transaction?

The term “against actual” refers to a type of transaction regularly carried out in the commodities futures markets. In an against actual transaction, holders of opposing futures contracts for the same commodity agree to settle their respective contracts by exchanging them with one-another along with a payment based on the excess value of one contract over the other. This transaction allows both parties to close out their positions without needing to either make or receive physical delivery of the underlying commodity.

Against actual transactions are important for futures market participants who aim to speculate on the future price of commodities or to accomplish financial objectives such as hedging risk. By contrast, industrial buyers who rely on physical commodities for their production processes are more likely to require physical delivery of their commodities.

Key takeaways

An against actual transaction is a type of transaction allowing commodity futures traders to settle their trades without making or taking physical delivery.

It is commonly used among commodity futures speculators and risk hedgers.

The two parties to an against actual transaction will agree to settle their respective contracts in cash, based on a price differential calculated from the current market value of the two futures contracts.

How against actual transactions work

Futures markets have existed for centuries for a very practical purpose: to allow producers and buyers of essential goods to set reasonable prices for commodities in advance of their actual production. A farmer who grows corn, for example, has an agreement with a wholesale buyer to supply a certain amount of corn at a set price on a particular date.

Today, however, a large percentage of the participants in the futures markets do not actually intend to obtain physical delivery of the commodities underlying their contracts. Instead, they are financial buyers whose goal is to speculate on the future direction of commodity prices. These buyers help support the commodities futures market by contributing liquidity, making it easier for other market participants to obtain efficient prices and fill large orders.

Since these buyers do not intend to take physical delivery of the commodities they buy, they need a way to close out their positions for cash. In an against actual transaction, the holder of a commodities futures contract that is coming close to its delivery date will exchange that contract with another market participant who had previously sold a futures contract for that same commodity. The two parties will then exchange cash based upon the price differential between the two futures contracts at the time of the sale.

Real world example of an against actual transaction

Let us examine this scenario in more detail. Suppose we have two investors: speculator A and speculator B. Both parties entered the commodity futures market with the intention of speculating on the price of oil, but they made opposite speculative bets. Speculator A bought oil futures because she believed oil prices would rise, whereas speculator B sold oil futures because he believed prices would fall.

Let us imagine that oil prices fell after both speculators made their trades, and that both parties are now close to their delivery dates. This means that speculator A will soon be receiving delivery of physical oil, whereas speculator B will soon be expected to deliver physical oil. Neither party has the intention to either receive or deliver oil, meaning that both speculators simply wish to settle out their contracts for cash.

The way that both speculators can accomplish their goal is by engaging in an against actual transaction, exchanging their futures contracts with one-another. Since the price of oil fell, speculator A would pay an extra premium to speculator B to reflect the fact that speculator B’s futures contract was more valuable. This way, both traders are able to realize their losses and profits without needing to take or make physical delivery.

Actual trading

Gain access to sophisticated trading algorithms, with the tools to monitor
and analyze the performance of hundreds of automated trading strategies.

Why automated trading

Automated trading systems don’t have an opinion and don’t have emotions – they stick to a programmed set of rules no matter what is happening around them, providing the discipline and patience required for a more objective and reliable approach to trading.

After years of perfecting our execution technology, expanding the number of available systems, and providing better tools for their analysis; the next step in our evolution is to make the platform available to more investors through partnerships with leading brokers around the world.

Performance

Gain access to more than 500 automated trading systems created by 20+ professional developers, tracked in real-time across hundreds of client accounts at major clearing brokers.

Receive our exclusive trading systems updates via email.

Our latest blog posts

How to gain exposure in the crude oil market - in case you haven’t heard, stocks aren’t the only things looking like they might go to zero…. Some “large hedge funds,” according to bloomberg are predicting crude oil to do…

What you ought to know about the DAX - no, the DAX is not a new trendy drink. It is actually the name of the german stock exchange, which is nothing to shake your head at considering germany is…

REVIEW DISCLAIMERS – HYPOTHETICAL MODEL ACCOUNT PERFORMANCE

Disclaimer
“the statistics on this page are calculated via the combination of three hypothetical data sets:

1. Backtested, 2. Tracked, and where available 3. Live.

Backtested performance is calculated by running a trading system backwards in time, and seeing what trades would have been done in the past when applied to backadjusted data. Tracked performance is calculated by running the trading system forwards on data each and every day, and logging the trades as they happen in real time day after day. Live performance is calculated by running the trading system on LIVE tick data for actual clients and tracking the actual buy and sell prices those clients trading the system receive in their account.

We use live results to calculate monthly returns for any month in which clients were trading for the entire month, tracked fills for those months in which there are no client fills for the entire month, and computer generated fills for those months occurring before we loaded the system onto our trade servers. The results are hypothetical in that they represent returns in a model account. The model account rises or falls by the single contract profit and loss achieved by the system in whichever data set is available. The hypothetical model account begins with the sugested capital listed, and is reset to that amount each month. The percentage returns reflect inclusion of commissions, fees, slippage, and the cost of the system. The commission, slippage, fees, and monthly system costs are subtracted from the net profit/loss prior to calculating the percentage return.

Please note that the method of resetting the model account to the initial value at the start of each month creates a track record which is representative of the simple returns for each time period, but that it does not, by definition, show how returns would compound over time. Should an investor following said program trade a single contract indefinitely without also resetting their account to the initial capital amount each month, their performance will differ from the performance detailed herein.”

You should fully understand the risks associated with trading futures, options on futures, commodity trading systems and retail off-exchange foreign currency transactions (“forex”) before making any trades. Trading futures, options on futures, forex and commodity trading systems involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. The ability to withstand losses and to adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses are material points which can adversely affect investor returns. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge, and financial resources. You may lose all or more than your initial investment. Opinions, market data, and recommendations are subject to change without notice. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

The returns for trading systems listed throughout this website are hypothetical in that they represent returns in a model account. The model account rises or falls by the average single contract profit and loss achieved by clients trading actual money pursuant to the listed system’s trading signals on the appropriate dates (client fills), or if no actual client profit or loss available – by the hypothetical single contract profit and loss of trades generated by the system’s trading signals on that day in real time (real-time) less slippage, or if no real time profit or loss available – by the hypothetical single contract profit and loss of trades generated by running the system logic backwards on backadjusted data (backadjusted).

The hypothetical model account begins with the initial capital level listed, and is reset to that amount each month. The percentage returns reflect inclusion of commissions, fees, slippage, and the cost of the system. The monthly cost of the system is subtracted from the net profit/loss prior to calculating the percentage return.

If and when a trading system has an open trade, the returns are marked to market on a daily basis, using the backadjusted data available on the day the computer backtest was performed for backtested trades, and the closing price of the then front month contract for real time and client fill trades. For a trade which spans months, therefore, the gain or loss for the month ending with an open trade is the marked to market gain or loss (the month end price minus the entry price, and vice versa for short trades).

The actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors will vary depending on many factors, including, but not limited to: starting account balances, market behavior, the duration and extent of investor’s participation (whether or not all signals are taken) in the specified system and money management techniques. Because of this, actual percentage gains/losses experienced by investors may be materially different than the percentage gains/losses as presented on this website.

Please read carefully the CFTC required disclaimer regarding hypothetical results below. HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE MANY INHERENT LIMITATIONS, SOME OF WHICH ARE DESCRIBED BELOW. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFITS OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN; IN FACT, THERE ARE FREQUENTLY SHARP DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE ACTUAL RESULTS SUBSEQUENTLY ACHIEVED BY ANY PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM. ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS IS THAT THEY ARE GENERALLY PREPARED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. IN ADDITION, HYPOTHETICAL TRADING DOES NOT INVOLVE FINANCIAL RISK, AND NO HYPOTHETICAL TRADING RECORD CAN COMPLETELY ACCOUNT FOR THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL RISK OF ACTUAL TRADING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ABILITY TO WITHSTAND LOSSES OR TO ADHERE TO A PARTICULAR TRADING PROGRAM IN SPITE OF TRADING LOSSES ARE MATERIAL POINTS WHICH CAN ALSO ADVERSELY AFFECT ACTUAL TRADING RESULTS. THERE ARE NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO THE MARKETS IN GENERAL OR TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY SPECIFIC TRADING PROGRAM WHICH CANNOT BE FULLY ACCOUNTED FOR IN THE PREPARATION OF HYPOTHETICAL PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND ALL WHICH CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT TRADING RESULTS.

The information contained in the reports within this site is provided with the objective of “standarizing” trading systems account performance and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be viewed as a solicitation for the referenced system or vendor. While the information and statistics within this website are believed to be complete and accurate, we cannot guarantee their completeness or accuracy. As past performance does not guarantee future results, these results may have no bearing on, and may not be indicative of, any individual returns realized through participation in this or any other investment.

How investor perceptions drive actual trading and risk-taking behavior

Journal of behavioral finance, 16 (1), pp. 94-103. 2015

24 pages posted: 6 dec 2011 last revised: 25 mar 2015

Arvid O. I. Hoffmann

University of adelaide - business school

Thomas post

Maastricht university - school of business and economics - department of finance; netspar

Joost M. E. Pennings

Maastricht university; wageningen UR; university of illinois at urbana-champaign - department of agricultural and consumer economics

Date written: march 13, 2013

Abstract

Recent work in behavioral finance showed how investors’ perceptions (i.E., return expectations, risk tolerance, and risk perception) affect hypothetical trading and risk-taking behavior. However, are such perceptions also capable of explaining actual trading and risk-taking behavior? To answer this question, we combine monthly survey data with matching brokerage records to construct a panel data set allowing us to simultaneously examine investor perceptions and behavior. We find that investor perceptions and changes therein are important drivers of actual trading and risk-taking behavior: investors with higher levels of and upward revisions of return expectations are more likely to trade, have higher turnover, trade larger amounts per transaction, and are more likely to use derivatives. Investors with higher levels of and upward revisions in risk tolerance are more likely to trade, have higher buy-sell ratios, use limit orders more frequently, and hold riskier portfolios. Investors with higher levels of risk perception are more likely to trade, have higher turnover, have lower buy-sell ratios, and hold riskier portfolios.

Keywords: individual investors, return expectations, risk perception, risk tolerance, stock trading, risk-taking behavior

JEL classification: D14, D81, G02, G11

Metatrader 4

The best forex trading platform

Metatrader 4 offers the leading trading and analytical technologies, as well as additional services. It has everything you need for forex trading.

Analyze quotes of financial instruments using interactive charts and technical indicators

Flexible trading system and support for all order types allow you to implement any strategy

Examine currency quotes from various perspectives with more than 65 built-in technical indicators and analytical objects

Copy deals of successful traders directly in the platform using the trading signals service (social trading)

Trading alerts will notify you of favorable market conditions

Visit the market — the biggest online store of trading robots and technical indicators

Test any trading robot in the market before purchasing it

Purchase or rent a market product the way you like

Read the product description in the market before purchasing it

Thousands of free robots and indicators are published in the code base and ready to be downloaded

Maintain total control of your assets

Trading robots and indicators are developed using the specialized metaeditor tool

Customize the chart appearance

Order the virtual hosting at a reasonable price directly from the platform

Test robots in visual mode to better understand their trading algorithms

A trading robot test report will show you how good it is

Browse through the quotes of any currency pair from one minute to one month in the history center

Your metatrader 4 desktop platform is integrated with the metatrader 4 mobile application for android and ios. Specify your metaquotes ID to receive push notifications from launched trading robots and scripts directly to your smartphone

Join the largest community of traders directly via your platform!

Receive useful information and hints from the metatrader 4 developers in mailbox section

The metatrader 4 trading system

The powerful metatrader 4 trading system allows you to implement strategies of any complexity.

The market and pending orders, instant execution and trading from a chart, stop orders and trailing stop, a tick chart and trading history — all these tools are at your disposal.

With metatrader 4, trading becomes flexible and convenient.

3 execution modes

2 market orders

4 pending orders

2 stop orders and a trailing stop

The metatrader 4 analytics

Analytical functions are one of the metatrader 4 platform's strongest points.

Online quotes and interactive charts with 9 periods allow you to examine quotes in all the details quickly responding to any price changes.

23 analytical objects and 30 built-in technical indicators greatly simplify this task. However, they are only the tip of the iceberg.

The free code base and built-in market provide thousands of additional indicators rising the amount of analytical options up to the sky. If there is a movement in the market, you have the analytical tools to detect it and react in a timely manner.

Interactive charts

9 timeframes

23 analytical objects

30 technical indicators

Trading signals and copy trading

No time for trading? That is not a problem, since metatrader 4 can automatically copy deals of other traders. Select your provider, subscribe to a signal and let your terminal copy the provider's trades.

Thousands of free and paid signals with various profitability and risk levels working on demo and real accounts are at your fingertips.

Make your choice, and metatrader 4 will trade for you.

Thousands of providers

Thousands of trading strategies

Any trading conditions

The metatrader market

The built-in market is the best place to find an expert advisor or a newest technical indicator.

Buy any of the hundreds of trading robots or indicators and launch them without leaving the platform. The purchase is simple, transparent and secure.

The widest selection of trading applications in the world

1 700+ trading robots and 2 100+ technical indicators

Free and commercial products

Algorithmic trading

Almost any trading strategy can be formalized and implemented as an expert advisor, so that it automatically does all the work for you. A trading robot can control both trading and analytics freeing you from the routine market analysis.

Metatrader 4 provides the full-fledged environment for the development, testing and optimizing algorithmic/automated trading programs.

You can use your own application in trading, post it in the free code library or sell in the market.

The MQL4 language of trading strategies

Metaeditor

Strategy tester

Library of free trading robots

Mobile trading

Smartphones and tablets are indispensable in trading when you are away from your computer.

Use the mobile versions of metatrader 4 on your iphone/ipad and android devices to trade in the financial markets.

You will certainly appreciate the functionality of the mobile trading platforms that include the full support for the trading functions, broad analytical capabilities with technical indicators and other graphical objects. Of course, all these features are available from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day.

Support for ios and android OS

Full set of trading orders

Analytics and technical indicators

Alerts and financial news

The latest financial news allows you to prepare for unexpected price movements and make the right trading decisions.

Alerts inform you about certain events, so that you can take appropriate measures.

Current financial information

Timely notification

Different market conditions

Trade major US tech stocks this earnings season

Why are traders choosing FOREX.Com?

Global market leader

Connecting traders to the currency markets since 2001

Professional accounts

Discover the FOREX.Com
pro service

Innovative & award-winning

Our new mobile app offers one-swipe trading and lightning fast execution

Financial strength you can depend on

/media/forex/images/stonex-rebranding/stonex-wh-285x95.Png" alt="stonex logo" />

Your FOREX.Com account gives you access to our full suite of downloadable, web, and mobile apps.

/media/forex/images/global/homepage/allplatforms-latest.Png" alt="forex trading platforms" width="570" height="340" />

Trade on one of the world's most popular trading platforms with access to dedicated support and integrated trading tools exclusive to FOREX.Com.

/media/forex/images/global/homepage/uk-mt4apps-latest.Png" alt="metatrader trading platforms" width="570" height="340" />

Leverage our experts

Our global research team identifies the information that drives markets so you can forecast potential price movement and seize forex trading opportunities.

Ready to learn about forex?

/media/forex/images/global/homepage/newtrader.Svg" alt="new trader" />

New trader?

Welcome, we’ll show you how forex works and why you should trade it.

/media/forex/images/global/homepage/createplan-latest.Svg" alt="new trader" />

Have some experience?

Let’s create a trading plan that will help you stay on track and meet your goals.

/media/forex/images/global/homepage/strategies-latest.Svg" alt="have some experience" />

Want to go deep on strategy?

Great, we have guides on specific strategies and how to use them.

Open an account in as little as 5 minutes

Tell us about yourself

Fund your account

Start trading

*based on active metatrader servers per broker, apr 2019. **based on CFD spreads and financing competitor comparison on 28/08/19.

Try a demo account

Your form is being processed.

By opening this demo account you confirm your acceptance of our demo account terms and conditions, privacy policy and disclosures.

I would like to learn about

Cfds are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how cfds work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

CFD and forex trading are leveraged products and your capital is at risk. They may not be suitable for everyone. Please ensure you fully understand the risks involved by reading our full risk warning.

FOREX.Com is a trading name of GAIN capital UK limited. GAIN capital UK ltd is a company incorporated in england and wales with UK companies house number 1761813 and with its registered office at devon house, 58 st katharine’s way, london, E1W 1JP. GAIN capital UK ltd is authorised and regulated by the financial conduct authority in the UK, with FCA register number 113942. GAIN capital UK ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of stonex group inc.

FOREX.Com is a trademark of GAIN capital UK ltd.

This website uses cookies to provide you with the very best experience and to know you better. By visiting our website with your browser set to allow cookies, you consent to our use of cookies as described in our privacy policy.

FOREX.Com products and services are not intended for belgium residents.

We use cookies, and by continuing to use this site or clicking "agree" you agree to their use. Full details are in our cookie policy.

Actual trading

Gain access to sophisticated trading algorithms, with the tools to monitor
and analyze the performance of hundreds of automated trading strategies.

Why automated trading

Performance

Gain access to more than 500 automated trading systems created by 20+ professional developers, tracked in real-time across hundreds of client accounts at major clearing brokers.

Receive our exclusive trading systems updates via email.

Our latest blog posts

How to gain exposure in the crude oil market - in case you haven’t heard, stocks aren’t the only things looking like they might go to zero…. Some “large hedge funds,” according to bloomberg are predicting crude oil to do…

What you ought to know about the DAX - no, the DAX is not a new trendy drink. It is actually the name of the german stock exchange, which is nothing to shake your head at considering germany is…

REVIEW DISCLAIMERS – HYPOTHETICAL MODEL ACCOUNT PERFORMANCE

Disclaimer
“the statistics on this page are calculated via the combination of three hypothetical data sets:

1. Backtested, 2. Tracked, and where available 3. Live.

Metatrader 4

The best forex trading platform

Metatrader 4 offers the leading trading and analytical technologies, as well as additional services. It has everything you need for forex trading.

Analyze quotes of financial instruments using interactive charts and technical indicators

Flexible trading system and support for all order types allow you to implement any strategy

Examine currency quotes from various perspectives with more than 65 built-in technical indicators and analytical objects

Copy deals of successful traders directly in the platform using the trading signals service (social trading)

Trading alerts will notify you of favorable market conditions

Visit the market — the biggest online store of trading robots and technical indicators

Test any trading robot in the market before purchasing it

Purchase or rent a market product the way you like

Read the product description in the market before purchasing it

Thousands of free robots and indicators are published in the code base and ready to be downloaded

Maintain total control of your assets

Trading robots and indicators are developed using the specialized metaeditor tool

Customize the chart appearance

Order the virtual hosting at a reasonable price directly from the platform

Test robots in visual mode to better understand their trading algorithms

A trading robot test report will show you how good it is

Browse through the quotes of any currency pair from one minute to one month in the history center

Join the largest community of traders directly via your platform!

Receive useful information and hints from the metatrader 4 developers in mailbox section

The metatrader 4 trading system

The powerful metatrader 4 trading system allows you to implement strategies of any complexity.

The market and pending orders, instant execution and trading from a chart, stop orders and trailing stop, a tick chart and trading history — all these tools are at your disposal.

With metatrader 4, trading becomes flexible and convenient.

3 execution modes

2 market orders

4 pending orders

2 stop orders and a trailing stop

The metatrader 4 analytics

Analytical functions are one of the metatrader 4 platform's strongest points.

Online quotes and interactive charts with 9 periods allow you to examine quotes in all the details quickly responding to any price changes.

23 analytical objects and 30 built-in technical indicators greatly simplify this task. However, they are only the tip of the iceberg.

Interactive charts

9 timeframes

23 analytical objects

30 technical indicators

Trading signals and copy trading

Thousands of free and paid signals with various profitability and risk levels working on demo and real accounts are at your fingertips.

Make your choice, and metatrader 4 will trade for you.

Thousands of providers

Thousands of trading strategies

Any trading conditions

The metatrader market

The built-in market is the best place to find an expert advisor or a newest technical indicator.

Buy any of the hundreds of trading robots or indicators and launch them without leaving the platform. The purchase is simple, transparent and secure.

The widest selection of trading applications in the world

1 700+ trading robots and 2 100+ technical indicators

Free and commercial products

Algorithmic trading

Metatrader 4 provides the full-fledged environment for the development, testing and optimizing algorithmic/automated trading programs.

You can use your own application in trading, post it in the free code library or sell in the market.

The MQL4 language of trading strategies

Metaeditor

Strategy tester

Library of free trading robots

Mobile trading

Smartphones and tablets are indispensable in trading when you are away from your computer.

Use the mobile versions of metatrader 4 on your iphone/ipad and android devices to trade in the financial markets.

Support for ios and android OS

Full set of trading orders

Analytics and technical indicators

Alerts and financial news

The latest financial news allows you to prepare for unexpected price movements and make the right trading decisions.

Alerts inform you about certain events, so that you can take appropriate measures.

Current financial information

Timely notification

Different market conditions

How investor perceptions drive actual trading and risk-taking behavior

Journal of behavioral finance, 16 (1), pp. 94-103. 2015

24 pages posted: 6 dec 2011 last revised: 25 mar 2015

Arvid O. I. Hoffmann

University of adelaide - business school

Thomas post

Maastricht university - school of business and economics - department of finance; netspar

Joost M. E. Pennings

Maastricht university; wageningen UR; university of illinois at urbana-champaign - department of agricultural and consumer economics

Date written: march 13, 2013

Abstract

Keywords: individual investors, return expectations, risk perception, risk tolerance, stock trading, risk-taking behavior

JEL classification: D14, D81, G02, G11

so, let's see, what was the most valuable thing of this article: most market novices should try paper trading for a while, despite key drawbacks. At actual trading