General Business and Finance Blog

Strategy Trader is an exciting automated forex trading platform offering from FXCM. With Strategy Trader you can code strategies, perform advanced back-tests, run detailed optimization analyses and execute trades—all within the platform. In this video, we’ll be comparing Strategy Trader to MT4, showing you why Strategy Trader is the next evolution in automated forex trading.

Expert Advisor users can enhance the performance of their EAs when they automate their trades with Strategy Trader. When you convert your MetaTrader 4 EAs to Strategy Trader EAs, you’ll gain access to the following improvements: faster more reliable trade execution; the elimination of off quote and out trade error messages; substantially more price data to trade on; and far more reliable backtesting functionality. Let’s take a look at how Strategy Trader is bringing these benefits to MT4 users like you.

FXCM’s Strategy Trader platform was designed to take full advantage of FXCM’s No Dealing Desk execution model. Unlike MT4, which communicates with FXCM through a 3rd party software bridge, Strategy Trader communicates directly with FXCM. This efficient setup provides many trading benefits, but most importantly, it provides traders with faster and more reliable trade execution.

MT4 uses a software bridge adds an extra step and more time to the trade execution process. That means there is more latency from the time you click to place a trade to the time the trade is executed. Also, by adding 3rd party software to the execution process, errors like Out Trades and Off-Quotes can and do occur. These types of errors degrade your execution and this is exactly why FXCM created Strategy Trader. With Strategy Trader, your orders are received and executed faster and Off-Quotes, Out Trade and Auto Account Syncs are a thing of the past.

Another reason why Strategy Trader outshines MT4 is because you can trade off of tick data. The MT4 platform only updates price data second-by-second. However, very often multiple prices are received each second. By only updating prices once a second, the MT4 platform can cause you to miss valuable trading opportunities. The Strategy Trader platform updates prices tick-by-tick, providing you with many more trading opportunities than MT4. So if there are ten ticks in one second you have the opportunity to trade off each of those 10 prices. This is especially valuable to traders who use scalping or high frequency trading EAs.

The MT4 platform includes some basic back-testing capabilities but it certainly does not meet the standards set by FXCM’s Strategy Trader platform. The two most prominent advantages that Strategy Trader has over MT4 in this area are the number of available bars for back-testing and the robustness of the data. Strategy Trader currently offers over 500,000 bars of 1-minute data, which is almost a full year of 1 minute data. This compares to MT4′s meager 16,000 bar total, or roughly 11 days of 1 minute data. Also, Strategy Trader allows you to back-test with both bid and ask pricing. This allows you to factor in the spread, which is vitally important for many trading strategies. Not factoring in the spread and only considering the past 11 days of trading data can provide you with a very unrealistic picture of past performance, which can make back-testing almost useless.

MT4 has long been the platform of chose for many automated traders. But with FXCM’s Strategy Trader platform, expert advisor users can now access faster, more reliable trade execution; more price data to execute off of, and access to more robust price history make back-testing and optimization worthwhile.

FXCM would like to extend an offer to all MetaTrader 4 EA users. If you have an expert advisor that you would like to use on Strategy Trader, please fill out the following form found at the bottom of the Strategy Trader EAs tab of this page. We’ll reach out to your EA provider to help them convert your EA to Strategy Trader, allowing you to keep using the EAs you have while gaining access to the great benefits that Strategy Trader can provide.

Sign up for a Strategy Trader demo account today to see why Strategy Trader is truly the next evolution in automated forex trading systems.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or other information contained on this website is provided as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice.  FXCM will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.

There are many advantages to Franchising. When you buy into a trusted name, take on its fame and programs, you can be sure to have a business that people will recognize quicker than a start-up mom and pop-type business. In fact, it’s one of the most common business expansion tools. Not only this, but entering into Franchising is like entering into a family: there are other people there who will help you with everything from day-to-day operations of your business to buying your business’s equipment at the lowest price possible.
One of the biggest advantages of Franchising is the draw of the brand name. People recognize brand names, and because of this, the name of a business is worth quite a bit. People come to trust names they see again and again because they associate this frequency with quality and consistency. Soon, people become loyal to certain brand names. Franchising helps develop a brand name’s worth by upping the number of businesses popping up around the world.
Buying into a franchise is smart because it will make dealing with banks easier. A bank is more likely to give you money if they know you’re investing in something that has found success before. Additionally, if people know the name of the franchise, it will make it easier to attract customers to your establishment.
Another great plus to Franchising is that a person doesn’t have to market their business or learn how to do such things as accounting or distribution: The business’s model is already firmly in place. Many statistics say that as many as 90% of new businesses fail in the first few years because it’s hard to get the business generating funds while learning the ropes of what works and what doesn’t work. A franchise’s model is proven – it’s why people what to buy into the business – and it makes it easier to keep your business afloat. Once you’re in charge of a franchise, you’ll have a manual that explains the business’s ins and outs and will make day-to-day operations easy as pie.
When it comes to a franchise, it’s easier to buy your equipment and materials because people know the name. The other folk involved in the franchise system will be a great support system when it comes to buying materials. Additionally, one of the biggest advantages of Franchising is that you don’t have to spend as much on marketing and publicity: the more franchises there are, the more publicity you’ll receive. The sheer number of businesses helps establish a brand’s credibility.
Ultimately, there’s less risk involved with opening a franchise, and this is perhaps Franchising greatest advantage. Though the cost may be high to buy into a well-respected name, the possible rewards are much higher. As always you need to ensure your research is done in a manner which means you have all the facts in place, doing your due diligence will ensure that not only the franchise is right for you but that it is one that is going to be value for money too.