Metatrader4 is the defacto forex consumer trading platform http://www.metatrader4.com/en
The key feature of MT4 is the ability to buy, create and run your own trading bots - this is a massive source of liquidity and trading volume and there are vast libraries of such bots available on the metatrader marketplace https://www.mql5.com/en/market/mt4
There has been some discussion about how to integrate metatrader 4 with bitshares, and I have good experience of both platforms so I know what it will take. I've created this thread to open the discussion about how this might be achieved.
There are a few things to know about MT4 first:
1. This is a margin trading platform. You go long/short with your base currency as collateral in your desired market, and you always close your order with one of the opposite type, so if you buy, you must sell to close your position. This means you always end up back in the same currency you started out with.
2. There is typically leverage available, the amount varies depending on your broker
3. I *think* the available markets are hard coded into the platform, so you have to offer markets like EUR/USD, JPY/USD etc
4. The is no orderbook available to traders (this is a big negative point)
5. The spreads are typically denoted in Pips, which are fractions of a dollar (this is a bit of a sticking point for integration)
6. The metatrader 4 client side app communicates with the broker via a custom protocol - there would need to be a bitshares bridge server
7. Placing and cancelling limit orders is free
8. There are order types bitshares doesn't support right now, buy stop and sell stop which are resting orders which do not activate until the price reaches them (opposite way to regular limit orders)
9. Metatrader the corporation would almost certainly be opposed to this integration, so this would need to be done with no central point of failure in terms of legal ramifications
I propose something radical to address point 7, which is a huge point for existing MT4 users who would never accept having to pay for that: require a Proof of Work for placement and cancel orders, but have 0 transaction fee. That would prevent spam while costing no currency.
Point 8 could easily be addressed by adding these order types into the DEX.
In summary, I think it would be possible to integrate IF bitshares supported margin trading in a compatible way.
Cheers, Paul.
There doesnt have to be margin, its definable.
The list of symbols is not hardcodded that would be stupid. Its dynamic.
The orders are emulated clientside and only when client triggers order is it sent to server, thus bitshares doesnt need to know about buy sell stops or even stop loss take profit orders.
Pips are base movement and you can set to 4 or 5 decimal places (mpips).
There is market depth plugins available (look at fxpro).
client also handles margin call which depends on leverage also done client sidr.. Although our blockchain has limited leverage
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