What is MetaTrader?
The MetaTrader Platform is a Forex Trading platform developed by the MetaQuotes company.
The platform offers the functionality you would expect from a trading platform, such as:
- The ability to open, modify and close trades.
- The ability to view price currency charts for many currency pairs and in many timeframes (1 minute to 1 month)
- The ability to attach technical indicators to price charts
What allows the MetaTrader platform to stand out is its ability to create Expert Advisors and Custom Indicators using the MQL programming language.
There have been 3 major releases of the MetaTrader platform: 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0.
What is MQL?
MQL is a programming language. The language is similar to the C programming language. It supports a number of English-based keywords and uses a typical control flow, including if/then clauses.
MQL is used to build Expert Advisors and Custom Indicators. A file containing human-readable MQL code is compiled into an executable file that is run on the MetaTrader Platform.