Trading Platforms

The FX trading market has developed dramatically since introduction of retail forex platforms in the late 1990s. Although still dominated by the very successful MT4 platform, the last few years have seen the introduction of multiple in-house and third-party trading platforms designed to meet the needs of an increasingly geographically diverse and discerning market. Brokers are adopting multiple platforms in order to diversity their offerings and to create commercial resilience. In creating cross-platform, multi-lingual, brandable apps for brokers, FX Blue Labs is meeting a growing need for brokers to be able to offer value added products and services to traders so as to be able to differentiate their brand in a competitive market and also to offer traders tools that will help them to trade more efficiently and make better trading decisions.

In addition, platforms and brokers are increasingly diversifying beyond forex into metals, equity indexes, and other asset classes. All our apps will work with any symbols which are available in the underlying trading platform.

All the apps are 100% client-side and do not require any changes to a broker's server infrastructure (e.g. no plug-ins which need to be installed for MT4 Server).

The apps are supplied with a lightweight installer which seamlessly installs the apps on the trader's desktop or into their trading platform such as MT4, as applicable. You host the installer on your website. You do not need to direct clients to FX Blue Labs, or even make them aware in any way that the tools are being provided by FX Blue Labs.

MT4

Our apps for MT4 are implemented as standard EAs, written in MQL plus a DLL file. We can provide a simple installer which copies the EAs into multiple existing installations of MT4 in one go, and which asks the trader for confirmation before turning on the "Allow DLL imports" setting.

The order-flow from our apps is no different to any other EA, and we do not (indeed, could not) communicate directly with the MT4 Server rather than using the standard features of EAs such as OrderSend(). For example, if the trader turns off the "AutoTrading" button in MT4 (formerly the "Expert Advisors" button) then our apps will be unable to trade. The apps do not require the installation of any plug-ins for MT4 Server.

MT5

Our apps for MT5 support both netting and hedging accounts, and both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of MT5.

Our apps for MT5 are implemented as standard EAs, written in MQL plus a DLL file. We can provide a simple installer which copies the EAs into multiple existing installations of MT5 in one go. The order-flow from our apps is no different to any other EA, and we do not (indeed, could not) communicate directly with the MT5 Server rather than using the standard features of EAs such as OrderSend(). For example, if the trader turns off the "AutoTrading" button in MT5 then our apps will be unable to trade. The apps do not require the installation of any server plug-ins.

xOpenHub

Our apps for xOpenHub are implemented as standalone executables which communicate with xOpenHub using their JSON API. The apps are completely independent from the xOpenHub web trader - though trading activity will obviously be reported in both the web trader and our apps, in real time, regardless of where and how orders were placed.

cTrader

Our apps for cTrader are implemented as standalone executables which communicate with Spotware using their API. The apps are completely independent from the cTrader desktop and web trading platforms. Trading activity will be reported in real time in both our apps and cTrader (desktop or web trader), regardless of where and how orders were placed.

JForex

Our apps for JForex are implemented as standalone executables which communicate with JForex using their Strategy API. The apps are completely independent from the JForex desktop and web trading platforms. Trading activity will be reported in real time in both our apps and JForex (desktop or web trader), regardless of where and how orders were placed.

FXCM TS2

Our apps for FXCM TS2 are implemented as standalone executables which communicate with FXCM using their ForexConnect API. The apps are completely independent from the Trading Station 2 software: TS2 does not even need to be installed on the same computer where our apps are used. Trading activity will be reported in real time in both our apps and the TS2 software (desktop or web trader), regardless of where and how orders were placed.

Protrader 3

Our apps for PFSoft Protrader 3 are implemented as standalone executables which are invoked from within the Protrader desktop software using a macro. Trades are placed through the Protrader 3 software (not directly with the broker server).

Oanda

Our apps for Oanda are implemented as standalone executables which communicate using the Oanda REST API. The apps are completely independent from the fxTrade software: fxTrade does not need to be installed on the same computer where our apps are used.

The apps currently work with personal access tokens, and will be modified to use the OAuth 2.0 developer flow once this is released into production by Oanda.

Vertex

Our apps for Vertex are implemented as standalone executables which communicate with Vertex using their WCF. The apps are completely independent from the desktop Vertex trading client: this does not even need to be installed on the same computer as our apps.

There are currently per-broker variations in the WCF, and our apps therefore currently require testing and possible minor changes before live deployment with each Vertex broker client.