MT4 Fifo question

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 I trade in the US where the FIFO rule applies. However this rule does not apply if your trades use a different lot size. I contacted my broker (forex.com) to ask why MT4 platform always rejects a closing order if it was not the first trade in a series. I was told that the forex.com's web trader platform allows trades to close out of order for this reason, because FIFO does not apply then. I was told this FIFO is not a broker prohibition, but an MT4 platform prohibition.  If that is true,  it seems like MT4 would apply that rule to all brokers in all countries since prohibiting a trade out of order even if the lot sizes are different is not a US FIFO rule prohibition. Anyone know why MT4 would prohibit these trades on their platform? It literally makes no sense.  Is anyone in other countries or off-shore brokers experiencing this rejection of trades out of order also?  Or is someone misinforming me?

Craig 

 
Your topic has been moved to the section: MQL4 e MetaTrader 4 — In the future, please consider which section is most appropriate for your query.
 
clearsearcher1:  I trade in the US where the FIFO rule applies. However this rule does not apply if your trades use a different lot size. I contacted my broker (forex.com) to ask why MT4 platform always rejects a closing order if it was not the first trade in a series. I was told that the forex.com's web trader platform allows trades to close out of order for this reason, because FIFO does not apply then. I was told this FIFO is not a broker prohibition, but an MT4 platform prohibition.  If that is true,  it seems like MT4 would apply that rule to all brokers in all countries since prohibiting a trade out of order even if the lot sizes are different is not a US FIFO rule prohibition. Anyone know why MT4 would prohibit these trades on their platform? It literally makes no sense.  Is anyone in other countries or off-shore brokers experiencing this rejection of trades out of order also?  Or is someone misinforming me?

FIFO is a USA imposed rule on USA based brokers. It is not something imposed by the platform.

For all other countries and jurisdictions, MetaTrader (be it MT4 or MT5) functions without such FIFO restrictions.

You are being misinformed, or there are some misunderstandings in the dialogue.

 
  1. clearsearcher1: However this rule does not apply if your trades use a different lot size. 

    I've never heard of that.
              NFA Enforces FIFO Rule, Bans Forex Hedging in US Forex Accounts - Trading Heroes (2016)
              FAQ: FIFO in the Forex Market - BabyPips.com (2011)

  2. clearsearcher1: to ask why MT4 platform always rejects a closing order if it was not the first trade in a series.  Anyone know why MT4 would prohibit these trades on their platform?

    There is no such thing; it occurs all the time. The rejects occur at the US broker's server.

  3. clearsearcher1: Or is someone misinforming me?

    Yes

 
Fernando Carreiro #:

FIFO is a USA imposed rule on USA based brokers. It is not something imposed by the platform.

For all other countries and jurisdictions, MetaTrader (be it MT4 or MT5) functions without such FIFO restrictions.

You are being misinformed, or there are some misunderstandings in the dialogue.

Thanks Fernando,

However I confirmed that MT4 (not the broker) is prohibiting what it calls "FIFO" rules. Forex.com here in the US (one of the largest US forex brokers) has a web-based platform (not MT4) that does allow closing trades outside the order in which they were placed, whereas MT4 does not.  We literally just placed trades, and the broker allowed the trades. The FIFO rule only applies if the lot sizes are the same. Since the trades are being rejected by metatrader, even the broker has confirmed this is not accurate. It is a platform issue which the broker has no control of. Since other countries do not have FIFO rules, I can only assume MT4 is not imposing what it thinks is FIFO in other countries. 

 Bottom line is that MT4 is the culprit, not FIFO since MT4 is not interpreting FIFO rules correctly as confirmed by the broker. I would be interested in hearing from other US forex broker clients if they are having similar issues. 
 
clearsearcher1 #:

Thanks Fernando,

However I confirmed that MT4 (not the broker) is prohibiting what it calls "FIFO" rules. Forex.com here in the US (one of the largest US forex brokers) has a web-based platform (not MT4) that does allow closing trades outside the order in which they were placed, whereas MT4 does not.  We literally just placed trades, and the broker allowed the trades. The FIFO rule only applies if the lot sizes are the same. Since the trades are being rejected by metatrader, even the broker has confirmed this is not accurate. It is a platform issue which the broker has no control of. Since other countries do not have FIFO rules, I can only assume MT4 is not imposing what it thinks is FIFO in other countries. 

 Bottom line is that MT4 is the culprit, not FIFO since MT4 is not interpreting FIFO rules correctly as confirmed by the broker. I would be interested in hearing from other US forex broker clients if they are having similar issues. 

No, you did not "confirm" anything, because MT4 is the client terminal. It is the broker's trade server that rejects the requests.

And the broker's trade servers will carry out which ever rules they have programmed in accordance with their own rules or country's regulations.

However, the "programmed" rules being imposed may not be functioning correctly between the terminal application and the web application, but that is probably due to miss-configurations.

I repeat, it is not the MT4 terminal that is imposing it!

 
clearsearcher1 #:

Thanks Fernando,

However I confirmed that MT4 (not the broker) is prohibiting what it calls "FIFO" rules. Forex.com here in the US (one of the largest US forex brokers) has a web-based platform (not MT4) that does allow closing trades outside the order in which they were placed, whereas MT4 does not.  We literally just placed trades, and the broker allowed the trades. The FIFO rule only applies if the lot sizes are the same. Since the trades are being rejected by metatrader, even the broker has confirmed this is not accurate. It is a platform issue which the broker has no control of. Since other countries do not have FIFO rules, I can only assume MT4 is not imposing what it thinks is FIFO in other countries. 

 Bottom line is that MT4 is the culprit, not FIFO since MT4 is not interpreting FIFO rules correctly as confirmed by the broker. I would be interested in hearing from other US forex broker clients if they are having similar issues. 
As Fernando said, in all cases it's a broker issue (well it's maybe not even an issue as it's legal rules in your country). Not an MT4 issue.
 
clearsearcher1 #:

Thanks Fernando,

However I confirmed that MT4 (not the broker) is prohibiting what it calls "FIFO" rules. Forex.com here in the US (one of the largest US forex brokers) has a web-based platform (not MT4) that does allow closing trades outside the order in which they were placed, whereas MT4 does not.  We literally just placed trades, and the broker allowed the trades. The FIFO rule only applies if the lot sizes are the same. Since the trades are being rejected by metatrader, even the broker has confirmed this is not accurate. It is a platform issue which the broker has no control of. Since other countries do not have FIFO rules, I can only assume MT4 is not imposing what it thinks is FIFO in other countries. 

 Bottom line is that MT4 is the culprit, not FIFO since MT4 is not interpreting FIFO rules correctly as confirmed by the broker. I would be interested in hearing from other US forex broker clients if they are having similar issues. 

Fernando,William and all others are correct.

Short answer discription:
All trades that have a take profit (TP), stop loss (SL), or trailing stop (TS) to be of unique size. (YES you mentioned this part)
BUT NOW - Also the only scenario in which two trades of the same currency pair can be the same size is if neither trade has a TP, SL, or TS.
YET my understanding is that FIFO - first in first out still applies.

Typically the broker may have a notice in your "Mailbox" tab of your MT4 as well. That is the usual thing you get as I do get from OANDA in the same way. 
If you trade directly from Forex.Com web platform you will see the same restriction as MT4 and not different. 
Highly unlikely they would allow violation of FIFO specifically on MT4 and everyone everywhere would be posting about this online telling everyone to use MT4 to violate FIFO. 
HIGHLY unlikely that this is the case.  

Your broker support channel is not understanding what your asking them or they are just telling you something they don't know about themselves. 

Not what you want to hear but this how it works in the US. Nature of bureaucracy and regulators. Your broker can't work around this for US customers or they would be shut down already. Just FYI. 




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