MT5 platform is updated to handle negative prices

MetaQuotes, the company that launched MT5 and MT4 trading software, recently announced some updates to its more recent platform, including the ability to handle negative prices.

For the first time ever, crude oil prices went negative last month as the price of this month's WTI Crude contract was pushed down, which significantly reduced demand for crude oil.

As this was a historic event, many forex brokers were caught off guard. This situation, coupled with the fact that many trading platforms didn't have the capacity to handle negative prices, posed some problems for these brokerage firms.

However, MetaQuotes says that it has introduced the ability to display negative prices on MetaTrader5 in direct response to this situation, so this issue won't arise again in a similar situation.

"The recent drop of oil prices into negative territory has forced software companies to introduce negative prices in the trading platforms that they offer to brokers. Supporting these negative prices will allow the platform to function without any issues," MetaQuotes said last week.

"In addition, new columns have been added to the list of orders and open positions (such as profitability of operations and market value), the maximum number of symbols in the Market Watch section has been increased to 5,000 and the search feature has also been improved."

This updated version also features a new subscription service, allowing traders to obtain market data from hundreds of markets and exchanges.

The MT5 trading platform and the MT4 platform have become an industry standard for trading on the forex. Although MetaTrader 4 remains the more popular of the two, brokerage firms often offer MetaTrader 5 as well.