FX week in review: MT4 and MT5 reinstated on App Store, XTB all-time high, partnerships

Gerald Segal 0 Comments March 12, 2023

It isn’t often that one story dominates the weekly FX Industry News headlines at FNG, but this was one of those weeks. Our most-viewed story of the week, and frankly of all 2023 year-to-date, was our FNG Exclusive report that MetaQuotes’ MT4 and MT5 trading apps were back up on the Apple App Store – and made Forex Factory’s Hottest Stories. The FNG story plus our behind-the-scenes explanation of ‘what happened’ was subsequently picked up on other sites which often copy our news headlines (you know who they are!), and across the web.

The reinstatement brought to a close a nearly six-month saga since MT4 and MT5 – the most popular trading apps among retail CFD traders – were removed by Apple in late September, a story that was also exclusively reported at the time by FNG.

Why were MT4 and MT5 removed from the App Store in the first place?

How did MetaQuotes get MT4/MT5 back up on the App Store?

How has this episode changed the FX/CFDs industry?

We explain below.

Some of the most read and commented-on FX industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:

Exclusive: MT4 and MT5 back up on the Apple App Store. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that the popular MT4 and MT5 trading apps are now back up and live on the Apple App Store. New users can now once again download the applications, and existing users can receive future updates of the apps. Late last September FNG broke what turned out to be the biggest FX and CFDs industry news story of 2022 – that Apple had removed MT4 and MT5 from its App Store.

XTB shares hit all-time high as 75% of 2022 profit set for Dividend, Buyback. Poland based Retail FX and CFDs broker XTB.com saw shares of its parent company XTB SA (WSE:XTB) hit an all time-high of PLN 36.90, after XTB announced that 75% of its 2022 profits would be returned to shareholders in the form of a Dividend and Share Buyback. We reported at the beginning of February that XTB had its best-ever year in 2022 with Revenues of PLN 1,444 million ($328 million) and Net Profit of PLN 765 million ($174 million), although the fourth quarter of the year saw a significant slowdown.

Finalto launches ODP Liquidity Solution. Leading institutional trading and liquidity services firm Finalto has announced the launch of its ODP Liquidity Solution, as one of a small number of financial institutions in South Africa with an ODP (Over-the-counter Derivative Product) license. Since the introduction of FMA 2016, a limited number of providers have had a license to market, price and execute derivative products such as CFDs. The license was issued to institutions with a high priority for compliance, responsible ways of engaging with clients, access to deep liquidity and a good technology and platform offering.

Advanced Markets integrates with liquidity aggregation provider FXCubic. FX and CFD brokerage solutions provider Advanced Markets has announced a new integration with FXCubic, a low latency, high-performance, liquidity aggregation and price management services provider. This FIX integration will enable Advanced Markets to expand its global reach and provide institutional clients with access to an extensive range of liquidity sources. The collaboration between the two companies will also allow for greater transparency in pricing, improved execution speed and lower transaction costs.

Muinmos appoints DL Consulting as Sales and Implementation partner. Denmark based RegTech firm Muinmos has announced that it has partnered with Cyprus-based fintech services consultancy DL Consulting for sales and implementation support. DL Consulting works with brokers worldwide to understand their pain points, saving them time and money by identifying the right solutions to help them to solve these issues. They implement and optimize their recommended solutions, ensuring the technology is rolled out effectively and customized to suit the client’s needs.