If you’re a Forex trader and a Mac user then you might be limited when trying to find a broker with Mac compatible trading software. All web-based traders will of course work but what if you want to use the people’s favourite trader, MT4, say with your favourite broker?
If that’s the case then Mac users are a little unlucky because MT4 is natively a Windows only application and MetaQuotes never developed it to work on a Mac (or Linux for that case).
If you do want to use MT4 on a Mac don’t despair as thankfully there are options. Technically most Windows applications can be packaged up to work on a Mac through some form of emulation. The most tech-savvy Forex brokers know this and have developed such packages and are able to offer MT4 for Mac. This is typically offered as a downloadable Mac installer from the broker’s website.
It then installs the application directly on to the traders Mac as if it was a native application. In this case you can use and trade with MT4 and it will be fully supported by the broker. The problem comes as the majority of brokers do not offer a Mac version of MT4 so Mac users either have to find a hack to use a Windows version of MT4 on their machine or find a broker that offers MT4 for Mac.
Individuals that wish to trade with brokers that do not offer MT4 for Mac downloads can still get MT4 to work by using emulation software like WINE or Crossover but it will require some technical skills and there is no guarantee it will work correctly or be supported. Another option is to use a broker that offer a VPS that has MT4 installed that traders can simply dial-in to remotely in order to trade, but this option is also not for beginners.
The bottom line is that the best option is always to find a broker that offers a Mac compatible version of MT4. This is the fastest and most reliable route to using MT4 on a Mac.
Guest post by Alex Eliades of http://www.xglobalmarkets.com
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