Amibroker vs MetaTrader – A Detailed Comparison

Amibroker and MetaTrader (MT4 & MT5) have been popular among technical analysts and algorithmic traders over the years. Both of these softwares are excellent in terms of features and suffice every common need of a trader. While Amibroker exists for years, MetaTrader is relatively new. In this post, we’ll do a comparative analysis of Amibroker vs Metatrader (both MT4 and MT5). It’s a totally unbiased comparison based on self-research, market survey, and usability analysis.

Charting

Both these softwares offer beautiful charting interface where you can analyze stock charts, superimpose indicators, and draw patterns/trendlines.

However, Amibroker has a slight edge in terms of multi-timeframe analysis, also it can load charts in any timeframe while in MetaTrader you can use certain pre-defined timeframes. Charting features are also faster in Amibroker compared to MetaTrader.

Performance

None of the technical analysis softwares can beat Amibroker in terms of performance. It can do backtesting and optimization on years of data within few minutes. It is due to the unique multi-threading architecture with C++ based compiler. The software is very light weighted and can run without consuming any significant CPU resources

MT4 and MT5, although slower than Amibroker, can still manage to do a lot of tasks within a blink of an eye. They are just second to Amibroker in terms of performance among all the technical analysis softwares we have reviewed so far.

Automated Trading

MetaTrader offers a native auto-trading interface and several brokers in the US offer direct integration with MetaTrader. Subscription to MetaTrader also entitles you access to the marketplace for algo trading strategies where you can buy/rent trading systems.

Amibroker is still evolving in this space. Auto trading is possible through Amibroker but it is not as straight forward as MT4 and MT5.

Also Read: Amibroker vs MetaStock

Programming Language

Amibroker uses an array-based programming language known as AFL (Amibroker formula language), while Metatrader uses MQL (MQL4 and MQL5). Both the languages are similar to C/C++, but as per our user survey, AFL is relatively easier to learn for non-programmers.

License Cost

Amibroker offers a free trial version and the paid version starts from $279 which includes a perpetual license and 2 years of upgrade and support.

Metatrader is free of cost (for software usage), you’ll just need a data subscription

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This ends our Amibroker vs MetaTrader comparison. The choice of software should depend on your needs and use cases. If you are looking for robust, light-weight software with a minimum learning curve, go for Amibroker. And if auto-trading is your priority, then look no further than MetaTrader.

Please let me know in the comments section if you have any pointers to add.