Binance, a well-known cryptocurrency exchange, has established itself as a leader in the industry since its founding in 2017. With its exponential growth, Binance has surpassed competitors who held top positions for years. With features such as high trading volumes, low fees, a wide range of instruments, and user-friendly design, Binance is an obvious choice for traders.
The web-based trading platform offered by Binance is feature-rich and stylish, boasting a dark color scheme and TradingView integration, an industry-standard chart widget. Order management is intuitive, even for beginners, allowing for easy market, limit, and stop orders, as well as specifying desired trading lots. Helpful popups provide additional clarification for each module of the trading block.
A desktop platform for Binance trading
For most traders, the web-based platform offered by Binance is sufficient. However, for those looking for more advanced functionality and active trading, an extra solution may be needed. Unfortunately, the native desktop application provided by Binance has almost the same capabilities as the web version, rendering it nearly useless.
Luckily, there are several alternative trading terminals that offer direct connections to Binance. One such terminal is Tiger.Trade, a feature-rich desktop application that has been constantly updated since 2015 and supports multiple exchanges in addition to Binance. While it is only suitable for manual trading and designed mainly for scalpers, it is also free to use.
Another option is Atani, available for both macOS and Windows. However, its interface is quite simple and doesn’t offer much additional functionality compared to the Binance native application.
These are just a couple of examples, as there are numerous other platforms available for trading cryptocurrencies on Binance. However, many experienced traders who have been active in the industry for years are familiar with the MetaTrader platform and prefer to use it.
Figure 1. MT5 to Binance main screen
Both MetaTrader 4 and 5 have amassed a client base of over 20 million users, many of whom are interested in trading cryptocurrencies using the platform. One option is to trade crypto CFDs, which are now offered by a vast majority of brokers, including IC Markets, FXPro, Roboforex, and many others.
However, most users prefer to interact directly with a third-party institution acting as a real exchange with order books, trade histories, various order types, and more. Additionally, people prefer to use cryptocurrencies directly, making deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions in crypto itself, rather than having a margin account with Forex/CFD brokers.
Unfortunately, MetaQuotes, the vendor of the MetaTrader platform, does not have any agreements for direct integration with any exchanges. This limitation forces users to seek out third-party solutions to use MetaTrader for direct trading on Binance or any other exchange.
MT5 to Binance
With the use of the internal coding language MQL4/5 in the MetaTrader platform, a custom trading panel MT5 to Binance was created, providing users with all the functionality of Binance within their beloved trading terminal. No longer will users need to use their browsers to trade on the largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Setting up the software is a breeze – just download it from the MQL5 website, input your API keys, and allow access to Binance endpoints. All settings are also adjustable, allowing users to customize the colours, font sizes, and frequency of data updates, among many other options.
Once the setup is complete, trading all asset types available on Binance, including Spot instruments, USDⓈ-M Futures, and COIN-M futures, is made possible. The trading platform also offers the commonly used order types such as Market, Limit, and Stop-Limit, which can be easily switched between using the buttons on the panel. Only one click is needed to make the switch.
Figure 2. Order displaying on chart of MT5 to Binance trading panel
An important part is instrument selection. In the trading panel, there is implemented the standard for MetaTrader behavior when the symbols are selected via Market Watch widget – users can add them there using the View – Symbols menu where the special category of Custom symbols is created. All the instruments there are divided into 3 groups of Spot, Futures, and COIN-M Futures that will allow the easier selection of symbols for trading. Current groups have their own postfix so this will eliminate any confusion as well.
For the selected symbol of the active chart, in the Market Watch, there is implemented automated updating of Ask, Bid, and last quote time so the instrument looks organic in the overall list of instruments.
The important feature of the trading panel is that downloads the desired length of history (in days) and keeps updating the charts in real-time. After the restart of the MetaTrader 5 the trading panel just downloads the remaining data so the charts are always kept in the actual state.
Trading with panel
When using the trading panel, the process is very intuitive as it is designed in the same style as the Binance exchange itself. Once a trading pair is selected, the next step is to define the parameters for the order.
As previously mentioned, there are three available order types, and the trader can select any of them directly on the trading panel. The next step is to define the order size, which can be done in two ways. The trader can either enter the lots directly or change the lots using the scroll bar, just like on the Binance exchange.
The next steps depend on the selected order type. In the case of a Market order, the only remaining step is to click either the Buy or Sell button. For pending orders, options such as order open price, take-profit, stop-loss, etc. are available for selection.
When the order is sent, the first indication of its status is the bar at the bottom of the panel. It transfers the message from the exchange, allowing the user to easily see if the order has been executed or not. Another indication of an executed order is the horizontal line with the symbol name, direction, and order type displayed on the chart. It is also possible to cancel an order by clicking the red cross at the right of the line. By default, the colors are the same as in MetaTrader, so they will look native.
When an order on Futures is executed, the position is opened, and it is also shown as a horizontal line on the chart. This means that all the main trading activity of the client is shown on the chart, providing a clear and easy-to-follow representation of the trading process.
Conclusion
The MetaTrader 5 platform is a powerful and widely used tool for trading on financial markets, and the ability to integrate it with the Binance exchange through a custom trading panel is a significant advantage for traders who prefer the MetaTrader interface.
The trading panel provides a familiar interface for Binance traders, and allows them to access all the features of the exchange without the need to switch between multiple platforms. The setup process is simple and straightforward, and users have the ability to customize the panel to their liking with adjustable settings for colors, font sizes, and data updates.
The panel also provides an easy way to select and trade all available asset types on Binance, including spot instruments, futures, and COIN-M futures. The order types available in the trading platform, such as market, limit, and stop-limit orders, allow for flexible trading strategies. The switching between these order types is implemented via buttons on the panel, making it quick and easy for users to adjust their positions.
In addition to the intuitive trading process, the panel provides helpful indicators such as automated updating of Ask, Bid, and last quote time for the selected symbol, and downloads the desired length of history (in days) while keeping the charts updated in real-time.
Overall, the MetaTrader 5 trading panel for Binance is a valuable tool for traders who prefer the MetaTrader interface, and provides a seamless and customizable trading experience for accessing the features of the Binance exchange.
