For Japanese FX giant MONEX Group, the provision of the vastly popular and market share dominant MetaTrader 4 platform lasted just over a year, having been introduced in August 2013, and is now being consigned to the history books.
Subsequent to a previous announcement that MONEX Group was preparing to move away from MetaTrader 4 and concentrate on the provision of its proprietary platform MONEX FX Premium, the company has now announced the schedule relating to the phasing out of MetaTrader 4.
Today, MONEX Group has confirmed that at close of business on November 7, 2014, it will cease to offer MetaTrader 4, and has released a letter to clients in order to provide a full schedule of events relating to the matter.
The letter to clients states that once the MetaTrader 4 platform has been discontinued, MONEX Group will settle open trades as of 1.00pm on November 8, 2014 at the exchange rate which is current at that specific time.
Furthermore, MONEX Group will cease to handle deposits and withdrawals as of 1:00 on Saturday, 8 November 2014. However, clients can continue to request withdrawal via their “MT4 My page” within a period which spans between November 10, 2014 and November 14, 2014. Should clients not make withdrawals during that period, MONEX Group will act on their behalf and process the withdrawals without action from the client.
MONEX Group has confirmed that, should the customer have the Securities and Exchange comprehensive account with the firm, MONEX Group will credit the deposit to that account, otherwise MONEX Group will withdraw the client funds to the bank account associated with the trading account.
This move by MONEX Group represents a comprehensive corporate drive toward its proprietary platforms, not just in Japan, but also among its North American subsidiary IBFX, which offloaded all of its MetaTrader 4 client base in Australia and the United States to FXCM for $4.4 million last month, with IBFX now concentrating on its proprietary Tradestation platform.
In other markets in which proprietary platforms have dominated the electronic trading landscape, such as Britain due to the nature of its spread betting and CFD-orientated ecosystem, quite the contrary has occurred, with ETX Capital, IG Group and most recently City Index all having onboarded MetaTrader 4 in order to appeal to a wider international audience.
To read the full announcement from MONEX Group, click here.