A gradual shift towards the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) ) platform has continued with the addition of Turkish brokerage GCM Forex to its ranks of users. The group has become the latest broker to announce its compatibility with MT5, the latest to adopt the platform over its older variant, MT4. The development is important as it reflects a growing interest in the platform in Turkey, which presently operates as one of more tightly controlled jurisdictions in the FX market.
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Earlier this year, Finance Magnates exclusively reported that the Capital Markets Board of Turkey was imposing a maximum leverage on forex trading accounts to 1:10. Additionally, the size of the minimum deposit amount when opening a foreign exchange trading account was also announced in February. The official stance on this matter was that if clients could not deposit at least TRY 50,000 (approximately $14,300) then they should not be trading on the forex market – these regulations have since taken effect.
Turkish market warms to MT5
Alper Nergiz, CEO of GCM Forex, commented: "As GCM, we are glad to announce that we have launched MetaTrader 5 in a trading environment with changing trends and different customer needs. The introduction of this new Trading Platform will make a significant contribution to GCM’s product range. MetaTrader 5, providing user friendly trading and technical analysis tools, is expected to have positive impact on the trading activity of our clients.”
Alper Nergiz
Indeed, GCM Forex’s decision to support MT5 functionality is a further nod to the growing market penetration of the platform, which has secured an uptick in use amongst retail brokerages over the past few months. This has in turn been facilitated by a push from MetaQuotes itself, which has sought to roll out multiple incentives, updates, and builds in H1.
In addition to an industry shift, the adoption of MT5 in Turkey can also be attributed to its integration with Borsa Istanbul, one of the Middle East's largest exchanges. Since 2015 Borsa Istanbul has supported MT5 for forex and VIOP transactions. This stance was echoed by Mehmet Yildiz, CEO of MetaTürk Software:
"We are expecting to see more brokers preferring MetaTrader 5 platform for their connectivity to Borsa Istanbul, even more so after the equity exchange integration. I believe that the MetaTrader 5 platform will gradually increase its market share in the exchange markets in Turkey and will be ranked first sooner than expected.”
