This week we saw the ‘writing on the wall’ in our comments when a MetaQuotes representative expressed that a third party technology provider that we had written about violated the MetaTader license agreements. Explaining themselves and what was being done wrong, they added:
“No Modifications: You will not undertake, cause, permit or authorize the modification, translation into other languages, creation of derivative works, reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling or hacking of the MetaQuotes’ Software or any part thereof. You will also not create other software based on the MetaQuotes’ software. Not adapt, reproduce, enhance, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise modify or engage in any other similar manipulation of the System or any portion thereof without the Licensor’s express prior written approval.”
(For its part the provider offered its own answer and even expressed to us that they have been trying to reach out to MetaQuotes.)
Following on that warning shot, MetaQuotes has posted on its admin site to brokers and partners that:
“Unfortunately, some brokers and third-party developers do not pay attention to MetaQuotes Software Corp. license agreements and keep implementing third-party components to the terminals, as well as modifying distribution packages. Therefore, we have to raise this issue and recall several conditions: • paragraph 2.3 of the license agreement for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 client terminals No Modifications: You will not undertake, cause, permit or authorize the modification, translation into other languages, creation of derivative works, reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling or hacking of the MetaQuotes' Software or any part thereof. You will also not create other software based on the MetaQuotes' software. • subparagraph of the license agreement for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms ("Rights and Obligations of the Parties" section related to the Licensee) Not adapt, reproduce, enhance, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise modify or engage in any other similar manipulation of the System or any portion thereof without the Licensor’s express prior written approval. We strongly oppose the inclusion of any DLL/EXE files in the client terminals, forced activation of DLL calls with changes in the program's default settings, as well as modifying distribution packages. We earnestly ask all our clients to withdraw from using modifications. Only conventional distributions are allowed for use.
There has obviously been some friction recently between the platform provider and its third party eco-system as MetaQuotes has launched competing products. However, with the exception of individual cases, this is the first time that we are seeing a broad general announcement taking place.
While the specific reasons why MetaQuotes is now coming out against what it believes are illegal providers, it is worth noting that this week, many MetaTrader brokers including Alpari UK, Markets.com, and LMAX all suffered trading glitches on the platform. According to insiders, brokers were told that there were conflicts between their plugins and MetaQuotes settings that created a software conflict. As such, it would make sense that MetaQuotes is seeking to create some sort of standardization among its broker system.
When discussing MetaTrader glitches with several Bridge providers in the past, they had mentioned that they believed that while there are valid complaints against the platform, brokers can’t complain when some ‘off the shelf, untested plugin that they buy from an unknown programmer’ causes their servers to fail.
Looking ahead, it will be worth watching what effects MetaQuotes campaign has on brokers and whether it Leads to them launching a more accommodating partner system.
