OANDA Japan has announced two major changes to its MetaTrader 4 server offerings for forex traders: the termination of the Tokyo Server MT4 Discretionary Plan and FX Tokyo Server MT4 “Forex-oj5k,” which is available on the FX Tokyo Server MT4 Standard Plan.

OANDA Japan Scaling Down MT4

Announced last week, the discontinuation of both servers is scheduled for December 13, 2024.

For the Tokyo Server MT4 Discretionary Plan, the brokerage's Japanese unit detailed that the creation of new sub-accounts under the plan will end on September 26, while the acceptance of orders will stop on October 18. The server’s availability will end on December 13.

The broker also asked traders using the server to close their positions before the deadline; otherwise, the platform will force-settle those positions after the termination of availability.

However, OANDA Japan customers using the FX Tokyo Server MT4 “Forex-oj5k” server have been asked to switch to the “oj1m” group, another MT4 server, “as soon as possible.” It also advised traders using automated trading (EA) to switch charts and set up their EA accordingly.

The Japanese brokerage operator further assured traders that the rate distribution and spreads for “oj5k” and “oj1m” are the same.

Until now, OANDA Japan has offered three MT4 servers under its Standard Plan, along with an additional Discretionary Plan. Now, with the termination of two servers, the brokerage is only offering two MT4 FX Tokyo servers, “oj1m” and “oj3m,” both under the Standard Plan.

While “oj1m” supports a trading volume of 10,000 to 1 million currencies, “oj3m” supports a trading volume of 10,000 to 3 million currencies.

The Advantages of MT5

Although OANDA Japan did not detail its intentions behind the sudden closure of the two MT4 servers, it highlighted the advantages of MetaTrader 5 (MT5) in one of its notices. Both platforms were developed by MetaQuotes, and MT5 is the successor to MT4. The developer of the trading platforms is also pushing the adoption of MT5 and has suspended the issuance of new MT4 licenses.

“As MT5 has more advanced functions and operations than MT4, we recommend using MT5,” OANDA Japan noted (translated from Japanese). “If you are currently using the MT4 Discretionary Plan, we encourage you to consider using MT5.”

OANDA is a major retail brokerage brand that offers trading services in foreign exchange, equities, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. It has a presence in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan, among several other countries. It is one of the few licensed brokerages that offer retail margin forex trading in the US.

Earlier media reports revealed that the owner of the brokerage firm is considering selling its stakes, but official confirmation is yet to come. CVC Capital Partners Asia Fund acquired OANDA in 2018.