Protrading companies without access to MT4/5 – MetaQuotes gives an ultimatum

Australian FX/CFD broker Blueberry Markets announced that it has ended offering its market data and MT4 and MT5 platforms to proptrading companies. This is another company that has recently decided to take such a step. This is the aftermath of a recent mini-scandal in the industry, where MetaQuotes itself began to push itself to the wall Forex brokers.

Blueberry Markets closes to proptrading

Blueberry Markets announced that it is ending cooperation with prop-trading companies in terms of sharing data and platforms, breaking off contacts with all entities in the industry, including MyFundedFX, which was one of the largest clients of the company from this sector. Blueberry Markets has partnered with several props to provide access to MetaQuotes demo servers and market data.

Dean Hyde, CEO of Blueberry Markets, said:

“Blueberry Markets respects the prop trading industry. Balancing our appreciation of the industry's recent popularity and sustained growth trajectory against the concerns expressed by a key infrastructure provider (MetaQuotes - editor's note), Blueberry Markets has made the decision to discontinue our relationship. After lengthy discussions, it has been decided that the only way to meaningfully address these concerns is to discontinue providing services to the prop trading industry through its current offering of trading platforms.”

At the same time, the Blueberry broker plans to return to cooperation with props, but only under a license from Vanuatu and only on platforms other than MT4/5. At the same time, MyFundedFX published a tweet a few days ago in which it announced that integration with cTrader platform has been completed and trading will be handled by Purple Trading SC (Seychelles).

Why are brokers stopping offering MT4/5 props?

This is not the first such case. In addition to Blueberry Markets, similar decisions have recently been made by, among others: eightcap, Black Bull Markets and other brokers serving prop trading firms that have come under pressure from MetaQuotes.

What's causing all the confusion? This is the result of the concerns of the creators of the most popular platform in the world about possible consequences that could arise from the American financial supervision. But from the beginning.

Proptrading companies "they are recruiting" their traders through the so-called investment challenges, which they must pass to be able to proceed to the live account stage. In practice, these companies are often not subject to any regulations, and at the same time operate globally, accepting customers from all over the world, including from the USA. Even though trading ultimately takes place on a trading account belonging to the company, investment decisions are made by the trader. And in practice, he may also be a citizen of the United States.

READ: Forex brokers enter proptrading. A new trend visible in the industry

Meanwhile, US regulators are extremely sensitive on this point. For over a decade, regulations have been in force that force Forex/CFD brokers to meet strict standards set by American supervision NFA, which consequently means that brokers not licensed in the United States directly inform that they do not accept citizens from this country. It's over, period. But proptrading companies don't do this anymore because... they are not brokers and it does not apply to them. So why did MetaQuotes decide to take matters into its own hands? Probably for fear of wrath from US regulators. Not so long ago, 1,5 years ago MetaTrader 4/5 platforms have been removed from the App Store, and it took… 6 miesięcy. Now the consequences could be even more severe and perhaps irreversible.

The attention regarding the activity of props from the American supervision was certainly intensified as a result of the outbreak of the scandal and embezzlement of funds by one of the then industry leaders - MyForexFunds. But that's certainly not the end.

What awaits the proptrading industry?

Most likely, others will follow in the footsteps of Blueberry Markets and others and a mass migration of prop-trading companies to other trading platforms will begin, which has practically already begun. This is certainly unfavorable for the industry itself, because MetaTrader still remains number 1 among retail traders. But won't creators of other platforms soon follow in MetaQuotes' footsteps? Logically speaking, it can be assumed that it is only a matter of time, and regulation of the proptrading industry seems to be inevitable in the long term.