Tickwire blog
Algo trading on MT4 and MT5, explained
Guides for traders and developers: AI agents and MCP, Python, order safety, risk controls and how MetaTrader really behaves.
Which AI apps can place trades on MT4 and MT5?
Which chat apps and developer tools can connect to a MetaTrader account and place orders, as of October 2026, and what to check before you let one trade.
All posts
Risk controls for AI trading agents
The controls that keep an AI trading agent inside its limits: scoped and read-only keys, kill switches, a fail-closed pre-trade hook, idempotent orders and an audit log.
Why live results differ from your backtest
The usual reasons a strategy earns less live than in its backtest: costs, slippage, data, time zones, overfitting and outages, and how to measure the gap.
Broker server time is not UTC
Why MetaTrader servers often run on UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer, how that shifts candles, deals and daily loss limits, and how to convert broker time correctly.
Build your first MT5 trading bot in Python
A small Python trading bot for MT5 over plain REST: health checks, candles, a toy moving-average signal, orders that can't double, and correct handling of unknown outcomes.
Getting started with algorithmic trading
What algorithmic trading is, the parts every trading system needs, how to write rules a computer can follow, and how to test and run them without avoidable losses.
Hosted terminals vs MetaTrader on a VPS
Running MT4 or MT5 on your own VPS or using a hosted terminal API: an objective comparison of cost, control, maintenance and monitoring.
Is your trading bot really connected?
A running MetaTrader terminal is not a working one. How to tell connected from merely alive, using the broker link, account reads and price movement, on MT4 and MT5.
MT4 and MT5 order types, explained for API users
Market, limit, stop and stop limit orders on MT4 and MT5, plus stop loss, take profit, expiry and fill rules, with the API fields that set each one.
MT4 vs MT5 for algorithmic trading
How MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 differ for automated trading: order types, positions, timeframes, backtesting, data and code, and how to choose.
Trading MT5 from Python on a Mac or Linux
The official MetaTrader 5 Python library needs Windows. Here are the honest options for Mac and Linux users: a Windows VM, a VPS, or a hosted REST API.
Prop firm accounts and your IP address
Why prop firms often look at IP addresses and devices, what shared and dedicated addresses mean, and why your own firm's written rules are the only answer that counts.
A retry should never place a second trade
Why a timed-out order request may still have filled, and how idempotency keys, an honest unknown result and careful reconciling keep a retry from opening a second position.
Safe prompts for an AI trading assistant
Prompts that make an AI trading assistant check before it acts, state orders exactly, handle unclear results, and never retry into a second trade, plus prompts to avoid.
What MCP is, and why traders should care
A plain guide to the Model Context Protocol: how AI apps call tools, what a trade tool call looks like, local vs hosted servers, and the risks traders should know.
Why your AI assistant says it can't trade
Why chat assistants refuse to place trades: no broker connection by default, safety rules, the need for an explicit tool, and confirmations for consequential actions.