Financial traders hate to be out of the loop. When the market moves as fast as it does, and profits and losses can be made in a matter of seconds, they like to have access to the markets at all times. First they could only trade on a desktop computer, then came mobile laptop software and now, of course, there are Android apps. We’re going to take a look at one of those apps, a mobile version of MetaTrader 5, which is the platform of choice for top market traders.

Let’s start off by saying that it’s a very good system, and will certainly be an asset to anyone involved in forex, but it’s not ideal as a standalone system. Mainly this is a shortcoming of mobile devices as a whole, not just this particular app.

The interface is well laid out, and looks just as high quality as you’d expect from a product for this kind of market. Along the top you’ve got options for quotes, chart, trade, history and settings – the main functions you need to trade the market with. Prices and quotes stream quickly and there’s a handy use of the periodicity table.

It’s a surprisingly comprehensive selection for an app. The charts function in particular is pretty much as complete as you’d find on most desktop platforms, and it operates nicely too. You can pinch and zoom in on charts to view more and more detailed information, and it works more smoothly and intuitively than PC software. The downside however, and the reason this app isn’t all encompassing is that it’s hard to get all of the information you need on the screen at once – it can’t display a great number of indicators or bars concurrently.

In conclusion, the MetaTrader 5 app for Android is a brilliant tool for keeping track of prices and quotes while you’re on the move, but it’s not a comprehensive forex portal