Alpari MetaTrader 5 Goes Live At Last

A mere two and half years after it was first released for public testing it is now possible to trade live on MetaTrader 5 using an FSA regulated broker. Today Alpari announced that:

Alpari (UK) launches the live MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform with market depth and one-click trading.

To go with the new platform Alpari have also introduced a new "ECN account". According to their website opening one will allow you to:

Take full advantage of non-dealing desk execution, market depth, one-click trading, 1:500 leverage and spreads from 0 with no re-quotes.

The minimum deposit is $200, the maximum leverage is 500:1 and micro-lots are available also. Instruments are currently limited to spot FX and precious metals. Trades will be commission free until July 2nd, when prices will go up!

Alpari aren't the first UK broker to go live with MT5 however. ActivTrades did that a few weeks ago, and unlike Alpari they offer spread betting using MetaTrader 5, as well as spot forex and a range of index and commodity CFDs.  We've already added ActivTrades MT5 to our long term spread betting comparison test, and we'll also be testing these new Alpari ECN accounts along with LMAX MTF accounts in similar fashion.

As a taster, here's a comparison of spreads from Alpari MT5, ActivTrades SB MT5 and LMAX MT4:

Spread comparison for Alpari ECN, ActivTrades spreadbet and LMAX MT4

Finally, for the moment at least, here's what cable's depth of market from a variety of brokers looked like earlier this evening:

Depth of market comparison for Alpari ECN, Dukascopy and LMAX

Alpari ECN on the left, Dukascopy ECN in the middle, and LMAX MTF on the right. Dukascopy's numbers are in mio, and LMAX's in their standard 10k lots. Which out of that little lot most takes your fancy at this juncture?