On September 24, it was reported that Apple Inc. removed the popular Forex and Contracts for Difference (CFD) trading platforms MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) from its App Store.

FxGecko's check shows that MT4 and MT5 trading apps do not appear when searching on the Apple App Store. However, they can still be found on the Google Playstore.

Reasons why MT4 and MT5 were taken down from the Apple App Store

There is a lot of speculation online about the reasons why MT4 and MT5 were taken down from the Apple App Store, with most of the discussion focusing on the following 2 points.

1. may be linked to Western sanctions against Russian entities and individuals.

Although MetaQuotes is based in Cyprus, the company has its roots in Russia, and its founder and CEO, Renat Fatkhullin, and his brother Lenar Fatkhullin, who serves as the company's marketing director, are both Russian.

2. relates to another recent trend by Apple to remove apps that receive a certain number of complaints, both about the apps themselves and the way they are used.

A recent hit article titled How One Man Lost $1 Million To A Crypto ‘Super Scam’ Called Pig Butchering mentioned scammers getting retail traders to download MetaTrader as part of a scam. 

The article also outlined how MetaQuotes allows MT4/MT5 licensees to use a specific plug-in called Virtual Trader, which scammers can use to "manipulate market prices and simulate account balances, profits or losses. MetaQuotes, on the other hand, has almost no rules to prevent its licensees from using third-party plug-in software.

While MetaQuotes itself is not involved in the scam, the article quotes an Apple spokesperson who said "the company is investigating complaints about MetaTrader and will take additional action to protect App Store users as necessary."

At the moment, neither Apple nor MetaQuotes has given a specific reason for the removal of MT4 and MT5 from the App Store. However, a representative of MetaQuotes told the press that he does not see any connection between Apple's actions and the Western sanctions against Russia.

The representative also noted that the removal of trading apps from the App Store caused significant losses to their company. The removal of these apps affects not only the parties involved, but the industry as a whole.

MetaQuotes said it is contacting Apple in an effort to clarify the situation and resolve the issue. The company further stated that it is considering various other options.

What should investors be aware of when using MT4 and MT5?

First, check if your broker is legitimate.

You can check the broker's regulatory license, customer complaints, related companies and other information on FxGecko to avoid potential scam brokers.

Next, keep your account trading records.

One of the most important pieces of evidence you need to maintain in forex trading is a complete account transaction history. This history includes trade lines, each with order/ticket number, date/time of entry and exit (seconds/milliseconds), order lots, additional stops/profits, commissions, swaps, etc. They are sorted chronologically.

According to the experiences described by complaining users on FxGecko, you will not be able to obtain critical evidence about the trade if you have a dispute with the trading platform that leads to account restriction. Moreover, you cannot rely only on the broker's server to store records, as they can modify the history or even delete them.

Therefore, FxGecko recommends that you keep a complete transaction history once a week or every two weeks, and before each withdrawal request is submitted.

Since the account transaction history html (or xml) is not automatically saved locally. Therefore, you must export it manually.

You can see how to view and save the transaction history by clicking here：

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