Changes to MT4 Symbol Extensions
Important Note: Changes to MT4 Symbol Extensions on ECN LIQUIDITY will Come into Effect on Friday May 21st at Market Close.
Dear Valued Clients,
Please note that to better structure our liquidity sources we will be issuing a NEW SYMBOL SET on our ECN MT4 platform. The MT4 symbols for all instruments (FX and CFDs) will convert from having a “.ecn” extension, to having no extension. Please read this message in it’s entirety to see if or how this may impact you.
Here is an example of the symbol set naming convention change:
- ecn will change to just EURUSD
- ecn will change to just XAUUSD
- ecn will change to just DOWUSD
The change will take place on the weekend of May 21st 2021.
So please note that after Friday May 21st, by the end of the trading day, you will need to close any old trading charts, and re-open the charts with new symbol extension. If you have any open trades, we will manually change the extension on these trades for you from having the .ecn extension, to the extension being removed.
SPECIAL NOTE TO ECN MT4 CLIENTS USING EAs and/or TRADE COPIERS
After the weekend of May 21st 2021, all Expert Advisors will need to be re-applied / re-attached to the new chart window with the new symbol pair as mentioned above without the “.ecn” extension. This is very important, as failing to re-load your EAs or copiers on the new symbols and charts may result in missed trades or your EAs being unable to trade.
If you cannot bring your account flat by May 21st, and you have open position(s) going in to the weekend, and if you believe that your EA will not continue to manage your open position(s) once the symbol set change has been applied, then please simply contact us to request an extended change over date by e-mailing accounts@mtcookfinancial.com. We can extend this change by up to 90 days to allow for ample time for you to bring your account flat. Simply notify us when you bring it flat, and we will change the symbols over at that point.
Here is a basic Q and A on the change as we always find this helps to ensure there is no confusion.
1) What is this change?
This is a naming convention (simplification) change in our ECN MT4 Symbol sets from having a “.ecn” extension to having no extension (i.e. EURUSD.ecn will simply change to EURUSD).
2) Why are you making this change?
The change is being made at the request of our ECN technology Vendor (Spotex) to help us structure and standardize various different and new independent liquidity streams, all under one symbol set. It will also allow us to bring on Cryptocurrency CFDs this weekend as well. This has no impact on our ECN execution or existing product offering, or pricing etc… It is simply an organizational and standardization change.
3) Who is impacted by this change?
Live ECN MT4 clients only!
Demo accounts will not be impacted.
DMA clients will not be impacted.
Not sure what liquidity source you are on? If your account begins with 8xxxxxx (server AtlanticPearl-Live 1) you are on the ECN liquidity stream. If your account begins with 15xxxxx (server MTCOOK-Live) you are a DMA client and will not impacted.
4) Do I need to do anything?
The change will be automatic and you will not need to do anything to facilitate the change. You will only need to ensure you close down any old charts and load the new symbol charts without the .ecn extension going forward before you can place new trades.
5) I am not a trader, but an investor in a Managed Account, will this impact me?
No, this will have no impact on you.
6) If I am using an MT4 EA or a Trade Copier will this impact me?
Probably not – but possibly. Most EAs are well coded enough to easily handle such a change and continue to manage/track open trades with an extension change. We recently made a similar change on our DMA stream and there were no problems from any clients. When clients loaded their EAs on the new charts with the new extension, the EAs recognized their existing trades. However, the safest approach if you are not sure, is to bring your trades flat (if at all possible) by Market Close on Friday, May 21st. You will have no problems in this case, and simply need to reload your expert advisors on to the new symbol set charts when the market opens and begin trading again.
However, if you are using an MT4 EA or trade copier, and your account is NOT flat by Friday May 21st at market close, and if your algo will NOT support your open trades if the symbol extension is changed from “.ecn” to no extension (i.e., it will stop tracking the existing trades and “orphan” them from being managed), then please contact us at accounts@mtcookfinancial.com. We will postpone the changing of symbol sets on your account for up to 90 days so you can change this over at your own pace at a later date.
If you are using a commercial EA, and have open trades that you cannot bring flat at this time, and you are unsure if your expert will manage trades with the new symbol extension, it is best to speak to your vendor to confirm. If you wish to err on the side of caution, just let us know if you require an extension on the changeover date again by emailing accounts@mtcookfinancial.com with your account number you wish to postpone.
We will send another reminder out about this change on Friday morning, to ensure you have time to prepare for this in the case that if it will affect your account.
Please contact us at accounts@mtcookfinancial.com if you have any further questions on this matter.
Sincerely,
