MetaTrader 4 at IC Markets, Read From a South African Desk

MT4 is the older of the two terminals and the one that gives away most about your account: the server line you type at login names the company you contracted with, and every candle is stamped in that server's time rather than in SAST.

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MT4 servers: Equinix NY4, New York · SAST is a fixed UTC+2 with no daylight saving, so the 6-hour gap widens to 7 only when New York changes its clocks, never when you change yours · Raw Spread and Standard both available, stop out 50 per cent

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) at IC Markets

Raw Spread (USD 3.50 per lot per side) and Standard (no commission, spreads from 0.8 pips) both run on MT4 — the choice decides where the cost sits, not what the chart shows.
Server located in Equinix NY4, New York - most of the year 6 hours behind South Africa Standard Time (SAST), widening to 7 hours for part of the Southern Hemisphere summer
Swap Free runs on MT4, but it substitutes a flat published overnight holding fee for swap; USD 62 per lot per night on gold is the largest figure on that table.
Stop out sits at 50 per cent of margin on every account type, measured in the base currency — which for a South African client is never the rand.

Which IC Markets platform should you use?

Platform	Pricing model	Best for	Devices
MetaTrader 4 / MetaTrader 5	MetaTrader: USD 3.50 per lot per side on Raw Spread, USD 7.00 round turn; or Standard, with the cost folded into a spread from 0.8 pips	Automated strategies, and anyone who wants the NY4 hosting the broker publishes	Desktop, web and mobile builds; the download links live inside the Secure Client Portal
cTrader	USD 3.00 for every USD 100,000 of turnover, per side	Anyone who prefers the cTrader interface, or wants the nearer of the two server cities	Desktop, web, iOS and Android; hosted in London rather than New York
TradingView	Priced exactly as cTrader Raw Spread	Anyone already charting in TradingView	Browser

Three platforms, one account. Which row fits you is decided by where you want the cost to sit and which server you want on the other end.

What the server line in the MT4 login box is actually telling you

MetaTrader authenticates a numbered trading account against a named server, and that name is not decoration. The account exists on one server only, which is why a perfectly correct password still returns an invalid-account message when the server line is wrong. For a South African client the server line is also the visible edge of a question the marketing never raises. The broker's own registration feed routes South Africa by default to Raw Trading Ltd, the Seychelles company holding Securities Dealer's licence SD018, while a separate South African group company, International Capital Markets (Pty) Ltd, holds FSCA licence FSP 50715 as a public record on the FSCA's register. Two companies, one brand. Your client agreement names one of them, and the terminal quietly reflects the choice.

Chart dates are server dates

MT4 stamps every candle in server time. With the servers in Equinix NY4 and SAST fixed at UTC+2, a South African trading day is split across two server dates for part of the afternoon, and the daily bar you are reading closes late in the South African evening rather than at local midnight. Nothing is wrong with the chart; it is simply not on your clock. Set the offset once and remember which end moves: the gap changes when New York changes its clocks, never when you change yours. CFD trading carries a high risk of losing money.

Get started

MT4 installs from the Secure Client Portal once you open an account; the same build runs against a free demo, with simulated money and no rand leaving South Africa.