It’s not that developing for MetaStock is hard, it’s just different. I am used to working with MetaTrader and more recently NinjaTrader. MetaStock offers all of the great features one would look for in a trading platform. Navigating around is a bit difficult, しかし. The biggest obstacle for me is how differently MetaStock handles tasks when compared to other platforms
Of course I recognize comparing anything to MetaTrader isn’t fair in some respects. MetaTrader is a much simpler platform to be sure. MetaStock is significantly more robust in its features and abilities. Where MetaTrader instantly opens charts for you right after installation, MetaStock opens to a kind of passive mode. The platform does not display anything until the user requests it.
When I develop for MT4, I only have to locate and copy an EA for delivery to our customers. That’s not the case with MetaStock. Thankfully MetaStock, like NinjaTrader, has an import/export tool to help. In MetaStock you simply run the Organizer and the wizard will guide you through all of the details of creating an export for backup or delivery to another user.
Each of the major trading platforms has its own set of unique features and each has its own quirks. As noted earlier MetaTrader feels like it’s quicker and easier to get started. The learning curve is short. しかし, in comparison to NinjaTrader and MetaStock, MT4’s feature set is limited. The best analogy that I can think of is a bike doesn’t take as much skill and practice as driving a car on the highway.
My biggest beef with MetaStock at this point would be the language used for the indicators and EAs. Compared to MQL and C#, the language feels limited and somewhat clunky. It requires DLL programming much more often than other platforms.