Broker server time, what does it matter?
Very often, when opening an order in the MetaTrader trading platform, you notice that the trade opening time does not match what is shown on your watch.
Many people immediately have doubts about the integrity of their broker and the reality of the quotes provided.
In fact, the reason for the discrepancy is not due to the DC's malicious intentions; your local time simply does not match the time on the MetaTrader server.
Today, the time in the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms of most popular brokers coincides with the Eastern European time, which is GMT+2 in winter or GMT+3 in summer.
An exception might be if you're trading through a dealing center that uses its own terminal to open trades. In this case, you'll need to check the time with consultants or determine it empirically by opening an order on a demo account.
There are several points when you should take this aspect into account in your work:
Time in the economic calendar
If you trade using a news strategy, you probably use a tool such as an economic calendar :
It indicates the time of scheduled news releases, so it is important to synchronize the time in the economic calendar with the time in your trading platform.
This way, you can avoid making mistakes when opening trades and not miss important news releases.
Script execution time
When installing some scripts, such as expert advisors or indicators, you may sometimes need to specify the server time.
In some cases, this setting may be crucial, as the script's algorithm takes the trading session into account.
Pending orders
While market orders are fairly straightforward, when setting pending orders, there's a parameter that allows you to set the time and date:
This parameter displays the time when the cancellation of the placed order will occur. This parameter is quite important and sometimes even a few hours can play a decisive role.
Trading sessions
Many strategies are tied to a trading session schedule, which likely doesn't align with the trading platform's time:
To avoid having to calculate which trading session you are currently trading in, it is easiest to use the trading session indicator - https://time-forex.com/indikators/indikator-sessiy-mt5
In most cases, you can trade without regard to your broker's server time, but if your case falls under the above, it is advisable to take this into account.
