MT4 and MT5 Removed from Indian Google Play Store

Popular trading applications MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) have recently experienced accessibility issues in India, an important market for MetaQuotes, as it hosts one-fifth of global retail investors. According to local media reports, these trading platforms, owned by MetaQuotes, have been blocked from the Indian Google Play Store.

Last weekend, an Indian Youtuber (Forex Salary) with more than 100,000 subscribers posted a video in which he searched for several popular trading applications in the Android app store on his mobile phone. He discovered that both MT4 and MT5 had been removed and banned from the Indian version of the app store. In addition, XM and Tickmill also showed as "isn't available" or had no results in the store.

The exact cause of this problem is still unknown, but local regulators have recently issued several warnings regarding the activities of unregulated brokers, which may provide some clues.

On November 14, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) updated its warning list, including 75 entities operating electronic trading platforms (ETPs) for forex transactions without authorization from the regulator. Among these entities were above-mentioned MT4/5, XM, Tickmill, as well as other internationally renowned trading brands such as Alpari, Exness, eToro, IC Markets, FXCM, and XTB, etc.

This is not the first delisting issue MetaQuotes has encountered. In September 2022, the removal of MT4 and MT5 from the Apple App Store caused a shock in the industry. However, after nearly half a year, the MetaQuotes application returned to the mobile store.