MT4 after twenty years: an honest take on the platform

Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms

MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, nudging brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is simple: MT4 works, and people trust what works. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Migrating to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and most traders don't see the point.

After testing MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the differences are marginal for most strategies. MT5 has a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is very similar. For most retail strategies, MT4 still holds its own.

Getting MT4 configured properly the first time

Installation takes a few minutes. The part that trips people up is configuration. On first launch, MT4 loads with four charts squeezed onto one window. Clear the lot and open just the instruments you actually trade.

Save yourself repeating the same setup by using templates. Configure your go-to indicators once, then right-click and save as template. Then you can load it onto other charts in two clicks. Sounds trivial, but over months it makes a difference.

Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which can make buy entries seem misaligned by the spread amount.

MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations

MT4's built-in strategy tester gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the quality of those results comes down to your tick data. The default history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps mathematically. For anything beyond a rough sanity check, download proper historical data.

Modelling quality matters more than the profit figure. If it's under 90% indicates the results aren't trustworthy. People occasionally post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why the EA fails in real conditions.

This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but only if you feed it decent data.

Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?

MT4 comes with 30 built-in technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. However where MT4 gets interesting is in user-built indicators built with MQL4. There are thousands available, covering everything from tweaked versions of standard tools to elaborate signal panels.

Adding a custom indicator is simple: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and it appears in the Navigator panel. The catch is reliability. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are genuinely useful. Many are abandoned projects and will crash your terminal.

Before installing anything, check how recently it was maintained and if other traders report issues. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can slow down your entire platform.

Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore

MT4 has a few native risk management features that a lot of people don't bother with. First worth mentioning is maximum deviation in the order window. This controls the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll mt4 broker get whatever price the broker gives you.

Everyone knows about stop losses, but MT4's trailing stop feature is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and set a distance. It follows with the trade goes in your favour. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but if you're riding trends it reduces the temptation to sit and watch.

You can configure all of this in under five minutes and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.

EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect

EAs sounds appealing: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors lose money over any decent time period. EAs advertised with incredible historical results are often fitted to past data — they worked on the specific data they were tested on and stop working once conditions shift.

None of this means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders code their own EAs for well-defined entry rules: opening trades at session opens, automating position size calculations, or taking profit at fixed levels. These smaller, focused scripts work because they do repetitive actions without needing interpretation.

If you're evaluating EAs, test on demo first for a minimum of a few months. Forward testing reveals more than historical results ever will.

MT4 beyond the desktop

MT4 was built for Windows. Mac users deal with friction. The old method was Wine or PlayOnMac, which mostly worked but introduced display glitches and the odd crash. Some brokers now offer Mac-specific builds using Crossover or similar wrappers, which work more smoothly but remain wrappers at the end of the day.

MT4 mobile, available for both iPhone and Android, work well for watching open trades and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a mobile device isn't realistic, but managing exits while away from your desk is worth having.

It's worth confirming if your broker provides real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.