MT4 after twenty years: an honest take on the platform
MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, nudging brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is not complicated: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Moving to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and the majority of users can't justify the effort.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the differences are marginal for most strategies. MT5 has a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is about the same. If you're weighing up the two, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. The part that trips people up is configuration. On first launch, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into a single workspace. Close all of them and open just the markets you actually trade.
Save yourself repeating the same setup by using templates. Configure your usual indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. From there you can apply it to any new chart instantly. Minor detail, but over time it adds up.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price on the chart, which makes your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4 comes with a backtester that gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the quality of those results hinges on your tick data. The default history data is interpolated, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated mathematically. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, download third-party tick data.
The "modelling quality" percentage tells you more than the headline profit number. Below 90% means the results shouldn't be taken seriously. I've seen people post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and ask why live trading looks different.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 comes with 30 built-in technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. But where MT4 gets interesting comes from community-made indicators coded in MQL4. There are over 2,000 options, ranging from simple moving average variations to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
The install process is painless: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. The risk is reliability. Publicly shared indicators vary wildly. A few are solid tools. Others haven't been updated since 2015 and will crash your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, look at the last update date and whether users have flagged problems. A broken indicator doesn't only show wrong data — it can lag your entire platform.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
There are several built-in risk management features that most traders never configure. Probably the most practical one is maximum deviation in the order window. This controls how much slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Without this configured and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses are obvious, but trailing stops are overlooked. Right-click an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and define the pip amount. Your stop loss adjusts with the trade goes into profit. It won't suit every approach, but on trending pairs it takes away the need to micromanage the trade.
None of this is complicated to set up and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
Expert Advisors on MT4 sounds appealing: define your rules and let the machine execute. In reality, most EAs lose money over any meaningful time period. Those advertised with flawless equity curves are often curve-fitted — they look great on the specific data they were tested on and more info break down when conditions shift.
That doesn't mean all EAs are worthless. A few people build their own EAs for well-defined entry rules: opening trades at session opens, automating position size calculations, or exiting positions at predetermined levels. These utility-type EAs are more reliable because they do defined operations that don't require discretion.
If you're evaluating EAs, use a demo account for a minimum of two to three months. Running it forward in real time is more informative than any backtest.
MT4 beyond the desktop
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. Mac users has always been a workaround. Previously was running it through Wine, which mostly worked but introduced visual bugs and occasional crashes. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions built on compatibility layers, which work more smoothly but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
On mobile, on both iOS and Android, are surprisingly capable for monitoring positions and managing trades on the move. Full analysis on a 5-inch screen is pushing it, but adjusting a stop loss while away from your desk is genuinely handy.
Check whether your broker offers a native Mac build or just a wrapper — it makes a real difference day to day.