Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, pushing brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is straightforward: MT4 works, and people trust what works. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and few people can't justify the effort.
After testing both platforms side by side, and the gap is smaller than you'd expect. MT5 adds a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting feels nearly identical. Unless you need MT5-specific features, MT4 is more than enough.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. The part that trips people up is the setup after install. By default, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into a single workspace. Shut them all and start fresh with the instruments you follow.
Chart templates save time. Configure your usual indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. From there you can load it onto other charts instantly. Minor detail, but over time it adds up.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price on the chart, which can make entries appear wrong until you realise the ask price is hidden.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
The strategy tester in MT4 lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the reliability of those results comes down to your tick data. Built-in history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning it fills in missing ticks with made-up prices. For anything that full report needs accuracy, grab proper historical data.
That quality percentage in the results matters more than the profit figure. Anything below 90% suggests the results are probably misleading. I've seen people share screenshots 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 it's only as good as the data you give it.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 comes with 30 built-in technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. That said, the platform's actual strength comes from custom indicators written in MQL4. You can find thousands available, spanning tweaked versions of standard tools to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
The install process is painless: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are genuinely useful. Some are abandoned projects and may crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at how recently it was maintained and whether other traders mention bugs. A poorly written indicator doesn't only show wrong data — it can freeze MT4.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
MT4 has several built-in risk management tools that the majority of users don't bother with. Probably the most practical one is maximum deviation in the order window. This controls the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Without this configured and you're accepting whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but trailing stops are underused. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and define the pip amount. Your stop loss follows when the trade goes your way. Not perfect for every strategy, but if you're riding trends it removes the urge to sit and watch.
These settings take a minute to configure and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
Expert Advisors on MT4 have obvious appeal: define your rules and let the machine execute. The reality is, a huge percentage of them lose money over any meaningful time period. EAs sold with flawless equity curves tend to be fitted to past data — they worked on past prices and fall apart when market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Some traders build custom EAs to handle specific, narrow tasks: entering at a specific time, calculating lot sizes, or exiting positions at set levels. These utility-type EAs work because they do defined operations where you don't need interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for at least two to three months. Live demo testing tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. Mac users has always been a workaround. The traditional approach was emulation, which mostly worked but introduced rendering issues and occasional crashes. A few brokers now offer Mac-specific builds using Wine under the hood, which work more smoothly but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
MT4 mobile, on both iOS and Android, are surprisingly capable for monitoring positions and tweaking stops. Doing proper analysis on a phone screen isn't realistic, but adjusting a stop loss from your phone has saved plenty of traders.
Check whether your broker offers a native Mac build or just a wrapper — it makes a real difference day to day.