Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, pushing brokers toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is simple: MT4 works, and people trust what works. A huge library of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and most traders can't justify the effort.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the differences are smaller than you'd expect. MT5 has a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality feels nearly identical. For most retail strategies, MT4 still holds its own.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
Installation takes a few minutes. What actually causes problems is the setup after install. Out of the box, MT4 shows four charts crammed into the screen. Shut them all and open just the instruments you follow.
Templates are worth setting up early. Set up your usual indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. From there you can apply it to any new chart in two clicks. Sounds trivial, but over months it saves hours.
A quick tweak that helps: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price by default, which makes your entries look off by the spread amount.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4's built-in strategy tester allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the accuracy of those results depends entirely on your tick data. Standard history data from MetaQuotes is interpolated, meaning it fills in missing ticks with made-up prices. For anything beyond a rough sanity check, grab third-party tick data.
Modelling quality is more important than the bottom-line PnL. Anything below 90% means the results are probably misleading. Traders sometimes share screenshots with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why live trading looks different.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but only if you feed it decent data.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. But the platform's actual strength is in user-built indicators built with MQL4. There are over 2,000 options, covering everything from tweaked versions of standard tools to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
Adding a custom indicator is simple: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is reliability. Publicly shared indicators range from excellent to broken. Some are solid tools. Some are abandoned projects and can freeze your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at when it was last updated and whether users have flagged problems. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can slow down your entire platform.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
You'll find a few native risk management options that a lot of people never configure. First worth mentioning is maximum deviation in the new order panel. It sets how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. If you don't set it and you'll get whatever price comes through.
Stop losses are obvious, but the trailing stop function is underused. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and define a distance. Your stop loss follows with price moves into profit. Not perfect for every strategy, but on trending pairs it reduces the urge to micromanage the trade.
None of this is complicated to set up and the view more information difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
Automated trading through Expert Advisors attract traders for obvious reasons: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, a huge percentage of them fail to deliver over any extended time period. Those sold with incredible historical results are often over-optimised — they look great on the specific data they were tested on and break down the moment the market does something different.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders code custom EAs for specific, narrow tasks: opening trades at session opens, automating position size calculations, or exiting positions at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts tend to work because they do mechanical tasks that don't require interpretation.
If you're evaluating EAs, run them on a demo account for no less than several weeks in different conditions. Live demo testing reveals more than backtesting alone.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. If you're on macOS has always been friction. The old method was emulation, which mostly worked but came with rendering issues and stability problems. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions wrapped around compatibility layers, which are better but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
The mobile apps, on both iPhone and Android, work well for monitoring open trades and managing trades on the move. Doing proper analysis on a mobile device is pushing it, but managing exits while away from your desk is worth having.
Look into whether your broker has real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.