A practical look at MT4 for forex traders
What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years 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. Moving to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and the majority of users would rather keep trading than recoding.
I spent time testing 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 feels very similar. Unless you need MT5-specific features, MT4 is more than enough.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. Where people waste time is configuration. By default, MT4 shows four charts squeezed onto the screen. Shut them all and open just the markets you actually trade.
Chart templates save time. Set up your usual indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. From there you can apply it to any new chart in two clicks. Small thing, but over weeks it adds up.
Something most people miss: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price by default, which can make entries appear wrong until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4's built-in strategy tester lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the quality of those results depends entirely on 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 needs accuracy, download third-party tick data.
Modelling quality is more important than the bottom-line PnL. Anything below 90% means the results aren't trustworthy. People occasionally post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why live trading looks different.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but it's only as good as the data you give it.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. However the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators written in MQL4. There are over 2,000 options, spanning simple moving average variations to elaborate signal panels.
Installing them is straightforward: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Free indicators range from excellent to broken. A few are genuinely useful. Many are abandoned projects and can freeze your terminal.
Before installing anything, look at how recently it was maintained and if users mention bugs. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze MT4.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
You'll find a few native risk management features that most traders never configure. First worth mentioning is maximum deviation in the trade execution window. This defines how much slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and the broker can fill you at whatever price the broker gives you.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but the trailing stop function is worth exploring. Click on an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and define a distance. The stop moves with price moves in your favour. It won't suit every approach, but if you're riding trends it removes the need to stare at the screen.
You resources can configure all of this in under five minutes and they take some of the guesswork out of trade management.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
Automated trading through Expert Advisors sounds appealing: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors underperform over any meaningful time period. EAs sold with flawless equity curves tend to be curve-fitted — they performed well on historical data and fall apart once conditions shift.
This isn't to say all EAs are worthless. A few people code custom EAs to handle one particular setup: opening trades at session opens, managing position sizing, or closing trades at set levels. These utility-type EAs work because they execute defined operations without needing discretion.
If you're evaluating EAs, use a demo account for a minimum of a few months. Running it forward in real time is more informative than backtesting alone.
MT4 beyond the desktop
The platform was designed for Windows. If you're on macOS face friction. The traditional approach was Wine or PlayOnMac, which did the job but introduced rendering issues and occasional crashes. Certain brokers now offer Mac-specific builds wrapped around Crossover or similar wrappers, which work more smoothly but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
MT4 mobile, available for both Apple and Android devices, are genuinely useful for keeping an eye on open trades and managing trades on the move. Doing proper analysis on a phone screen is pushing it, but managing exits on the go has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has a proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — the experience varies a lot between the two.