A practical look at MT4 for forex traders
MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, steering brokers toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders haven't moved. The reason is simple: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Migrating to MT5 means porting that entire library, and few people can't justify the effort.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the gap is less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 adds a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting is very similar. Unless you need MT5-specific features, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
Installation takes a few minutes. What actually causes problems is configuration. Out of the box, MT4 shows four charts crammed into a single workspace. Close all of them and open just the instruments you actually trade.
Chart templates save time. Set up your go-to indicators once, then save it as a template. From there you can apply it to any new chart without redoing the work. Small thing, but over time it makes a difference.
A quick tweak that helps: go to Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price on the chart, which can make your entries look off by the spread amount.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
The strategy tester in MT4 allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the accuracy of those results comes down to your tick data. Standard history data is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps with made-up prices. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, grab third-party tick data.
Modelling quality matters more than the headline profit number. If it's under 90% indicates the results shouldn't be taken seriously. Traders sometimes post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why the EA fails in real conditions.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but only if you feed it decent data.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 comes with 30 standard technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. But the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators built with MQL4. You can find a massive library, ranging from tweaked versions of standard tools to full trading dashboards.
Adding a custom indicator is simple: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. The catch is reliability. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. A few are well coded and maintained. Many haven't been updated since 2015 and may crash your terminal.
Before installing anything, verify the last update date and if other traders mention bugs. A poorly written indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze your entire platform.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
There are some risk management features that most traders 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're accepting whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but MT4's trailing stop feature is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and enter the pip amount. The stop adjusts automatically as the trade goes your way. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but for trend-following it reduces the temptation to micromanage the trade.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors attract traders for obvious reasons: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. The reality is, the majority of Expert Advisors underperform over any decent time period. Those advertised with perfect backtest curves are often curve-fitted — they performed well on historical data and fall apart the moment market conditions change.
That doesn't mean all EAs are a waste of time. Some traders build personal EAs for specific, narrow tasks: time-based entries, managing position sizing, or taking profit at set levels. These utility-type EAs tend to work because they handle repetitive actions that don't require judgment.
If you're evaluating EAs, test on demo first for no less than a few months. Forward testing is more informative than backtesting alone.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 was built for Windows. If you're on macOS has always been compromises. The traditional approach another source was emulation, which was functional but had rendering issues and stability problems. Some brokers now offer Mac-specific builds using compatibility layers, which is an improvement but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, available for both Apple and Android devices, are surprisingly capable for monitoring open trades and making quick adjustments. Doing proper analysis on a mobile device isn't realistic, but adjusting a stop loss from your phone has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has a proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — it makes a real difference day to day.