A practical look at MT4 for forex traders
MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, nudging brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is not complicated: MT4 does one thing well. More than a decade's worth 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 don't see the point.
I've tested MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the differences are less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 adds a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting feels nearly identical. For most retail strategies, there's no compelling reason to switch.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is configuration. On first launch, MT4 opens with four charts squeezed onto a single workspace. Clear the lot and start fresh with the markets you follow.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your go-to indicators once, then save it as a template. From there you can load it onto other charts in two clicks. Small thing, but over time it adds up.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price by default, which makes entries appear wrong by the spread amount.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4 comes with a backtester that lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the reliability of those results hinges on your tick data. The default history data is not real tick data, meaning gaps other source between real data points are estimated using algorithms. For anything that needs accuracy, you need proper historical data.
The "modelling quality" percentage matters more than the headline profit number. If it's under 90% indicates the results are probably misleading. I've seen people post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and wonder why live trading looks different.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 comes with 30 built-in technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. That said, the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators written in MQL4. You can find thousands available, covering everything from basic modifications to elaborate signal panels.
Installing them is straightforward: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Publicly shared indicators vary wildly. A few are well coded and maintained. Many haven't been updated since 2015 and can freeze your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, verify how recently it was maintained and if people in the forums mention bugs. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can freeze MT4.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
You'll find a few native risk management options that the majority of users don't bother with. First worth mentioning is the maximum deviation setting in the new order panel. This defines how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. Without this configured and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but trailing stops are underused. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. The stop adjusts when price moves your way. It won't suit every approach, but on trending pairs it reduces the temptation to micromanage the trade.
You 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: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, a huge percentage of them fail to deliver over any meaningful time period. EAs sold with perfect backtest curves are usually fitted to past data — they performed well on historical data and break down the moment conditions shift.
This isn't to say all EAs are worthless. Certain traders develop personal EAs for well-defined entry rules: opening trades at session opens, calculating lot sizes, or taking profit at predetermined levels. These utility-type EAs are more reliable because they execute defined operations that don't require judgment.
If you're evaluating EAs, test on demo first for at least two to three months. Running it forward in real time reveals more than backtesting alone.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
MT4 was built for Windows. Mac users has always been compromises. The old method was Wine or PlayOnMac, which did the job but introduced rendering issues and stability problems. A few brokers now offer native Mac apps wrapped around Wine under the hood, which is an improvement but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
The mobile apps, available for both iOS and Android, are genuinely useful for watching open trades and making quick adjustments. Doing proper analysis on a phone screen isn't realistic, but managing exits while away from your desk is worth having.
Look into whether your broker has a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the experience varies a lot between the two.