What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, steering brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is simple: MT4 works, and people trust what works. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Moving to MT5 means porting that entire library, and the majority of users would rather keep trading than recoding.
After testing both platforms side by side, and the gap is less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 has a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is about the same. For most retail strategies, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. Where people waste time is configuration. By default, MT4 loads with four charts squeezed onto the screen. 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. After that you can load it onto other charts without redoing the work. Small thing, but over weeks it saves hours.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price by default, which can make your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
The strategy tester in MT4 lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the accuracy of those results comes down to your tick data. Built-in history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps using algorithms. If you're testing something that needs accuracy, you need third-party tick data.
That quality percentage in the results tells you more than the profit figure. Below 90% means the results shouldn't be taken seriously. People occasionally show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and ask why live trading looks different.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but it's only as good as the data you give it.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 ships with 30 built-in technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. But where MT4 gets interesting comes from community-made indicators written in MQL4. You can find thousands available, spanning simple moving average variations to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
Installing them is straightforward: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Community indicators vary wildly. A few are genuinely useful. Others stopped working years ago and will crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at the last update date and whether users mention bugs. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can lag MT4.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find some risk management tools that most traders skip over. First worth mentioning is maximum deviation in the order window. This defines the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Without this configured and you'll get whatever price comes through.
Stop losses are obvious, but MT4's trailing stop feature are worth exploring. Right-click an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and enter the pip amount. It adjusts when price moves your way. Not perfect for every strategy, but if you're riding trends it takes away the temptation to stare at the screen.
These settings take a minute to configure and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
Expert visit this Advisors on MT4 attract traders for obvious reasons: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. In reality, a huge percentage of them lose money over any extended time period. Those advertised with perfect backtest curves tend to be over-optimised — they performed well on past prices and break down the moment conditions shift.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. A few people build their own EAs for specific, narrow tasks: opening trades at session opens, automating position size calculations, or exiting positions at set levels. These smaller, focused scripts tend to work because they execute defined operations without needing discretion.
If you're evaluating EAs, test on demo first for a minimum of a few months. Live demo testing tells you more than any backtest.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. Mac users face compromises. The old method was running it through Wine, which was functional but had display glitches and stability problems. Certain brokers now offer native Mac apps built on compatibility layers, which are better but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
MT4 mobile, on both iOS and Android, are surprisingly capable for watching your account and tweaking stops. Doing proper analysis on a 5-inch screen doesn't really work, but adjusting a stop loss from your phone is genuinely handy.
It's worth confirming if your broker provides a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the difference in stability is noticeable.