What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, nudging brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders kept using MT4. 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. Switching to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and most traders can't justify the effort.
I spent time testing 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 about the same. For most retail strategies, MT4 is more than enough.
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 tiled across the screen. Shut them all and start fresh with the markets you follow.
Chart templates save time. Configure your go-to indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. After that you can load it onto other charts instantly. Sounds trivial, but over time it adds up.
Something most people miss: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price on the chart, which can make your entries look off by the spread amount.
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 comes down to your tick data. Built-in history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps mathematically. For anything that needs accuracy, download third-party tick data.
Modelling quality is more important than the headline profit number. Anything below 90% means the results are probably misleading. Traders sometimes post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why the EA fails in real conditions.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but only if you feed it decent data.
MT4 indicators beyond another source the defaults
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. That said, the real depth is in custom indicators built with MQL4. You can find a massive library, spanning basic modifications to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
The install process is painless: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and it appears in the Navigator panel. The catch is quality. Free indicators vary wildly. Some are genuinely useful. Many stopped working years ago and can freeze your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at how recently it was maintained and whether other traders have flagged problems. A broken indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can lag the whole terminal.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
MT4 has some risk management options that most traders never configure. Probably the most practical one is the maximum deviation setting in the new order panel. This controls how much slippage you'll accept on market orders. If you don't set it and you're accepting whatever price is available.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but trailing stops are underused. Click on an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. The stop adjusts with the trade goes into profit. Not perfect for every strategy, but on trending pairs it takes away the temptation to stare at the screen.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
Expert Advisors on MT4 have obvious appeal: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. In reality, most EAs fail to deliver over any decent time period. Those marketed using flawless equity curves are often fitted to past data — they performed well on the specific data they were tested on and stop working once market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. A few people develop custom EAs for well-defined entry rules: entering at a specific time, automating position size calculations, or exiting positions at fixed levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they handle repetitive actions that don't require discretion.
If you're evaluating EAs, use a demo account for no less than two to three months. Live demo testing reveals more than any backtest.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 was built for Windows. If you're on macOS has always been a workaround. The traditional approach was running it through Wine, which was functional but had visual bugs and stability problems. Certain brokers now offer Mac-specific builds wrapped around Wine under the hood, which is an improvement but still aren't true native apps.
MT4 mobile, available for both iOS and Android, work well for watching positions and managing trades on the move. Doing proper analysis on a phone screen is pushing it, but closing a trade while away from your desk has saved plenty of traders.
Check whether your broker offers a proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — it makes a real difference day to day.