What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, nudging brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. A huge library of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and most traders can't justify the effort.
I spent time testing MT4 and find out more MT5 side by side, and the gap is marginal for most strategies. MT5 has a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting feels about the same. Unless you need MT5-specific features, MT4 is more than enough.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 opens with four charts squeezed onto a single workspace. Shut them all and open just the instruments you actually trade.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your go-to indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. From there you can apply it to any new chart in two clicks. Sounds trivial, but over months it makes a difference.
Something most people miss: go to Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price on the chart, which can make your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
The strategy tester in MT4 allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. That said: the accuracy of those results depends entirely on your tick data. Built-in history data is not real tick data, meaning it fills in missing ticks with made-up prices. If you're testing something more precise than a quick look, you need proper historical data.
That quality percentage in the results tells you more than the bottom-line PnL. Below 90% suggests the results are probably misleading. Traders sometimes show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and ask why the EA fails in real conditions.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but only if you feed it decent data.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. That said, the platform's actual strength comes from custom indicators written in MQL4. There are a massive library, covering everything from basic modifications to full trading dashboards.
The install process is painless: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. The catch is quality control. Publicly shared indicators range from excellent to broken. Some are genuinely useful. Some stopped working years ago and may crash your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, check when it was last updated and whether other traders report issues. A poorly written indicator doesn't only show wrong data — it can slow down the whole terminal.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find some risk management tools 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. If you don't set it and the broker can fill you at whatever price comes through.
Stop losses are obvious, but the trailing stop function are overlooked. Click on an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. Your stop loss follows when the trade goes your way. Not perfect for every strategy, but if you're riding trends it reduces the need to stare at the screen.
These settings take a minute to configure and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Expert Advisors on MT4 sounds appealing: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, most EAs lose money over any extended time period. Those advertised with incredible historical results tend to be fitted to past data — they worked on the specific data they were tested on and stop working when market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are useless. A few people develop personal EAs to handle specific, narrow tasks: opening trades at session opens, managing position sizing, or taking profit at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they do mechanical tasks without needing interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for a minimum of a few months. Forward testing tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. Mac users has always been compromises. The traditional approach was emulation, which mostly worked but introduced display glitches and the odd crash. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions wrapped around compatibility layers, which are better but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
MT4 mobile, on both iPhone and Android, are surprisingly capable for watching positions and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a phone screen doesn't really work, but adjusting a stop loss while away from your desk has saved plenty of traders.
It's worth confirming if your broker provides real Mac support or a compatibility layer — it makes a real difference day to day.