Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, pushing brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Moving to MT5 means porting that entire library, and the majority of users would rather keep trading than recoding.
After testing MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the gap is smaller than you'd expect. MT5 has a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting feels nearly identical. For most retail strategies, MT4 still holds its own.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
Installation takes a few minutes. What actually causes problems is take a look the setup after install. Out of the box, MT4 opens with four charts tiled across a single workspace. Clear the lot and start fresh with the markets you actually trade.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your usual indicators once, then save it as a template. From there you can load it onto other charts without redoing the work. Small thing, but over time it saves hours.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which can make buy entries seem misaligned by the spread amount.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
MT4 comes with a backtester that allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the accuracy of those results comes down to your tick data. Standard history data from MetaQuotes 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 real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage tells you more than the bottom-line PnL. If it's under 90% means the results aren't trustworthy. I've seen people post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and wonder why live trading looks different.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but only if you feed it decent data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 comes with 30 default technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. However where MT4 gets interesting comes from custom indicators built with MQL4. The MQL5 marketplace alone has thousands available, ranging from simple moving average variations to full trading dashboards.
Installing them is straightforward: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and it appears in the Navigator panel. The risk is quality. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are well coded and maintained. Many stopped working years ago and may crash your terminal.
Before installing anything, check how recently it was maintained and if users mention bugs. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can lag the whole terminal.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find some risk management tools that the majority of users never configure. The most useful is maximum deviation in the trade execution window. It sets the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price comes through.
Stop losses are obvious, but MT4's trailing stop feature are underused. Right-click an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and set your preferred distance. It adjusts automatically as price moves into profit. Not perfect for every strategy, but for trend-following it reduces the temptation to stare at the screen.
None of this is complicated to set up and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
Expert Advisors on MT4 attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. In reality, a huge percentage of them fail to deliver over any extended time period. EAs sold with flawless equity curves are often curve-fitted — they look great on the specific data they were tested on and fall apart the moment conditions shift.
That doesn't mean all EAs are a waste of time. A few people develop personal EAs for specific, narrow tasks: entering at a specific time, managing position sizing, or closing trades at fixed levels. These utility-type EAs are more reliable because they do defined operations without needing judgment.
Before running any EA with real money, use a demo account for a minimum of several weeks in different conditions. Running it forward in real time is more informative than backtesting alone.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. If you're on macOS deal with a workaround. Previously was running it through Wine, which was functional but came with rendering issues and occasional crashes. Some brokers now offer Mac-specific builds using compatibility layers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, on both Apple and Android devices, work well for monitoring positions and tweaking stops. Full analysis on a mobile device is pushing it, but adjusting a stop loss on the go is worth having.
Check whether your broker offers a proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — the experience varies a lot between the two.