MT4 after twenty years: an honest take on the platform
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 works, and people trust what works. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Migrating to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and few people don't see the point.
After testing both platforms side by side, and the differences are smaller than you'd expect. MT5 has a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality feels very similar. For most retail strategies, MT4 is more than enough.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. Where people waste time is configuration. By default, MT4 loads with four charts crammed into the screen. Clear the lot and open just the pairs you actually trade.
Save yourself repeating the same setup by using templates. Build your go-to indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. Then you can load it onto other charts instantly. Sounds trivial, but over weeks it adds up.
A quick tweak that helps: open Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price on the chart, which can make buy entries seem misaligned by the spread amount.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4's built-in strategy tester gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the accuracy of those results hinges on your tick data. The default history data is modelled, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated using algorithms. For anything that needs accuracy, you need website real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage matters more than the bottom-line PnL. If it's under 90% suggests the results shouldn't be taken seriously. People occasionally 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 the output is only useful with quality tick data.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 ships with 30 default technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. But the platform's actual strength comes from community-made indicators coded in MQL4. You can find over 2,000 options, spanning basic modifications to elaborate signal panels.
Adding a custom indicator is simple: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and it appears in the Navigator panel. The catch is quality control. Publicly shared indicators are hit-and-miss. A few are well coded and maintained. Others haven't been updated since 2015 and can freeze your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, verify the last update date and whether users report issues. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze MT4.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find several built-in risk management tools that a lot of people don't bother with. Probably the most practical one is maximum deviation in the trade execution window. This defines the amount of slippage is acceptable on market orders. Leave it at zero and you're accepting whatever price comes through.
Stop losses go without saying, but MT4's trailing stop feature are overlooked. Right-click an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and set a distance. Your stop loss moves automatically as price moves into profit. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but for trend-following it removes the need to stare at the screen.
These settings take a minute to configure and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors sounds appealing: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors fail to deliver over any meaningful time period. EAs marketed using flawless equity curves are usually fitted to past data — they look great on past prices and fall apart once the market does something different.
That doesn't mean all EAs are a waste of time. Some traders develop their own EAs to handle well-defined entry rules: opening trades at session opens, automating position size calculations, or closing trades at fixed levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they execute repetitive actions without needing interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, run them on a demo account for at least two to three months. Forward testing tells you more than backtesting alone.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. If you're on macOS deal with compromises. Previously was emulation, which did the job but came with display glitches and occasional crashes. Some brokers now offer Mac-specific builds built on compatibility layers, which is an improvement but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
MT4 mobile, on both iOS and Android, are genuinely useful for keeping an eye on your account and managing trades on the move. Full analysis on a phone screen doesn't really work, but managing exits on the go is genuinely handy.
Look into whether your broker has a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the experience varies a lot between the two.