Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, steering brokers toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Migrating to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and most traders don't see the point.
I spent time testing both platforms side by side, and the differences are 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. Unless you need MT5-specific features, MT4 is more than enough.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is configuration. Out of the box, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into the screen. Shut them all and open just the instruments you actually trade.
Chart templates save time. Build your usual indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. Then you can load it onto other charts without redoing the work. Sounds trivial, but over time it saves hours.
Something most people miss: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which makes buy entries seem misaligned until you realise the ask price is hidden.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
MT4's built-in strategy tester allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. That said: the quality of those results comes down to your tick data. The default history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning it fills in missing ticks with made-up prices. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, you need third-party tick data.
The "modelling quality" percentage is more important than the profit figure. If it's under 90% suggests the results shouldn't be taken seriously. I've seen people post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and ask why the EA fails in real conditions.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. But the platform's actual strength comes from custom indicators built with MQL4. The MQL5 marketplace alone has a massive library, covering everything from basic modifications to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
The install process is painless: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. The risk is quality control. Publicly shared indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are genuinely useful. Many haven't been updated since 2015 and can freeze your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at the last update date and if users have flagged problems. A broken indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze your entire platform.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
MT4 has several built-in risk management tools that a lot of people skip over. Probably the most practical one this resource is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. This defines the amount of slippage you'll accept on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price comes through.
Stop losses go without saying, but the trailing stop function are overlooked. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and enter your preferred distance. Your stop loss moves with the trade goes your way. It won't suit every approach, but for trend-following it reduces the urge to micromanage the trade.
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 have obvious appeal: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, most EAs lose money over any decent time period. EAs marketed using flawless equity curves are usually curve-fitted — they performed well on historical data and break down the moment market conditions change.
This isn't to say all EAs are worthless. Certain traders code their own EAs to handle specific, narrow tasks: entering at a specific time, calculating lot sizes, or exiting positions at set levels. These utility-type EAs tend to work because they do mechanical tasks that don't require interpretation.
Before running any EA with real money, run them on a demo account for a minimum of two to three months. Live demo testing tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 beyond the desktop
The platform was designed for Windows. If you're on macOS has always been friction. The traditional approach was emulation, which did the job but had rendering issues and the odd crash. A few brokers now offer native Mac apps wrapped around Wine under the hood, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
The mobile apps, available for both Apple and Android devices, work well for monitoring open trades and tweaking stops. Serious charting work on a 5-inch screen doesn't really work, but managing exits on the go is genuinely handy.
Look into whether your broker has real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.