A practical look at MT4 for forex traders
Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, pushing brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is straightforward: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and most traders don't see the point.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the differences are marginal for most strategies. MT5 has a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality is about the same. Unless you need MT5-specific features, MT4 still holds its own.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
The install process is quick. What actually causes problems is the setup after install. By default, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into one window. Clear the lot and start fresh with the instruments you care about.
Chart templates save time. Configure your go-to indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. After that you can load it onto other charts in two clicks. Minor detail, but over months it saves hours.
A quick tweak that helps: open Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price on the chart, which can make buy entries seem misaligned until you realise the ask price is hidden.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
The strategy tester in MT4 allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the reliability of those results hinges on your tick data. Built-in history data is interpolated, meaning the tester fills gaps mathematically. For anything beyond a rough sanity check, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
That quality percentage in the results is more important than the profit figure. Below 90% means the results shouldn't be taken seriously. Traders sometimes show off backtests 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.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 comes with 30 built-in technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. But the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators written in MQL4. You can find a massive library, covering everything from tweaked versions of standard tools to elaborate signal panels.
Installing them is straightforward: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. The catch is reliability. Free indicators are hit-and-miss. A few are solid tools. Some are abandoned projects and may crash your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, look at when it was last updated and whether other traders have flagged problems. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can lag your entire platform.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
MT4 has several built-in risk management tools that most traders don't bother with. The most useful is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. This controls the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but trailing stops is worth exploring. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and set your preferred distance. It adjusts with price moves in your favour. Not perfect for every strategy, but for trend-following it removes the temptation to stare at the screen.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Expert Advisors on MT4 have obvious appeal: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, most EAs lose money over any decent time period. The ones advertised with incredible historical results are usually fitted to past data — they worked on the specific data they were tested on and break down once market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Some traders code their own EAs for specific, narrow tasks: time-based entries, calculating lot sizes, or closing trades at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they execute repetitive actions without needing discretion.
Before running any EA with real money, run them on a demo account for no less than several weeks in different conditions. Forward testing tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 beyond the desktop
The platform was designed for Windows. Mac users face compromises. The old method was Wine or PlayOnMac, which did the job but had display glitches and occasional crashes. Some brokers now offer native Mac apps using Crossover or similar wrappers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, on both iPhone and Android, are surprisingly capable for watching open trades and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a mobile device is pushing it, but adjusting a stop loss on the go has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has a view details proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — the experience varies a lot between the two.