MT4 after twenty years: an honest take on the platform
What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, nudging brokers toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is simple: MT4 does one thing well. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Moving to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and the majority of users don't see the point.
After testing both platforms side by side, and the differences are less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 adds a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is very similar. Unless you need MT5-specific features, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. Where people waste time is getting everything configured correctly. On first launch, MT4 loads with four charts tiled across the screen. Clear the lot and open just the pairs you care about.
Templates are worth setting up early. Build your usual indicators once, then save it as a template. Then you can apply it to any new chart instantly. Sounds trivial, but over time it saves hours.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which can make your entries look off by the spread amount.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
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. Standard history data from MetaQuotes is modelled, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated using algorithms. For anything more precise than a quick look, grab real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage is more important than the headline profit number. Anything below 90% means the results aren't trustworthy. Traders sometimes share screenshots with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why the EA fails in real conditions.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but it's only as good as the data you give it.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 comes with 30 default technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. However where MT4 gets interesting lives in community-made indicators built with MQL4. You can find over 2,000 options, spanning simple moving average variations to elaborate signal panels.
Installing them is straightforward: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. The risk is reliability. Free indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are genuinely useful. Some stopped working years ago and can freeze your terminal.
Before installing anything, verify when it was last updated and whether users report issues. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can lag MT4.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find a few native risk management options that the majority of users skip over. The most useful is maximum deviation in the order window. This controls the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. If you don't set it site and you'll get whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses are obvious, but MT4's trailing stop feature is underused. Click on an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and enter the pip amount. Your stop loss adjusts with price moves into profit. Not perfect for every strategy, but on trending pairs it takes away the temptation 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
Expert Advisors on MT4 sounds appealing: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, most EAs fail to deliver over any decent time period. EAs sold with perfect backtest curves are often curve-fitted — they performed well on historical data and fall apart when market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders develop personal EAs to handle well-defined entry rules: time-based entries, automating position size calculations, or exiting positions at fixed levels. That kind of automation tend to work because they do defined operations where you don't need interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, use a demo account for a minimum of two to three months. Live demo testing reveals more than backtesting alone.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. If you're on macOS has always been a workaround. The traditional approach was emulation, which did the job but had visual bugs and stability problems. Some brokers now offer Mac-specific builds built on Wine under the hood, which work more smoothly but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
On mobile, on both iPhone and Android, are surprisingly capable for watching positions and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a 5-inch screen doesn't really work, but adjusting a stop loss from your phone is worth having.
Check whether your broker offers real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the difference in stability is noticeable.