What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, nudging brokers read the article toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is straightforward: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Moving to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and most traders would rather keep trading than recoding.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the differences are smaller than you'd expect. MT5 has a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality is very similar. If you're weighing up the two, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
The install process is quick. What actually causes problems is configuration. On first launch, MT4 opens with four charts tiled across a single workspace. Clear the lot and open just the instruments you care about.
Chart templates save time. Build your preferred indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. After that you can apply it to any new chart without redoing the work. Small thing, but over time it adds up.
A quick tweak that helps: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price on the chart, which makes your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
MT4 comes with a backtester that gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the accuracy of those results depends entirely on your tick data. Standard history data from MetaQuotes is interpolated, meaning it fills in missing ticks using algorithms. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, download proper historical data.
Modelling quality tells you more than the headline profit number. Below 90% means the results are probably misleading. Traders sometimes share screenshots with 25% modelling quality and ask why their live results don't match.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 built-in technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. However the platform's actual strength lives in community-made indicators built with MQL4. There are thousands available, spanning basic modifications 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 risk is reliability. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. A few are genuinely useful. Others are abandoned projects and can freeze your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, verify how recently it was maintained and if people in the forums have flagged problems. A poorly written indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can lag the whole terminal.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
You'll find several built-in risk management features that a lot of people skip over. Probably the most practical one is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. It sets how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price the broker gives you.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but trailing stops are overlooked. Click on an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. It moves when the trade goes your way. Not perfect for every strategy, but on trending pairs it reduces the temptation to sit and watch.
None of this is complicated to set up and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
Expert Advisors on MT4 attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. In reality, most EAs fail to deliver over any decent time period. The ones marketed using incredible historical results are usually curve-fitted — they look great on the specific data they were tested on and break down the moment conditions shift.
None of this means all EAs are useless. Some traders code their own EAs for specific, narrow tasks: opening trades at session opens, managing position sizing, or closing trades at fixed levels. These smaller, focused scripts work because they handle mechanical tasks where you don't need judgment.
Before running any EA with real money, run them on a demo account for at least two to three months. Forward testing is more informative than any backtest.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. Mac users face friction. The traditional approach was emulation, which was functional but had visual bugs and occasional crashes. Certain brokers now offer Mac-specific builds wrapped around Crossover or similar wrappers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
The mobile apps, available for both iOS and Android, are surprisingly capable for keeping an eye on your account and making quick adjustments. Doing proper analysis on a phone screen isn't realistic, but closing a trade from your phone 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.