Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, steering brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders stayed put. 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 the majority of users would rather keep trading than recoding.
I spent time testing MT4 and MT5 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 the charting feels nearly identical. 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. The part that trips people up is configuration. On first launch, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into a single workspace. Shut them all and start fresh with the pairs 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. Minor detail, but over months it makes a difference.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price by default, which can make your entries look off 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. That said: the quality of those results comes down to your tick data. The default history data is interpolated, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated mathematically. For anything more precise than a quick look, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage is more important than the profit figure. Below 90% means the results are probably misleading. 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.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. That said, the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators written in MQL4. There are thousands available, spanning tweaked versions of standard tools to elaborate signal panels.
The install process is painless: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. The risk is quality control. Community indicators vary wildly. Some are well coded and maintained. Many haven't been updated since 2015 and will crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, verify when it was last updated and whether other traders have flagged problems. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can freeze MT4.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
You'll find a few native risk management tools that most traders don't bother with. The most useful is maximum deviation in the trade execution window. This controls how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. If you don't set it and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Everyone knows about stop losses, mt4 broker but MT4's trailing stop feature are underused. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and set your preferred distance. The stop moves when the trade goes into profit. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but for trend-following it takes away the urge to stare at the screen.
None of this is complicated to set up and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, most EAs lose money over any meaningful time period. EAs sold with flawless equity curves are usually over-optimised — they look great on the specific data they were tested on and stop working the moment market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. A few people code personal EAs for one particular setup: time-based entries, calculating lot sizes, or closing trades at predetermined levels. That kind of automation are more reliable because they execute repetitive actions without needing judgment.
If you're evaluating EAs, use a demo account for a minimum of several weeks in different conditions. Live demo testing tells you more than any backtest.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. If you're on macOS has always been a workaround. The traditional approach was running it through Wine, which mostly worked but came with visual bugs and occasional crashes. Some brokers now offer macOS versions built on compatibility layers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
The mobile apps, available for both iOS and Android, are genuinely useful for watching open trades and managing trades on the move. Full analysis on a mobile device isn't realistic, but closing a trade on the go is genuinely handy.
It's worth confirming if your broker provides a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the difference in stability is noticeable.