Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, nudging brokers toward MT5. Still, 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 only work with MT4. Migrating to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and the majority of users don't see the point.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the gap is marginal for most strategies. MT5 has a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting feels about the same. For most retail strategies, MT4 still holds its own.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
Installation takes a few minutes. What actually causes problems is getting everything configured correctly. By default, MT4 opens with four charts tiled across a single workspace. Close all of them and start fresh with the pairs you care about.
Save yourself repeating the same setup by using templates. Build your go-to indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. After that you can load it onto other charts without redoing the work. Small thing, but over months it makes a difference.
Something most people miss: go to 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. But here's the thing: the reliability of those results depends entirely on your tick data. Standard history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps using algorithms. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, grab third-party tick data.
The "modelling quality" percentage matters more than the profit figure. If it's under 90% indicates the results are probably misleading. Traders sometimes post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and wonder why live trading looks different.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but it's only as good as the data you give it.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 default technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. However the platform's actual strength is in user-built indicators coded in MQL4. There are over 2,000 options, 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, restart MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. The catch is quality. Publicly shared indicators range from excellent to broken. Some are solid tools. Others stopped working years ago and may crash your terminal.
Before installing anything, check the last update date and whether users report issues. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can slow down your entire platform.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
MT4 has a few native risk management options that a lot of people skip over. First worth mentioning is the maximum deviation setting in the new order panel. This controls the amount of slippage is acceptable on market orders. Leave it at zero and you're accepting whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but the trailing stop function is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and define a distance. Your stop loss adjusts automatically as price moves into profit. It won't suit every approach, but if you're riding trends it takes away the temptation to sit and watch.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and they take some of the guesswork out of trade management.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
EAs have obvious appeal: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. In practice, a huge percentage of them fail to deliver over any meaningful time period. The ones sold with perfect backtest curves are often fitted to past data — they look great on historical data and stop working the moment the market does something different.
This isn't to say all EAs are worthless. Certain traders build custom EAs for well-defined entry rules: time-based entries, calculating lot sizes, or closing trades at fixed levels. That kind of automation tend to work because they execute repetitive actions without needing interpretation.
If you're evaluating EAs, test on demo first for at least a few months. Running it forward in real time tells you more than backtesting alone.
MT4 on reference Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. Mac users deal with a workaround. The traditional approach was emulation, which did the job but introduced visual bugs and stability problems. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions built on compatibility layers, which is an improvement but still aren't true native apps.
The mobile apps, on both Apple and Android devices, work well for keeping an eye on open trades and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a 5-inch screen doesn't really work, but managing exits while away from your desk has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.