What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, pushing brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders haven't moved. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Moving to MT5 means porting that entire library, and the majority of users can't justify the effort.
I've tested MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the gap is smaller than you'd expect. MT5 has a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is nearly identical. If you're weighing up the two, MT4 is more than enough.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
The install process is quick. Where people waste time is the setup after install. On first launch, MT4 shows four charts crammed into one window. Clear the lot and start fresh with the instruments you care about.
Chart templates save time. Set up your go-to indicators once, then save it as a template. After that you can load it onto other charts without redoing the work. Sounds trivial, but over months it makes a difference.
A quick tweak that helps: open Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price on the chart, 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 gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: 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 mathematically. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, download third-party tick data.
That quality percentage in the results tells you more than the profit figure. Below 90% indicates the results shouldn't be taken seriously. I've seen people share screenshots with 25% modelling quality and wonder why their live results don't match.
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 built-in technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. However the platform's actual strength lives in community-made indicators coded in MQL4. The MQL5 marketplace alone has thousands available, spanning simple moving average variations to elaborate signal panels.
Adding a custom indicator is simple: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality control. Free indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are well coded and maintained. Some stopped working years ago and will crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, verify the last update date and if other traders report issues. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze 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 don't bother with. Probably the most practical one is the maximum deviation setting in the trade execution window. This controls how much slippage you'll accept on market orders. Leave it at zero and you're accepting whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but trailing stops is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and enter a distance. Your stop loss follows automatically as the trade goes your way. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but on trending pairs it takes away the urge to stare at the screen.
None of this is complicated to set up and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. In reality, the majority of Expert Advisors fail to deliver over any meaningful time period. The ones marketed using flawless equity curves are often over-optimised — they worked on historical data and stop working the moment market conditions change.
This isn't to say all EAs are worthless. Some traders develop their own EAs to handle well-defined entry rules: time-based entries, calculating read full article lot sizes, or taking profit at predetermined levels. These utility-type EAs tend to work because they handle repetitive actions where you don't need interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, use a demo account for a minimum of two to three months. Running it forward in real time reveals more than historical results ever will.
Using MT4 outside Windows
The platform was designed for Windows. Running it on Mac deal with friction. The traditional approach was Wine or PlayOnMac, which was functional but introduced visual bugs and the odd crash. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions built on Crossover or similar wrappers, which are better but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
MT4 mobile, on both iOS and Android, are surprisingly capable for keeping an eye on open trades and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a phone screen isn't realistic, but adjusting a stop loss on the go is worth having.
It's worth confirming if your broker provides real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.