A practical look at MT4 for forex traders
Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, pushing brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is straightforward: MT4 works, and people trust what works. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Switching to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and few people can't justify the effort.
After testing MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the differences are smaller than you'd expect. MT5 adds a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is nearly identical. If you're weighing up the two, MT4 still holds its own.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
Installation takes a few minutes. The part that trips people up is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 shows four charts crammed into one window. Clear the lot and open just the markets you follow.
Templates are worth setting up early. Set up your go-to indicators once, then save it as a template. From there you can load it onto other charts instantly. Minor detail, but over weeks it makes a difference.
One setting worth changing: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price on the chart, which makes your entries look off by the spread amount.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
MT4 comes with a backtester that lets you 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 the tester fills gaps using algorithms. If you're testing something that needs accuracy, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
Modelling quality matters more than the profit figure. If it's under 90% suggests the results aren't trustworthy. People occasionally post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and wonder why live trading looks different.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 ships with 30 built-in technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. But the real depth is in community-made indicators coded in MQL4. The MQL5 marketplace alone has over 2,000 options, spanning basic modifications to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
The install process is painless: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality control. Publicly shared indicators are hit-and-miss. A few are well coded and maintained. Some are abandoned projects and can freeze your terminal.
Before installing anything, check when it was last updated and if people in the forums report issues. A broken indicator doesn't only show wrong data — it can freeze the whole terminal.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
There are some risk management tools that the majority of users don't bother with. The most useful is the maximum deviation setting in the new order panel. This defines the amount of slippage is acceptable on market orders. Without this configured and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses go without saying, but MT4's trailing stop feature are underused. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and enter your preferred distance. Your stop loss moves when the trade goes in your favour. It won't suit every approach, but if you're riding trends it reduces the temptation to micromanage the trade.
None of this is complicated to set up and they take some of the guesswork out of trade management.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
Expert Advisors on MT4 attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, the majority of Expert Advisors fail to deliver over any meaningful time period. The ones advertised with flawless equity curves are often curve-fitted — they performed well on the specific data they were visit site tested on and break down when the market does something different.
That doesn't mean all EAs are worthless. Some traders develop custom EAs to handle specific, narrow tasks: entering at a specific time, managing position sizing, or taking profit at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts work because they handle defined operations without needing interpretation.
If you're evaluating EAs, test on demo first for a minimum of a few months. Running it forward in real time reveals more than backtesting alone.
Using MT4 outside Windows
The platform was designed for Windows. Running it on Mac has always been compromises. Previously was Wine or PlayOnMac, which mostly worked but introduced rendering issues and the odd crash. A few brokers now offer macOS versions wrapped around Crossover or similar wrappers, which work more smoothly but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
The mobile apps, available for both iPhone and Android, are surprisingly capable for watching 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 proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — the difference in stability is noticeable.