MT4 after twenty years: an honest take on the platform
What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, nudging brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Moving to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and most traders don't see the point.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the differences are less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 has a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is very similar. If you're weighing up the two, there's no compelling reason to switch.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
The install process is quick. What actually causes problems is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 loads with four charts tiled across one window. Clear the lot and start fresh with the pairs you actually trade.
Save yourself repeating the same setup by using templates. Configure your go-to indicators once, then right-click and save as template. Then you can load it onto other charts instantly. Minor detail, but over time it adds up.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price by default, which can make entries appear wrong until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
The strategy tester in MT4 lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. That said: the accuracy of those results hinges on your tick data. Standard history data is interpolated, meaning the tester fills gaps with made-up prices. For anything that needs accuracy, download proper historical data.
That quality percentage in the results tells you more than the bottom-line PnL. If it's under 90% indicates the results are probably misleading. People occasionally post backtest results 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.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 comes with 30 standard technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. However the real depth comes from community-made indicators coded in MQL4. You can find read full report a massive library, ranging from simple moving average variations to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
Adding a custom indicator is simple: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. The risk is quality. Publicly shared indicators range from excellent to broken. A few are well coded and maintained. Others stopped working years ago and will crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, check when it was last updated and if people in the forums mention bugs. A broken indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can lag MT4.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
MT4 has a few native risk management options that the majority of users never configure. The most useful is maximum deviation in the new order panel. It sets how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. Without this configured and you'll get whatever price is available.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but the trailing stop function is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and define your preferred distance. Your stop loss follows automatically as price moves in your favour. It won't suit every approach, but for trend-following it takes away the need 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.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors sounds appealing: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors underperform over any decent time period. Those advertised with flawless equity curves are often fitted to past data — they worked on past prices and break down when market conditions change.
None of this means all EAs are a waste of time. Certain traders code personal EAs for specific, narrow tasks: time-based entries, automating position size calculations, or closing trades at fixed levels. That kind of automation tend to work because they do repetitive actions without needing discretion.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for no less than two to three months. Forward testing tells you more than backtesting alone.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. Mac users has always been a workaround. The old method was running it through Wine, which mostly worked but had rendering issues and stability problems. Some brokers now offer macOS versions using compatibility layers, which work more smoothly but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, on both iPhone and Android, are genuinely useful for keeping an eye on your account and managing trades on the move. Serious charting work on a phone screen doesn't really work, but managing exits while away from your desk 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.