MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, nudging brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is not complicated: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. A huge library of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and the majority of users can't justify the effort.
After testing both platforms side by side, and the differences are smaller than you'd expect. MT5 adds a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality is nearly identical. Unless you need MT5-specific features, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
Installation takes a few minutes. The part that trips people up is the setup after install. By default, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into a single workspace. Shut them all and start fresh with the pairs you actually trade.
Templates are worth setting up early. Set up your preferred indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. After that you can apply it to any new chart instantly. Sounds trivial, but over weeks it adds up.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which makes buy entries seem misaligned by the spread amount.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
MT4's built-in strategy tester gives you the ability 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 is not real tick data, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated with made-up prices. For anything more precise than a quick look, grab proper historical data.
The "modelling quality" percentage is more important than the profit figure. Anything below 90% indicates the results aren't trustworthy. People occasionally post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why live trading looks different.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but only if you feed it decent data.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 comes with 30 default technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. visit this site That said, the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators built with MQL4. There are over 2,000 options, spanning simple moving average variations to full trading dashboards.
Installing them is straightforward: 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. Free indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are genuinely useful. Many are abandoned projects and may crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at how recently it was maintained and if other traders have flagged problems. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can lag MT4.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
There are several built-in risk management options that the majority of users skip over. Probably the most practical one is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. This defines the amount of slippage you'll accept on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price comes through.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but trailing stops are overlooked. Click on an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and set your preferred distance. The stop follows automatically as price moves into profit. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but for trend-following it removes the temptation to stare at the screen.
None of this is complicated to set up and they take some of the guesswork out of trade management.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
Automated trading through Expert Advisors have obvious appeal: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors lose money over any meaningful time period. EAs sold with incredible historical results are often fitted to past data — they look great on past prices and break down the moment conditions shift.
None of this means all EAs are a waste of time. Some traders code their own EAs to handle well-defined entry rules: entering at a specific time, managing position sizing, or closing trades at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they handle mechanical tasks that don't require interpretation.
If you're evaluating EAs, run them on a demo account for at least several weeks in different conditions. Running it forward in real time tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 beyond the desktop
The platform was designed for Windows. Mac users has always been compromises. The old method was running it through Wine, which did the job but introduced visual bugs and the odd crash. Some brokers now offer macOS versions built on compatibility layers, which are better but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
On mobile, on both iPhone and Android, work well for keeping an eye on open trades and making quick adjustments. Serious charting work on a mobile device is pushing it, but closing a trade on the go is genuinely handy.
Look into whether your broker has a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the experience varies a lot between the two.