Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, steering brokers toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is straightforward: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Moving to MT5 means porting that entire library, and few people don't see the point.
After testing both platforms side by side, and the differences are marginal for most strategies. MT5 adds a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting is nearly identical. If you're weighing up the two, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. What actually causes problems is configuration. 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.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your usual indicators once, then right-click and save as template. Then you can load it onto other charts without redoing the work. Sounds trivial, but over weeks it adds up.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price on the chart, which makes entries appear wrong by the spread amount.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
MT4 comes with a backtester that gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the accuracy of those results comes down to your tick data. Built-in history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps mathematically. If you're testing something that needs accuracy, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
That quality percentage in the results matters more than the profit figure. Below 90% means the results are probably misleading. People occasionally show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and wonder why live trading looks different.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but it's only as good as the data you give it.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. But the real depth lives in community-made indicators coded in MQL4. The MQL5 marketplace alone has over 2,000 options, covering everything 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, restart MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. The risk is quality. Free indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are well coded and maintained. Some are abandoned projects and will crash your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, verify how recently it was maintained and whether people in the forums report issues. A broken indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can slow down your entire platform.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
There are several built-in risk management tools that the majority of users skip over. First worth mentioning is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. It sets the amount of slippage you'll accept on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price the broker gives you.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but MT4's trailing stop feature are overlooked. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and define the pip amount. The stop moves when price moves in your favour. It won't suit every approach, but if you're riding trends it takes away the temptation to micromanage the trade.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
EAs sounds appealing: define your rules and let the machine execute. The reality is, most EAs lose money over any meaningful time period. Those marketed using perfect backtest curves tend to be curve-fitted — they worked on historical data and stop working the moment conditions shift.
None of this more articles means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders build custom EAs for well-defined entry rules: entering at a specific time, automating position size calculations, or taking profit at fixed levels. These smaller, focused scripts tend to work because they handle repetitive actions that don't require discretion.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for no less than a few months. Forward testing tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 beyond the desktop
MT4 was built for Windows. If you're on macOS deal with compromises. The traditional approach was Wine or PlayOnMac, which was functional but came with visual bugs and the odd crash. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions wrapped around Crossover or similar wrappers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, on both iPhone and Android, work well for watching open trades and making quick adjustments. Serious charting work on a 5-inch screen isn't realistic, but adjusting a stop loss while away from your desk is genuinely handy.
Look into whether your broker has a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the difference in stability is noticeable.