Why traders still pick MT4 over newer platforms
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, pushing brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is simple: MT4 works, and people trust what works. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Switching to MT5 means porting that entire library, and the majority of users 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 like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting feels very similar. For most retail strategies, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is the setup after install. On first launch, MT4 shows four charts crammed into the screen. Clear the lot and open just the pairs you care about.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your go-to indicators once, then right-click and save as template. Then you can load it onto other charts instantly. Sounds trivial, but over weeks it adds up.
One setting worth changing: go to Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price on the chart, which makes entries appear wrong by the spread amount.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
The strategy tester in MT4 lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the reliability of those results depends entirely on your tick data. The default history data from MetaQuotes is interpolated, meaning the tester fills gaps using algorithms. For anything that needs accuracy, grab real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
Modelling quality matters more than the headline profit number. Anything below 90% means the results aren't trustworthy. People occasionally show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why their live results don't match.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but only if you feed it decent data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. But where MT4 gets interesting comes from community-made indicators written in MQL4. There are thousands available, ranging from simple moving average variations to full trading 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. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. A few are well coded and maintained. Some are abandoned projects and will crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, check the last update date and if users mention bugs. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can lag the whole terminal.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find a few native risk management tools that the majority of users don't bother with. Probably the most practical one is the maximum deviation setting in the trade execution window. It sets how much slippage you'll accept on market orders. If you don't set it and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses go without saying, but MT4's trailing stop feature are overlooked. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. It follows automatically as the trade goes your way. It won't suit every approach, but for trend-following it reduces the temptation to sit and watch.
None of this is complicated to set up and they take some more help of the guesswork out of trade management.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors attract traders for obvious reasons: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. The reality is, a huge percentage of them lose money over any meaningful time period. EAs advertised with flawless equity curves are usually over-optimised — they look great on past prices and stop working when market conditions change.
That doesn't mean all EAs are useless. Some traders develop personal EAs for well-defined entry rules: time-based entries, managing position sizing, or closing trades at fixed levels. These utility-type EAs tend to work because they handle repetitive actions that don't require interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, use a demo account for at least two to three months. Live demo testing is more informative than historical results ever will.
MT4 beyond the desktop
MT4 was built for Windows. If you're on macOS face a workaround. The old method was running it through Wine, which was functional but had display glitches and the odd crash. A few brokers now offer Mac-specific builds wrapped around Crossover or similar wrappers, which is an improvement but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
The mobile apps, available for both Apple and Android devices, are genuinely useful for watching your account and managing trades on the move. Serious charting work on a 5-inch screen doesn't really work, but managing exits from your phone has saved plenty of traders.
It's worth confirming if your broker provides real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.