A practical look at MT4 for forex traders
What keeps MT4 relevant after two decades
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, pushing brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders haven't moved. 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 were built for MT4. Switching to MT5 means porting that entire library, and most traders would rather keep trading than recoding.
I've tested both platforms side by side, and the gap is marginal for most strategies. MT5 adds a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting feels about the same. Unless you need MT5-specific features, there's no compelling reason to switch.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is the setup after install. On first launch, MT4 shows four charts squeezed onto the screen. Clear the lot and open just the pairs you follow.
Chart templates save time. Set up your preferred indicators once, then save it as a template. From there you can load it onto other charts in two clicks. Small thing, but over months it saves hours.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price by default, which makes buy entries seem misaligned by the spread related site amount.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
The strategy tester in MT4 gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the accuracy of those results hinges on your tick data. Built-in history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated using algorithms. For anything that needs accuracy, download proper historical data.
Modelling quality matters more than the headline profit number. If it's under 90% means the results shouldn't be taken seriously. I've seen people share screenshots with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why live trading looks different.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 built-in technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. That said, where MT4 gets interesting is in custom indicators coded in MQL4. There are a massive library, covering everything from tweaked versions of standard tools to elaborate signal panels.
Installing them is straightforward: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Publicly shared indicators range from excellent to broken. A few are solid tools. Many haven't been updated since 2015 and can freeze your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, verify when it was last updated and whether people in the forums mention bugs. A broken indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can lag the whole terminal.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
MT4 has a few native risk management options that the majority of users don't bother with. The most useful is the maximum deviation setting in the trade execution window. This defines how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. If you don't set it and you'll get whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but the trailing stop function is underused. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and enter a distance. The stop adjusts with the trade goes in your favour. Not perfect for every strategy, but if you're riding trends it takes away the temptation to stare at the screen.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
EAs attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, a huge percentage of them lose money over any decent time period. The ones advertised with incredible historical results tend to be curve-fitted — they look great on historical data and stop working the moment conditions shift.
This isn't to say all EAs are useless. A few people code personal EAs for well-defined entry rules: opening trades at session opens, automating position size calculations, or exiting positions at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they do repetitive actions where you don't need interpretation.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for no less than a few months. Forward testing reveals more than any backtest.
Using MT4 outside Windows
The platform was designed for Windows. Running it on Mac deal with a workaround. The traditional approach was running it through Wine, which did the job but came with visual bugs and stability problems. Some brokers now offer Mac-specific builds using compatibility layers, which work more smoothly but still aren't true native apps.
MT4 mobile, available for both iOS and Android, work well for watching your account and tweaking stops. Doing proper analysis on a mobile device doesn't really work, but closing a trade on the go has saved plenty of traders.
It's worth confirming if your broker provides a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the difference in stability is noticeable.