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 haven't moved. The reason is not complicated: MT4 does one thing well. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Moving to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and the majority of users can't justify the effort.
I spent time testing MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the gap is marginal for most strategies. MT5 adds a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting is nearly identical. For most retail strategies, MT4 is more than enough.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is getting everything configured correctly. By default, MT4 shows four charts crammed into a single workspace. Shut them all and open just the pairs you actually trade.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your go-to indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. After that you can load it onto other charts instantly. Sounds trivial, but over weeks it makes a difference.
Something most people miss: open Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price on the chart, which makes your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
MT4's built-in strategy tester gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the reliability of those results comes down to your tick data. The default history data is modelled, meaning it fills in missing ticks using algorithms. For anything that needs accuracy, download third-party tick data.
The "modelling quality" percentage matters more than the profit figure. Below 90% suggests the results are probably misleading. Traders sometimes show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and ask why live trading looks different.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 default technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. That said, where MT4 gets interesting lives in user-built indicators written in MQL4. You can find over 2,000 options, covering everything from simple moving average variations to elaborate signal panels.
The install process is painless: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. The catch is quality control. Publicly shared indicators vary wildly. A few are genuinely useful. Many stopped working years ago and will crash your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, verify how recently it was full article maintained and if people in the forums mention bugs. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can lag the whole terminal.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
MT4 has some risk management tools that most traders don't bother with. First worth mentioning is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. This defines how much slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and the broker can fill you at whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses are obvious, but MT4's trailing stop feature is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and set a distance. It adjusts when price moves into profit. Not perfect for every strategy, but for trend-following it reduces the need to sit and watch.
None of this is complicated to set up and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Automated trading through Expert Advisors sounds appealing: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. In practice, a huge percentage of them underperform over any extended time period. EAs advertised with perfect backtest curves are usually curve-fitted — they performed well on historical data and fall apart when market conditions change.
That doesn't mean all EAs are a waste of time. Some traders build custom EAs for specific, narrow tasks: time-based entries, managing position sizing, or closing trades at predetermined levels. These utility-type EAs are more reliable because they execute mechanical tasks without needing discretion.
When looking at Expert Advisors, use a demo account for no less than a few months. Live demo testing is more informative than backtesting alone.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 is a Windows application at heart. Running it on Mac has always been compromises. Previously was Wine or PlayOnMac, which was functional but came with visual bugs and the odd crash. A few brokers now offer native Mac apps built on Crossover or similar wrappers, which is an improvement but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
MT4 mobile, on both Apple and Android devices, work well for watching open trades and managing trades on the move. Full analysis on a mobile device doesn't really work, but adjusting a stop loss from your phone is genuinely handy.
Check whether your broker offers a proper macOS version or just Wine under the hood — the experience varies a lot between the two.