MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, pushing brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders haven't moved. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. A huge library of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on 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 less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 adds a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting is very similar. If you're weighing up the two, MT4 is more than enough.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
The install process is quick. The part that trips people up is getting everything configured correctly. By default, MT4 shows four charts squeezed onto the screen. Clear the lot and start fresh with the markets you actually trade.
Templates are worth setting up early. Build your go-to indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. After that you can apply it to any new chart instantly. Minor detail, but over time it adds up.
One setting worth changing: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which makes your entries look off by the spread amount.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
MT4 comes with a backtester that gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. Worth noting though: the quality of those results hinges on your tick data. Standard history data is modelled, meaning the tester fills gaps with made-up prices. For anything beyond a rough sanity check, download third-party tick data.
That quality percentage in the results tells you more than the headline profit number. Below 90% suggests the results shouldn't be taken seriously. I've seen people show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and wonder why the EA fails in real conditions.
Backtesting is where MT4 earns its reputation, but only if you feed it decent data.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 ships with 30 built-in technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. That said, the platform's actual strength lives in community-made indicators built with MQL4. You can find over 2,000 options, covering everything from basic modifications to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
Adding a custom indicator is simple: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and you'll find it in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Publicly shared indicators vary wildly. Some are well coded and maintained. Others haven't been updated since 2015 and will crash your terminal.
Before installing anything, check how recently it was maintained and if people in the forums mention bugs. Bad code won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze your entire platform.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
MT4 has some risk management tools that a lot of people never configure. The most useful is maximum deviation in the new order panel. This controls find out more how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. Leave it at zero and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses go without saying, but trailing stops are underused. Click on an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and define the pip amount. It adjusts automatically as price moves your way. Not perfect for every strategy, but for trend-following it removes the temptation to micromanage the trade.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and they take some of the guesswork out of trade management.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
Expert Advisors on MT4 have obvious appeal: 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 often fitted to past data — they worked on the specific data they were tested on and break down the moment the market does something different.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders develop personal EAs to handle one particular setup: opening trades at session opens, calculating lot sizes, or exiting positions at predetermined levels. These smaller, focused scripts are more reliable because they execute defined operations that don't require judgment.
Before running any EA with real money, run them on a demo account for at least two to three months. Forward testing reveals more than any backtest.
MT4 beyond the desktop
MT4 was built for Windows. Running it on Mac has always been a workaround. The old method was running it through Wine, which did the job but had display glitches and the odd crash. Certain brokers now offer native Mac apps built on compatibility layers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, on both iOS and Android, work well for keeping an eye on open trades and making quick adjustments. Doing proper analysis on a phone screen is pushing it, but closing a trade on the go is genuinely handy.
Check whether your broker offers a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the experience varies a lot between the two.