MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, nudging brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is straightforward: MT4 works, and people trust what works. A huge library of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Migrating 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 differences are less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 has a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the charting feels nearly identical. For most retail strategies, there's no compelling reason to switch.
MT4 setup: what the manual doesn't tell you
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. Where people waste time is getting everything configured correctly. On first launch, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into one window. Close all of them and start fresh with the markets you care about.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your preferred indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. From there you can apply it to any new chart in two clicks. Sounds trivial, but over months it saves hours.
One setting worth changing: go to Tools > Options > Charts and check "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price on the chart, which can make your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
MT4 strategy tester: honest expectations
MT4 comes with a backtester that lets you run Expert Advisors against historical data. That said: the accuracy of those results hinges on your tick data. Standard history data from MetaQuotes is not real tick data, meaning it fills in missing ticks using algorithms. For anything more precise than a quick look, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage matters more than the headline profit number. If it's under 90% means the results aren't trustworthy. Traders sometimes show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and ask why their live results don't match.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but only if you feed it decent data.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 comes with 30 standard technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. However the real depth comes from community-made indicators coded in MQL4. There are a massive library, spanning simple moving average variations to complex multi-timeframe dashboards.
Installing them is straightforward: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and it appears in the Navigator panel. The catch is quality. Community indicators are hit-and-miss. Some are genuinely useful. Many stopped working years ago and may crash your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, check how recently it was maintained and whether other traders mention bugs. A poorly written indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can slow down MT4.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find a few native risk management features that a lot of people don't bother with. Probably the most practical one is maximum deviation in the order window. This controls how much slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and the broker can fill you at whatever price is available.
Stop losses go without saying, but MT4's trailing stop feature is worth exploring. Right-click an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. The stop follows automatically as the trade goes into profit. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but if you're riding trends it takes away the urge 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: define your rules and let the machine execute. The reality is, the majority of Expert Advisors lose money over any decent time period. The ones advertised with incredible historical results tend to be curve-fitted — they performed well on the specific data they were tested on and stop working the moment conditions shift.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders develop custom EAs to handle one particular setup: time-based find out entries, calculating lot sizes, or taking profit at predetermined levels. That kind of automation tend to work because they execute defined operations that don't require discretion.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for at least a few months. Running it forward in real time is more informative than historical results ever will.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
MT4 was built for Windows. Running it on Mac face friction. The traditional approach was emulation, which was functional but introduced visual bugs and stability problems. A few brokers now offer native Mac apps wrapped around compatibility layers, which is an improvement but still aren't true native apps.
On mobile, available for both iOS and Android, are genuinely useful for watching your account and making quick adjustments. Serious charting work on a phone screen is pushing it, but managing exits from your phone is worth having.
Look into whether your broker has real Mac support or a compatibility layer — it makes a real difference day to day.