MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences some time ago, steering brokers toward MT5. Still, most retail forex traders stayed put. The reason is straightforward: MT4 has twenty years of muscle memory behind it. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts were built for MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and the majority of users would rather keep trading than recoding.
After testing MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the gap is less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 adds a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality 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
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. What actually causes problems is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 shows four charts crammed into one window. Shut them all and start fresh with the instruments you actually trade.
Templates are worth setting up early. Configure your go-to indicators on one chart, then save it as a 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 enable "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price by default, which makes entries appear wrong by the spread amount.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
The strategy tester in MT4 allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the quality of those results comes down to your tick data. The default history data from MetaQuotes is modelled, meaning it fills in missing ticks mathematically. If you're testing something that needs accuracy, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage is more important than the headline profit number. If it's under 90% suggests the results aren't trustworthy. I've seen people show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and can't figure out why live trading looks different.
This is one area where MT4 genuinely outperforms most web-based platforms, but it's only as good as the data you give it.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 comes with 30 built-in technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. That said, the platform's actual strength is in community-made indicators built with MQL4. There are thousands available, spanning tweaked versions of standard tools to elaborate signal panels.
Installing them is straightforward: 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 control. Free indicators range from excellent to broken. Some are solid tools. Some stopped working years ago and will crash your terminal.
Before installing anything, verify the last update date and if other traders mention bugs. A broken indicator doesn't only show wrong data — it can lag MT4.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
You'll find some risk management options that most traders never configure. Probably the most practical one is maximum deviation in the new order panel. This defines the amount of slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. If you don't set it and you're accepting whatever price the broker gives you.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but trailing stops are worth exploring. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and define the pip amount. Your stop loss adjusts when the trade goes into profit. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but for trend-following it removes the temptation to sit and watch.
You can configure all of this in read under five minutes and they take some of the guesswork out of trade management.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
EAs attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, most EAs lose money over any decent time period. EAs marketed using incredible historical results are usually curve-fitted — they look great on historical data and break down when market conditions change.
That doesn't mean all EAs are useless. Some traders build their own EAs to handle specific, narrow tasks: time-based entries, managing position sizing, or taking profit at fixed levels. These smaller, focused scripts tend to work because they execute defined operations without needing interpretation.
If you're evaluating EAs, use a demo account for at least two to three months. Running it forward in real time reveals more than historical results ever will.
Using MT4 outside Windows
The platform was designed for Windows. Running it on Mac face friction. The old method was running it through Wine, which did the job but came with rendering issues and occasional crashes. Certain brokers now offer Mac-specific builds built on Crossover or similar wrappers, which are better but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
MT4 mobile, available for both iPhone and Android, are genuinely useful for watching your account and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a 5-inch screen isn't realistic, but closing a trade from your phone is genuinely handy.
Check whether your broker offers a native Mac build or just a wrapper — the experience varies a lot between the two.