MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, pushing brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is straightforward: MT4 works, and people trust what works. More than a decade's worth of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts only work with MT4. Migrating to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and few people can't justify the effort.
I spent time testing MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the gap is less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 has a few extras like more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but chart functionality feels about the same. For most retail strategies, MT4 still holds its own.
Setting up MT4 without the usual headaches
Installation takes a few minutes. What actually causes problems is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 shows four charts squeezed onto the screen. Shut them all and start fresh with the instruments you actually trade.
Chart templates save time. Set up your go-to indicators on one chart, then save it as a template. From there you can apply it to any new chart instantly. Sounds trivial, but over time it makes a difference.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." The default view is the bid price by default, which can make find out your entries look off until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
The strategy tester in MT4 allows you 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 beyond a rough sanity check, download third-party tick data.
That quality percentage in the results matters more than the headline profit number. Anything below 90% indicates the results shouldn't be taken seriously. I've seen people post backtest results 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.
MT4 indicators beyond the defaults
MT4 ships with 30 default technical indicators. Few people use more than five or six. That said, the platform's actual strength lives in user-built indicators written in MQL4. There are over 2,000 options, ranging from basic modifications to full trading dashboards.
Installing them is straightforward: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into the MQL4/Indicators folder, refresh MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is quality. Community indicators vary wildly. A few are genuinely useful. Others stopped working years ago and may crash your terminal.
Before installing anything, look at how recently it was maintained and if people in the forums mention bugs. A poorly written indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze the whole terminal.
The MT4 risk controls you're probably not using
MT4 has several built-in risk management options that most traders never configure. Probably the most practical one is the maximum deviation setting in the trade execution window. It sets how much slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Leave it at zero and you'll get whatever price is available.
Stop losses are obvious, but trailing stops is worth exploring. Click on an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and enter your preferred distance. It follows when the trade goes in your favour. Doesn't work well in choppy markets, but for trend-following it takes away the urge to micromanage the trade.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
EAs on MT4: what to realistically expect
EAs attract traders for obvious reasons: define your rules and let the machine execute. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors lose money over any extended time period. The ones marketed using flawless equity curves are usually over-optimised — they look great on historical data and break down when market conditions change.
This isn't to say all EAs are a waste of time. Some traders code custom EAs to handle well-defined entry rules: time-based entries, automating position size calculations, or taking profit at fixed levels. These utility-type EAs work because they execute defined operations where you don't need interpretation.
Before running any EA with real money, run them on a demo account for at least several weeks in different conditions. Running it forward in real time is more informative than backtesting alone.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
The platform was designed for Windows. Running it on Mac deal with a workaround. The traditional approach was Wine or PlayOnMac, which mostly worked but came with rendering issues and occasional crashes. A few brokers now offer Mac-specific builds using compatibility layers, which are better but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
On mobile, on both iOS and Android, work well for watching your account and tweaking stops. Doing proper analysis on a 5-inch screen doesn't really work, but closing a trade on the go has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has real Mac support or a compatibility layer — it makes a real difference day to day.