MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences a while back, steering brokers toward MT5. But most retail forex traders kept using MT4. The reason is not complicated: MT4 works, and people trust what works. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Switching to MT5 means rewriting that entire library, and the majority of users would rather keep trading than recoding.
I've tested MT4 and MT5 side by side, and the gap is less dramatic than the marketing suggests. MT5 has a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting feels nearly identical. If you're weighing up the two, there's no compelling reason to switch.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
Installation takes a few minutes. What actually causes problems is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 opens with four charts crammed into a single workspace. Shut them all and start fresh with the instruments you care about.
Templates are worth setting up early. Set up your preferred indicators once, then right-click and save as template. After that you can apply it to any new chart without redoing the work. Sounds trivial, but over months it makes a difference.
Something most people miss: go to Tools > Options > Charts and enable "Show ask line." MT4 only shows the bid price on the chart, which makes buy entries seem misaligned until you realise the ask price is hidden.
Backtesting on MT4: what the results actually mean
The strategy tester in MT4 gives you the ability to run Expert Advisors against historical data. But here's the thing: the accuracy of those results hinges on your tick data. Standard history data is not real tick data, meaning the tester fills gaps with made-up prices. If you're testing something more precise than a quick look, download real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
The "modelling quality" percentage tells you more than the profit figure. Anything below 90% suggests the results aren't trustworthy. I've seen people 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 it's only as good as the data you give it.
Custom indicators on MT4: worth the effort?
MT4 ships with 30 standard technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. However the real depth lives in community-made indicators built with MQL4. You can find over 2,000 options, covering everything from simple moving average variations to full trading dashboards.
Installing them is straightforward: drop the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, restart MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. The risk is reliability. Publicly shared indicators range from excellent to broken. Some are well coded and maintained. Many haven't been updated since 2015 and can freeze your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, verify when it was last updated and if other traders mention bugs. A broken indicator won't just give wrong signals — it can freeze MT4.
Managing risk properly inside MT4
You'll find several built-in risk management options that most traders don't bother with. The most useful is the maximum deviation setting in the new order panel. This controls the amount of slippage you'll accept on market orders. Without this configured and you'll get whatever price the broker gives you.
Stop losses are obvious, but MT4's trailing stop feature are overlooked. Click on an open trade, choose Trailing Stop, and define a distance. It adjusts automatically as price moves into profit. Not perfect for every strategy, but if you're riding trends it removes the urge to sit and watch.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and the difference in discipline is noticeable over time.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
Automated trading through Expert Advisors attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. In practice, the majority of Expert Advisors underperform over any extended time period. EAs advertised with perfect backtest curves are often over-optimised — they worked on past prices and break down once conditions shift.
None of this means all EAs are worthless. Certain traders code their own EAs for specific, narrow tasks: opening trades at session opens, managing position sizing, or exiting positions at fixed levels. That kind of automation work because they do repetitive actions where you don't need discretion.
If you're evaluating EAs, run them on a demo account for at least two to three months. Live demo testing tells you more than any backtest.
MT4 on Mac and mobile: what actually works
MT4 was built for Windows. Mac users face friction. The traditional approach was emulation, which was functional but introduced display glitches and occasional crashes. Some brokers now offer macOS versions built on compatibility layers, which are better but still aren't true native apps.
The mobile apps, on both Apple and Android devices, are genuinely useful for monitoring positions and making quick adjustments. Serious charting work on a phone screen doesn't really work, but managing find more info exits from your phone is worth having.
Look into whether your broker has a native Mac build or just a wrapper — it makes a real difference day to day.