MetaTrader 4 in 2026: what still works and what doesn't
MT4 in 2026: why it refuses to die
MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licences years ago, nudging brokers toward MT5. Yet most retail forex traders haven't moved. The reason is straightforward: MT4 does one thing well. Thousands of custom indicators, Expert Advisors, and community scripts run on MT4. Moving to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and few people 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 adds a few extras including more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting feels very similar. If you're weighing up the two, MT4 still holds its own.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
Installation takes a few minutes. Where people waste time is configuration. By default, MT4 shows four charts tiled across one window. Shut them all and open just the pairs you care about.
Chart templates save time. Build your usual indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. Then 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 tick "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price on the chart, which makes buy entries seem misaligned until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4's built-in strategy tester allows you to run Expert Advisors against historical data. That said: the accuracy of those results depends entirely on your tick data. The default history data is interpolated, meaning it fills in missing ticks with made-up prices. For anything more precise than a quick look, you need real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
That quality percentage in the results matters more than the profit figure. If it's under 90% suggests the results shouldn't be taken seriously. Traders sometimes show off backtests with 25% modelling quality and ask 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.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 built-in technical indicators. Most traders never touch them all. However where MT4 gets interesting lives in user-built indicators coded in MQL4. There are thousands available, covering everything from basic modifications to full trading dashboards.
The install process is painless: place the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and it appears in the Navigator panel. The risk is quality. Publicly shared indicators vary wildly. Some are well coded and maintained. Many are abandoned projects and may crash your terminal.
If you're downloading custom indicators, check when it was last updated and if users mention bugs. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can slow down MT4.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
You'll find some risk management options that a lot of people don't bother with. The most useful is maximum deviation in the new order panel. It sets how much slippage you're willing to tolerate on market orders. Without this configured and you'll get whatever price comes through.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but trailing stops is overlooked. Right-click an open trade, pick Trailing Stop, and set the pip amount. view site The stop adjusts automatically as the trade goes in your favour. Not perfect for every strategy, but for trend-following it removes the need to sit and watch.
You can configure all of this in under five minutes and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
Expert Advisors — before you trust a robot with your money
EAs have obvious appeal: set rules, let the code trade, walk away. In reality, a huge percentage of them underperform over any decent time period. EAs advertised with flawless equity curves tend to be over-optimised — they performed well on historical data and break down once conditions shift.
This isn't to say all EAs are useless. Some traders develop custom EAs to handle well-defined entry rules: entering at a specific time, calculating lot sizes, or taking profit at fixed levels. These utility-type EAs are more reliable because they handle repetitive actions where you don't need judgment.
When looking at Expert Advisors, test on demo first for at least several weeks in different conditions. Forward testing reveals more than historical results ever will.
Using MT4 outside Windows
The platform was designed for Windows. If you're on macOS has always been compromises. The traditional approach was Wine or PlayOnMac, which mostly worked but came with rendering issues and stability problems. Certain brokers now offer macOS versions using Wine under the hood, which is an improvement but remain wrappers at the end of the day.
MT4 mobile, available for both iPhone and Android, work well for watching open trades and tweaking stops. Doing proper analysis on a 5-inch screen isn't realistic, but adjusting a stop loss while away from your desk has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has real Mac support or a compatibility layer — the experience varies a lot between the two.