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, steering brokers toward MT5. But 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. Switching to MT5 means rebuilding that entire library, and most traders would rather keep trading than recoding.
I spent time testing both platforms side by side, and the gap is marginal for most strategies. MT5 adds a few extras such as more timeframes and a built-in economic calendar, but the core charting is about the same. For most retail strategies, MT4 still holds its own.
Getting MT4 configured properly the first time
Downloading and installing MT4 is the easy part. Where people waste time is getting everything configured correctly. Out of the box, MT4 loads with four charts squeezed onto one window. Clear the lot and open just the pairs you care about.
Save yourself repeating the same setup by using templates. Configure your go-to indicators on one chart, then right-click and save as template. After that you can load it onto other charts in two clicks. Small thing, but over weeks it saves hours.
One setting worth changing: open Tools > Options > Charts and tick "Show ask line." By default MT4 displays the bid price by default, which makes entries appear wrong until you realise the ask price is hidden.
How reliable is MT4 backtesting?
MT4 comes with a backtester that 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. Built-in history data is interpolated, meaning gaps between real data points are estimated with made-up prices. If you're testing something beyond a rough sanity check, grab real tick data from a provider like Dukascopy.
That quality percentage in the results is more important than the profit figure. Anything below 90% means the results are probably misleading. I've seen people post backtest results with 25% modelling quality and ask why the EA fails in real conditions.
The strategy tester is one of MT4's stronger features, but the output is only useful with quality tick data.
Building your own MT4 indicators
MT4 ships with 30 default technical indicators. The average trader uses maybe a handful. But the platform's actual strength comes from user-built indicators built with MQL4. The MQL5 marketplace alone has over 2,000 options, covering everything from basic modifications to full trading dashboards.
The install process is painless: copy the .ex4 or .mq4 file into your MQL4/Indicators folder, reboot MT4, and the indicator shows up in the Navigator panel. One thing to watch is reliability. Free indicators vary wildly. A few are solid tools. Others stopped working years ago and can freeze your terminal.
When adding third-party indicators, look at when it was last updated and whether other traders mention bugs. Bad code doesn't only show wrong data — it can slow down your entire platform.
Risk management settings most MT4 traders ignore
There are a few native risk management tools that most traders skip over. The most useful is the maximum deviation setting in the order window. It sets how much slippage is acceptable on market orders. Leave it at zero and the broker can fill you at whatever price is available.
Everyone knows about stop losses, but MT4's trailing stop feature is underused. Click on an open trade, select Trailing Stop, and define your preferred distance. It adjusts automatically as the trade goes your way. Not perfect for every strategy, but if you're riding trends it removes the temptation to sit and watch.
These settings take a minute to configure and they remove a lot of the emotional decision-making.
Running Expert Advisors: practical expectations
EAs attract traders for obvious reasons: program your strategy and stop staring at charts. The reality is, a huge percentage of them lose money over any meaningful time period. EAs sold with incredible historical results tend to be fitted to past data — they performed well on the specific data they were tested on and fall apart when the market does something different.
This isn't to say all EAs are useless. A few people develop personal EAs for one particular setup: time-based entries, calculating lot sizes, or closing trades at set levels. These smaller, focused scripts work because they do repetitive actions where you don't need judgment.
When looking at Expert Advisors, run them on a other source demo account for no less than a few months. Forward testing tells you more than backtesting alone.
Using MT4 outside Windows
MT4 was built for Windows. If you're on macOS deal with friction. Previously was Wine or PlayOnMac, which was functional but had rendering issues and the odd crash. A few brokers now offer macOS versions wrapped around Wine under the hood, which work more smoothly but still aren't built from scratch for Mac.
On mobile, on both iOS and Android, are surprisingly capable for watching open trades and making quick adjustments. Full analysis on a 5-inch screen is pushing it, but closing a trade on the go has saved plenty of traders.
Look into whether your broker has a native Mac build or just a wrapper — it makes a real difference day to day.