Discover why traders choose MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 is one of the most popular forex trading platforms worldwide. It seems that almost any broker you look at offers it, and many traders recommend it as a great starting point.

However, when you first take a look at MetaTrader 4, you may wonder why that is. The software looks dated; it did come out two decades ago, after all. This makes some beginners feel like the company developing it simply didn’t devote enough time to keeping up with the times, and it may appear unwieldy.

We can assure you that’s not the case. In MT4’s case, it’s very much substance over style. This article will explain why so many traders choose MetaTrader 4, and why you should maybe look past the jarring appearance and give it a real shot.

Intuitiveness

But we just said MetaTrader 4 looks old, so what gives? The truth is that while the interface is far from flashy, it’s highly functional and very easy to navigate once you get the hang of it.

All the base features are easy to access – opening assets, charts, changing between them, setting timeframes, opening and closing trades, setting take profits and stop losses, and accessing your trade history.

Even the indicators work just by dragging and dropping, and some more complex features, like adding custom tools, are just a matter of downloading a file and placing it in the right folder, but more on that later.

Altogether, after that first initial shock, MetaTrader 4 quickly becomes a breeze to use. That, paired with some of the things we’ll mention soon, makes many traders who start on MetaTrader 4 simply never switch over to other software.

MetaTrader 4 has strong Baseline Features

Despite being intuitive, if it didn’t offer what traders needed to go through their day-to-day, MetaTrader 4 wouldn’t see much use. However, even out of the box, it offers more than enough for most traders to go through their day-to-day. Let’s break it down:

Lightweight and Quick

Not every trader trades on a supercomputer. Some use old, dingy laptops, and it’s important that their device can run their trading platform. That’s where MetaTrader 4’s somewhat dated feel turns into an advantage.

It can run on nearly any device, as it was designed around the devices present when it was initially developed, 20 years ago. Paired with rare crashes, fast execution, and low latency, this makes it a great tool for those who just want to work without unneeded complications.

A Solid Set of Built-in Indicators

MetaTrader 4’s indicator list has 30 entries. The most common options, like 移动平均线, MACD，並且 RSI are there, and since most traders don’t really move past these, the toolset is more than enough to satisfy their needs.

However, that only covers about five or so indicators, and there are twenty-five more to satisfy those with more particular interests. Tools like Ichimoku and Stochastic Oscillator are there, giving a well-rounded kit that’s good for both generalist trading and specific strategies.

Clean and Customisable Charts

While the charts have a vintage look, they are highly functional. There are line charts for a cleaner overview, and candlesticks for more depth – again, the two most common types traders look for.

It’s also easy to open multiple charts, resize them, and add visual elements like drawing and writing. This is great for analysis, but also for multitasking and quickly trading different assets, further enhanced by MT4’s one-click trading capabilities.

Multiple Timeframes for Different Types of Trading

MetaTrader 4 includes 9 timeframes, spanning one minute to one month. This makes it so that creating the market preview that best fits your trading strategy is extremely simple, whether you are a scalper or a position trader. These are toggled with a single click, making it simple to switch between a more streamlined and more in-depth look.

Flexible Order Types

No trader wants to be stuck to their platform 24/7, and their attention is limited. Keeping up with every asset on the market is an impossible task. That’s where order types come in. Beyond the baseline market order, which simply buys or sells the instrument at the current price, there are:

• Pending Orders (Buy Limit / Sell Limit / Buy Stop / Sell Stop): Enter trades when the price is better than the current one or it breaks out in a certain direction.
• Stop Losses and Take Profits: Close a trade once it reaches a certain point.
• Trailing Stop Losses: Follow your trade as it’s going up and close it when the price turns.

These allow for more discipline and control, easier multitasking, and overall make trading much less mentally intensive.

Multiple Execution Modes in MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 also supports different execution environments, potentially enhancing certain strategies.

• Instant Execution – Orders fill at the displayed price, or you get a requote.
• Market Execution – Orders fill at the best available price.
• Pending Execution – Activates orders only when market conditions reach your specified levels.

These give MetaTrader 4 more flexibility and allow the platform to adapt to different brokerage models. However, note that not all of these features are supported by every broker.

Algorithmic Trading Support and MetaTrader 4

Through its scripting language, MQL4, MetaTrader 4 supports algorithmic trading via its Expert Advisors (EAs) feature. Traders can create or download EAs that analyse markets, place trades, and manage positions without any user input.

This option is perfect for traders who want a hands-free experience or simply want to eliminate emotional impact and trade based on market data alone.

Backtesting Via the Strategy Tester

Finally, MetaTrader 4 boasts the backtesting feature, which allows you to run your EAs on past markets to validate them. It’s worth noting that MetaTrader 5’s multi-threaded Strategy Tester outperforms MT4, making it a better fit for full-time algo traders, but MetaTrader 4 boasts much of the same functionality:

• Historical data simulation across any timeframe.
• Optimization mode to fine-tune EA inputs.
• Visual mode that replays trades on a chart.
• Performance metrics like drawdown, win rate, profit factor, and balance/equity curves.

Near-Infinite Customisation

So, we’ve established that MetaTrader 4 is a baseline, but we also mentioned custom tools earlier. In fact, these are where the true strength of MetaTrader 4 lies.

Starting with indicators, these are very simple to find and use. These custom options can modify the appearance of indicators or add completely new ones. If an indicator you commonly use isn’t present in MetaTrader 4’s list, simply Google it and you’ll likely be able to find it to download for free.

Next are scripts. These are great for one-time tasks and cutting some manual work. For instance, if you want to close all of your positions, terminate all pending orders, or set up specific chart templates, you can create or download a script and do so with a single click. While these aren’t used often, they are a great tool for increasing efficiency.

Lastly, there are EAs. As mentioned before, these can be used for algo trading. However, they can also introduce completely new features to MT4, supplementing its already impressive capabilities. These can enable alerts, filter news, add calculators, and do so many other things that it’s impossible to name them all.

With these custom features, the sky is the limit for MetaTrader 4. Just be careful if you’re using them, and never download any from untrusted sources.

MetaTrader 4 has a massive community

Finally, MetaTrader 4’s popularity is aided by its popularity. That may sound like a strange notion, but stick with us.

With such a large community, there are many people working on creating custom tools. As such, MetaTrader 4’s custom feature number is possibly the largest of any trading platform out there. This makes finding just the right combination of tools and modifying your platform into exactly what you need much simpler than with other platforms.

And then there are the tutorials. MetaTrader 4 has been a prominent tool for such a long time that people have been making videos on how to use it for over a decade. It’s easy to learn the platform and find nifty tricks, and these resources are mostly free.

Lastly, there’s troubleshooting. If you’ve had any problem with MetaTrader 4, you can be certain someone else has had it as well, and that someone helped them solve it. So, resolving these problems becomes a matter of following steps that have already been written out instead of digging around the internet for hours.

MetaTrader 4 is a staple in the forex trading community for a good reason, and it isn’t going away anytime soon. So, if you were skeptical at any point, give it a whirl and see for yourself why it holds such an esteemed position.

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