6 minute read
MT4 vs MT5: Which MetaTrader Should You Use?
The short answer is MT5, and it has been for a while. The longer answer is worth having, because MT4 is still the platform most retail traders have heard of and the reasons for that are historical rather than technical.
Why MT4 is still the famous one
MetaTrader 4 arrived in 2005 and became the default retail trading platform almost by accident: it was free for the trader, cheap for the broker, and it arrived at the moment retail forex went online. Two decades of tutorials, courses, indicators and expert advisors were written for it, and that library is genuinely the largest in retail trading.
MetaTrader 5 arrived in 2010 as its replacement and was, for years, ignored. It was not a bad platform; it was a platform nobody's existing tools ran on, which is a much harder problem than being worse.
That gap has closed. MetaQuotes no longer issues new MT4 licences to brokers, which means the installed base is now the whole of MT4's future: existing deployments continue, and nothing new is added. A trader learning the platform today is learning one that is closed to new business.
What actually differs
| MT4 | MT5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2005 | 2010 |
| Language | MQL4 (procedural) | MQL5 (object-oriented) |
| Timeframes | 9 | 21 |
| Position handling | Hedging only | Hedging or netting |
| Asset classes | Forex and CFDs | Adds equities, futures and more |
| Depth of market | Basic | Full DoM |
| Economic calendar | None | Built in |
| Backtesting | One symbol, single-threaded | Multi-symbol, multi-threaded, real ticks |
| Pending order types | 4 | 6 |
The row that matters most to a beginner is not on that list, and it is the next section.
The expert advisor problem
MQL4 and MQL5 are different languages, and code written for one does not run on the other. Not "needs a recompile" — needs rewriting.
This is the entire reason MT4 survived as long as it did. A trader with a strategy running on a paid MT4 expert advisor could not simply move; they had to find or commission an MT5 version. Multiply that by a decade of accumulated tools and you have an industry that stayed put.
If you have no existing MQL4 code, this cost does not apply to you, and the argument for MT4 largely disappears with it.
Hedging or netting: the difference that changes your account
This is the one people meet without knowing it has a name.
Under hedging, buying one lot of EUR/USD and then selling one lot leaves you with two separate open positions that offset each other. You pay the spread twice, you pay financing on both, and your platform shows two lines.
Under netting, the same two trades leave you with nothing — the second closes the first, and you have one position of zero size. One line, one set of costs.
MT4 does hedging only. MT5 does both, and which one applies is set by the broker on the account type. Neither is better in the abstract, but assuming the wrong one is how people end up with an "offsetting" position that quietly costs them financing on both sides while they postpone closing a loser. Our glossary covers hedging as a deliberate technique rather than an avoidance one.
What MT5 adds that you will actually use
Most of MT5's advantages are invisible until you need them. Three you will meet early:
Timeframes. Twenty-one instead of nine sounds like a specification-sheet difference until you want an M2 or an H3 chart and MT4 simply does not have one.
A built-in economic calendar. MT4 has none, so users go and find one elsewhere. MT5 puts scheduled releases in the terminal next to the chart. Ours is on the site too, at the economic calendar, with the official source beside every entry.
Real backtesting. MT4 tests one symbol at a time on interpolated data. MT5 tests multiple symbols on real tick history across processor cores. If you ever intend to test a rule rather than assume it, this is the difference between a result and an anecdote.
What MT4 still does better
Two things, and it is worth being straight about them.
The ecosystem is larger. If you are looking for a specific published indicator from 2014, it exists for MT4 and may not for MT5.
And it is lighter. On an old machine or a poor connection, MT4 asks less. That is a real advantage for some people and it is shrinking every year.
Neither outweighs a platform that is closed to new licences.
Getting it on your phone
Both platforms have iOS and Android apps. They were removed from Apple's App Store in late 2022 and reinstated in early 2023, which is why some older articles still say they are unavailable — they are not.
Install the app from the official store, then log in with the server name and credentials your broker issues. The server name matters: it is how the app knows which broker's system to connect to, and it is the field people most often get wrong on the first attempt.
What we use, and why
Ultimo runs on MetaTrader 5 only. Not as a preference — as the conclusion of everything above. A platform whose vendor has stopped licensing it is not one to build a client's trading on, and every technical difference points the same way.
If you have used MT4, the transition takes an afternoon. The chart, the order ticket and the terminal window are recognisably the same product; what changed is underneath.
Common questions
Is MT5 harder to learn than MT4? No. The layout is close enough that MT4 habits transfer directly. The additional features are additions, not obstacles.
Can I move my MT4 indicators to MT5? Not by copying them. MQL4 and MQL5 are different languages, and the code has to be rewritten. Many popular tools already have MT5 versions.
Is MT4 going to stop working? Existing installations continue to run. No new brokers can adopt it, so it will thin out gradually rather than switch off, and the practical risk is that support and new tools dry up around you.
Which is better for beginners? MT5, because everything a beginner will grow into — more timeframes, a calendar, real backtesting — is already there, and because learning a platform with no future is wasted effort.
Do I need to understand hedging and netting before I open an account? You need to know which one your account uses, because it decides what happens when you place an opposing trade. Ask, or check the account specification, before you rely on it.
When you are ready, practise on a free demo — it is the same MT5 with virtual funds — and read what a demo cannot teach you before you trust the results.
