Market, limit and stop ordersEvery order type is a position on one question: do you care more about the trade happening, or about the price it happens at? You cannot have both guaranteed.MT4 vs MT5: which should you use?
MT5 is newer, faster and better specified. MT4 is still offered by more brokers than MT5 is, and for most forex traders the sensible choice is decided by something other than the feature list.
MetaTrader 4 was released in 2005 for retail forex. MetaTrader 5 followed in 2010 as a multi-asset replacement with more timeframes, more order types, better backtesting and a different programming language.
It has not replaced anything. Both are still here, both are widely offered, and the choice between them is more practical than technical.
Across the hundred brokers we rate, counted from what each one lists as its available platforms.
- 73offer MT4More than offer MT5, fifteen years after MT5 shipped.
- 67offer MT559 of them offer both, so most brokers do not make you choose.
- 19offer neitherIncluding Plus500, eToro, Saxo Bank, XTB and Trading 212, who run their own platforms.
Fourteen brokers are MT4-only and eight are MT5-only. Those 22 are the ones where the platform decision is really a broker decision.
What actually differs
The differences that show up in ordinary use. Most of the rest of the specification sheet does not.
| MT4 → MT5 | |
|---|---|
| Timeframes | 9 → 21 |
| Built-in indicators | 30 → 38 |
| Pending order types | 4 → 6 (adds buy stop-limit and sell stop-limit) |
| Position accounting | Hedging only → hedging or netting, set by the broker |
| Depth of market | None → yes, where the broker supplies it |
| Backtesting | Single-threaded, one instrument → multi-threaded, multi-currency |
| Programming language | MQL4 → MQL5 (not compatible) |
| Economic calendar | None built in → built in |
| Asset coverage | Forex and CFDs → adds exchange-traded stocks, futures and options |
The one that actually matters: your code does not transfer
MQL4 and MQL5 are different languages. An Expert Advisor, custom indicator or script written for MT4 will not run on MT5 without being rewritten, and there is no reliable automatic conversion.
For a trader with a folder of MT4 tools, or one who has bought an EA that is only distributed for MT4, this single fact usually settles the question. It is also why so many brokers still list MT4: their clients' software lives there.
Hedging and netting
The other difference that changes how the platform behaves rather than what it displays. MT4 does one of these; MT5 does whichever the broker configured.
Hedging
Long and short positions in the same instrument can be held at the same time, each with its own entry, stop and target.
The only mode MT4 has, and what most retail forex traders are used to.
Useful for strategies that layer positions; it also lets a trader hold offsetting trades that cost spread and financing while netting to no exposure.
Netting
One net position per instrument. Buying one lot while short two leaves you short one: the platform combines them.
Standard in exchange-traded markets, and what MT5 uses when the broker sets it that way.
Cleaner accounting, and it will surprise anyone expecting a second independent trade.
Not every MT5 broker offers hedging accounts. If you rely on it, confirm before opening rather than after.
Where MT5 is genuinely better
Backtesting is the clearest case. MT4's tester runs one instrument on one thread; MT5's runs multiple currencies simultaneously, uses every core, and can distribute work across a network of machines. For anyone developing strategies, that is not a marginal improvement - it is the difference between an overnight run and a coffee break.
The extra order types matter if you use stop-limits, which MT4 has never had. Depth of market matters if your broker actually supplies it, which not all do. And if you want exchange-traded shares or futures in the same platform as your forex, MT4 was never built for it.
Where the difference is smaller than it looks
Twenty-one timeframes instead of nine sounds decisive and rarely is. The additions are intermediate periods - two-hour, three-hour, six-hour - and a strategy that needs an M3 chart is unusual. More indicators has the same character: both platforms support custom ones, and the built-in count settles nothing.
For a discretionary forex trader running manual trades on standard timeframes, the two platforms are close enough that the decision should be made on other grounds.
So which one
If you have MT4 code or bought MT4 tools, stay on MT4 until you are prepared to rewrite them. If you are starting fresh, or you develop and backtest your own systems, or you want shares and futures alongside currencies, MT5 is the better platform and there is little reason to choose otherwise.
If you are choosing a broker rather than a platform, note that 59 of the hundred offer both, so for most of the market this is not a decision you have to make at all. It only becomes one at the 22 brokers offering a single MetaTrader - and at the 19 offering neither, where the proprietary platform is the actual product and should be judged on its own.
Questions people ask about MT4 and MT5
Is MT5 better than MT4?
Technically yes on almost every specification. Whether it is better for you depends mostly on whether you have MT4 code and whether you need the features MT5 adds.
Is MT4 being discontinued?
There is no sign of it in our data. More of the brokers we rate offer MT4 than offer MT5, and the platform remains actively supported by brokers even though new licences are harder to obtain.
Can I run MT4 Expert Advisors on MT5?
No. MQL4 and MQL5 are different languages and an EA must be rewritten. Conversion tools exist and are unreliable for anything non-trivial.
Is MT5 faster?
The platform is more efficient, particularly for backtesting. Order execution speed is determined by the broker's infrastructure rather than the terminal.
Does MT5 support hedging?
It can, if the broker configures hedging accounts. Some offer netting only, so check before opening if you rely on holding both directions.
Which is better for beginners?
They are close. MT4 has a slightly simpler interface and far more third-party tutorials; MT5 is more capable and no harder to place a trade in.
Do I have to use MetaTrader at all?
No. Nineteen of the hundred brokers we rate offer neither, running proprietary platforms instead, and several of those are among the highest rated on the site.
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