MT4 vs MT5: Which One Your Broker Will Actually Give You

Key takeaways

• Availability decides this more often than features. Some account types are opened on one platform only, so the choice can be made for you before you compare anything.
• An Expert Advisor written in MQL4 does not run on MT5 without being rewritten. If your strategy depends on one, that cost is the deciding factor.
• The published counts are real but thin: 38 indicators against 30, 44 graphical objects against 31, 21 timeframes against 9, and 6 pending order types against 4.
• Those counts come from the vendor’s own comparison page, which carries no build number and no publication date. A count without both is not a specification.
• The account model matters more than the count. MT5 supports netting as well as hedging, and a netting account merges positions in the same symbol instead of keeping them separate.

The decision is availability, not features

Almost every comparison of these two platforms asks which is better. That is not the question a trader opening an account actually faces. The question is which platform the broker will give them, on the account type they want, in their region.

That constraint is real and it is published, but it sits on account pages rather than platform pages, so comparisons miss it. The table below records what each broker publishes about the platforms it supports, and the account-level restrictions attached.

Figures verified against each broker’s own published terms on 2026-08-29. Entities are named because a broker’s platform and account terms differ by entity. “Not disclosed” means the broker publishes no account-level platform restriction, not that none exists.

Every broker here offers both platforms, which is why the availability question is so easily missed. The constraint appears one level down, at the account type: two of the nine publish an account that exists on one platform only.

That is the case worth checking before anything else. If the account you want is a micro or cent account, or an entry-level account with a low minimum, the platform may already be decided. Confirm it on the account page for the entity that will hold your account, not on the broker’s platform page.

What actually differs between the two platforms

Stripped of the marketing, the differences fall into three groups, and only one of them affects most currency traders.

The first is scope. MT5 was built to handle exchange-traded instruments as well as forex, which brings depth of market and exchange data with it. If you trade currency pairs at a broker that offers nothing else, this group is inert.

The second is the toolset: more indicators, more objects, more timeframes, a built-in economic calendar. These are conveniences. None of them changes what you can do, only how much of it is already there when you open the platform.

The third is structural, and it is the group that matters. The programming language changed, so automated strategies do not carry over. The account model gained netting alongside hedging. The strategy tester became multi-threaded and multi-currency, which changes what you can realistically backtest.

Reading the feature counts correctly

Every comparison of these platforms repeats the same numbers, and they trace back to one source. Read from the vendor’s own comparison page on 29 August 2026, MT5 lists 38 technical indicators against MT4’s 30, 44 graphical objects against 31, 21 timeframes against 9, and 6 pending order types against 4. Symbol capacity is given as unlimited against 1,024.

Those are the real published figures. The problem is what the page does not carry: there is no build number on it and no publication date. Both platforms ship updates continuously, and a count of indicators is a property of a build.

So a count without a build number and a read date is not a specification, it is a snapshot of unknown age. That applies to the numbers above as much as to anyone else’s, which is why the date they were read is printed beside them here.

Treat these as a rough measure of breadth and nothing finer. A difference of eight built-in indicators is not a reason to choose a platform when both let you install any indicator you want. For a fuller walk through what the additional tools actually do, see the breakdown of the MT5 features that MT4 lacks, which covers the toolset in the depth this page deliberately does not.

Will your expert advisor move across

This is the switching cost that catches people, and it is not a settings problem.

MT4 automation is written in MQL4 and MT5 automation in MQL5. They are different languages, and an MQL4 source file does not compile and run on MT5 unchanged. A compiled MT4 program will not load on MT5 either.

What that means in practice depends on what you own. If you bought a program and the seller publishes an MT5 version, moving is a purchase and a reconfiguration. If you bought an MT4-only product from a seller who has not released one, moving means losing it. If you had it written for you, moving means paying to have it rewritten and retested.

Establish which of those three you are in before you compare anything else. It is usually the largest cost in the decision, and it is the one no feature table shows.

Hedging and netting: the account-model difference that catches people

MT4 accounts are hedging accounts. Open a buy and a sell on the same pair and you hold two separate positions, each with its own ticket, its own stop and its own result.

MT5 supports both models, and which one you get is set by the broker on the account. On a netting account, positions in the same symbol are merged into one. A buy of one lot followed by a sell of one lot leaves no position at all, rather than two opposing ones.

Traders discover this the hard way when a strategy that opens opposing positions deliberately, such as a grid, behaves nothing like it did in testing. The platform is not malfunctioning; the account model is different.

Check which model the account uses before funding it, not after. It is a property of the account rather than of the platform, so two MT5 accounts at the same broker can differ.

Switching without losing your history

A move between the platforms is a move between accounts, because the two use different account numbers even at the same broker. Nothing transfers automatically.

Closed trade history stays with the old account. Export it before you stop using that account, because access to a dormant account cannot be relied on indefinitely and the record is the only evidence of how a strategy actually performed.

Chart templates, custom indicators and scripts are files, and files can be copied between installations. Automated programs are the exception, for the language reason above.

Run both in parallel for a period rather than switching in one step. Keeping the old account open with positions closing out, while the new one takes new trades, avoids discovering an incompatibility with money already committed.

When this is not for you

For a large share of traders this comparison does not need making at all, and two cases account for most of them.

The first is the trader who owns a working MT4 automated strategy. The platform question is already answered: rewriting a program in a different language and revalidating it is a real project, and the gain on offer is a longer indicator list and a built-in calendar. If the strategy works and the broker still opens MT4 accounts, the cost of moving is not repaid by anything on the feature table.

The second is the trader whose broker has decided it. If the account type you want exists on one platform only, as it does at two of the nine brokers above, comparing the platforms is time spent on a choice you do not have. Read the account page for your entity first, and only compare if both are genuinely open to you. Our guide to broker apps compared by entity sets out which app each of those entities actually ships.

There is a third situation worth naming. If you are new and have not yet settled on what you trade, either platform will teach you the same things, and picking on a count of indicators you have not used is a decision made on the wrong evidence.

EasyTradeWeb may be compensated if you open an account through links on this page. That does not change what is written above, and no broker is presented here as a recommendation.

The platform question sits inside a larger one, which is which broker and which account you are opening in the first place, and which brokers ship MT5 is settled by the company named on the agreement rather than by the brand, as is which brokers can still open an MT4 account. The account type usually decides the platform, and the pricing model decides the account.

From here, the two useful next steps are checking what a broker publishes before you commit, in the broker reviews, and understanding what changes once more than one strategy shares a terminal, in running several expert advisors on one account.

Frequently asked questions

Which platform will my broker actually open for me?

Most brokers offer both, but the account type can restrict it. Of the nine brokers checked for this page on 29 August 2026, two publish an account available on one platform only: one has a Micro account on MT4 alone, the other a Classic account on MT5 and its web terminal alone. Check the account page for the entity that will hold your account.

Do my MT4 expert advisors run on MT5?

No. MT4 programs are written in MQL4 and MT5 programs in MQL5, and MQL4 source does not compile and run on MT5 unchanged. Moving means buying an MT5 version if the seller publishes one, or paying to have your program rewritten and retested.

Is MT5 faster than MT4 in practice?

Its strategy tester is multi-threaded and can test multiple currencies, which makes backtesting substantially quicker. For placing and managing individual trades the difference is not something a discretionary trader will notice, because that speed is dominated by the network path and the broker’s execution rather than the platform.

Which should I pick if I only trade currency pairs?

Either works, so let availability and automation decide. If your broker opens the account you want on both and you have no MT4 program to carry over, MT5 gives you more built-in tools at no cost. If you own a working MT4 strategy, staying is usually the cheaper choice.

Is MT4 being discontinued?

No end-of-life date is published by the vendor, and every broker checked for this page still offers MT4. What can be verified is direction rather than a deadline: MT5 is the platform being developed, and new features appear there. Treat MT4 as supported but static, and weigh that against the cost of moving an existing strategy.

Sources checked 29 August 2026: MetaQuotes MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4 platform comparison page · EasyTradeWeb broker verification workbook, evidence_log platform entries for FXTM, Equiti, Exness, XM, Tickmill, IC Markets, FBS, Amana and Admiral Markets, captured 26 July 2026.