MetaTrader 5 vs MetaTrader 4: Which Platform Should You Use in 2025?

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) has been the industry standard for over 15 years, but MetaTrader 5 (MT5) has caught up and surpassed it in nearly every way. If you're starting fresh with EA development — or considering a switch — this comprehensive comparison covers every difference that matters.

Programming Language: MQL4 vs MQL5

MT4 uses MQL4, a simple procedural language. MT5 uses MQL5, which is object-oriented and significantly more powerful. MQL5 supports classes, interfaces, inheritance, templates, and advanced data structures like hash maps and dynamic arrays.

For EA development, MQL5's advantages are substantial:

• Better code organization: Classes and modules keep complex EAs maintainable
• Indicator handles: MQL5 uses handles for indicator access, which is more efficient than MQL4's direct function calls
• Trade classes: Built-in CTrade and CPositionInfo classes simplify order management
• Error handling: More comprehensive error codes and debugging tools

Winner: MT5. MQL5 is more modern and capable. All EAs built with AlgoStudio generate MQL5 code.

Strategy Tester

This is where MT5 truly dominates — and where the difference matters most for EA developers:

Multi-Threaded Optimization

MT5 uses all your CPU cores for optimization. MT4 uses only one. On an 8-core processor, MT5 optimizations run up to 8x faster. An optimization that takes 8 hours on MT4 takes 1 hour on MT5. This alone justifies the switch for serious EA developers.

Real Tick Data

MT5 can backtest using actual historical ticks from your broker — every real bid/ask price that occurred. MT4 interpolates tick data from 1-minute OHLC bars, creating artificial ticks that may not reflect what actually happened. For strategies with tight stops or precise entries, MT4's interpolated ticks can give misleading results.

Multi-Currency Testing

MT5 can test EAs that trade multiple symbols simultaneously. If your EA monitors EURUSD for entries but checks DXY for confirmation, MT5 handles this natively. MT4 can only test one symbol at a time.

Forward Testing

MT5's tester supports automatic forward testing (walk-forward analysis) to detect over-optimization. It splits the data into in-sample (optimization) and out-of-sample (validation) periods automatically.

Winner: MT5 — by a wide margin.

The Complete Feature Comparison

Feature	MetaTrader 4	MetaTrader 5
Language	MQL4 (procedural)	MQL5 (object-oriented)
Timeframes	9	21
Pending order types	4	6
Optimization cores	1 (single-thread)	All cores (multi-thread)
Tick data	Interpolated	Real ticks from broker
Multi-currency testing	No	Yes
Forward testing	No	Built-in
Economic calendar	No	Built-in
Markets	Forex only	Forex, stocks, futures, crypto
Account modes	Hedging only	Hedging + netting
Depth of Market	No	Yes
MQL community	Large (legacy)	Growing (active development)

Timeframes

MT4 offers 9 timeframes: M1, M5, M15, M30, H1, H4, D1, W1, MN. MT5 offers 21 timeframes, adding M2, M3, M4, M6, M10, M12, M20, H2, H3, H6, H8, and H12. More timeframes mean more granular analysis and more options for multi-timeframe strategies.

The H2 and H8 timeframes are particularly useful — H2 sits between H1 and H4 for medium-term analysis, while H8 divides the trading day into three clean sessions.

Winner: MT5.

Order Types

MT4 supports 4 pending order types: Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Stop. MT5 adds 2 more: Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit. These combined orders let your EA wait for a breakout (stop trigger) and then enter at a better price (limit execution). This is particularly valuable for breakout strategies.

Winner: MT5.

Market Coverage

MT4 was designed for forex only. MT5 supports forex, stocks, futures, options, commodities, and cryptocurrency CFDs. If you want to diversify your automated trading beyond forex — or test your strategies on correlated instruments — MT5 is your only option.

Winner: MT5.

Economic Calendar

MT5 has a built-in economic calendar with real-time news events, impact ratings, previous values, forecasts, and actual results. MT4 doesn't have this feature at all.

For EA developers, this is valuable because you can programmatically access the calendar from your EA code. An EA can automatically pause trading 30 minutes before and after high-impact news events — something that's impossible in MT4 without a custom solution.

Winner: MT5.

Hedging vs Netting

MT4 only supports hedging mode (multiple positions on the same symbol). MT5 supports both hedging and netting modes. In netting mode, opposite positions cancel out, leaving a net position. For forex traders who want hedging (the familiar MT4 behavior), make sure your MT5 broker account is set to hedging mode — most brokers offer this option.

Winner: Tie — both support hedging, MT5 additionally offers netting for those who want it.

Why Some Traders Still Use MT4

Despite MT5's advantages, some traders have legitimate reasons for sticking with MT4:

• Legacy EAs: If you've invested years developing MQL4 EAs, porting them to MQL5 requires effort. The languages are similar but not compatible — you can't just copy-paste.
• Familiarity: Traders who've used MT4 for 10+ years are comfortable with its interface and workflow.
• Broker support: A few brokers still only offer MT4, though this is increasingly rare. Most brokers now offer both or are migrating to MT5-only.
• Simplicity: MQL4 is simpler to learn for basic EAs. If you're writing code manually, the learning curve is gentler.

The Verdict: Use MT5 for New Development

For new EA development in 2025, there's no reason to choose MT4. MT5 is superior in every technical aspect: faster backtesting, better programming language, more timeframes, more order types, real tick data, built-in economic calendar, and multi-market support.

MetaQuotes has officially discontinued new MT4 broker licenses — the future is MT5. Starting new development on MT4 is building on a platform with no future updates.

If you're building an EA with AlgoStudio, your exported code is MQL5 — optimized for MetaTrader 5's latest features and designed to take advantage of the superior Strategy Tester. Ready to start? Try our free EA templates or learn the basics with our Getting Started tutorial.