MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are not old-version-and-new-version; they are siblings built on different engines. MT4 was designed around forex CFDs and became the industry’s common language. MT5 was designed as a multi-asset platform with a faster core. IEXS offers both, with the same account, pricing and execution behind each — so the choice is purely about the tool.
What actually differs
- Timeframes — MT4 has 9 chart periods; MT5 has 21, including 2-minute, 8-hour and custom-friendly steps.
- Pending orders — MT4 offers 4 types; MT5 adds buy-stop-limit and sell-stop-limit for finer breakout control.
- Depth of market — MT5 shows the order book levels; MT4 does not. For DMA-style trading this matters.
- Programming — MT4 runs MQL4, with the largest legacy library of EAs and indicators ever written; MT5 runs MQL5 with a far faster multi-threaded strategy tester.
- Economic calendar — built into MT5; external in MT4.
How to choose
Pick MT4 if your workflow depends on a specific legacy EA or indicator that only exists in MQL4, or you want the leanest possible terminal on old hardware. Pick MT5 for everything else — a new trader has no legacy to protect, and the extra timeframes, the depth of market and the modern tester are compounding advantages. Both platforms run on desktop, on mobile apps, and MT5 in the browser via WebTrader with nothing to install.
Whichever you choose, the next lesson walks through setup to a first properly-structured order — on a demo account, where mistakes are free.