Is MT4 Being Phased Out? What Traders Should Know in 2026

MT4 isn't being killed off industry-wide yet, but MetaQuotes' licensing squeeze and OANDA Japan's dated shutdown show the writing on the wall. Here's what to check with your own broker and a checklist for migrating if you need to.

If you're seeing broker emails pushing MT5, forum threads full of alarm, and a general sense that MT4 is on its way out, the honest answer is: partly, and it depends entirely on who your broker is. There is no single global shutdown date for MT4. But MetaQuotes has been quietly restricting who can license the platform since 2017, and at least one broker — OANDA Japan — has now put a hard, dated end to MT4 on the calendar. So the pressure is real, it's just not uniform, and whether it applies to you depends on your specific broker rather than the industry as a whole.

This matters because a lot of retail traders running EAs, custom indicators and years of trade history on MT4 are being told, sometimes with very little warning, to move everything to MT5. That's a real technical job, not a formality. This article covers what's actually confirmed, why it's happening, how to check your own exposure, and the concrete steps for migrating an account if your broker sets a deadline.

Is MT4 being phased out?

Not in the sense of a single, industry-wide switch-off. MetaQuotes has never announced a global MT4 end-of-life date, and plenty of brokers still run MT4 servers with no public plan to stop. What has changed is the licensing environment around MT4: MetaQuotes stopped selling new MT4 licenses to brokers back in 2017, and since 2024–2025 has tightened things considerably further, including suspending white-label licensing for both MT4 and MT5. That's squeezed brokers who relied on cheaper white-label arrangements rather than full server licenses.

Against that backdrop, one broker has gone further than "quietly discouraging" MT4 — OANDA Japan has a confirmed, staged shutdown with actual dates attached. That's the clearest evidence that MT4 phase-outs are happening for real, at individual brokers, even without a MetaQuotes-wide mandate. The rest of this article treats that distinction carefully: broad industry pressure is well documented, but a confirmed list of major household-name brokers with announced MT4 shutdown dates is not something that currently exists in verifiable form.

Which brokers have announced they're dropping MT4

The clearest, best-documented case is OANDA Japan (OANDA Securities), and it's worth walking through because it shows what an actual MT4 shutdown looks like in practice rather than in rumour.

New MT4 sub-account creation has already been halted.
New order placement on MT4 is scheduled to stop after trading hours on 25 September 2026.
Full termination follows at the close of trading on 27 November 2026, after which clients can no longer log in or trade on MT4 at all.
Clients holding balances with no open positions are being told to move funds into other account types, including MT5, fxTrade, or TradingView-based accounts. How open positions will be handled at the final cutoff hadn't been announced at time of writing.
This wasn't sudden: OANDA had already shut down two MT4 servers back in 2024 and asked clients to consider moving to MT5 at that point.

Beyond OANDA Japan, there are scattered notices from smaller brokers — some phasing out MT4 in favour of MT5, one case of a broker dropping both MT4 and MT5 in favour of a proprietary platform entirely. There's also forum chatter about specific account types (cent accounts, for instance) being pushed toward MT5 first at certain brokers. None of that amounts to a confirmed wave of major, brand-name brokers setting MT4 shutdown dates. If your broker hasn't said anything, the OANDA Japan case tells you this is possible and increasingly plausible, not that it's already happening to you.

Why brokers are moving away from MT4

The motivations split into two distinct problems: what MetaQuotes will let brokers do, and what running MT4 actually costs a broker to keep going.

MetaQuotes has been squeezing MT4 licensing since 2017

The licensing timeline explains a lot of broker behaviour that otherwise looks arbitrary:

2017 — MetaQuotes stopped selling new MT4 licenses to broker customers. Existing MT4 brokers could still order additional white-label terminals and receive support, security updates and bug fixes, but no new brokerage could start out on MT4.
2024–2025 — MetaQuotes went further and suspended white-label licensing altogether for both MT4 and MT5. That means brokers now need a full MetaTrader server license rather than a cheaper white-label arrangement, and can no longer operate as a sub-label under someone else's license. In effect, a broker's own regulatory and financial standing has become a prerequisite for running MetaTrader at all.
Fee increases — reporting has pointed to a MetaTrader licensing fee rise of at least 20%, framed in trade press coverage as part of the broader push toward MT5 adoption, coming after MetaQuotes had already stopped issuing new MT4 licenses.
MetaQuotes has also tightened enforcement around prop-trading firms using brokers' grey-labeled MT4/MT5 licenses, with some brokers reportedly told to cut off prop firms using their licenses in early 2024.

None of this is a broker choosing to abandon MT4 for its own sake. It's brokers responding to a platform vendor that has made MT4 progressively harder and more expensive to keep offering.

Running two platforms costs brokers money

Even where licensing isn't the immediate constraint, running MT4 and MT5 in parallel is operationally expensive — separate servers, separate support processes, separate liquidity bridge configurations. OANDA's own stated reason for shutting down MT4 wasn't licensing cost, it was security: the broker cited "cybersecurity requirements" and pointed to MT4 no longer receiving ongoing security maintenance from MetaQuotes in the way MT5 does. An ageing platform that isn't actively maintained becomes a liability a broker has to justify keeping, especially once client volumes have shifted toward MT5 anyway — industry data cited MT5 overtaking MT4 in CFD trading volume during 2025.

Is this a regulatory mandate or a business decision?

It's worth being direct about this because a lot of broker emails imply otherwise: no FCA, ASIC or CySEC rule, guidance, or public statement mandating MT5 over MT4 was found anywhere in the current regulatory landscape. Regulators haven't named a platform requirement. What looks like regulatory pressure is actually MetaQuotes' licensing squeeze plus individual brokers' own cost and security decisions, dressed up in language ("cybersecurity requirements," "platform upgrade") that can sound like compliance-driven necessity.

That distinction matters for how you read broker communications. If your broker says MT5 is required "for regulatory reasons," ask what specifically that means — because based on the available evidence, no regulator has issued that requirement. It's more likely a business decision the broker is framing that way.

How to tell if your broker is planning to drop MT4

Rather than waiting for an email, there are early signals worth checking directly with your broker or in your account portal:

New MT4 account creation is disabled. If you can no longer open a fresh MT4 account or sub-account with your broker, that's usually the first quiet step before a wider wind-down (it was OANDA Japan's first move).
MT4 server closures have already been announced, even for accounts other than yours.
Emails or in-platform messages pushing MT5 or a proprietary alternative (OANDA's own fxTrade platform is an example of a broker steering clients toward its own system alongside MT5).
Cent or micro account types are being migrated to MT5 first. Brokers sometimes move lower-priority account tiers across before touching standard or professional accounts, which can be an early warning for what's coming next.

None of these guarantee a shutdown is imminent, but two or more together are worth treating as a signal to start preparing rather than waiting for a deadline email.

Migrating from MT4 to MT5: what you actually need to do

If your broker does set a cutoff date, the migration is a genuine technical task with several distinct parts. Here's what each one involves.

Move your account and funds

MT5 isn't an in-place upgrade of MT4 — it's a separate platform environment. Opening an MT5 account is typically a distinct step from your existing MT4 account, using the same broker but a different login and server. Most brokers let you run both simultaneously, funded independently, right up until MT4 is actually switched off. That gives you room to test MT5 properly with live conditions before committing fully, rather than being forced into a same-day switch.

Convert your Expert Advisors

This is usually the biggest technical blocker for anyone running automated strategies. Start by checking the file extension: a .mq5 file means the EA is already built for MT5 and should work with no changes. A .mq4 file means it's written in the older MQL4 language and needs proper conversion, not just copying across.

Converting an MQL4 EA involves editing the source code to match MQL5's different syntax, object model, and order-management functions — MT5 handles trade execution and position/order structures differently to MT4, so this isn't a cosmetic change. Once edited, the code needs recompiling into a .ex5 file, which then goes into the MQL5/Experts folder on MT5. If you didn't write the EA yourself, this is the point where you'll need the original developer, someone competent in both MQL4 and MQL5, or a pre-converted MT5 version of the same strategy.

Rebuild your indicators and chart templates

Two things people forget aren't portable: chart templates and custom indicators. MT4 .tpl template files simply don't open in MT5 — there's no import function — so any saved chart layouts, indicator combinations and drawing setups need to be manually recreated in MT5's own charting system.

Custom indicators face the same conversion issue as EAs. Check the MQL5 CodeBase first, since a lot of popular MT4 indicators already have MT5 equivalents built by other users. Where one doesn't exist, MetaEditor 5 includes migration tools intended to help convert MQL4 indicator code, though non-trivial indicators may still need manual work.

Export and preserve your trade history

Don't let a forced account closure wipe out your records. Before an MT4 account is closed:

Open the Account History tab in your MT4 terminal.
Right-click anywhere in that tab.
Select Save as Report.
Save the exported file somewhere permanent, separate from the platform itself.

Do this well before any announced cutoff date, not on the day. If a broker terminates access at close of trading on a specific date, you want your history exported and backed up days in advance, not scrambling at the deadline.

If you're running signal-based trading rather than, or alongside, your own EAs, this is also the point to reconnect your signal setup. MarketSync supports copying signals onto both MT4 and MT5 accounts, and when you connect an account you explicitly choose MT4 or MT5 and select the exact broker server — so once your MT5 account is live, you can reconnect it and keep receiving signals without a gap while the rest of the migration is under way.

Should you switch to MT5 even if your broker hasn't announced anything?

This comes down to a straightforward trade-off between control and effort. Migrating proactively means you choose the timing: you can test converted EAs calmly against demo or small live positions, rebuild templates without pressure, and fix anything that breaks before it costs you a missed trade. Waiting means doing nothing until forced, which costs nothing right now but risks doing all of the above under a hard deadline, at the same time as everyone else on that broker is doing it too.

The deciding factor is usually EA complexity. If you're running a simple manual setup with a handful of indicators, migrating on short notice is a few hours' work. If you're running several EAs with custom logic, non-standard order handling, or dependencies on other custom indicators, that conversion work can take considerably longer than a typical broker's notice period allows — OANDA Japan's own gap between "new orders stop" and "full termination" was around nine weeks, and even that isn't necessarily generous once you factor in real coding and testing time. If your setup falls into that second category, there's a reasonable case for starting the MT5 side of things now, in parallel, well before any deadline exists.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still open a new MT4 account in 2026?

At most established brokers, yes — MT4 account creation hasn't disappeared broadly. But some brokers have already disabled new MT4 account creation as a first step before a wider wind-down, as happened with OANDA Japan's sub-accounts. Check directly with your broker rather than assuming based on industry news.

Will MT4 stop working completely if MetaQuotes shuts it down?

MetaQuotes hasn't announced a global shutdown of MT4 itself — the confirmed shutdowns found in research are broker-specific decisions, like OANDA Japan's, not MetaQuotes switching the platform off worldwide. If your specific broker terminates its MT4 servers, MT4 will stop working for accounts on that broker, but that's a broker decision rather than MetaQuotes disabling the software everywhere.

Do I lose my trade history if I switch from MT4 to MT5?

Not if you export it first. MT4's Account History tab lets you right-click and select "Save as Report" to generate a saved record before the account closes — MT5 doesn't automatically inherit MT4 history, so this export is the only way to keep it once the old account is gone.

Can I run MT4 and MT5 accounts at the same time with the same broker?

Generally yes. MT4 and MT5 are separate account environments, and most brokers allow both to be open and funded simultaneously, which is exactly what makes a calm, proactive migration possible instead of an all-or-nothing switch.

Are prop trading firms affected by the MT4 licensing changes?

Some have been. MetaQuotes reportedly tightened enforcement on brokers using grey-labeled MT4/MT5 licenses to serve prop firms, with certain brokers told in 2024 to stop letting specific prop firms operate under their license. This is a licensing-compliance issue for brokers rather than something that removes a prop trader's own account access directly.

Is MT5 mandatory for new brokers now?

Not by regulatory mandate — no FCA, ASIC or CySEC rule requiring MT5 was found. But practically, since MetaQuotes stopped issuing new MT4 licenses back in 2017, any brand-new brokerage wanting a MetaTrader platform has had to start on MT5, since that's the only MetaTrader license currently available to new entrants.

Where to go from here

If your broker hasn't said anything about dropping MT4, there's no need to act today — but it's worth checking your account portal periodically for the early warning signs covered above, particularly whether new MT4 accounts are still being offered. If you've already had a shutdown notice, or you're running EAs complex enough that a rushed conversion worries you, start the MT5 side of the migration now while both platforms can run in parallel: open the MT5 account, begin converting and testing your EAs and indicators, export your MT4 history, and reconnect any signal-copying setup, including MarketSync, to the new MT5 account once it's live. Trading carries risk regardless of which platform you're on, and a migration handled with time to test properly is a lot safer than one done in the final week before a deadline.