-
Richard Berry
- October 2, 2023
We have ranked, compared and reviewed some of the best MT4 brokers in the UK regulated by the UK. MT4 brokers provide the MetaTrader4 (MT4) platform so that its clients can speculate on financial markets. MT4 brokers have risen in popularity recently as the MT4 platform is considerably cheaper for a broker than developing its own propriety technology.
Best MT4 Brokers Compared & Reviewed
| MT4 Broker | MT4 Markets | Minimum Deposit | Our Rating | More Info | Risk Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 84+ | £100 | See Platform | 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 1,200 | £1 | See Platform | 75.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 578 | £100 | See Platform | 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider | |
 | 91 | £250 | See Platform | 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider. | |
 | 200+ | £1 | See Platform | 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 2,100 | £1 | See Platform | 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider | |
 | 3,981 | £10 | See Platform | 66.95% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider |
❓Methodology: We have chosen what we think are the best MT4 brokers based on:
- over 17,000 votes in our annual awards
- our own experiences testing the MT4 brokers with real money
- an in-depth comparison of the features that make them stand out compared to alternative MT4 brokers.
- interviews with the MT4 broker CEOs and senior management
City Index: Best for MT4 trading signals and analytics
City Index MT4 Review
Name: City Index MT4
Description: Trade on Metatrader 4 with City Index and benefit from tight spreads, fast trade executions and unique trading tools. Download and explore automated trading strategies with Expert Advisors from FX Blue. Choose from nine different EAs to complement your trading style, including Sentiment Trader.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Summary
- MT4 markets available: 84+
- Minimum deposit: £100
- MT4 account types: CFDs & spread betting
- Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
- Pricing: Shares 0.08%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.9
Pros
- Spread betting
- Good pricing
- Backed by StoneX
Cons
- Limited market range
- Better signals and analytics on their main platform
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4.5)
-
Research & Analysis
(4.5)
Overall
4.270% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Pepperstone: Best MT4 broker 2023
Pepperstone MT4 Review
Name: Pepperstone MT4
Description: With Pepperstone’s MT4 account you get 85 pre-installed indicators and 28 additional Smart Trader Tools where you can build and run your EAs using MetaQuotes Language 4 (MQL4) and identify statistically significant market movements with Autochartist.
75.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Summary
- MT4 markets available: 1,200
- Minimum deposit: £1
- MT4 account types: CFDs, spread betting
- Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
- Pricing: Shares 0.1%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.9
Pros
- Good range of indicators
- Dedicated to MT4 & MT5
- Lots of international shares
- Spread betting
Cons
- Can be too complicated for beginners
-
Pricing
(4.5)
-
Market Access
(4.5)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(3.5)
Overall
4.175.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
CMC Markets: Wide range of MT4 markets
CMC Markets MT4 Review
Name: CMC Markets MT4
Description: Competitive spreads on 175+ FX pairs, plus indices and commodities with no restrictions on scalping and no restrictions on minimum stop-loss or take-profit distances, or stop-loss and take-profit limits. Additional premium MT4 indicators and EAs, included at no cost on a London-located server.
74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Summary
- MT4 markets available: 200+
- Minimum deposit: £1
- MT4 account types: CFDs, spread betting
- Equity overnight financing: 2.9% +/- SONIA
- Pricing: Shares 0.1%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.59
Pros
- Backed by CMC Markets
- Scalping
- Lots of premium indicators
Cons
- Limited market access compared to main platform
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
474% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
XTB: Good platform for multi-asset MT4 trading
XTB MT4 Review
Name: XTB MT4
Description: xStation is XTB’s main trading platform, but they also provide access to MT4. You do get access to a wide range of markets and pricing is tight. The key advantage of trading on MT4 through XTB, is that yo are trading MT4 through XTB, who are a well-established, regulated and publicly listed company.
81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Summary
- Markets available: 2,100
- Minimum deposit: £1
- Account types: CFDs
- Equity overnight financing: -0.02341% / -0.00159% DAILY
- Pricing: Shares 0.3%, FTSE 1.7, GBPUSD 1.4
Pros
- Lots of markets
- Established brand
- Publically listed company
Cons
- No spread betting for UK traders
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
481% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
IG: Good for larger MT4 traders
IG MT4 Review
Name: IG MT4
Description: IG’s MT4 package gives instant access to 18 free add-ons and indicators. Trade in sizes as small as 0.01 lots as a CFD or spread bet and get minimum spreads from just 0.6 pips on a host of forex pairs.
70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Summary
- MT4 markets available: 91
- Minimum deposit: £250
- MT4 Account types: CFDs, spread betting, DMA, investing
- Equity overnight financing: 2.5% +/- SONIA
- Pricing: Shares 0.1%, FTSE 1, GBPUSD 0.6
Pros
- Backed by IG
- Spread betting i the UK
Cons
- Limited market range
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
468% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Tickmill: DMA CFD trading on MT4
Tickmill MT4 Review
Name: Tickmill MT4
Description: Tickmill’s MT4 brokerage is a good choice for traders who want low spreads and access to the most popular markets on MT4. For more advanced traders Tickmill also offers the CQG trading platform which gives direct market access to micro and mini futures for scalpers.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
Summary
- MT4 markets available: 578
- Minimum deposit: £100
- MT4 account types: CFDs, futures & options
- Pricing: US Shares 0, FTSE 0.9, GBPUSD 0.3
Pros
- DMA MT4 trading
- Low cost
- Lots of platforms
Cons
- No UK shares
- Only the most popular markets
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(4)
-
Online Platform
(4)
-
Customer Service
(4)
-
Research & Analysis
(4)
Overall
475% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider
⚠️ FCA Regulation
All online MT4 brokers that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority and is responsible for ensuring that UK MT4 brokers are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems in place. We only feature MT4 brokers that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS.
Best Overall MT4 Broker
Pepperstone won “best MT4 broker” in our 2023 awards. They offer a very comprehensive package of MT4 tools and strategies, discount pricing and expert customer support from their London office.
You can use our comparison of what we think are the best MT4 brokers to compare how many markets you can trade, minimum deposits, and what types of accounts are available.
Beginner MT4 Brokers
CMC Markets is the best MT4 broker for beginners as they are well established, publically listed on the LSE, and offer over 200 markets to trade. They are also backed up by an exceptional in-house trading platform which beginners may find more user-friendly and easier to use than MT4.
This comparison table shows which MT4 brokers offer beginner-friendly features.
| Beginner Features: |  | |  |  | |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trading Signals | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Webinars | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Seminars | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Leverage Control | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Low-Risk Products | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Investment Account | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
Best Advanced & Professioanl MT4 Brokers
Pepperstone is the best MT4 broker for experienced traders. They offer by far the most markets of all the MT4 brokers we feature (around 1,200), including UK, US and Australian shares. They also provide free technical indicators and automated trading strategies in their Smart Trader Tools package, a suite of expert advisor tools that help with trade execution and management.
The below comparison table shows which MT4 brokers provide advanced trader tools and access for sophisticated MT4 users.
| Advanced Features: | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voice Brokerage | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Corporate Accounts | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Level-2 | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Algo Trading | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Prime Brokerage | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
Best MT4 Brokers For Market Access & Added Value
MT4 is available from thousands of brokers and used by millions of traders every year. With so many brokers utilising the same platform, they must work hard to differentiate themselves and win business.
You can compare which MT4 broker is most suited to your trading in this matrix of account types and market access.
| MT4 Offering | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Access | 84 | 200 | 1,200 | 91 | 578 | 2,100 |
| Minimum Deposit | £100 | £1 | £1 | £250 | £100 | £1 |
| CFD Trading | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Spread Betting | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Futures | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ | ❌ |
So, what makes one MT4 broker better than another? The key questions you need to ask yourself when choosing an MT4 broker are:
- Where is the broker regulated? – In the UK this is the FCA
- How many markets do they offer on MT4? – Some brokers only offer 10 or so FX pairs which is not enough
- What types of trading account do they have? Spot FX, CFDs or financial spread betting
- What are trading costs? Some brokers include commission in the spread, while others add it post-trade
- Is there any added value on offer? Larger brokers offer free indicator packages, faster execution plus news and analysis
What do you need to trade on MT4 & MT5
FX and CFD traders who use either MT4 or MT5 can enable one-click trading in their charts. That, puts bid and ask prices for a given instrument in the top left-hand corner of the chart.
To execute a market order in predetermined size that you set you simply click the bid or ask button as required. Be aware though there are no second chances with one click dealing enabled. Click on the bid or the ask price and you have dealt in your preselected order size.
How does trading from charts work on MT4?
Those brokers who offer a ‘suped’ up version of the Meta trader platforms give their customers access to add-ins such as Tick Chart Trader which allows you to place orders directly from a tick chart with has an order ticket within it.
The Tick charts themselves can also be configured in a variety of formats and the add-in also supports hot-keys for trading such as B for Buy S for sell and so on.
If you have access to the Mini Terminal which usually comes in the same package of add-ons as one click trading then you can make use of smart lines which allows you to draw intelligent lines on chart.
Those lines can act as stop losses or take profits for full or partial orders and it’s also possible to use a time based line to close open positions at at specific point in the trading day.
MT4 Broker FAQ:
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms that, over the past 13 years, has cultivated a unique online trading culture with a huge ecosystem behind it.
MT4 offers you the flexibility to build and backtest strategies through a range of automated trading algorithms and bespoke apps. What’s more, you can buy and sell trading automation programs through the MT4 market space. A lot of the software available is open-source allowing you to code your own programs and share them with other traders.
The key difference, when compared to proprietary trading platforms, is that MT4 is not intrinsically linked to any single broker. Instead, Meta Quotes, the software developer behind MT4, licence their platform to brokers, who offer it to their clients.
The practical upshot is that with an MT4 licence smaller brokerages are able to compete with larger, more established firms effectively lowering trading costs.
The FCA regulates all brokers that offer MT4 based in the UK.
Yes. One of the strongest and most popular features is the ability to trade automatically on MT4. The automatic trading feature has been active since 2006 and tens of thousands of traders have used the function. The automated trading is two-sided so you can either follow other traders via copy trading or upload your own code to the marketplace and sell it to potential followers in the MT4 marketplace where traders can buy robots & indicators. In the market place you’ll also find the complete array of MT4 signals and can search by filters to find a Forex trading signal.
EA stands for Expert Advisor. Automated Expert Advisors allow you to take positions automatically, based on pre-set trading parameters. You can program Expert Advisors to follow a very specific set of instructions, allowing your positions to be automatically opened and closed without you needing to be present. or you can buy them ready made.
No, Interactive Brokers does not offer MT4 instead they have their own suite of in house trading platforms and API connectivity, which they offer to their clients.
For MT4 and Expert Advisors you should be looking for execution speeds of sub 25-30 milliseconds. MT4 brokers are responsible for the price feeds and the infrastructure behind the scenes that actually execute the trades, so always choose a well-established broker with the free VPS.
Yes, Pepperstone will give clients a free VPS for trading on MT4, based on your traded volume.
A Virtual Private Server (VPS) allows you to use Expert Advisors (EAs) 24/7. The VPS means you no longer need your home computer continuously running for your EAs to execute trades, ensuring uninterrupted trading day and night. If the VPS provided is in close physical proximity to your brokers MT4 servers, then you will also benefit from much faster execution times, allowing you to catch that price before it changes.
Yes, you can but this feature must be enabled by your broker, and cannot be changed direct on the MT4 platform. Note that changing leverage levels on an account will affect existing open positions as well as new positions opened post the changes.
Yes, you can have two MT4 installs from the same broker although you will have to download the platform multiple times and specify a different destination folder for each version of the platform.
City Index, Pepperstone, CMC Markets and IG offer micro-lots for MT4 trading.
With MT4 you can choose to either trade in standard lots or micro-lots, which allows you to trade in smaller increments and limit your overall exposure.
The MT4 app was banned from Apple’s app store in September 2022 because of the volume of scam reports Apple received. This was due to the app being used in social media trading scams.
- Automated trading
- Industry-standard platform
- Excellent technical analysis tools
- MT4 can be too complicated for new traders
- Expert Advisors can be expensive and unproven
- Available on unregulated trading platforms
Richard Berry
This article contains affiliate links which may earn us some form of income if you go on to open an account. However, if you would rather visit the MT4 brokers via a non-affiliate link, you can view their MetaQuotes trading pages directly here: