How to Connect TradingView to MT4: Webhook Automation Guide

MT4 in 2026: old platform, huge install base

MetaTrader 4 stopped receiving major updates years ago, yet a huge share of retail forex still runs on it - many brokers, prop firms, and long-running accounts never migrated to MT5. If your account is MT4, you do not need to switch platforms to automate: the TradingView-to-MetaTrader webhook pipeline works identically, with a dedicated MT4 Expert Advisor on the execution side.

The architecture is the same as MT5: a TradingView alert fires, the webhook carries a JSON instruction to the bridge, and the EA on your MT4 terminal executes it. What differs is the EA build and a few terminal specifics below.

MT4-specific setup details

The DLL imports switch is the one people miss. The EA communicates through a native Windows connection library, which is what makes the no-WebRequest-whitelist setup possible - but it requires that checkbox, both in the global options and in the EA attach dialog.

• •Download the MT4 build of the EA - MT4 and MT5 use different compiled formats (.ex4 vs .ex5) and are not interchangeable
• •The Experts folder lives at MQL4/Experts (open it via File then Open Data Folder)
• •In Tools, Options, Expert Advisors: enable Allow automated trading and Allow DLL imports - MT4 wording differs slightly from MT5 but both switches exist
• •Attach the EA to exactly one chart; the chart symbol does not matter

One alert works on both platforms

The alert message is platform-agnostic. The same JSON that trades an MT5 account trades an MT4 account - the bridge routes by license key, and the terminal type is whatever that key is attached to:

{ "licenseKey": "TB-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX", "action": "buy", "symbol": "GBPUSD", "size": 0.01, "sl": 25, "tp": 50 }

MT4 quirks worth knowing

Hedging is default on MT4 - opposite positions coexist unless your execution mode nets them. If you want strategy flips instead of hedges, set the execution mode to close opposite or flip rather than relying on the platform.

Some MT4 brokers suffix symbols (EURUSD.m, GBPUSDi) or rename metals entirely. Symbol mapping translates your TradingView symbol to the broker name per terminal, so one strategy serves accounts at different brokers without editing alerts.

If you would rather not keep a Windows machine running for an old platform, hosted cloud terminals run MT4 around the clock with the EA pre-installed - the same one-click deployment as MT5.