MetaTrader 5: the detailed user guide

1. Installation and scope

Make use of it Official MT5 download portal or the verified provision of your broker. Windows, macOS, Linux and mobile devices have different installation paths. The following desktop menu paths are formulated for Windows.

1. Version and build under help → Over hold.
2. Use a demo account of the intended broker and document account currency, server and account model.
3. Check whether the desired instrument is actually offered. MT5 support for a product class does not guarantee a corresponding brokerage offer.

2. Three details for the trading account login

Under File → Login to the trading account Enter account number, password and server. The master access allows trading actions, the investor access observation without trading. An MQL5.community account is a separate access for community services.

After connecting, check account identity and timeliness of the courses. A green connection to a wrong account does not help. Create a unique list of broker contract partners, account, server, demo/live and platform for multiple accounts. Do not store passwords in this unencrypted list.

3. Interface and workspace

The market overview shows instruments and price information; the navigator maintains accounts and analysis programs. Charts are used for analysis. In the toolbox you will find, among other things, trade, history and journals. Start with a few visible elements.

Work Exercise: Select an instrument in the market overview, open the chart, display the toolbox and switch between the current trade view and history. In each view, first check whether it describes the current state or a past operation.

4. Contract specification and market depth

Open the specification in the symbol context menu of the market overview. Particularly relevant are contract and tick size, tick value specifications, volume grid, trading hours, approved order types and execution conditions. Values and availability are symbol-dependent.

Note this information before a test. Market depth is an additional presentation whose statement depends on data source and trading model. Visible price levels alone do not answer on which external market a CFD is actually hedged; Market anatomy Relevant.

5. Setting up charts and analysis

MT5 Desktop offers 21 time frames. Choose chart type, period and colors consciously. Check the pricing basis used: For different instruments, the presentation can be based on bid or Last. Trading levels, indicators and graphical objects support the view, but are not synonymous with confirmed orders.

Save a simple template. Exercise: Compare the same movement on two time frames and keep track of what changes due to aggregation. Expressly avoid confusion of chart time, server time and own time zone in the later reconstruction.

6. Differentiate Order, Deal and Position

The order is the order, the deal the execution and the position the resulting exposure. An order can generate several deals. Tickets help to assign tasks. The account model of netting or hedging is determined by the broker.

Exercise: Find a task in the history and write down the associated order, execution and position details separately. Do not expect each line to correspond exactly to a complete back-and-forth trade. The effects of counterorders explain the Position management.

7. Use the trading dialogue carefully

1. Select the correct symbol in the market overview and open new orders.
2. Check volume and order type; check protection levels.
3. For pending orders, select the desired entry and the type displayed. MT5 also offers stop limit constructions: After the stop trigger, a limit order is created, which can remain unexecuted.
4. Use only the execution and filling conditions available for the instrument.
5. After sending, check both execution and remaining orders; in the case of partial execution, track the remaining volume.

Buy and sell are trade actions. In a netting account, a counter-order can reduce, close or rotate an existing position. In a hedging account, it can create a second position. Decisive is therefore the account, not only the labeling of the button.

8. Automation and testing

MT5-EAs use MQL5; MT4 programs are not simply interchangeable executable files. For installation, rights and disconnection use the EA Guide. Simultaneous manual, copied and automated strategies can affect the same account.

The MT5 Strategy Tester supports testing of strategies across multiple instruments and different data models. In particular, document whether real ticks or generated movements were used. Period, account model and available data are part of the result.

Our test method: save unchanged initial configuration, first examine a small individual test track, only then vary parameters. Withhold a separate later period for control. Many good variants on the same past increase the risk of selecting only random patterns.

9. Report, history and error diagnosis

The current desktop report aggregates trading data and risk indicators. Open it from the history or via the report function of the build. Another period or account can generate different metrics.

Read reports and save data · Connection, error messages and journal

Regularly check whether open positions, pending orders, stops and active programs are in line with your intention. A platform update is a reason to check saved settings and program runtime again.

10. Mobile, Web and Delegation

Apps and WebTerminal including Official StoreLinks

MAM and PAMM: Management, Allocation and Fees

Copy Trading: Transfer, Risks and Exit

What happens after the click: interactive order expiration →

Sources & scope

Check the evidence.

1. MetaTrader 5 · Download

   Manufacturer portal, accessed 30.09.2026; Store availability may vary regionally.

   Open the source ↗
2. MT5 · Account details

   Master/Investor access and server selection.

   Open the source ↗
3. MT5 · Entrance and surface

   Desktop Manufacturer Help, accessed 30.09.2026.

   Open the source ↗
4. MT5 · Market overview

   Specifications, symbols and course view.

   Open the source ↗
5. MT5 · Configure charts

   Desktop charting functions.

   Open the source ↗
6. MT5 · Order, Deal, Position

   Account model is determined by the broker; OTC and exchange instruments differ.

   Open the source ↗
7. MT5 · Orders and execution

   Trade dialogue, change, closing and history; execution modes differ.

   Open the source ↗
8. MT5 · Strategy Tester

   Test modes and multi-symbol tests; data and assumptions determine the statement.

   Open the source ↗
9. MT5 · Trade Report

   Current desktop reporting feature; scope depends on build and historical data.

   Open the source ↗