The Ultimate Guide to MetaTrader 5

Whether you are already a seasoned trader, or just a beginner looking to understand and master MetaTrader 5, this comprehensive guide to the free MetaTrader 5 platform will cover every detail you need to know!

How to download MetaTrader 5

1. Go to the MetaTrader 5 download page
2. Fill out the login form
3. The download will automatically begin

Depending on whether you're downloading from a desktop computer or a mobile device, this page will offer you the version you need: Android, Apple iOS, Mac, or Windows. Linux users are not left out. I've also provided a section on performing the MetaTrader 5 Linux setup.

How to install MT5 on Windows?

Once downloaded, you can find the file either at the download bar at the bottom of your browser's window, or in your download file directory.

1. Click the downloaded setup file.
2. Follow the Windows installation instructions.
3. Choose the installation directory location.
4. Click Finish when done.

Once the installation is complete, you can click the application shortcut newly created on your desktop, and launch the MetaTrader 5 software.

How to set up MT5 on Linux

In this MetaTrader 5 review, I'm going to who you some of the essential pieces of information you need to know in order to install MT5 on an Ubuntu distribution kit. Why Ubuntu? It's the most popular version.

To set up MetaTrader 5 on Ubuntu, you need Wine. Wine is absolutely free and it serves as an intermediary piece of software that allows applications designed for Windows systems to be used on Linux systems.

However, remember:

• Wine isn't an absolutely stable system. This means that some features of the applications running on Wine might not work properly, or they may stop working completely.

• It's strongly recommended that you get the most recent version of both Wine and Ubuntu. This will ensure the highest level of stability for your MT5 app.

To install Wine, just type in the following command on the command line (in Ubuntu, this is called the "Terminal"):

sudo apt-get install wine-stable

By entering this command, you will install the most recent, stable version of Wine. Before you type this command in your Terminal, double check that this it's the most recent command. As new versions of Ubuntu are released and developers update their applications, the commands often change, over time, as well. Next, download the MT4 platform and install it through Wine.

How do I open an MT5 account and start trading?

1. Go to the Dashboard page and log in.
2. Once logged in, go to the Dashboard tab.
3. Click either "Open Live Account" or "Open Demo Account" with MetaTrader 5.
4. Choose and monitor the currencies in your account.
5. Choose the leverage you wish to use.

To activate your account, you will get a confirmation email with the next steps necessary to verify your account and usage.

How to add funds to your account

In the transfer tab on the Admirals website, you can see the options for transferring funds from your bank to your trading account.

Once your trading account is verified, and you've transferred funds, you are ready to start trading! You are ready to trade on either the MetaTrader desktop platform, or in your browser with WebTrader.

How to log in to MetaTrader

1. Launch the MetaTrader 5 platform
2. Click the dropdown File menu at the top left
3. Select 'Login to Trade Account'
4. Input your MT5 account ID and password where prompted
5. Select the server specified in your confirmation email
6. Click OK

Closing MT5

To close MT5, simply click the File menu, and then select 'Exit'

If you do not want MetaTrader 5 to save your login information, make sure to uncheck the 'Save Account Information' box in the login screen.

Why choose MT5 with Admirals?

Admirals is one of the few and best CFD and Forex brokers to offer the MetaTrader 5 trading platform.

Enjoy these benefits when choosing Admirals to trade with:

• Enjoy tight spreads on all major instruments: 1.2 pips on the EUR/USD currency pair, or 1.6 pips on the DAX30 CFD and CAC40 CFD.
• Leverage access is granted up to 1:1,000 for clients, which allows traders the ability to open positions worth 1,000 times greater than your available capital. We recommend being well acquainted with risk management if you do so.
• Admirals investment firms are regulated by the FCA, ASIC, CySEC and EFSA.
• Free deposits and withdrawals by bank transfer and credit card.
• All trading styles are available: hedging, scalping, and Expert Advisors (EAs) are all allowed

Advantages of MT5 over MT4

While MT4 and MT5 are the world's most popular trading platforms, MetaTrader 5 does have some unique benefits:

1. Simpler, easier to use and improved interface.
2. New, customisable units of time and measurement available.
3. An economic calendar integrated into the platform.
4. A brief history of automated orders viewable directly on an index's chart.
5. The history of the market (like an order book).
6. With Admirals, access CFD trading on 3,000+ instruments in our Trade.MT5 account

MetaTrader 5 also has performance and optimisation upgrades over version 4:

1. Quicker, more stable connection to servers.
2. Greater platform stability than MT4.
3. Faster and more accurate order execution.
4. Hedging allowed, for you to cover your positions.

Not only is MetaTrader 5 newer and vastly more powerful than MetaTrader 4, which is older but, at the moment, more widely used, MT5 has more advanced functionality mainly due to the technological evolutions that the MetaQuotes developers have developed. In general, EA traders prefer MT4, while manual and discretionary traders prefer MT5.

If you do not find the answers to all your questions through this MetaTrader 5 guide, do not hesitate to contact us for a chat!

Trade on MetaTrader 5 With Admirals

Admirals offers the ability to download the MetaTrader 5 trading platform for FREE! Gain access to real-time market data, technical analysis, insight from professional trading experts, and thousands of trading instruments to trade and invest with. Start your trading journey the right way, click the banner below to get started!

How to trade with MT5

1. Open the 'Market Watch' window from the 'View' tab or pressing Ctrl+M.
2. Double-click on your trading instrument of choice.
3. Press the 'Buy' or 'Sell' button.

The easiest way to open a trade on MetaTrader 5 is to use the 'Order' window to place an instant order in your instrument of choice.

When your trading chart is displayed in a MetaTrader 5 trading station, you can also open a position using the shortcut on the toolbar on the top left, named 'New Order."

Once you either click the 'New Order' button on the toolbar, or open a new order with the F9 shortcut key, you can easily input your desired order amount.

To open a trade, you must enter your desired trade size, in lots, in the volume box, then click Buy or Sell. The 'Market Execution' option allows for instant orders with MetaTrader 5.

You can also use the 'One Click Trading' option, found in the contextual menu that opens whenever you right-click on an MT5 trading chart. This method of opening positions is very fast, and ideal for day trading, and scalping strategies- the only parameter is how many lots are desired in the take decision.

It is also very simple to enter in take-profit and stop-loss orders for your positions. Once your order is in position, click and drag the input line up or down, depending on the direction of your trade.

How to set a Stop Loss and Take Profit in MT5

Stop losses and take profits are tools you can use to automatically close your open trades. A stop loss helps reduce your trading losses, while a take profit helps secure your trading profits.

There are two ways to set stop losses and take profits in MetaTrader - the first is when opening a trade, and the second is when adding them to a trade that is already open.

For setting them up when opening a trade:

1. Click the 'New Order' button in the toolbar towards the top of the screen.
2. Highlight stop loss and take profit fields
3. Enter stop loss that is lower than the current sell price (this is the price on top of the 'sell by market' button)
4. Enter a take profit that is higher than the current buy price (the price over the 'buy by market' button)
5. Click 'Buy by market'

When adding them to an existing trade:

1. In the chart window, highlight price where trade was opened (green dotted line)
2. Highlight stop loss (red dotted line below the trade)
3. Highlight take profit (red dotted line above the trade)
4. Try to drag stop loss to a different level
5. Accept terms and conditions (pop up window).
6. Drag stop loss to a different level

How to set a Trailing Stop in MT5

Trailing stops are stops that will be adjusted as the trade moves in the trader's favour, to further diminish the downside risk of being wrong in a trade. To set a trailing stop, simply:

1. Right click on the line for your position.
2. Select 'trailing stop' from the menu that opens.
3. Choose the size of your stop follow value, and click to confirm.

Here's another possible method for setting a trailing stop:

1. Open the Toolbox by inputting keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T.
2. Select the 'Trade' tab and then right click on the line representing your open position.
3. Select 'trailing stop' from the menu that opens.
4. Choose the size of your stop follow value, and click to confirm.

Want to stay for as long as possible in a winning position?

The Stop Follower is exactly the tool you need.

This tool will track stock and index prices in real time, and freeze your position when the market moves in the opposite direction of your trade.

• For a long position, the MetaTrader 5 tool clears the price and freezes when the price drops. If the price reaches your stop loss level, the position is closed automatically.
• For a short position, the tool follows the downward trend, and freezes when the price begins to rise.

One-click trading with MT5

One-click trading is an intuitive and fast option to open trading positions. It is available directly from an active chart, and you can visually preview your position represented by a dotted line.

Several functions can be accessed when hovering over a chart in this way. Left-click to open a position, and right-click and select the option to close to leave.

You can also access the Edit option here as well, this allows you to:

• Change the existing Stop Loss value

• Change the existing Take Profit value

Additionally, it's possible to modify your position by visually clicking on and dragging the red line on the chart representing your input level.

For a long position:

• Dragging down modifies your Stop Loss value

• Pulling up modifies your Take Profit value

For a short position:

• Dragging down modifies your Take Profit value

• Pulling up modifies your Stop Loss value

Each of these options grants you additional control and workflow command over your trades.

How to add indicators on MT5

Forex markets have a tendency to behave in certain ways under certain conditions. This behaviour repeats itself, meaning that certain price patterns will occur time and again. The best Forex indicators attempt to recognise such patterns as they form, and they gain an edge by exploiting that knowledge.

To add indicators to your platform, you can:

1. Download indicators from the Market tab of the Toolbox window.
2. Manually install the indicators in the Indicators folder in the MetaTrader 5 installation folder.

Choose from three different types of indicators available in the MetaTrader 5 platform, with different options and features for different user needs. Add indicators, expert advisors, or create or add your own custom tools. You can find custom tools available to download on the internet, created in the compatible MQL5 language.

If you want to learn more about available indicators, you can visit the MetaTrader 5 forum. The MT5 community is active, and creating new plugins and indicators every day.

How to save an MT5 trading chart template

MT5 allows you to save trading chart templates. The main benefit of doing this is it allows you to quickly and easily access your most used charts, with your preferred tools ready to go, anytime you need them.

One example of a saved chart might be your favorite Forex currency pair with three technical indicators - 3 Simple Moving Averages, the MetaTrader 5 Heiken Ashi Indicator and the MT5 RSI.

To create this MetaTrader 5 chart template:

1. Build your chart with all desired indicators and plugins.
2. Click on the Charts tab, and select templates.
3. Click 'Save Template.'
4. Give your template a name, and save.

It's that simple of a four-step process to save your template!

Once you save your preferred chart as a template, from then on you can open that chart template and find your entire trading system and indicators ready to go, and quickly. To load a template whenever you need, simply:

1. Go to the Charts tab.
2. Click on 'Templates.'
3. Select the model that suits your needs.

How to save a profile in MT5

You can also save profiles in MT5. The benefit of doing this is to give you instant access to every one of your favourite instruments, without having to search for them again and again.

Here's an example of what a profile can do for you:

Let's say you trade Forex in the morning, and US market indices in the afternoon. In the morning, you load your Forex profile, and all your favorite currency pairs will be displayed, as well as all the indicators you attached, and relevant strategy advisors. Then, in the afternoon, you load your US index profile, and you're once again greeted with only the charts and tools relevant to that need, every option saved.

To save a profile in MetaTrader 5:

1. Select the asset or instruments which interest you.
2. Add the desired indicators to each chart.
3. Go to the 'Files' tab, and select 'Profiles.'
4. Click 'Save As."
5. Give your profile a name, and click ok to save.

The profile system in MetaTrader 5 allows you to save and record a collection of your favoured instruments and applied indicators and tools for each one, all in a single easily-loaded file.

How to view MT5 chart information

1. Hover your mouse's cursor over an indicator to know the value of its subject.
2. Alternatively, use the 'Data Window' from the toolbar at the top left of the window, it displays all information from the active trading chart. The keyboard shortcut to this tool is Ctrl+D.

The range of data and information you can get from a single chart can be overwhelming to try to find on your own! That's why it's convenient and helpful to be acquainted with the data window.

Here's an example of a scenario where this would be helpful:

Let's say you trade with the RSI, and have to wait for the Relative Strength Index's curve to cross the 50's to get into position. It is simpler to read the exact value in data form, than to make approximate guesses based on the chart-- this is particularly important with instruments that change value rapidly.

How to display units of time in MT5

Did you know you can set custom units of time?

MetaTrader 5 can display charts in a wide variety of specific units of time, in addition to the most commonly utilised in each instrument.

Contrary to MetaTrader 4, which can only use a small number of preset units of time for each chart, MT5 allows the use of custom units, such as:

1. M2 for 2 minutes
2. M3 for 3 minutes
3. M4 for 4 minutes
4. M6 for 5 minutes
5. M10 for 10 minutes
6. M12 for 12 minutes
7. M20 for 20 minutes
8. H2 for 2 hours
9. H3 for 3 hours
10. H6 for 6 hours
11. H8 for 8 hours
12. H12 for 12 hours

To set a custom time unit, follow these steps:

1. Use the default toolbar at the top right of the MT5 platform.
2. Right-click on the chart, go to 'Timeframes', and choose to change the unit of time.

How to display the spread value in MT5

In Forex trading, the 'spread' refers to the difference between the Buy (or Bid) and Sell (or Ask) price of a currency pair. For instance, if the EUR/USD Bid price is 1.16909, and the Ask price is 1.16919, the spread is 1 pip. If the Bid price is 1.16909 and the Ask price is 1.16949, the spread would be 4 pips. When trading Forex, a trader makes a profit based on the movement of the currency pair. However, the trade only becomes profitable once the currency price has crossed the spread.

To view your spread:

1. On the trading chart, find the bid line and ask line.
2. From the Market Watch window, find the Difference column.

How to view commissions in MT5

With a Trade.MT5 trading account, the only commission on CFD trading is from swaps, which are an overnight holding fee for intraday positions. These fees are displayed for every relevant position.

If you do hold overnight positions, displaying these charges in the platform can help you better understand the costs of trading, and help you manage these effectively.

To view commissions and swap charges in MetaTrader 5, take these steps:

1. Input keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T to view the MT5 Toolbox.
2. In the Trade tab, you can view your open positions.
3. In the Exchange column, you can view commissions applied to your positions.

How to display a tick chart in MT5

If you are an experienced trader, searching for specific types of charts outside of your standard daily chart, MetaTrader 5 allows you simple access to others, such as tick charts and range charts. To install a tick chart:

1. Click on the Market Watch shortcut.
2. Click on the 'Ticks' tab at the bottom.

Now that you've found it, you have the option to move the Market Watch window in any direction you wish. Up, down, left, or right.

How to view all assets in MT5

You can view all assets in MT5 in the Market Watch window, which is in the top left of the MetaTrader 5 platform.

1. Click the Market Watch shortcut at the top left of the MetaTrader window. (Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+M)
2. Scroll through the list of markets covered by your Admirals account.
3. For instruments that don't appear in the list, you can add them using the field at the bottom of the list.

Source: MetaTrader 5

Which CFD markets are available on MT5?

With Admirals, you can trade the following instruments with a Trade.MT5 trading account:

• Forex (ex. EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY) with 37 different currency pairs.
• CFDs on 26 stock indices (ex. DAX30, CAC40, DJI30)
• CFDs on 15 commodities (ex. Gold, oil)
• CFDs on 3,000+ equities (ex. Total S.A, BNP Paribas, Facebook)
• CFDs on ETFs (exchange-traded funds) - 300+
• CFDs on bonds (ex. T Note, Bund)

In order to view a particular CFD instrument in MetaTrader 5:

• Right-click in the Market Watch window.
• Select the 'Symbols' tab.

This is the simplest method to quickly view and select from the full list of instruments you can trade with your MetaTrader 5 account. All you have to do is find your instrument of choice and double-click on it.

Let's say you choose DAX30 from the 'Cash Indices 1,' it is added to your list of instruments. All you have to do to open the trading chart, is click and drag it onto the trading window, or rick-click and select 'Open Chart.'

If you can not find the DAX30 CFD in the list of instruments, right-click and select 'Show All.' This way, you can see every possible instrument you can trade in a single window.

MT5 Backtesting Guide

There are several ways on MetaTrader 5 to perform historical tests to determine the effectiveness of a trading strategy:

• Manual method:
• Once you've found an instrument and strategy, you can view its historical data down the smallest increment of price action
• The F12 key will aid you in advancing candle to candle, to see a close view of price action data.
• Expert Advisor method:

Once the Expert Advisor is installed, you can choose from a number of built-in backtesting options to run over different periods of time to evaluate a given strategy.

The MQL5 Strategy Tester plugin has been improved for further ease of use and more advanced, professional results. This tool performs statistical analysis that is both detailed and easy to use.

For the programming-minded trader, MQL5 is more advanced than MQL4:

• Greater ease of programming.
• Greater performance and speed.
• Less taxing load on the computer's CPU.
• Faster tests and optimizations.

How to execute a quick historical test with MT5's Strategy Tester

1. Open the MT5 Strategy Tester.
2. Choose the indicator or EA (Expert Advisor) to test.
3. Choose the time unit on which you want to do the historical test.
4. Choose an instrument for this historical test.
5. Select the start and end dates of the test.
6. Choose the execution mode.
7. Fill in the starting amount, as well as the desired leverage.
8. Visual mode on or off.

You have the option to run the test in visual mode if you want to see the positions being taken on the chart, by the EA as the test progresses.

How to use MT5 on Android

1. Download the MT5 app from Google Play.
2. Open the app and sign in using your Trade.MT5 or Invest.MT5 account details.
3. Click the + icon located at the top right of the MT5 app.
4. Choose your desired MetaTrader 5 trading instrument.
5. Choose your lot size.
6. Set your desired stop loss (optional). Choose your desired Loss Price Level.
7. Set your desired take profit (optional). Choose the level of profit desired.
8. Take a short position using the Sell by Market key.
9. Take a long position using the Buy by Market key.

In order to take a position on the market, you just need to fill each of these criteria and press the Sell or Buy key. This simple and intuitive navigation makes MetaTrader 5 the premiere mobile trading app.

MT4 vs MT5 - What's the difference?

Before we finish, we are going to answer a question many traders ask themselves whenever they start looking at the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms: "What is the difference between MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5?".

Basically, the MetaTrader platform is the gold standard. Some argue that MetaTrader 5 shouldn't be considered a new version of MetaTrader 4. Also, as MetaTrader 4 is so popular, many argue, "If it isn't broke, why fix it?". One of the main reasons traders might choose MT5 over MT4 is that it offers Depth of Market (DOM) data from brokers.

MT5 WebTrader

WebTrader is a browser-based version of MetaTrader, which allows you to trade on the go without downloading any software.

This is a convenient solution for traders on-the-go, or do not have a single computer that they wish to install the full MetaTrader 5 platform on.

WebTrader MT5 allows you to trade anywhere securely and in seconds.

You can even trade from your smartphone's browser without downloading a new application that will take up precious space on your mobile phone!

Trade With Admirals 

If you're feeling inspired to start trading, or this article has provided some extra insight to your existing trading knowledge, you may be pleased to know that Admirals provides the ability to trade with Forex and CFDs on up to 80+ currencies! Click the banner below to open your live account today! 

About Admirals

Admirals is a multi-award winning, globally regulated Forex and CFD broker, offering trading on over 8,000 financial instruments via the world's most popular trading platforms: MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Start trading today!

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