Connecting MetaTrader 5

How to log a profile in to your MetaTrader 5 account from the Desk or from the app's window: the account number, password and server, finding your broker's server, accounts already found on the computer, demo and live accounts, netting and hedging, the trading bridge and algo trading, "Repair", what each status means, and what to do when the login is refused.

What you need

• A MetaTrader 5 account at any broker, live or demo. Relay2Trade works with MetaTrader 5; most brokers offer it next to MetaTrader 4.
• The account number, its trading password and the exact server name. All three are in the email your broker sent when the account was opened. Use the trading password: the investor password is read-only and cannot place orders.
• The app running and signed in to your account, on your computer or on a VPS. See Where the app runs.
• An active plan, an access pass or your demo day.
• The profile's trading switched on. A profile that is off runs nothing: "Trading is off for this profile, so MetaTrader is closed. Turn trading on and it opens."

Start on a demo account. You can move to a live one whenever you like.

Each profile has a MetaTrader of its own

A profile is one MetaTrader account with its own listeners and settings. The app gives every profile a MetaTrader 5 of its own: a separate copy in the app's folder, logged in to that profile's account. Two profiles never share one terminal, and the MetaTrader you use yourself, with its charts and expert advisors, stays as it is.

• On Windows, the first time on a computer, the app installs a clean MetaTrader 5 from MetaQuotes for itself and makes each profile's copy from it: "Installing MetaTrader 5 — this takes a few minutes. You can leave this window open." Windows may ask you to allow MetaQuotes' installer: choose Yes.
• To trade two broker accounts at the same time, make a second profile and log it in to the second account, up to your plan's number of profiles. See Profiles and MetaTrader accounts.
• "Change terminal" offers three choices: "Its own terminal" (recommended: "two profiles cannot share one terminal"), "Another install" (a MetaTrader 5 you installed yourself) and "No terminal" ("The profile only watches its listeners; nothing is placed.").

Log in from the Desk

Open the Desk at https://relay2trade.com/control, then "Connections". Each profile has a "MetaTrader" card. A new profile opens on the login form: "This profile is not connected to MetaTrader yet. Log in to its broker account: the app gives the profile a MetaTrader 5 of its own on that computer." Otherwise press "Log in".

1. "Server" first. Type your broker's name or a part of the server's name, and pick your server from the list. Servers that a MetaTrader on that computer already uses come first, marked "used where your app runs". If several servers fit what you typed, the Desk says "Choose your server from the list: MetaTrader needs its exact name."
2. "Account number" and "Password". Use the trading password from your broker's email.
3. Press "Log in". The card says "Checking whether your broker's server is already known…", then "Logging in… (up to a minute)", and follows the steps: "Starting MetaTrader 5 and logging in…", "Waiting for MetaTrader 5 to log in and connect…" and "Logging in to the broker…".
4. Connected. The card shows the account number and server in green, with three ticks: "MetaTrader is open", "Trading bridge connected to the app" and "Logged in to the broker". Your balance, equity, margin and the other figures appear under them.

When your server is not in the list

When nothing in the list fits what you typed, the Desk can ask "“…” is not in our list. Search for this broker?" with "Search", "Edit" and "No, use it as typed". A search says "Asking MetaTrader 5 about this broker. It can take a few seconds…" and the servers it finds drop into the list. When nothing is found: "Nothing like it in our list. Type the server exactly as your broker gave it; it is used as you typed it."

Picking an account found on the computer

When a MetaTrader on the computer where the app runs is already logged in to an account, the card lists it above the form as a button with the account number and its server. Press it and the profile is logged in to that account with no password to type. A profile that already trades another account asks first: "Use account … at … for this profile, instead of the one it trades now? Trades open on the old account stay in MetaTrader, and the profile starts over on the new one."

On a new computer or VPS

After the app has moved to another computer or VPS, MetaTrader there has not logged in to the account yet. The card opens on the login with the account number and server filled in: type the password once and press "Log in". "Open MetaTrader" and "Repair" are not offered there, since the login is the one thing to do.

Log in from the app's window

On a Windows computer you can also log in from the app: open the "Connections" page, then the "MetaTrader 5" box.

1. If the box shows "Already logged in on this computer. Pick one and Relay2Trade logs this profile in to it in a MetaTrader of its own, with no password to type:", press your account. That is all.
2. Otherwise type "Account number", "Password" and "Broker server". Start typing your broker's name and pick the server: "capital letters count, so MyBroker-Demo and mybroker-demo are different servers."
3. Press "Connect" and give it up to two minutes.

Once connected, the box lists "Account", "Broker", "Account type", "Terminal" and "Trading bridge".

Finding your broker's server in MetaTrader (once)

"MetaTrader can only sign in to a server it has looked up before." When the server you typed is new to that computer, the app shows "One thing only you can do". In the app press "Open MetaTrader"; in the Desk press "Open MetaTrader on my computer". Then, in the MetaTrader window:

1. "In the menu, choose File → Open an Account".
2. Type your broker's name, or the server name, in the field at the top and click "Find your company".
3. Wait until your broker appears in the list.
4. Click "Cancel" — do not fill in the form.

Go back to Relay2Trade: the app finishes the login by itself. In the Desk, press "Check again". In a translated MetaTrader, "Open an Account" is always in the first menu, above "Login to Trade Account". Pictures of each click: https://relay2trade.com/features/metatrader.

An app with no window, on a VPS created from the Desk or on Linux, cannot open that MetaTrader window. There the Desk says "We do not have this broker's server yet:" with the name. Check the name against the list first; if it is right, press "Write to us" with your broker's name and the server name, and it is added.

Demo, live and contest accounts

The card carries a tag with the account's type: "DEMO", "REAL" or "CONTEST". Demo accounts sit on demo servers and live accounts on live servers, so moving from demo to live means a new login:

• In the Desk, press "Log out" on the card, then "Log in" with the live account number, its trading password and the live server.
• In the app, press "Use a different account".

Hedging and netting accounts

"Account type" says how the broker holds positions:

• "Hedging": each order is its own position.
• "Netting" or "Exchange (netting)": one position per symbol. The app then trades one signal per symbol at a time; a second one is skipped with "netting account: a position is already open on … — one signal per symbol at a time". A signal with several take-profits becomes one position, and the earlier targets rest at the broker as partial exits ("netting account: one position, the earlier targets rest as … partial exits").

More: Take-profits, trailing stop and runners.

The trading bridge and algo trading

The trading bridge is the app's link inside MetaTrader. The app installs it on a chart of its own, switches "Algo Trading" on and places your orders through it. It only touches the orders the app placed: trades you open by hand and your other expert advisors are left alone.

• MetaTrader has to stay open while a profile trades. If it is closed, the app says "MetaTrader 5 is closed" and reopens it by itself ("Reopening in …s"); "Leave closed" keeps it closed for now.
• The app watches the terminal and repairs the usual problems by itself, one MetaTrader restart each: "MetaTrader 5 is not connected", "Algo trading is off in MetaTrader" (MetaTrader switches it off by itself when the account changes), "MetaTrader is running an old trading bridge" (after an app update) and "MetaTrader has an old trading setup on its chart". Each shows a countdown with "Repair now" and "Not now".
• Some brokers disable automated trading on the account itself. Logging in works, and then an order comes back with "The broker's server has algo trading disabled for this account — contact the broker." Nothing in the app or in MetaTrader changes that: ask your broker to enable expert advisors for the account, and check its rules.
• "MetaTrader link" in Settings → "Account settings" decides how the app connects to MetaTrader on your own Windows computer. Keep "Nothing to set up in MetaTrader (recommended)". The local socket needs one address allowed by hand in every MetaTrader, and the Desk explains how before you switch.

The account's figures on the card

Under the three ticks, the Desk's "MetaTrader" card shows what MetaTrader reports about the account's money, in the account's currency. They are live while the app runs; while it is off, "Last known figures" holds the last ones it reported, with "Last update" and the time. A figure MetaTrader did not report shows "—".

• "Balance": the money in the account from closed trades, deposits and withdrawals. The account's currency stands beside the label.
• "Equity": the balance plus or minus what the open trades make or lose right now.
• "Floating": the profit or loss of the open trades right now, green above zero and red below.
• "Credit": a credit or bonus your broker added to the account, kept apart from the balance. It counts in the equity.
• "Margin used": the money set aside as security for the trades open now.
• "Free margin": the equity left over once the margin used is set aside: what is free for new trades.
• "Margin level": the equity as a percentage of the margin used. The higher it is, the more room the account has. With nothing open it shows "—".
• "Leverage": the account's leverage as your broker set it, for example 1:100. A higher leverage sets aside less margin for the same size.
• "Margin call": the margin level at which your broker warns that the account is running short of margin.
• "Stop out": the margin level at which your broker starts closing open trades by itself to protect the account.
• Your broker counts "Margin call" and "Stop out" either as a percentage of margin level or as an amount of money, and the card shows them the way the broker does.
• "Initial margin": the margin your broker reserves to cover your pending orders.
• "Maintenance margin": the lowest equity your broker asks for to keep your open positions.
• "Assets" and "Liabilities": the account's current assets and liabilities as your broker reports them. They are used mostly on exchange accounts and often stay at zero.
• "Blocked commission": commission your broker holds back on the account until it is charged. It often stays at zero.

The figures are your broker's own; Relay2Trade shows them as MetaTrader reports them.

What the statuses mean

On the Desk's "MetaTrader" card, and on each profile's card on the Overview:

• The account number and server, in green: connected and logged in to the broker.
• "Starting…" or "Logging in to the broker…": work under way. Wait for it.
• "not logged in": MetaTrader is open but the broker has not let the account in, or the profile has no account yet. The card says why, when MetaTrader has said it.
• "not connected": the trading bridge is not connected to the app.
• "no terminal": the profile has no MetaTrader yet. Log in and it gets one.
• "App offline": the app is not running, so nothing here is current. "Last known figures" holds what it last reported, with "Last update" and the time.
• "Stopped by your plan": your plan runs fewer profiles at once. See Plans, licence and billing.

The three ticks show where a broken link is: "MetaTrader is open" or "MetaTrader is closed", "Trading bridge connected to the app" or "Trading bridge not connected to the app", "Logged in to the broker" or "Not logged in to the broker".

In the app's status bar the same reads "MT5 · not logged in to your broker", "MT5 · waiting for terminal" or "⚠ bridge outdated — restart MT5".

"Open MetaTrader" and "Repair"

The card offers one button for what is wrong:

• "Open MetaTrader" while this profile's MetaTrader is closed.
• "Repair" while MetaTrader is open and the trading bridge is not connected. "Repair restarts MetaTrader with the app's trading bridge set up in it again. The account stays logged in." It shows "Setting up MetaTrader — the terminal restarts once, this takes about half a minute." and then "MetaTrader restarted — waiting for the trading bridge to connect (up to two minutes)…". In the app the same button is "Fix MT5 connection".

"Repair" is not offered when the broker refused the password, when the profile waits for an answer about its account, or when there is no login: a login is what fixes those. While the app is already working on MetaTrader, the card shows that work with a loader and no buttons.

When MetaTrader is logged in to another account

A profile trades the account it was given. If its MetaTrader is logged in to another account from inside MetaTrader, the profile stops and asks: "MetaTrader is now logged in to account …, not the one this profile was set up with, so the profile has stopped. Say whether it trades on this account from now on; with no answer in ten minutes it is logged out." Press "Trade on this account" or "No, log the profile out". Meanwhile signals are not traded.

Logging out

Press "Log out" on the card. The Desk asks "Log MetaTrader out? This profile stops trading until it logs in again." In the app: "Log this profile out of MetaTrader? It stops trading until you log in again. A MetaTrader the app set up for this profile is closed and forgets the login."

If something goes wrong

• "… refused account …: Invalid account." or "MetaTrader reported invalid credentials." The account number or password is wrong, the password was changed at the broker, or the broker closed the account. Use the trading password and log in again. The card adds "Everything else is fine on Relay2Trade's side" when MetaTrader itself is working.
• "MetaTrader cannot reach … for account …" Check that computer's internet connection and its clock, then restart MetaTrader or log in again. Broker servers, demo ones above all, sometimes drop for a few minutes.
• "Account … did not log in on “…”, and MetaTrader gave no reason." Most often the server name is not exact (capital letters count), MetaTrader has never looked that broker up, or the number or trading password is wrong. Pick the server from the list and do the lookup above.
• "MetaTrader is open, but logged in to no account, and the trading bridge starts only once it is." Log in on the card, or in the MetaTrader window.
• MetaTrader shows a black chart with only a title. It is not logged in to the broker. Read the reason on the card, fix it and log in again.
• "Not traded: this profile is not logged into a MetaTrader account." Log the profile in to its account.
• "Algo trading is still off after a repair." In the MetaTrader window, click "Algo Trading" in the toolbar so it turns green.
• "The trading bridge is still not connected after a repair." Open the MetaTrader window, check that it is logged in to your account and that "Algo Trading" is on, then repair again.
• "MetaTrader's installer did not finish. If Windows asked for permission, choose Yes, then try again." Allow the MetaQuotes installer when Windows asks, then log in again.
• "MetaTrader 5 opened, but its trading programs cannot run on this machine: the processor has no AVX." This is the VPS provider's processor setting: ask them to give the VPS the host's own processor type, or use another VPS.
• "Your app is offline: it has to be running for this." Start the app, or the VPS it runs on, then try again.

More help: Troubleshooting and Why a signal was skipped.