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How to use MetaTrader 5: a beginner's walkthrough

By Saad El Soussi, UAE-authorized finfluencer · Updated 2026-11-08

MetaTrader 5 (MT5) is the trading platform most forex and gold brokers give you, on desktop, in the browser and as a phone app. The order of things, from our course lesson: 1. download it from your broker's own website and log in only with the details the broker sent you; 2. open a demo account first; 3. add the symbol (EURUSD, XAUUSD) to Market Watch and open its chart; 4. in New Order choose a market order or a pending order (buy/sell limit or stop), type the volume in lots and set the stop loss and take profit before you click; 5. read the Trade tab: balance, equity, margin, free margin, margin level; 6. close the position with the X on desktop or by holding it on the phone, then check History. Do the analysis before you open the order window, not after.

MetaTrader for the trades, TradingView for the charts

The lesson uses two tools. TradingView is a charting website with a free plan: you sign up, type a symbol such as EURUSD, launch the chart, pick a timeframe from one minute to daily and higher, and draw your trend lines, support and resistance, Fibonacci levels and the long or short position tool that shows the stop and target in pips and the risk-reward ratio before you trade. MetaTrader 4 and 5 are the broker's platforms, where the money is and where orders are placed. The instructor charts in TradingView and executes in MetaTrader; many traders do both in MT5. MT4 is the older version and some brokers still offer it; the screens in the lesson are MT4 on the laptop and MT5 on the phone, and the steps below are the same in both.

Step 1: install it from your broker and open a demo account

Go to your broker's own website and use its download links (Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, or the web version). Do not install MetaTrader from a link someone sent you, and log in only with the account number, password and server your broker gave you.
Open a demo account first (File → Open an Account → new demo, or "Open a demo account" in the app). You choose the starting balance and the leverage. The lesson is blunt about it: do not trade live money until you are comfortable with every step on this page.
A demo trades the same prices with imaginary money. It does not teach you how a loss feels, but it does teach you where the buttons are, which is the point here.

Step 2: the watchlist and the chart

On desktop the symbol list is Market Watch; on the phone it is Quotes. Add a symbol by typing its code (EURUSD, GBPUSD, XAUUSD for gold) and remove the ones you do not trade so the list stays short. Right-click a symbol and open its chart (desktop), or tap it and choose the chart (phone). The timeframe buttons, M1, M5, M15, M30, H1, H4, D1, W1, MN, change how much time one candle covers; our timeframes page explains which one fits which style, and the lesson's rule is to start on the daily chart to see the trend before going down to the entry timeframe.

Step 3: placing an order

Right-click the chart or the symbol and choose New Order (desktop), or tap the symbol → Trade (phone). The window has the fields below. Fill in the volume, the stop loss and the take profit before you press Buy or Sell; the lesson's instructor types the stop and the target first and the trade last.

Field	What it means	Beginner's note
Volume	The size in lots. For forex 1.00 lot is 100,000 units of the base currency (the MT5 help's own example); for gold a lot is usually 100 ounces, so 0.01 lot is 1 ounce.	Work the lot size out from your stop and your risk first, on the lot size calculator. Typing 1.00 when you meant 0.01 is the classic demo-to-live accident.
Type	Market execution or Instant execution opens the trade now; a pending order waits for a price.	The six pending types are in the next table.
Stop Loss	The price (or distance in points, depending on the platform settings) at which the position is closed to limit the loss. Zero means no stop is set.	Never zero. Where to put it, and how far gold moves against a stop.
Take Profit	The price at which the position is closed to lock in the profit. Zero means none.	Decide it with the stop, so the risk-reward ratio is known before entry.
Expiration (pending orders)	Good Till Cancelled, Today, or a specified date and time.	A pending order left open over a weekend or a news release can fill when you are not watching.

The two execution modes differ in who sets the price. In Instant Execution the platform sends the price you see; if the broker cannot fill at it, you get a requote and can accept or decline. In Market Execution the broker fills at the current market price without asking, so the fill can differ from the quote in a fast market (MT5 help, execution modes). Which one you get depends on the broker and the symbol.

Pending order types

Order	What it does (MT5 help)	When a trader uses it
Buy Limit	Buys at an Ask price equal to or lower than the one you set; the current price is above it.	Buying a pullback into support or a Fibonacci zone, instead of chasing.
Sell Limit	Sells at a Bid price equal to or higher than the one you set; the current price is below it.	Selling a rally into resistance or a premium zone.
Buy Stop	Buys at an Ask equal to or higher than the one you set; the current price is below it.	Entering on a breakout above a level.
Sell Stop	Sells at a Bid equal to or lower than the one you set; the current price is above it.	Entering on a breakdown below a level.
Buy Stop Limit	When the Ask reaches your stop price, a Buy Limit is placed at the limit price you set below it.	Breakout, but only if price comes back to fill you.
Sell Stop Limit	When the Bid reaches your stop price, a Sell Limit is placed at the limit price you set above it.	The mirror image for shorts.

Definitions paraphrased from the MT5 help, order types. A stop loss and take profit can be attached to every one of them. Our support and resistance and market structure pages show where those levels come from.

Step 4: reading the Trade tab

Once a position is open, the Trade tab (desktop Toolbox, or the Trade screen on the phone) shows the account state. The MT5 help defines the line as follows (performing deals):

Term	Definition	Example on a $10,000 demo
Balance	The money on the account not counting open positions.	$10,000
Equity	Balance + credit − commission ± floating profit or loss − blocked amounts.	One position down $14: equity $9,986
Margin	The money set aside to hold the open positions and pending orders.	0.01 lot gold (1 oz) at $4,074.90 with 20:1 = $203.75
Free margin	Equity − margin: what is left to open more positions.	9,986 − 203.75 = $9,782.25
Margin level	Equity / margin × 100, in percent. The line turns red at the broker's margin call and stop-out levels.	9,986 / 203.75 × 100 = 4,901%

The margin formula for forex symbols is volume in lots × contract size / leverage (MT5 help, margin calculation; its own example is 1 lot of EURUSD at 1:100 = 100,000 / 100 = 1,000 EUR). For gold the contract size is 100 ounces and the margin follows the price: 0.01 lot at the 6 November 2026 close of $4,074.90 with the EU retail cap of 20:1 is 4,074.90 × 1 / 20 = $203.75, the same number as on how to trade gold. The margin calculator does this for any size and leverage and shows the margin level you would start with.

Why margin level matters: when it falls to the broker's stop-out level, the platform closes positions for you, starting with the largest loss, whether you agree or not. ESMA's rule for EU retail CFD accounts sets that close-out at 50% of the required margin. A trade that is sized from a stop loss, as our trading plan page describes, never gets near it.

Step 5: closing the trade and the History tab

On desktop, the X at the end of the position's row closes it at the market; the first time, the platform asks you to accept the terms. On the phone, press and hold the position for a moment, then Close position and confirm. The History tab lists every closed deal with its time, symbol, volume, open and close price and result, and your balance moves by that result. In the lesson the demo buy was closed a few dollars down, and the loss showed in History and in the new balance a second later. Keep that habit: after each trade, read the History row and note it in your trading journal.

Before you click Buy: the lesson's pre-trade list

The second lesson, "Place and manage trades with confidence", is not about buttons but about what happens before them. Its five points, summarised:

Check the calendar first. Open an economic calendar (the instructor uses Forex Factory), set your time zone, filter for high-impact releases in the currencies you trade, and stay out of the market just before and after them; the spikes around a release are what hit stops. Our sessions page shows how far gold and EUR/USD move hour by hour.
Know your style and your daily limit. Scalper, day trader or swing trader decides your timeframe. Set a daily loss limit in advance, as a percentage of the account, and stop for the day when it is hit instead of trading to win it back.
Risk management before entry. Decide the stop loss and the take profit before you open the order, never from how the trade feels afterwards. The lesson's range for risk is 0.5% to 1% of the account per day; the lot size calculator turns that and the stop into a volume.
Higher timeframe first. Define the trend on the daily or 4-hour chart, then take the trade on the lower timeframe only if the price action meets your criteria in the same direction.
Emotions. The hardest part is before, during and after a trade. If you closed a trade with a profit and the price went further, you did not lose anything: the stop and the target were the plan. Do not sit in front of the screen hoping; the stop loss and take profit are there so that you do not have to.

Mistakes beginners make in MetaTrader

Typing the volume in the wrong unit: 1.00 lot of gold is 100 ounces, about $407,000 of exposure at $4,074.90; 0.01 is 1 ounce.
Entering the stop loss as a price when the platform expects points, or the other way round; check the setting once on the demo.
Leaving the stop at zero "for now". The lesson's phrase: opening a position and leaving it as it is, with no stop, is a no-go.
Logging into the live account when you meant the demo. Name the demo clearly when you create it.
Trading in the minute after a high-impact release because the chart is moving. The spread widens and the fill is worse; the calendar check above is the fix.
Placing a pending order and forgetting it over a release or a weekend; set an expiration.

Learn the platform, then the market

MT5 is the easy part; knowing what to trade and where the stop goes is the course. The Telegram bot answers in English, explains the VIP gold trades (each with entry, stop loss and targets) and shows where the weekly results are published, losing trades included. Trading is risky; most retail accounts lose money.

Open the SesTrading botOn Telegram

Questions people ask

Is MetaTrader 5 hard to learn?

No. The lesson covers the whole flow, from installing it to closing a trade, in under twenty minutes. The hard part is not the platform but the decisions: which symbol, which direction, where the stop goes and how big the position is. Learn the buttons on a demo account, then spend the time on the analysis.

What is the difference between a market order and a pending order in MT5?

A market order (instant or market execution) opens the position now at the current price. A pending order waits for the price you set: Buy Limit and Sell Limit wait for a better price than now, Buy Stop and Sell Stop wait for a breakout beyond a level, and the two Stop Limit types place a limit order once a stop price is reached. All of them can carry a stop loss and a take profit.

What does margin level mean in MetaTrader 5?

Equity divided by margin, times 100. Equity is your balance plus or minus the open profit and loss; margin is the money set aside for the open positions. At 2,000% you are using a twentieth of your account; near the broker's stop-out level, the platform starts closing positions for you. EU retail CFD accounts are closed out at 50% of the required margin.

What is the smallest trade size in MetaTrader 5?

That is set by the broker, not by the platform. At most retail brokers the minimum volume is 0.01 lot, which for forex is 1,000 units of the base currency and for gold is 1 ounce. Our lot size calculator shows what one such trade risks per pip or per dollar of gold.

Should I start with a demo account?

Yes. The lesson says it twice: do not trade live money before you are comfortable with every step. A demo uses real prices and imaginary money; use it to learn where the fields are, to test that your stop is in price or points, and to run your plan for a few weeks before anything real is at stake.

Authorized in the UAESaad Nizar El Soussi, founder of SesTrading, is listed by the UAE Capital Market Authority as an authorized finfluencer (entry 193, added 24 September 2026). Check the official list.