Trading on Metatrader 5 iOS mobile app

About MetaTrader 5

MetaTrader 5 is one of the most sought-after and widely used trading platforms in the world. It’s the successor to MetaTrader 4 which is currently being phased out by most trading providers in favor of the more powerful and highly customizable MetaTrader 5.

The popularity of mobile trading remains on the rise as technology evolves and with more people on the go looking for a way to keep track of the global financial markets along with the ability to manage their accounts, place trades, follow the news, and much more.

Installing MetaTrader 5 mobile app

Whether you own an Android-based phone or an iPhone with iOS (Figure 1), the first thing you need to do is head over to the respective store where you can download the MetaTrader 5 mobile app. In this guide, we will focus on iOS but most functionalities are similar across both operating systems.

Figure 1

For iOS:

‎MetaTrader 5 on the App Store (apple.com)

For Android:

MetaTrader 5 — Forex & Stock trading - Apps on Google Play

You can also access the App Store or Play Store from the phone directly and search for MetaTrader 5, then click on install. Depending on your internet speed, you should be ready very shortly.

Connecting to your broker

First of all, you need to make sure that your broker, and more specifically, your account, supports MetaTrader 5. After downloading the platform, open it, and once inside, click on “Settings” and then “New Account”.

Now search for your provider and in this case, look for “CFI” and you will see “CFI Global Management Limited” (Figure 2).

Figure 2

From there, you will enter your login and password, then select the appropriate server, depending on whether you have a live or demo account. You can also choose to save your password.

Navigating the app

Watchlist

Once logged in, you will be able to navigate the bottom menu starting with the “Quote” button. Clicking on this will show you your watch list where you can have all the instruments you would like to keep track of or trade on one page.

The default view (Figure 3) should already have a few instruments listed and adding more is simple. Click on the “+” at the top right and choose from the different asset classes available. Once inside the specific asset class, click the product of your choice and it will automatically be added to your watch list.

Figure 3

Back to the watchlist, the pen symbol on the left side will let you edit the watchlist and rearrange instruments according to your needs.

From the edit page, you can also click on the circle to select one or multiple pairs and delete them.

Charts

There are different ways you can access charts. You can start by clicking a symbol in the watchlist where you will see a menu, then click on “Chart”. (Figure 4)

Figure 4

Once on the charts, you can customize and perform different functions such as:

• Change the timeframe of the chart (symbolized by M1, H1, H4, etc. in the top left)
• Add indicators (symbolized by the letter “f”)
• Change the instrument (symbolized by the name of the instrument in the top left)
• Add drawing objects (symbolized by the overlapping circle, triangle, and rectangle)
• Use the crosshair (symbolized by the “+”)
• Enable the buy/sell buttons (symbolized by three shapes in the top right above the price scale)

It’s important to note that the MT5 mobile app does not allow custom-made indicators, unlike the desktop/laptop version of MetaTrader 5.

Trade function

One of the most important aspects of the app is the “Trade” function. Clicking on it will display a few key elements including balance, equity, and free margin.

The trade function will also show you your trades as well as their current profit/loss. You can click and hold for a list of options such as closing your position, modifying the stop loss or take profit, or simply accessing the chart again.

History

The fourth icon in the bottom menu shows you the history of your account including closed positions, deposits, withdrawals, and transfers. This page includes a few features at the top such as a calendar view, which allows you to look at the history of your account over a specific period as well as the ability to view positions, orders, and deals separately.

Settings

The fifth icon brings up the settings of your MetaTrader 5 app which is the original function used to log in to your account.

Placing trades on MetaTrader 5 iOS app

Now that we are familiar with the functionalities of the chart including placing trades, it’s time to place a trade from the watchlist.

Go to the watchlist and click on the instrument of choice. Then, click on “Trade”. This will bring up the order screen where you can place a variety of orders including instant execution and pending buy and sell orders.

After you decide on the order type, you will enter the lot size of your choice.

You can also add the price of your stop loss and take profit if you choose to have one or both of them.

Once ready, click on buy or sell depending on your decision, and your trade or order should be active.

You can also place trades by activating the one-tap trading found on the top right corner of the chart. You will be asked to agree to the terms before placing your first trade. Be careful as clicking on buy or sell will immediately execute. Make sure you have the right size selected and after you buy or sell, you can adjust the stop loss or take profit from the trade screen where your positions are listed.

Final thoughts

Whether you are using iOS or Android, the mobile app for MetaTrader 5 is very easy to use and highly intuitive, allowing for a very short learning curve. You can always open a demo account and practice first if you feel you are not ready to use your live account on the mobile app.