What Is MetaTrader? MT4 vs MT5, Explained
MetaTrader is a trading platform built by MetaQuotes and licensed to brokers, who run their own servers and give clients the terminal to install. Two versions are in active use: MetaTrader 4, released in 2005, and MetaTrader 5, released in 2010. MetaTrader is not a broker and holds no money — it is the software layer between you and whichever broker issued your login.
How it works
Every MetaTrader setup has three parts, and confusing them is the source of most support questions.
Terminal (your PC or VPS) ← charts, Expert Advisors, client-side logic
↕ round trip measured as ping
Trade server (your broker) ← balance, order matching, server-held SL/TP
MQL (MQL4 or MQL5) ← the language EAs and indicators are written in
You log in with an account number, a server name and a password. There are two passwords against the same account: the master password, which can trade, and the investor password, which is read-only and is the standard credential for third-party verification.
What actually differs between the versions:
| MT4 | MT5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | MQL4 | MQL5 |
| Accounting | Order-based: one order is one position | Deal and position based, netting or hedging |
| Timeframes | 9 | 21 |
| Markets | Forex and CFDs | Adds exchange-traded instruments and depth of market |
| Strategy tester | Single symbol, single thread | Multi-symbol, multi-threaded, real ticks |
They are not two versions of one product in any practical sense. MQL4 code does not compile as MQL5, an Expert Advisor does not port between them, and account history does not move. Migrating means starting a new account.
Why it matters
Whichever version you run, the terminal is only the window. Your fills, your spread, your swap and your stop triggers are decided by the broker's trade server, and the same MT5 build produces different results at different brokers.
What MetaTrader does give you, and what has made it the default for two decades, is a machine-readable record that a third party can read directly from the broker. That is the whole basis of published track records: a read-only credential, an open feed, and no file the trader gets to edit on the way out.
What the data shows
MetaTrader is very nearly the whole market we see. Of the 10,000+ accounts connected to ShowMyTrades (August 2026), the overwhelming majority run MT4 or MT5, alongside cTrader and TradeLocker. Those accounts reach 703 distinct broker servers and have produced 15,436,464 synchronised trades.
MT5 outnumbers MT4 by more than four to one here. That is a statement about the accounts arriving on this platform in 2026, not a verdict on either version; plenty of long-running MT4 records are still the better track record on the page. Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history (August 2026), the median autotrading share is 99% — only possible because both versions run code natively, with no bridge, no API key and no third-party plumbing.
Where you see it on ShowMyTrades
The account header shows the platform as a badge — MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader or TradeLocker — beside the broker, the account currency, the leverage and the automation split.
When you add an account, the connection picker names the difference directly: MetaTrader 4 with EA and MetaTrader 5 with EA are marked recommended because updates are far more frequent, while MetaTrader 4 Direct Connection and MetaTrader 5 Direct Connection, both still labelled Beta, sync from the broker using the investor password with nothing installed in your terminal.
That choice changes what the page can show, on either version. Only an EA connection produces the Terminal & Open Charts module, where the terminal reports on its own host and link and lists the charts and Expert Advisors currently loaded. On MT4 the same module is titled simply Terminal, because the MT4 EA does not report the chart list at all — we show nothing rather than claim no charts are open.
Verification is version-neutral. The header carries a Track Record badge, green once the read-only investor password is on file, and a Trading Privileges badge, green once a pending order carrying your ShowMyTrades user ID in the comment field has been placed. Across the connected accounts, 65 hold Track Record Verified and 264 Trading Privileges Verified. Per-strategy reporting in Breakdown Statistics → By Magic Number is an MT4 and MT5 capability, because the magic number field is a MetaTrader concept.
Common misunderstandings
- "MetaTrader is my broker." It is software your broker licenses. Deposits, withdrawals, spreads and execution are the broker's, and complaints go to them.
- "MT5 is MT4 with more features." It is a rewrite. EAs, indicators and scripts have to be rebuilt, which is why many working systems never moved.
- "MT5 does not allow hedging." It supports both netting and hedging; which one applies is set by the broker when the account is opened, and it cannot be changed afterwards.
- "The platform decides my fills." The trade server does. Two terminals of the same build, on two brokers, will not fill the same order the same way.
To turn a MetaTrader login into a record other people can check: how to verify your trading account.
Related terms
Magic Number
A magic number is the integer an Expert Advisor stamps on every order it opens, so one account can hold several strategies and still be read one by one.
VPS
A VPS is an always-on rented server that keeps your trading terminal running and connected when your own computer sleeps, reboots or loses its connection.
Expert Advisor
An Expert Advisor is a program that trades inside MetaTrader on your behalf. What it can do, what it cannot, and how automated the accounts published here are.
MT4 Investor Password
The MT4 investor password is a read-only credential: it shows balance, equity and every trade, but it cannot open, modify or close a position, or withdraw.
cTrader
cTrader is the main alternative to MetaTrader for retail forex. What it does differently, how OAuth authorisation works, and the real platform split we see.