Connect MetaTrader 5

What this does

MetaTrader 5 is the terminal your broker gives you, not a broker in itself. Connect MT5 once and your broker is connected, whoever it is.

There are three routes. Automated Sync is the one to start with.

The three routes

Automated Sync. Enter your broker, server, account number and investor password, and VEXA syncs your closed trades once a day at an hour you choose, no install and no desktop needed. Works from your phone. Start at Connect MetaTrader with Automated Sync.

The VEXA Sync Expert Advisor. A small program you drop into your desktop MetaTrader. On MT5 it sends each trade to VEXA as it closes, in real time, and runs a full reconciliation every six hours to catch anything that slipped through a busy moment. Pick this if you want updates faster than once a day. Start at Install the VEXA Sync Expert Advisor.

A report you export from your history. No install, no key. You repeat it whenever you want VEXA up to date.

Running Automated Sync or the Expert Advisor and uploading one export for your back history covers most people.

Before you start

• Automated Sync works from any device and needs nothing installed. It syncs once a day on the free plan; VEXA Pro adds a Sync Now button for fresh numbers on demand. See Connect MetaTrader with Automated Sync.
• The Expert Advisor is desktop only, and it is the real-time option. Mobile MetaTrader cannot run custom Expert Advisors. See MetaTrader setup needs a desktop.
• Set your broker server timezone first. MT5 servers run on their own clock and VEXA’s default assumes GMT+2. See Set your broker server timezone.
• VEXA needs the Deals view for the exported report. Positions and Orders are summaries; only Deals carries the fill-level detail VEXA reconstructs trades from.
• Forex, stocks, futures, options and crypto are all supported.
• Quantities are shown in lots. One lot is 100,000 units of the base currency.

Steps: export from the Deals view

Deals, not Positions or Orders

The three views look similar and only one of them works. Positions shows net results, Orders shows instructions, and neither carries the individual fills. Export either of those and VEXA has nothing to reconstruct, which surfaces as “No trades were found in this file”.

Hedging accounts

On a hedging account, opposing buys and sells in the same symbol are kept as separate positions rather than being netted against each other, which is what your broker does too. Two positions opened in the same second on the same symbol stay two trades in VEXA, because each carries its own MetaTrader position id.

Limits and gotchas

• The wrong timezone shifts every trade onto the wrong day and into the wrong session.
• All History or nothing. The default period in the History tab is short.
• MT5 exports are often UTF-16. VEXA handles that. What breaks it is opening the file in Excel and saving it again, so upload the file the terminal produced.
• The Expert Advisor only runs while MetaTrader is open. Trades closed with the terminal shut arrive the next time you open it.
• Swap is handled as a signed amount, so a swap credit reduces your cost rather than adding to it.
• If your figures do not reconcile with your terminal, re-import. Re-importing never duplicates, so checking is free. See Re-upload files without creating duplicates.

What you should see

Automated Sync: the account appears with an Active badge and a last-sync time that reflects your chosen hour.

Expert Advisor: the EA connection card on the MetaTrader page in VEXA turns green with a last sync measured in seconds.

Export: a result panel naming an MT5 format, with a count of closed trades. Check one trade against the terminal, including the time and the profit, before you upload years of history.

If it doesn’t work

• “No trades were found in this file.” You exported Positions or Orders instead of Deals.
• Every trade is on the wrong day. The broker server timezone is wrong. Fix it and re-import.
• A hedged pair looks merged into one trade. Report it with the symbol and the timestamps. Two positions with distinct MetaTrader position ids should never be merged.
• The Expert Advisor is installed and nothing arrives. See MetaTrader troubleshooting.
• Automated Sync was rejected, or today’s trades are missing. See Connect MetaTrader with Automated Sync.