What is MetaTrader?

What it is

MetaTrader is a trading platform — software that connects to your broker and lets you place trades, monitor your account, analyse charts, and run automated trading strategies. It was built by a Russian company called MetaQuotes and has been the industry standard for retail forex trading since the mid-2000s.

There are two versions: MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). Between them, they are used by the overwhelming majority of retail forex traders worldwide — and virtually every Expert Advisor is built for one or both of them.

How it works

When you open a broker account, your broker gives you login credentials for their MetaTrader server. You download MetaTrader, enter those credentials, and the platform connects to your broker's server. From that point you can see live prices, place trades, set stop losses and take profits, and view your account balance and open positions — all in real time.

MetaTrader has three main components that matter for automated trading:

• The chart window: Where you view price data for any instrument your broker offers. You can switch timeframes, add indicators, and draw on charts.
• The terminal panel: Shows your account balance, open trades, trade history, and any alerts or notifications.
• The Navigator panel: Where your Expert Advisors, indicators, and scripts are stored, ready to be attached to a chart and run.

A worked example

You want to run an EA on EUR/USD on the 1-hour chart:

1. Open MetaTrader and log in with your broker credentials
2. Open a EUR/USD chart and set the timeframe to H1
3. Find your EA in the Navigator panel and drag it onto the chart
4. A settings window appears — you configure the inputs (lot size, stop loss, etc.)
5. Click OK — the EA is now attached and running on that chart
6. A small face icon appears in the top-right corner of the chart, indicating the EA is active

From this point, the EA monitors the market and places trades automatically according to its rules — as long as MetaTrader is open and connected.

Why it matters

MetaTrader is the environment everything runs in. Without it, there is no automated trading. Understanding the basics of how MetaTrader works — how to log in, how to attach an EA to a chart, how to check your open trades — is fundamental even if you're using a managed service that handles the technical setup for you.

Common misconceptions

• MetaTrader is not made by your broker. It's made by MetaQuotes and licensed to brokers. Your broker provides the server connection and your account — the platform itself is standardised across all brokers that use it.
• MetaTrader 4 is not obsolete. Despite being the older version, MT4 remains widely used and is supported by the majority of brokers. Most commercially available EAs still target MT4. MT5 is more capable in some respects but MT4 is not going away.
• MetaTrader is not a broker. It cannot hold your funds or execute trades on its own. It is software that communicates with your broker's server. Your funds are always held by the broker, not by MetaTrader.

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Written and reviewed by the Karnek Research team. Last updated August 2026.

Educational content only - not financial advice. Past performance does not predict future results. Trading carries significant risk.