MetaTrader 5 mobile: what you can do with an Expert Advisor from your iPhone or Android phone

An Expert Advisor can’t run inside the MetaTrader 5 app for iPhone or Android, so the robot has to run in MT5 on a computer (Windows or Mac) or on a VPS. Your phone lets you watch that account (the robot’s trades, their profit or loss and your margin) and open, modify or close trades by hand. What you can’t do from the app is touch the robot: attach it, pause it or change its settings.

Can an Expert Advisor run on MetaTrader 5 mobile?

The MetaTrader 5 app is free, made by MetaQuotes (the company behind the platform), and has what you need to trade by hand: real-time quotes, charts with the built-in indicators, every order type and your account history. What it lacks is the engine that runs MQL5 programs, MetaTrader’s own language: no Expert Advisors, no custom indicators, no scripts. You can’t copy a robot to your phone or set one up there.

So the robot trades in desktop MT5, and your phone shows you what it’s doing. An Expert Advisor (basics in what is an Expert Advisor) only trades while its MT5 stays open and connected, and you have two places to leave it:

• Your computer, Windows or Mac (for the Mac setup, see MetaTrader 5 on Mac), switched on and never going to sleep while the market is open.
• A VPS, a computer in the cloud that stays on when yours is off: MetaTrader’s own (“MQL5 Virtual Hosting”) or a Windows server from a provider or your broker.

The app and the robot’s MT5 connect to the same broker server, so you see the robot’s trades as soon as they’re filled. Because the app doesn’t run robots, it can’t duplicate orders either: that happens when two copies of MT5 run the same robot.

What you can do in the MetaTrader 5 app while a robot is running (and what you can’t)

The rule: the app manages the account; the robot is only managed from the MT5 it’s attached to.

Positions, balance and margin are on the Trade tab, with the robot’s trades mixed in with yours, since they belong to the account. To tell them apart, tap a position: its details show the open price, S/L, T/P, swap and the comment it was opened with, which many robots use as a signature.

The app’s own Journal only logs what happens on the phone; the robot’s messages (license, connection or setup errors) stay in the Experts tab of the MT5 where it runs.

How to connect MT5 mobile to the account your robot trades on

Install the official MetaTrader 5 app (developer: MetaQuotes) from the App Store or Google Play, and have the login, password and server from your broker’s welcome email to hand.

1. Open account management: on iPhone, go to Settings and tap the connected account; on Android, open Accounts from the side menu.
2. Tap the button to add an account and search for your broker by name.
3. Under “Use Existing Account”, enter your login, password and server. The server has to match the email exactly: a broker runs many (Live01, Live05, Demo…) and your password only works on yours.
4. Tap “Sign In” (“Login” on Android). With “Save password” on, it will log in by itself next time.

Watch without risk: the investor password

In MetaTrader 5, besides the master password, which gives full access, every account has an investor password that lets you see the account and prices but not trade. With it on your phone, you’ll see everything the robot does without being able to close anything with a stray tap, but you can’t act in an emergency either.

If your broker didn’t send you one, create it in desktop MT5 (Tools → Options, Server tab, “Change” button: enter your current master password and, under “Password type”, choose Investor, the read-only access) or with “Change Password” in the app’s account management. Leave the master password alone: if you change it, the MetaTrader VPS (which got it when you migrated) and any MT5 with the old one saved can’t log in when they reconnect until you give them the new one (the VPS, by synchronizing again from your MT5).

Using the MetaTrader VPS? Don’t turn on one-time passwords

If your broker allows it, the app can bind your account to one-time passwords (OTP), codes the phone generates for each login. Accounts that use them can’t be moved to the MetaTrader VPS, which has to log in on its own: if you use it or plan to, don’t turn OTP on (if your broker makes OTP mandatory, that account can’t use it).

Push notifications: getting MetaTrader 5 alerts on your phone

MetaTrader 5 sends push notifications, short messages that reach your phone even when the app is closed, as long as your phone’s settings allow MetaTrader 5 notifications. On Android, the phone also needs a working Google account, or it can’t register a MetaQuotes ID. They come from three places.

From the broker’s server: they arrive even with everything switched off

The easiest option: in the app’s account management, turn on Trade Notifications. The broker’s server sends them, so they arrive even if your computer, MT5 or VPS is off. What they cover depends on the broker (orders, deals, deposits and withdrawals), and some don’t offer them. They’re set per account, and with several phones they go to the last one that connected.

From MT5 on your computer: the MetaQuotes ID

Every phone with the app has a unique MetaQuotes ID, found in the app’s Messages section (on iPhone, under Settings; on Android, tap MQID at the top of Messages). Then, in desktop MT5:

1. Open Tools → Options (Ctrl+O) and go to the Notifications tab.
2. Check “Enable Push Notifications” and enter your MetaQuotes ID (up to four, separated by commas).
3. Check “Notifications from the local terminal”, “Notifications from the trade server” (the broker’s) or both.
4. Click “Test” to receive a test message, then click OK.

Local terminal notifications cover every successful trade operation, balance operations and margin calls, but not rejected orders, and only work while that MT5 is open and connected. If you change phones, update the MetaQuotes ID.

Alerts from the robot itself

An Expert Advisor only sends its own alerts if its developer built them in, using MQL5’s SendNotification function, which sends them to the MetaQuotes ID set in its MT5. Otherwise, no phone setting will get you alerts from the robot.

When you need to reach the robot while you’re away

Pausing it, changing a setting or reading the Experts tab means reaching the MT5 where it runs, and how you get there depends on where it lives.

On your computer or a Windows VPS: remote desktop

A remote desktop app lets you control that computer from your phone. Microsoft’s own, Windows App, is available for iPhone and Android, but Windows only accepts incoming Remote Desktop connections on its Pro, Enterprise and Education editions; with Windows Home or a Mac, you’ll need another remote access tool. A Windows VPS already works this way. Go slowly on the small screen, and protect that access: whoever gets in has your MT5.

On the MetaTrader VPS: little more than on and off

The MetaTrader VPS has no screen or remote desktop. You change the chart or the settings in MT5 on your computer and send them over (first migrating, then synchronizing), and it can only be rented from desktop MT5. From your phone’s browser, you can go to Hosting in your MQL5.community profile to start or stop the server, turn auto-renewal on or off, transfer it to another account (then migrate again from your computer) or cancel it.

Stopping it stops the robot, but doesn’t close open trades or pause the rental. Renewal and how to change something are covered in the VPS section of AUREUM’s guide; what to look for in a VPS, in what is a trading VPS.

Closing trades by hand from your phone: what one tap costs

In the app, swiping a position brings up buttons to close or modify it. That helps in a real emergency and is a risk the rest of the time: with a loss showing in red, closing is one gesture away. And with One-Click Trading on in the app’s settings, you get bulk operations such as “Close all positions”, which run with no extra confirmation.

Before touching anything, remember two things. First, closing or moving one of the robot’s trades by hand doesn’t switch it off: it keeps running and will open its next trade when its rules say so. Second, moving a stop or target counts as much as closing, and every intervention takes your account further from the tested system; we explain why it’s one of the costliest mistakes in manually interfering with the robot’s trades.

To stop it, do it in the right place: the Algo Trading button in the MT5 where it runs, or stopping the MetaTrader VPS. Pausing closes nothing: open trades stay with the broker and pending orders can still be filled, so before stopping for a few days, decide what to do with them. To watch without temptation, log in with the investor password or leave One-Click Trading off.

AUREUM from your phone: the MetaTrader 5 app and your license’s traffic light

AUREUM is an Expert Advisor for gold (XAU/USD) in MetaTrader 5: it runs on your computer or on a VPS (the MetaTrader one or a Windows one), never inside the app. Its guide suggests keeping an eye on it from your phone with two tools:

• The MetaTrader 5 app with your account. You’ll see its trades even when it runs on the VPS, with the comment 33526.
• The traffic light at homeaureum.com/en/license (“Robot status”): green, amber or red depending on its last connection and its setup, with a warning email if it turns amber or red.

The push notifications above come from MetaTrader 5 and your broker; the traffic light warns you by email. It isn’t instant and, with the MetaTrader VPS, it can’t tell the VPS apart from MT5 open on your computer: the guide’s self-service section explains timings and colors. Don’t worry if the app looks quiet: according to the guide, many hours, even days, without trades is normal.

Frequently asked questions about MetaTrader 5 on mobile