MetaTrader 5: The Complete MT5 Review 2026

One of MT5's biggest advantages over MT4 is the integrated economic calendar. This shows upcoming economic events, their expected impact, previous readings, and forecasts - all without leaving the platform.

You can filter events by country, impact level (high, medium, low), and date range. Events are displayed in real-time with automatic updates as data is released.

For fundamental traders, this eliminates the need for external websites like Forex Factory or Investing.com - everything you need is built into MT5.

MT5's Depth of Market shows the complete order book - all pending buy and sell orders at different price levels. This is crucial for understanding market liquidity and finding optimal entry/exit points.

You can see how much volume is waiting at each price level, helping you anticipate support and resistance areas based on actual orders rather than just historical price action.

DOM trading is especially useful for scalpers and day traders who need to see where large orders are sitting in the market.

MT5 offers 21 timeframes compared to MT4's 9. The additional timeframes include 2-hour, 3-hour, 6-hour, 8-hour, and 12-hour charts that aren't available on MT4.

These intermediate timeframes are valuable for traders who find 4-hour too short but daily too long for their analysis. Multi-timeframe analysis becomes more precise with more options.

Full MT5 timeframe list: M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M10, M12, M15, M20, M30, H1, H2, H3, H4, H6, H8, H12, D1, W1, MN

Unlike MT4 which focuses on forex and CFDs, MT5 was designed for multi-asset trading. You can trade forex, stocks, futures, commodities, and indices all from the same platform.

This is particularly valuable if you want to diversify across asset classes without switching platforms. Many brokers now offer direct exchange access for stocks through MT5.

The unified interface means you can apply the same technical analysis tools, indicators, and trading strategies across all asset classes.

MT5 uses MQL5, an object-oriented programming language more powerful than MT4's MQL4. MQL5 enables more sophisticated trading algorithms with better performance and more capabilities.

However, MQL5 is NOT backward compatible with MQL4. This means MT4 Expert Advisors cannot run on MT5 without being completely rewritten - the biggest barrier to MT5 adoption.

The MT5 marketplace is growing, but the library of available EAs is still smaller than MT4's 15+ year collection. For new EA development, MQL5 is the better choice.

MT5's Strategy Tester is significantly more powerful than MT4's. It uses multi-threaded processing, meaning it can use all your CPU cores for much faster backtesting.

Key improvements include: tick-by-tick testing with real tick data, multi-currency testing, forward testing mode, and distributed computing across the cloud.

You can also test strategies across multiple symbols simultaneously and optimize parameters using genetic algorithms.

MT5 is available on all major platforms: Windows desktop, Mac (via Wine or native), web browser, iOS, and Android. All versions sync your account, charts, and settings.

MT5 Web runs directly in your browser without installation - perfect for trading on public computers or when you can't install software. It includes most features of the desktop version.

Mobile apps offer full trading functionality including charting, indicators, and account management. Push notifications alert you to price movements and trade executions.

MT5 includes a built-in Signals service for copy trading. From the Toolbox window (Ctrl+T), click the Signals tab to browse thousands of signal providers with verified track records.

You can filter by profit, drawdown, age, subscribers, and more. Once subscribed, trades are automatically copied to your account based on your settings.

Signal providers are paid based on subscribers, creating an ecosystem of strategy sharing within the MT5 community.