One account, several MT4 installations
Exness MT4 on more than one computer: what travels, and what stays behind
A second copy of MetaTrader 4 signed in to the same Exness account is an ordinary arrangement — a desk machine and a laptop, a home computer and a work one. What surprises people is the first screen: the balance and the open positions are exactly where they should be, and the charts look like a terminal that has never been used. That is not a fault, and nothing was lost. It is the dividing line this page is about — the account is held away from the disk, the workspace is a pile of files on it.
Where the line runs
The split is between the account and the terminal
Everything that follows comes from one distinction. An MT4 trading account is a record kept on the trading server; the MT4 terminal is a program on a computer that displays that record and sends orders to it. Anything belonging to the first side appears on any installation the moment the sign-in goes through. Anything belonging to the second side was only ever on the machine that made it.
The account travels by itself
Balance, open positions, and the history of past orders are read from the server, so a brand-new installation shows them immediately. There is no export step, no file to bring across, and no waiting period — and equally, no way to lose them by reinstalling.
The workspace does not travel at all
Chart layouts, saved templates, added indicators, and expert advisors are files created by one terminal in its own folder. A different installation has never seen them, which is why the second machine opens with default charts.
The three sign-in values stay the same
MT4 asks for the trading account number, the trading password, and the server name — identical on every machine, and all of them visible in the Personal Area, the account dashboard on exness.com. A new device is not issued anything new.
Neither installation blocks the other
The first computer does not have to be closed down before the second one is used. Two MT4 terminals can be signed in to one account at the same time, and neither pushes the other out.
Item by item
What comes back with the sign-in, and what has to be rebuilt
The same table answers most of the questions that follow a second install. The left column arrives on its own; the right column is work for whoever sets the machine up.
| Comes with the account | Stays on the machine that made it | |
|---|---|---|
| Balance and open positions | Yes — read from the server at sign-in | — |
| Order and deal history | Yes — the account statement is the same on every terminal | — |
| Leverage and account settings | Yes — set once in the Personal Area, in force everywhere | — |
| Chart templates | — | Files in the terminal folder; copied across by hand or recreated |
| Profiles — saved sets of open charts | — | Local to the installation that saved them |
| Market Watch symbol list | — | Rebuilt on the new terminal in a few seconds |
| Custom indicators | — | Installed again on this machine before they appear in the navigator |
| Expert advisors | — | Terminal files, not account settings — see the section below |
| Downloaded chart bars | — | Each terminal pulls its own history as charts are opened |
| Price alerts and sounds | — | Configured per installation, and they fire only while it is running |
| A remembered sign-in | — | Stored on that computer only; a fresh terminal asks for all three values |
Swipe the table sideways →
Reading the right-hand column as a loss is the usual mistake. Nothing there is account data; it is decoration around it, and a laptop opened twice a month rarely needs the same decoration as a main desk. The equivalent table for phones and tablets is on the app page.
If the layout is worth keeping
Moving an MT4 workspace across by hand
Some setups are worth reproducing rather than rebuilding — a template refined over months, a set of indicators that took an evening to arrange. MT4 keeps all of it inside its own data folder, which the terminal opens from its File menu on the machine where it is installed, and the transfer is an ordinary copy of files between two computers.
-
Open the data folder on the machine that has the setup
The File menu of the running terminal opens the folder where that installation keeps everything it has built. This is the source side of the copy — and worth noting, because the folder is not where a beginner would guess it to be from the shortcut on the desktop.
-
Take the templates and the saved chart profiles
Templates are the visual recipe for a chart, profiles are the arrangement of several charts at once. Both are small files and both move cleanly; on the new machine they go into the folders of the same name inside its own data folder.
-
Take the custom indicators, and the advisors if any are used
These sit in the terminal folder as well, in the subfolders for indicators and for expert advisors. Copy the files themselves rather than shortcuts to them, and copy anything they came with, since a tool that expects a companion file will fail quietly without it.
-
Restart the terminal before looking for them
MT4 reads those folders when it starts, so files dropped in while it is open will not show in the navigator list. Closing and reopening the terminal is the whole of the last step.
Three things this copy does not do
- It does not move the account. The account is already on both machines the moment each of them signs in; there is nothing about it inside any folder.
- It does not bring the chart history. Bars are downloaded by each terminal as charts are opened, so the second machine fills its own gaps in the background rather than reading anyone else's.
- It is not a substitute for the official installer. Copy settings between machines by all means, but fetch the program itself from the official exness.com — the download page lists where each route starts.
The least portable part
Expert advisors live on one machine at a time
Automated trading is the strongest reason people keep MT4, and it is also the part of the setup that behaves least like the account. An expert advisor is a program written in MQL4 and installed into a terminal; it works while that terminal is open, running, and connected, and it stops when the machine is shut down. Nothing about it is stored with the account, so it is invisible to every other installation.
Two copies act twice
The same advisor installed and enabled on two computers signed in to one account does not coordinate with itself. Both copies read the same prices and both send their own orders. Running it in one place, deliberately chosen, avoids the whole question.
A closed laptop is an advisor that has stopped
An advisor is not something the server carries on for anyone. If the machine sleeps, loses power, or drops its connection, the program is simply not running — while positions already opened stay exactly as they were.
MQL4 tools do not cross to MT5
Advisors and indicators written for MT4 are in the MQL4 language, and MT5 runs MQL5 — a move to the newer terminal means rewritten or replaced tools, which is the main reason MT4 setups stay where they are. The MT5 side of this →
Automation only carries out a plan faster and more consistently than a person would; the plan keeps every bit of its risk, and so does an unattended machine. Trading is risky and may not be suitable for everyone. Trying a second installation, or a new tool on it, against a demo account costs nothing but the evening.
The remembered password
A saved sign-in is part of the machine, not part of the account
MT4 offers to keep the account details so the terminal reconnects on its own next time. That convenience is written into the installation on that computer — which is exactly why a new machine asks for the account number, the trading password, and the server name again, and exactly why the option deserves a thought before it is ticked on a computer other people also use.
The distinction matters more than it sounds. Changing the trading password in the Personal Area changes it for every installation at once, because it belongs to the account. Clearing a remembered sign-in changes nothing anywhere else, because it belongs to one program on one disk.
On a computer that is borrowed, shared, or about to be handed on, the answer is usually not to sign in at all: the browser Web Terminal leaves nothing installed and nothing to clean up afterwards. What to do when a session has already been left behind is set out in the login guide.
Machine-level, not account-level
Remembered account details — on that installation only, and removed by deleting the account entry inside the terminal.
Terminal layout and colours — the same: local, replaceable, and of no interest to the server.
Account-level, everywhere at once
The trading password — reset in the Personal Area, and immediately the only one any terminal will accept.
The leverage setting and the account number — properties of the account, identical on every screen that opens it.
Trading is risky and may not be suitable for everyone.
Both at once
Running two terminals side by side
Once a second installation exists, the normal state is that both are signed in — a big screen at the desk and a laptop that gets opened in the evening. They are two windows onto one record, and they behave like it.
An order placed anywhere appears everywhere
A position opened on the laptop is on the desk machine too, allowing for the moment each of them last heard from the server. There is no primary terminal and no secondary one; the account does not rank its windows.
The differences are all cosmetic
Two installations can disagree about which charts are open, which indicators are drawn, and which symbols sit in the watch list. None of that is a synchronisation problem to be solved — it is simply two desks arranged by the same person for different rooms.
A phone counts as one more window
The MT4 mobile app signs in with the identical account number, trading password, and server name, and takes its place beside the desktop terminals without any of them being disturbed. Apps, and what stays on a handset →
The Personal Area needs no installation anywhere
Deposits, withdrawals, leverage, and the account number and server name are a website on the official exness.com and open in any browser on any machine. A terminal is only needed where charts and orders are.
Two terminals is a comfortable number; five permanently signed-in machines is a housekeeping problem of a different kind, since every one of them is another screen that shows the account to whoever walks past it. Every route side by side sits on the platforms board.
Quick answers
MT4 across several machines — frequently asked questions
Can one Exness MT4 account be used on two computers at the same time?
Yes. Both terminals sign in with the same account number, trading password, and server name, and both show the same balance, positions, and history. Neither of them disconnects the other, and there is no need to close one before opening the other.
Why does the second MT4 install open with empty default charts?
Because chart layouts, templates, indicators, and advisors are files kept by the terminal that created them, and a fresh installation has none of them. The account behind the plain screen is fully intact: balance, open positions, and order history are read from the server and appear straight away.
Do MT4 templates and profiles move between machines automatically?
No, and there is nothing in the account that would carry them. They are files inside the terminal data folder, so they either get copied across by hand or get rebuilt on the new machine. The step-by-step copy is described above.
Will an expert advisor keep working after switching to the other computer?
Only if it is installed and enabled there as well. An advisor runs inside one terminal on one machine, and closing that machine stops it. Positions it has already opened are unaffected, since those belong to the account rather than to the program.
Is it a problem to run the same advisor on two machines at once?
It is worth avoiding. Two enabled copies act independently on the same account, so instructions are sent twice rather than once. Choosing a single machine to carry the automation keeps the behaviour predictable.
Does a new computer need its own MT4 account?
No. One trading account serves every installation, and opening extra accounts to add a device would only split the balance and the history across them. New accounts are for new purposes — a demo alongside a real one, for instance — not for new hardware.
The old computer is being sold. What has to be done first?
Remove the account from the terminal while it is still installed, rather than simply deleting the program, and clear any remembered sign-in the browser offered to keep for the Personal Area. Then the software can go. The account, its balance, and its history stay untouched on whichever machine remains.
Does the trading password have to be changed for each device?
No — one trading password belongs to the trading account and is accepted by every terminal that signs in to it. Changing it in the Personal Area changes it for all of them at once, which is the quick way to end a sign-in left behind on a machine no longer in reach.
Does the chart history download again on every machine?
Each installation fetches the bars it needs as charts are opened, so a new machine spends a little time filling in its own history at first. It is a local cache rather than account data, and it has no effect on positions, orders, or the statement.
Can MT4 and MT5 be installed on the same computer?
Yes, they coexist without interfering with each other. Which one is actually used is decided by the trading account, since accounts are opened for a specific platform in the Personal Area — a detail that does not change from machine to machine.
Is anything lost if the computer is wiped and reinstalled?
The workspace, and only the workspace. A formatted disk takes the terminal and its local files with it, so the program is fetched again from the official source and the charts start plain. Signing in restores the balance, the open positions, and the history in one step.
How is any of this tested without putting money near it?
A demo MT4 account with virtual funds behaves like a real one for this purpose: it signs in on two machines the same way, carries its own history, and shows exactly which parts of a setup travel and which do not. Opening a demo →
One account is what makes several machines possible
Everything on this page assumes a trading account already exists, because that is the thing being shared between installations. Creating one is a short job on the official Exness website — an email address and a brief questionnaire, then identity verification inside the Personal Area — and it happens once, no matter how many computers are added afterwards. The registration walkthrough →
Open Exness AccountThis button hands over to the official exness.com along the partner route this site is built on. Accounts, passwords, and support all belong on that side.