One account, two MT5 installations
Exness MT5 on two machines: what the server sends, and what the disk keeps
Signing the same MT5 account in on a second computer raises one practical question and it is worth answering properly: which half of the setup is going to be there already, and which half is a blank sheet. MetaTrader 5 draws that line very sharply. Everything about the account arrives from the trading server the instant the sign-in completes, and everything the terminal has ever built for itself stays on the machine that built it — including some things people expect to be account data and are not.
Sign-in, second machine
The first minute on a fresh MT5 installation
Watching the order in which things appear explains the whole arrangement better than any description of it. Four things happen, in this sequence, and only the first two involve the server at all.
-
Three values go up to the server
The trading account number, the trading password, and the server name — the identical three used on the first machine, and none of them reissued for a new one. They are shown in the Personal Area, the account dashboard on the official exness.com, and the password is reset there if it has been mislaid.
-
The account comes back down
Balance, open positions, orders still waiting to trigger, the statement of everything closed before today, and the leverage in force. None of this was on the old computer either; it was always on the server, and the terminal is only ever asking to see it.
-
The terminal reads its own folders and finds nothing
Templates, saved chart arrangements, custom tools, anything written in MQL5 — the new installation looks in its own directories for all of it and they are empty, so it falls back to defaults. This is the step that looks like a fault and is not one.
-
Charts start pulling their own bars
Opening a chart makes this machine download the price history behind it, from scratch, because history is cached per installation. A minute of quiet work at the beginning, then the same picture as the other computer.
Nothing in that sequence depends on the other machine being switched on, connected, or even in existence any more. Two MT5 terminals may also be signed in at once without either interrupting the other.
Sorted by where it is held
Server side, disk side
| Held with the account | Written on this computer | |
|---|---|---|
| Open positions | Yes — visible on any terminal that signs in | — |
| Orders waiting to trigger | Yes — they sit on the server, not in the program | — |
| The statement of closed deals | Yes — one record, read by every installation | — |
| Leverage in force | Yes — a property of the account, set in the Personal Area | — |
| The trading password | Yes — changed once, accepted everywhere from then on | — |
| Chart templates and saved arrangements | — | Local files, copied across by hand or built again |
| Custom tools written in MQL5 | — | Installed per machine; MQL4 tools do not run here at all |
| Downloaded price bars | — | A cache each terminal fills for itself |
| Strategy-tester results | — | Produced and kept by the machine that ran the test |
| Journal and log files | — | A diary of this installation only, and of no interest elsewhere |
| Alerts and window layout | — | Per installation; alerts fire only while it is open |
| A remembered sign-in | — | Stored by that terminal alone; a new one asks again |
Swipe the table sideways →
A useful rule of thumb from the right-hand column: if losing it would cost an evening rather than a position, it is disk-side. The equivalent split for the MT4 terminal, where automated tools are less portable still, is on the MT4 page.
The question behind the question
What happens to a waiting order when the laptop closes
This is usually the real worry underneath asking whether MT5 can be used on two machines, and the answer is reassuring: an order left waiting was handed to the server when it was placed. It does not need the terminal that placed it to stay open, stay connected, or stay installed. Closing the lid, moving to the other computer, or reinstalling the program entirely leaves it exactly where it was.
Placed once, held centrally
An instruction that waits for a price is stored with the account. Both terminals show it, either terminal can change or cancel it, and the change is immediately what the other one sees as well.
Protective levels behave the same way
Levels attached to a position are held alongside it on the server rather than inside the program. A machine going to sleep does not remove them, and a second installation does not need to be told about them.
Automation is the exception
Anything that has to decide something is a program running inside one terminal. Close that machine and it stops deciding, while everything it already handed to the server carries on being handled. That difference is the whole reason to be deliberate about which computer carries the automation.
Nothing is duplicated by signing in twice
Opening the account on a second terminal does not copy orders, split a balance, or create a parallel version of anything. Two windows, one record — the count of positions is the same in both because it is the same count.
Orders held on the server still carry the risk of the market they are waiting in, and a level being stored reliably says nothing about the price at which it eventually fills. Trading is risky and may not be suitable for everyone; a demo account is the sensible place to watch this behaviour before real funds are involved.
Neither side, strictly speaking
The live feed belongs to nobody's disk
A third category sits outside the table above: data that is arriving continuously and is never really stored at all. It is the reason two machines showing slightly different screens are usually both correct.
Prices arrive, they do not transfer
The stream feeding a chart is the same stream on every installation. There is nothing to carry across and nothing to lose — a terminal opened after a month away is current the moment it connects.
Depth of market is a live view
The list of pending buy and sell orders around the current price, one of the additions MT5 has over MT4, is a picture of this second rather than a file. Which machine is looking at it changes nothing about it.
Small differences are just timing
If two screens disagree by a moment, that is each of them having last heard from the server at a slightly different instant. Neither is stale in any way that matters, and neither needs correcting.
Housekeeping
What an MT5 installation accumulates over time
The disk side is not static. A terminal in daily use quietly grows a collection of things that a second machine will never inherit, and knowing what they are makes it obvious which ones are worth reproducing.
Downloaded history. Every chart opened deepens the local cache of bars. It is the largest thing most installations hold and the least worth copying, since the second machine rebuilds it on its own without being asked.
Test runs. The built-in tester writes its results and its own working files locally. Reports stay with the computer that produced them, which is worth remembering before wiping a machine that has a series worth keeping.
The journal. Each terminal keeps a running log of its own connections, orders sent, and errors seen. It is genuinely useful when something is behaving oddly, and it describes only the machine it is on — the other installation has a different story to tell about the same account.
Everything hand-made. Templates, arranged profiles, tools added to the navigator. These are the only items in the list where copying beats rebuilding, and the copy is an ordinary transfer of files between two computers.
Worth carrying across
Templates, saved chart arrangements, and any custom tools in use — small files, quick to move, tedious to recreate from memory.
Not worth carrying across
Cached bars and log files. Both are rebuilt automatically, both are larger than they look, and neither has anything to do with the account.
Impossible to carry across
The account itself, in either direction. It is not on the disk to be moved, and it is on the new machine the moment the sign-in goes through.
Trading is risky and may not be suitable for everyone.
The third machine
When the second device should hold nothing at all
Not every extra screen deserves an installation. A computer that is borrowed for an afternoon, a machine in a shared office, a laptop that gets opened once a month — for these the better answer is a route that writes nothing to the disk in the first place, so there is no workspace to build and nothing to remove afterwards.
Two ways to add a device without installing anything
- The browser terminal. The Exness Terminal opens a full trading session in a browser tab with MT5-based accounts, on Windows, macOS, or Linux. Nothing is downloaded, nothing accumulates, and the visit ends by signing out. Web Terminal guide →
- The Personal Area on its own. Deposits, withdrawals, the leverage setting, and the account number and server name are a website and need no program whatsoever. On a device that is only used to check on things, that is the entire requirement.
Where an installed terminal is genuinely wanted on a second computer, the installer is fetched from the official exness.com rather than copied from the first machine — the download page sorts the routes by the kind of device joining, and the platforms board shows all four side by side.
Quick answers
MT5 on several machines — frequently asked questions
Can the same MT5 account be open on two computers at once?
Yes. Both terminals sign in with the same account number, trading password, and server name, and both read one record. Neither disconnects the other, and an action taken in either one is what the other shows as soon as it refreshes.
Does closing the computer cancel an order that is still waiting?
No. A waiting order was handed to the server when it was placed and is held there, independently of the program that sent it. Shutting the machine down, moving to another one, or reinstalling the terminal leaves it in place.
Why is the second MT5 installation empty when the account is not?
Because the two halves are stored in different places. The account lives on the trading server and is sent down at sign-in; the workspace is a set of files in the terminal folder, and a new installation has never had them.
Do the charts on both machines have to be arranged the same way?
There is no requirement and no mechanism for it. Layouts are per installation by design, so a laptop can carry two charts while the desk machine carries twelve, and the account behaves identically on both.
Does the price history download again on the new computer?
Yes, gradually and by itself, as charts are opened. It is a local cache rather than account data, so nothing is lost by letting the machine rebuild it, and there is no benefit to copying it across.
Where do strategy-tester results go?
They stay on the machine that ran the test, along with the tester working files. Nothing about a test run is stored with the account, so a series worth keeping should be preserved before the computer is wiped or replaced.
Do custom MT5 tools have to be reinstalled on each machine?
Yes. Anything written in MQL5 is a file inside a terminal folder, so it is copied across or installed again on the new computer, then found in the navigator after the terminal is restarted. Tools written for MT4 in MQL4 do not run in MT5 in any case.
Does adding a machine need a second MT5 account?
No, and doing so would only divide the balance and the history between two records. One trading account is opened for a platform in the Personal Area and then serves every installation, desktop or mobile, for as long as it exists.
Is anything about MT5 changed by signing in from a different country or network?
The three sign-in values, the account, and everything held with it are unchanged. What varies is purely local — the connection quality, and therefore how quickly a chart fills in. The terminal shows its connection state in the corner of its own window.
What is the safest way to try all of this first?
A demo MT5 account with virtual funds signs in on two machines exactly as a real one does, so the split between server side and disk side can be watched with nothing at stake. It is opened in the Personal Area alongside any other account. Demo account guide →
The old computer will not be used again — is there anything left to do on it?
Remove the account from the terminal before deleting the program, and clear anything the browser offered to remember for the Personal Area. Deleting software does not necessarily end what it was signed in to. The login guide covers the order in which to do it.
The account is the part that is shared
All of this describes one MT5 trading account seen from several places, which means the account has to exist before any of it applies. Opening one starts on the official Exness website with an email address and a short questionnaire, and continues with identity verification inside the Personal Area — done once, then valid for every machine that signs in afterwards. How registration works →
Open Exness AccountThe button leaves this guide and opens the official exness.com through the partner route this site runs on. Registration, sign-in, and support are all handled there.