MT5 balance vs equity: what each number in the Trade tab means

The balance moves when a trade closes. The equity moves all day. A worked example, where to read both and why the gap matters.

The short answer

Balance is the money in your account counting only closed trades and deposits or withdrawals. Equity is the balance plus or minus the floating profit or loss of the positions that are still open. When no position is open, the two are the same number. When a position is open, the equity moves with every price tick and the balance does not.

Beginners often read the balance, see that nothing has changed and conclude that a losing trade is not losing yet. The equity is the number that tells you what the account would be worth if everything were closed this second, before costs.

Where to find each number in MetaTrader 5

If the account line looks cut off or incomplete, widen the Toolbox or scroll the table. Column and menu names can differ a little between builds and brokers, so confirm them in your own terminal.

A worked example (hypothetical numbers)

You start the day with a $10,000 balance and no open positions: balance $10,000, equity $10,000. You open a gold trade and it drifts to a floating loss of $400. The balance is still $10,000 but the equity is $9,600. You open a second trade that is up $150. Equity is now $9,750. Neither trade is closed, so the balance has not changed at all.

The balance only moved at the moments a trade closed. The equity moved all day. At the end both agree again, at $9,740: the day cost $260 after the two exits. If you only ever looked at the balance, you would not have seen that the account was $400 under water for part of the morning.

Why traders care about the difference

• Drawdown. The deepest point an account reaches is measured on equity, not on balance. A balance-only view hides intraday dips. See how to track drawdown in MT5.
• Prop firm rules. Some firms measure daily loss on balance and others on equity. The difference can decide whether a bad hour breaks a rule. Balance-based vs equity drawdown explains the two. Always read the firm’s own rules.
• Margin. Margin level uses equity, so a floating loss lowers it even when the balance is unchanged. See MT5 margin level explained.
• Honest stats. Results counted on the balance only include trades that were closed, which is the fair measure for a journal, but the path matters for judging risk.

Deposits, withdrawals, credit and bonuses

Not every change in the balance is a trade. A deposit raises it and a withdrawal lowers it. In the Deals view of the History tab such lines appear with a type such as balance rather than buy or sell. Some brokers also add credit or promotional funds. Equity may include them, depending on the broker, which is why an equity figure can look better than your own money.

Keep these lines out of your trading statistics. A $2,000 deposit is not a winning trade. When you compute a growth curve or a monthly return, adjust for deposits and withdrawals or the number will mislead. A simple rule is to note every deposit and withdrawal date next to the monthly result. The compounding calculator shows how much a few mistimed deposits can distort a percentage.

How the journal fits in

AI Trading Journal reads closed positions from MetaTrader 5 and records one entry per position, with a result equal to profit plus commission plus swap. That makes its growth curve and monthly totals follow the balance side of the account: the sum of what closed. It does not record the floating equity of open trades, so it cannot show an intraday dip or the equity low of the day. For that, keep an eye on the Trade tab while you hold a position, or record the equity at your daily stop in the notes.

This split is useful rather than a flaw. The journal answers “what did my closed trades make after costs?” and the equity line answers “how bad did it get on the way?”. You need both when you judge a strategy, and neither replaces the other. The Excel report guide shows the closed-trade side in charts.

Common mistakes

• Judging a trade by the balance. The balance lags every open position. Use equity or the position’s profit column.
• Counting deposits as profit. Always separate money moved from trading results.
• Ignoring costs. Swap and commission change the floating result as they accrue. Check MT5 trading costs in the trade history.
• Trusting a demo account’s balance. A demo balance can be reset or topped up freely, so growth on demo says little about discipline on a live account.

Honest limits

• Definitions follow the common MetaTrader 5 usage. Brokers can treat credit, bonuses and some fees differently.
• The numbers in the examples are invented and rounded.
• This page explains a platform and is not trading or financial advice.

The difference between open and closed results is covered in MT5 floating profit vs realised profit.

See how the two differ in a tester report: equity vs balance drawdown maximal.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• A local trading journal for MT5
• P&L calendar for MT5
• Trade notes, ratings and screenshots
• Trading progress and goals
• Back up your journal and move it to a new PC
• An offline trading journal for Windows
• How to set monthly trading goals
• Import your whole MT5 history
• How to tag trades
• Trade screenshots for your journal
• All trading journal comparisons