MT5 commission on entry and exit deals: how to total it

Understand per-side and exit-only commission patterns, how they appear in your history and how to calculate the true net result.

A common surprise in a MetaTrader 5 trade history is a commission figure that does not sit where you expected. On some accounts the commission appears on the opening deal, on others on the closing deal, and on others it is split between the two. If you total your trades from the Deals view you can double count, miss a charge or attribute a cost to the wrong day. This page explains how commission is recorded, how to read it, and how to total it safely when you build your own statistics.

Commission is a field on each deal

In the platform every deal row has its own profit, commission and swap fields. The commission field on a deal holds whatever the broker charged at that execution. Brokers define their own schedules: a charge per lot per side, a charge only on exit, a percentage of the trade value, or no commission with the cost built into the spread. The mechanics are described generally on MT5 commission explained; this page concentrates on where the numbers land in the history.

Because a position has at least two deals, one that enters and one that exits (see entry types in, out and in/out), the commission for one round trip may be split across two rows. If the broker charges per side, each deal carries half of the round-turn cost. If the broker charges at the close only, the opening deal shows zero commission and the closing deal shows the whole charge. Both are normal.

Three patterns you will meet

Which pattern you have is set by the account type and the symbol group, so it can even differ between instruments on the same account. Check the broker’s conditions page and compare with a few real deals rather than assuming.

Totalling safely

• Work from positions or from all deals of one position together, never from the entry deals alone. Summing only closing deals misses any commission charged on entry.
• Net result of a trade is profit plus commission plus swap, as described on how MT5 calculates profit. Commission is usually negative, so adding it reduces the result.
• When you filter by date, decide whether you attribute a trade to its opening or closing time; the difference matters for commission charged on entry, as explained on open time versus close time.
• Partial closes create several exit deals, each possibly with its own commission; see partial closes in history.
• Compare gross profit with net profit over a month to see what costs took. Trading costs in your history shows how.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A trader buys and sells 0.50 lots of a symbol. The broker charges per side, so the opening deal shows a commission of −1.75 and the closing deal another −1.75, a total of −3.50. The gross profit on the closing deal is +42.00 and the swap is −0.80. The net result is 42.00 − 3.50 − 0.80 = 37.70. If the trader had added only the closing deal’s own numbers (42.00 − 1.75 − 0.80), the figure would read 39.45, overstating the result by 1.75. Across 200 trades that small error becomes a large one. The figures are invented to show the arithmetic and are not typical of any broker.

Why this matters for a journal

Your performance statistics, such as average win, profit factor and expectancy, depend on net results. If a journal shows gross numbers the metrics look better than your account balance does. AI Trading Journal is a Windows app for MetaTrader 5 only and read-only: it never places or changes a trade. It keeps one entry per closed position, with partial closes combined and dated by the last exit on the broker’s server clock, and the result is profit plus commission plus swap, so commission from both sides is already inside the figure. It reads what the terminal reports; if your broker applies an adjustment later, the terminal’s figure is the one to trust. The journal is a file on your PC, and Notion is an optional extra copy.

Limits and cautions

• Some brokers adjust commissions after the fact or batch them; compare with your statement if a number looks wrong.
• Rebates, if your broker pays them, usually appear outside the trade rows; see non-trade rows.
• This page explains record keeping, not what you should trade or pay.

Questions to ask before you trust a commission total

When a commission figure looks wrong, work through a short list before assuming a mistake. First, is the position still open? Then only the entry side has been charged on a per-side schedule, and the rest will arrive at the close. Second, does the symbol belong to a different group from the one you last traded? Metals, indices and currency pairs can carry different schedules even on one account. Third, was the trade closed in several pieces? Each exit deal can carry its own charge, and a rounding rule may apply to every one of them, so a position closed in three parts can cost slightly more than one closed at once.

• Pick one closed position and add up every deal that shares its position ID, then compare with the net figure in your report.
• Check whether the broker’s statement lists commission per deal or per day; a daily summary can differ from the terminal by rounding.
• If you trade several symbols, build a small table of commission per lot for each and note the date you last checked it, because schedules can change.

A few minutes spent on this check once a quarter is enough to catch most surprises, and it keeps the cost side of your statistics as trustworthy as the profit side. For the wider picture of spreads and fees, see spread and slippage in your history.

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