MT5 history rows that are not trades: charge, correction, dividend and more

A guide to the balance-type rows in the MetaTrader 5 history, what they mean and how to keep them out of your trade statistics.

Most of the History tab is made of trades, but not every row is one. Besides buy and sell deals, a MetaTrader 5 account can show rows for deposits and withdrawals, credit, bonus, charges, corrections, interest, dividends, taxes and several kinds of commission. If you export the history into a spreadsheet or feed it to a statistics tool without sorting those rows out, they can inflate your trade count, bend your win rate or add profit that no trade produced. Our page on balance and deposit rows covers the most common case. This page goes through the wider family of non-trade rows, what each one means, how to recognise them and how to keep them out of your trading statistics.

Why the history contains more than trades

MT5 records every operation that changes your balance as a deal. A buy or a sell is one type of deal. The platform’s programming documentation lists further deal types, and brokers use them for different purposes. Which of these you will see depends on the broker, the account type and the instruments traded. A plain forex account may show only trades and balance rows. An account with index CFDs, share CFDs or a bonus programme can show many more. The names below follow the MQL5 documentation, while the wording shown in your terminal can differ.

Row typeWhat it usually representsIs it a trade?
BalanceDeposit, withdrawal or manual balance operationNo
CreditCredit granted by the broker, not withdrawable cashNo
BonusBonus granted under a broker programmeNo
ChargeA fee debited from the accountNo
CorrectionA manual adjustment made by the brokerNo
Commission rowsDaily, monthly or per-agent commission charged apart from the tradeNo
InterestInterest credited or debited on the accountNo
DividendDividend adjustment on a share or index CFD positionNo, but related to a position
TaxTax withheld or charged on a dividend or similarNo, but related to a position
Buy and sellOpening and closing deals of positionsYes
Canceled buy or sellA deal that was canceled by the brokerSpecial case

How to recognise them

In the History tab, switch the view to Deals. Trade deals show a symbol, a type of buy or sell, a volume and a price. Non-trade rows usually have an empty symbol or a symbol but no volume, and the Type column shows words such as balance, credit, charge, correction or bonus. The comment column often explains the reason in the broker’s own words. Sort by type or filter for blank symbols to see them all at once. If you still cannot find a row, the guide to opening trade history shows how to switch between positions, orders and deals.

Dividends and tax rows on CFDs

If you hold a share or index CFD across an ex-dividend date, a broker may credit or debit a dividend adjustment so that the position behaves like the underlying. Some brokers add a separate tax row for it. These rows are tied to a position but they are not a new trade. A trader who counts them as winning or losing trades will see odd statistics: a loss-making position appears to have an extra winning trade. The better approach is to treat the dividend as part of the position’s cost or income and keep it outside the trade count. The details of how your broker books them are on its own pages; read those, and do not assume.

Corrections and charges

A correction is an adjustment the broker posts to fix something, such as a price error or a wrongly applied fee. A charge is a fee. Both change your balance and neither is a trade. The comment normally says why. Keep a note of any correction that affects a trade you are reviewing, because it changes the actual result and may be worth quoting if you contact support. If you track costs, the trading costs page and the trading cost calculator show how commission, swap and spread fit together.

Commission rows that are not attached to a trade

Some brokers charge commission per trade; the amount then sits in the Commission column of each deal. Others book a daily or monthly commission as its own row. Those are not trades either. When you review a month, compare the sum of the per-trade columns with the change in balance. The gap is usually made of non-trade rows such as these. Our page on MT5 commission explains the common models.

How to keep them out of your statistics

A worked example (hypothetical)

A month shows 40 buy and sell deals that form 20 closed positions, one deposit of 500, one correction of minus 3.50 and a dividend adjustment of plus 6.20 on an index position. A quick count of rows gives 43 “events”. A trader who divides winning rows by all rows gets a win rate that is wrong. A trader who counts 20 positions and treats the other three rows as non-trade items gets the correct trade count and can explain the balance change: trade results plus 500 plus the two small adjustments minus withdrawals.

Where a journal fits

AI Trading Journal builds one entry per closed position and combines profit, commission and swap into that entry’s result, so a deposit is not turned into a trade. Partial closes are merged and the entry is dated by the last exit on the broker’s clock. How a particular broker-specific row is booked depends on the broker, so compare your journal totals with your balance change if you use dividend-paying CFDs or a bonus scheme. The app is read-only, Windows-only and for MetaTrader 5, and the journal stays in a file on your PC.

Limits of this page

Frequently asked questions

Are dividend rows in MT5 trades?
No. They are balance operations tied to a position on a share or index CFD. Keep them out of your trade count and treat them as income or cost for that position.
What is a correction row?
A balance adjustment posted by the broker, usually with a comment explaining why. It is not a trade.
How do I tell a deposit from a trade?
In the Deals view a deposit has a balance type and no real trade volume, while a trade shows buy or sell with a symbol and volume.
Do non-trade rows affect my win rate?
They can if you include them in a count. Use only buy and sell deals, or count closed positions.
Does the app count deposits as trades?
No. It creates one entry per closed position.

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