MT5 open time vs close time: which date should a trade count on?

The date you give a trade moves your daily and weekly totals. See how the two times work and which convention reconciles with your balance.

Every closed position in MetaTrader 5 carries at least two timestamps: when it was opened and when it was closed. Which one you use to date a trade sounds like a detail, yet it decides which day, week and month the result lands in, what your daily totals look like and whether a trade that crossed midnight appears on the right calendar square. This page explains the two times, how they behave for overnight and multi-day positions, why partial closes make the question more interesting, and which convention is easiest to defend when you review your month.

The two times on a position

The open time is the moment the position was created by the first entry deal. The close time is the moment the last exit deal removed the remaining volume. Both are stamped by the broker’s server, not by your computer, so they follow the server clock described in MT5 server time. On many brokers that clock is a few hours ahead of UTC, which means a trade you remember as a late evening entry can carry the next calendar date in the history.

In the History tab the two times sit in different columns depending on whether you look at positions, orders or deals. The deals view shows one row per execution, each with its own time. The positions view shows the open time and the close time side by side. If you are unsure which view you are in, compare it with the explanation on the history columns and check your own terminal, because the layout can differ between builds.

Why the choice changes your numbers

Take a position that is opened late on a Tuesday and closed early on a Wednesday. If you date it by the open time, its profit counts toward Tuesday. If you date it by the close time, the profit counts toward Wednesday. Over a long month the totals stay the same, but the daily and weekly figures move, and so do any rules that depend on a single day. A daily loss limit, a consistency rule or a calendar view of your best and worst days will look different under each convention.

Convention	Which day gets the result	Strength	Weakness
Open time	The day the idea was acted on	Matches your memory of the decision	A loss that was realised days later is attributed to an earlier day
Close time	The day the money was realised	Matches balance changes and broker statements	A good entry may be credited to a calm day
Split by deal	Each exit on its own day	Very precise for partial closes	Hard to do by hand and rarely what a platform shows

Which one is easier to defend

Most balance-based reasoning works better with the close time. The account balance only changes when a position is closed, so a daily total by close date reconciles with the deposits, withdrawals and balance rows you see in the account. The page on balance and deposit rows shows how those rows sit in the same list. If you ever have to explain a day to someone else, a prop-firm support agent for example, the closing date is the one that matches a statement.

The open time is better for studying behaviour. If you want to know whether the trades you start after a certain hour are worse than the others, the entry time is the right axis, and for that purpose it is worth reading the notes on holding time analysis. The two goals are different, so there is nothing wrong with using both, as long as you label each chart with the time it uses.

Partial closes and scale-ins

A position that is reduced in several steps has one open time but several exit deals. Under the close-time convention the whole result is dated by the last exit, even though some of the profit was realised earlier. Under a deal-based view each partial exit stays on its own day. The mechanics are covered in partial closes in history and scaling in and out. The important thing is to know which method your tool applies before comparing figures from two different sources.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A trader opens a position on a Monday at 22:40 server time and closes it on Tuesday at 03:15, for a result of plus 60 in account currency after costs. On the same Tuesday the trader closes two shorter trades at minus 25 and minus 10. By close date, Tuesday shows plus 25. By open date, Monday shows plus 60 and Tuesday shows minus 35. The numbers are invented, but they show how a day can flip from red to green depending on the rule. If a daily loss limit were involved, the answer to “did I break it?” could change with the convention, which is why you should check how your own rule defines a day before relying on a journal total.

What the app does

AI Trading Journal, a Windows app for MetaTrader 5 only, stores one entry per closed position. Partial closes are combined, and the entry is dated by the last exit on the broker’s server clock. The result is profit plus commission plus swap. That is a close-time convention, and it keeps the dashboard and the P&L calendar consistent with the balance. The app is read-only, so it never places, modifies or closes a trade, and the journal is a file on your own PC. If you want the entry time for a study, note it in the journal entry, since the open time of the first deal is not shown as the date of the entry.

Limits and cautions

Server time depends on the broker and can shift with daylight saving; see daylight saving and your journal dates.
A rule from a prop firm or broker may define a day differently from your journal. Read the rule itself.
Rows without a trade, such as deposits, have only one time and do not belong to either convention.
The example numbers are invented and not advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does MT5 date a trade by open time or close time?

It shows both. The history lists the open time and the close time of each position. Which one you use for daily totals is your choice, and the close time reconciles better with the balance.

Why does my trade show a different date than I remember?

The times come from the broker’s server clock, which is often several hours ahead of UTC and may differ from your local time.

How are partial closes dated in the journal app?

They are combined into one entry dated by the last exit, with the result as profit plus commission plus swap.

Can I change the convention in a spreadsheet?

Yes. Copy the rows into a sheet, as described in the history copy guide, and group by whichever time column you prefer.

Which convention should I use for a daily loss limit?

Use the definition in the rule itself. Many rules are based on the account balance or equity at a reset time rather than on trade dates.

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