MT5 Trade tab explained: columns, summary line and floating profit

The Trade tab lists what is open right now. Learn each column, the summary line and why the numbers are not a journal.

The Trade tab is the first thing most traders look at in MetaTrader 5 and the one they read least carefully. It sits in the Toolbox window and lists everything that is open right now: positions, pending orders and the account summary line. It is not the History tab, and the difference matters for a journal. A position leaves the Trade tab the moment it closes and turns into history. This page explains each column, the summary line, what changes between hedging and netting accounts, and what the Trade tab can never tell you about a past trade.

Where to find it

Open the Toolbox window with Ctrl+T if it is not visible. The tabs at the bottom normally include Trade, Exposure, History, News, Mailbox and Journal. The Trade tab is the first one. If the Toolbox is hidden or the tab strip looks empty, read why the MT5 Toolbox is not showing. The History tab is described on how to open the trade history, and the Journal tab, which is a log of terminal events rather than a trade journal, on the Journal tab explained.

The columns

Column	What it shows	Worth knowing
Symbol	The instrument as your broker names it	Names can carry a suffix, so the same market looks different between brokers
Ticket	The identifier of the position	Use it to find the same trade later in history
Time	When the position was opened, on the server clock	Not your computer’s time; see the page on server time
Type	Buy or sell	Pending orders show their own types in the same list
Volume	Size in lots	Rounded to the lot step of the symbol
Price	The open price of the position	For a pending order, the trigger price
S/L and T/P	Stop loss and take profit levels, if set	Empty means none is attached
Current price	The price the position would close at right now	Moves with every tick
Swap	Overnight charge or credit so far	Grows while the position is open
Profit	Floating profit or loss right now	A changing number, not a result

A commission column may be shown if your broker charges commission, and you can add or remove columns from the right-click menu. Check your own terminal for what is available.

The summary line

Below the list, a single line shows balance, equity, margin, free margin and margin level, plus the total floating profit. Balance changes only when a trade closes or a deposit or withdrawal happens. Equity is balance plus the floating profit of open positions, so it moves constantly. Margin is what the broker is holding for your open positions, and free margin is what remains. These relationships are explained on balance versus equity and margin level.

Hedging and netting in the Trade tab

On a hedging account you can hold several positions on one symbol at once, in either direction, and each has its own row and ticket. On a netting account there is one position per symbol, and a new trade in the same direction increases it while one in the opposite direction reduces or reverses it. A netting position can therefore look unchanged in size while its average price moves. The consequences for history are on hedging versus netting.

Floating profit is not realised profit

The Profit column in the Trade tab is a calculation based on the current price. If the price moves back, the number moves with it. Only when the position closes does a result become fixed, and it appears in the History tab as profit, commission and swap. A trader who writes the Trade tab number into notes while a position is open is recording a guess. The distinction is the subject of floating versus realised profit.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A trader has two positions open and sees a floating profit of a small positive amount in the summary line, so they close the first position, which was showing a gain, and leave the second, which was showing a loss. The balance rises by the first result. Equity does not jump, because the floating loss on the second is still counted. The next hour the second position closes at a worse price, and the day ends lower than the Trade tab suggested at noon. The figures are invented; the lesson is that only closed trades count as results, so review those and keep the open ones as live information.

What a journal should take from the Trade tab

The plan at entry: why you opened the position, the stop, the target and the intended risk. Nothing in the Trade tab stores this.
A screenshot at entry, since the position row will be gone once it closes. See screenshots of trades for a journal.
The ticket, so you can match the note to the closed trade later.
A note about any change you made while it was open, such as moving the stop.

AI Trading Journal, a Windows app for MetaTrader 5 only, works from the other side. The first run reads the whole account history, then a scheduled task adds newly closed trades every 5 minutes. It creates one entry per closed position, with partial closes combined and the entry dated by the last exit on the broker’s server clock. It does not record the floating profit of open trades, and it is read-only, so it never places, modifies or closes anything. Open trades appear in the journal only after they close.

Limits and cautions

Column names and the availability of columns depend on the terminal build and broker.
The Trade tab shows the current state only; nothing in it is a history.
Nothing here is trading advice.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the Trade tab and the History tab?

The Trade tab shows open positions and pending orders. The History tab shows closed trades and other account operations.

Why does the Profit column keep changing?

It is the floating result at the current price. It becomes fixed only when the position closes.

Why is equity different from balance?

Equity is balance plus the floating profit and loss of open positions.

Where does a position go when I close it?

It leaves the Trade tab and appears in the History tab.

Does the journal app show my open trades?

No. It records closed positions only, and adds them every 5 minutes.

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