MT5 trailing stop: how it works and why it may not move

The built-in trailing stop runs in your terminal, not on the server. Here is what that means and how to test whether it helps you.

A trailing stop is a stop loss that follows price once a trade moves in your favour. In MetaTrader 5 you can set one from the position's context menu, and traders also use Expert Advisors to do the same job. It sounds automatic and safe, but a trailing stop has a rule many traders discover the hard way: the built-in version runs inside the terminal, not on the broker's server. This page explains how it works, why it sometimes seems not to work, and how to judge it with your own trade history.

How the built-in trailing stop works

You choose a distance in points, and the terminal checks the position. When price moves in profit by more than that distance, the terminal moves the stop loss to keep that distance behind price. The stop only moves in the direction of profit, never back. MetaQuotes documentation, as quoted on its own forum, says a trailing stop is executed in the trading platform rather than on the server as a normal stop loss is. In other words, the stop on the server stays where the terminal last put it.

That detail explains most of the complaints. A normal stop loss sits on the broker's server and works even if your computer is off. A trailing stop needs the terminal to be running, connected and logged in to the account, because it is the terminal that sends the instruction to move the stop. When the terminal is closed, the stop stays at the last level it reached and does not follow price any further.

Why a trailing stop seems not to work

If a stop does not move when you expect it to, check the Experts and Journal tabs of the Toolbox for error messages first. Menu names differ between builds, so look in your own terminal.

What the history shows afterwards

A trailing stop leaves little trace in the deals list. The History tab shows the closing deal, and for a position closed by its stop the comment normally shows it was a stop loss hit, for example with the letters sl in the comment. It does not show the path the stop took. For a closer look at those comments, see history comments sl, tp and so.

AI Trading Journal reads closed positions from the history and records the last non-zero stop loss and take profit it finds on the position's orders. For a trade that was trailed, the stop in the journal is therefore the final level, not the starting one. That is useful, but it also means the journal cannot tell you how far the original stop was from entry. If you want to study your trailing stops, write the original stop and the trailing distance in the trade's notes at the time.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A trader buys gold at 2,000.00 with a stop at 1,995.00 and sets a trailing stop of 300 points, which is $3.00 on a symbol with two decimals. Price rises to 2,010.00. The stop would trail to 2,007.00. Price then falls back to 2,007.00 and the stop closes the trade, a profit of about $7.00 per ounce before costs. Had the trader instead set a fixed target at 2,015.00 and price never reached it, the trade might have ended at the original stop. Neither outcome proves which approach is better. One trade says very little.

Judging a trailing stop with data

To know if trailing helps you, compare a group of trailed trades with a group of trades managed another way over the same market conditions. Tag each trade with how it was managed, then look at the average win, the average loss and the win rate for each group. The tagging guide shows how, and the average win and loss calculator and the expectancy calculator turn the figures into one number per method.

Be careful with sample size. Ten trades per method is not enough to say anything reliable, and a trailing stop that looks good in a strong trend may look poor in a range. The page on cutting winners early covers the cost of exits that are too tight, which a short trailing distance can cause.

Trailing in an Expert Advisor

Many traders use an EA or script to trail stops because it can do more than the built-in version, for example trail by a candle low or by an indicator. An EA also runs in the terminal, so the same rule about the terminal being open applies, and its behaviour depends entirely on its code and settings. Read the description and the inputs before using one on a live account, and test it on a demo account first. For how an EA's trades appear, see the magic number page.

Limits

Frequently asked questions

Does an MT5 trailing stop work when the terminal is closed?
No. The built-in trailing stop is run by the terminal. When it is closed, the stop stays at the last level it reached.
Why is my MT5 trailing stop not moving?
Common reasons are a closed terminal, a distance below the broker's minimum, a trade not yet far enough in profit, or an EA that is not allowed to trade.
Does a trailing stop only move in profit?
Yes. It follows price in the direction of profit and does not move back.
Where does a trailing stop show in trade history?
The closing deal usually shows a stop loss comment. The path of the stop is not listed in the deals.
Which stop level does the journal record?
The last non-zero stop loss found on the position's orders, so the final trailed level.

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