Journal

How to Export MT5 Trade History (and MT4) — Every Method, 2 Minutes

Your broker already keeps a complete record of every trade you've taken — MT5 just hides the export behind a right-click. Here's every way to get your trade history out of MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4: the HTML report, the spreadsheet export, custom date ranges, and the read-only investor login that lets tools sync it automatically.

PLProEA LabJul 12, 2026 · 3 min read

Your trade history is the most honest dataset you own, and MetaTrader has kept every row of it since your first fill. Getting it out takes one right-click — once you know which panel to right-click on.

Three routes below, fastest first. Menu wording shifts slightly between builds; the panels and steps have been stable for years.

Hand-drawn sketch of the MT5 terminal layout: menu bar and toolbars up top, Market Watch and Navigator panels on the left, a candlestick chart in the center, and the Toolbox panel along the bottom edge with its History tab circled in orange. — The terrain. The Toolbox runs along the bottom of the terminal — History is one of its tabs.

How do I export trade history from MT5?

The two-minute version:

Open the Toolbox panel — press Ctrl+T if it isn't visible (View → Toolbox).
Click the History tab along the Toolbox's bottom edge.
Right-click anywhere in the trade list and pick the period first — Last month, Last 3 months, or Custom period for exact dates.
Right-click again and choose Report. MT5 saves the full statement; depending on build you'll get HTML and Open XML (.xlsx) options.

Hand-drawn sketch of the History tab's trade table with a mouse cursor right-clicking to open the context menu; the Report entry is highlighted in orange, its format submenu flared open beside it. — Steps 3–4. Right-click the trade list: period first, then Report — the formats live in its submenu.

The HTML file is the one journals and analysis tools expect: it carries every position with open and close times, prices, volume, stop levels, swap, commission and profit. The XLSX version opens straight in Excel or Google Sheets if you'd rather slice it yourself.

If you got here searching for how to download trading history from MT5: this Report file is that download. MetaTrader just never uses the word.

One habit worth forming: export Custom period from your first trade to today, once, and archive it. Brokers prune server-side history views; your local file doesn't.

Editorial panel on ivory paper reading: Your broker's record doesn't negotiate — with an orange marker underline. — The dataset already exists. This guide just gets it out.

How do I export from MT4?

Same idea, older furniture:

Ctrl+T opens the Terminal panel.
Open the Account History tab.
Right-click → set the period (All History or Custom Period).
Right-click → Save as Detailed Report — HTML, with every trade plus the equity summary. Plain Save as Report exists too; the detailed one is the one you want, since it includes the per-trade rows journals need.

What about CSV?

Neither platform exports CSV natively from the history tab — the HTML report is the standard interchange format, and most journals (ours included) read it directly. If a tool insists on CSV, open the XLSX/HTML in any spreadsheet and save-as CSV; keep the column headers untouched so the importer can map them.

Every MetaTrader account has a second password, the investor password, that grants view-only access: no trading, no withdrawals, just the ability to read the account and its history. Tools that "auto-sync" MT4/MT5 use exactly this: you supply the investor password (never the master), and closed trades flow in without any exporting at all.

Two honest cautions. Set the investor password yourself (your broker's client portal or MT5's Options dialog) rather than reusing anything, and treat it like the read-only key it is — revocable any time by changing it. And know what sync covers at the tool you're using: TradeLens Cloud, for example, syncs closed trades only via this route, while the $47 download skips sync entirely and imports the reports from this guide.

What to do with the file

An export nobody reads is a receipt in a drawer. The point of the history is the questions it can answer: which setup actually pays you, which session bleeds, what your real R multiples look like after costs. That's a journal's job — import the report, and let the columns argue with your memory.

Your broker's record doesn't negotiate. Export it before your memory edits the story.

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