MetaTrader 5 on Linux

Introduction

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. Linux systems are widely used in smartphones and server hardware. Many home PC users prefer it to MS Windows series.

In this article, you will find out how to work in MetaTrader 5 via one of the Linux versions - Ubuntu.

Installing Wine on Ubuntu

One of the Linux features is the absence of a unified distribution kit. Different groups of developers work on several Linux versions including Debian, Mint, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Gentoo, etc. In this article we will consider one of the most popular distribution kits - Ubuntu.

Wine is a free software that allows users of the Unix-based systems to run an application developed for the Microsoft Windows systems. Among all the Wine versions there is one for Ubuntu.

Note that Wine is not a fully stable application. Thus, some functions in the applications you start under it may work improperly or not work at all.
It is strongly recommended to use the latest version of Ubuntu and Wine. Timely update provides the greatest stability of the trading platform.

All applications under Ubuntu are installed from the packages contained in repositories. In the latest versions of Ubuntu, the required Wine installation repository is already available in the system without additional settings. Therefore, to install Wine, you only need to execute one command on the command line (called "Terminal" in Ubuntu):

sudo apt-get install wine-stable

This command installs the latest stable version of Wine.

Installing Wine from the Command Line

You can also install the Wine version for developers. This version may contain various improvements, but be less stable. To install it, run the following command:

sudo apt-get install wine-development

If your Ubuntu version does not provide a repository and you get an error during Wine installation, run the following commands one by one:

wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/Release.key
sudo apt-key add Release.key
sudo apt-add-repository https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/

Next, update the package information by executing the following command:

sudo apt-get update

After the command execution, install Wine using the following command:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable

For details on installation under Ubuntu, please visit the official Wine site.

Starting MetaTrader 5

To install the platform, download its installer "mt5setup.exe". When the download completes, run the setup file. The system automatically detects that you are trying to run a file designed for Microsoft Windows, and offers to open it with Wine. Select this option and click "OK".

Opening MetaTrader 5 installation package via Wine

MetaTrader 5 installer will be launched. Complete all installation steps:

Installing MetaTrader 5

After installation is complete, you can start using MetaTrader 5 by running its terminal.exe file.

Another way to start using MetaTrader 5 in Ubuntu is copying the entire folder of the client terminal previously installed in Microsoft Windows:

Copying previously installed MetaTrader 5

After copying is complete, simply run terminal.exe file of MetaTrader 5 terminal. Wine will be used automatically to open the file. The screenshot below shows MetaTrader 5 terminal in Ubuntu system:

MetaTrader 5 on Ubuntu

Known Issues

As was already mentioned above, Wine is not a completely stable software. Thus, some functions of the MetaTrader 5 terminal may work improperly. Currently the following issues are discovered:

MQL5 Market is unavailable

Except for the above problem, you can enjoy all the features of MetaTrader 5 on Ubuntu.

MetaTrader 5 Data Directory

Wine creates a virtual logical drive with necessary environment for installed programs. The default path of the installed terminal's data folder is as follows:

Home\.wine\drive_c\Program Files\MetaTrader 5

Conclusion

In the present article, we described an easy way to run MetaTrader 5 under Ubuntu operating system. All basic terminal functions are available to traders. We hope that this article, or to be more precise, the comments to it, will become a good place for accumulating useful information about running Meta Trader 5 on Linux OS series.

Translated from Russian by MetaQuotes Software Corp.
Original article: https://www.mql5.com/ru/articles/625

Last comments | Go to discussion (42)

kypa | 11 Mar 2019 at 12:32

You can install fonts, also you need to set them in winecfg or the linux configs.

Install wine-staging from winehq.org, Xenial repositories are outdated.

linux80s | 11 Mar 2019 at 12:53

kypa:

OK, font problem solved! I was silly, forgot that there are 2 different Wine folders (wine and .wine32), so I copied the fonts into the .wine32 too. Now it is OK.

But, what about the color-dialog problem? Have you experienced this? Solution?

linux80s | 12 Mar 2019 at 14:51

Guys, can anyone reflect to the color-settings problem?

Furthermore, I got this message in MT5's Journal tab:

"You are using 32-bit version of the program, please switch to 64-bit for best performance".

Is it possible to solve this?

linux80s | 2 May 2019 at 19:12

Is there anyone who can confirm that color-changing in MT5 indicator's Inputs doesn't work on Linux?

peep | 15 Jun 2019 at 14:50

linux80s:
Is there anyone who can confirm that color-changing in MT5 indicator's Inputs doesn't work on Linux?

Yes, color dialogue doesn't work properly in Linux / Wine ( last dev version staging 4.10 64bit) and verification test on Wine stable version 3.0.1 and 4.0.1 64bit (PlayOnLinux) with the same result.

The strange thing is that the color dialog works normal in all simple default indicator Moving Average, Ichimoku kinko hyo,etc., which don't have the classic tabs "Input Parameters" and "Colors" - In these, it does not work, but the change color using the keyboard arrow works, but you don't see thecolor you are changing.. It is the only problem with Metatrader 5 that I have encountered in Wine for a year when using it on Linux, surprisingly Strategy tester MT5 is much faster in Linux/Wine than in Windows 10. The Color dialogue also works normally when change the chart colors. The problem occurs in Indicators/Experts/Scriptes on the tabs "Inputs parameters", "Color" and in the Strategy tester.

If the annoying problem with the color dialog was fixed, the MT5 functionality on Linux would be perfect. Everything else works normally, including "Market".

From the fact that the color dialog works elsewhere, one can assume with a high degree of certainty that the little bug is somewhere in the MT5 source code.