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Guide · MetaTrader 5

Connect MetaTrader 5
and every trade journals itself.

Install a small Expert Advisor called JournalSync in MetaTrader 5. Each time you close a position it sends the result to your Tradino journal, and on its first start it brings in your whole account history. This guide walks through every click, on Windows and macOS.

  • MetaTrader 5 desktop

    On Windows or macOS. The mobile and web apps can't run Expert Advisors.

  • A Tradino account

    Free to create. The sync key belongs to one journal.

  • About 10 minutes

    Once it's set up, there is nothing to repeat.

Step 01

Get your sync key

  1. 1Go to tradino.net/signup and create a free account with your email, or sign in if you already have one. Open the verification email and click the link to activate the account.
  2. 2After signing in you land in your journal. Each journal has its own keys; choose which journal a key writes to when you create it.
  3. 3Press Import trades at the top of your journal, then under Automatic press Connect MetaTrader 5.
  4. 4Choose the Journal, then under Key name type something that tells you where it runs, such as “Home PC” or “VPS”, and press Create key.
  5. 5Press Copy and keep the key somewhere safe for a few minutes. It starts with tj_mt5_ and is shown only once; if you lose it, revoke it and create another.

MetaTrader 5 sync

Import closed trades from MetaTrader 5 into the journal you choose.

Journal

Trading journal

Key name

Home PC

Create key

Copy your key now. It will not be shown again.

tj_mt5_Q3vX9k•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••Copy
IllustrationImport trades → Automatic. The full key appears once, right after you create it.
Treat the key like a password for your journal: anyone who has it can add trades to it. It can't read your journal, and Tradino never asks for your MetaTrader password.

Step 02

Download the Expert Advisor

The Expert Advisor is a small program that runs inside MetaTrader 5. It only reads closed trades and sends them to Tradino; it can't open, close or change trades. Download the ready-to-run .ex5 file.

JournalSync.ex5

Compiled Expert Advisor for MetaTrader 5 · Windows and macOS

Download
You'll find the same download in Import trades → Automatic. When a new version comes out, download it again and replace the old file.

Step 03

Install it in MetaTrader 5

  1. 1Open MetaTrader 5 and sign in to your trading account as usual.
  2. 2Click File → Open Data Folder. File Explorer opens the terminal's data folder.
  3. 3Open MQL5, then Experts.
  4. 4Copy JournalSync.ex5 from your Downloads folder into Experts (drag it, or Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V).
  5. 5Back in MetaTrader 5, open the Navigator (View → Navigator, or Ctrl+N), right-click Expert Advisors and choose Refresh. JournalSync now appears in the list.
MetaTrader 5
FileViewInsertChartsTools
  • New Chart
  • Open Deleted
  • Profiles
  • Close
  • Save As
  • Open Data Folder
  • Print…
  • Open an Account
  • Login to Trade Account
  • Exit
File Explorer
AppDataRoamingMetaQuotesTerminalD0E8209F…MQL5Experts
  • Advisors
  • Examples
  • Free Robots
  • JournalSync.ex517 KB

Ctrl+V

IllustrationFile → Open Data Folder opens File Explorer. Go into MQL5, then Experts, and paste the file there.
Navigator

Accounts

Indicators

Expert Advisors

Advisors

Examples

JournalSync

Scripts

  • Create in MetaEditor
  • Refresh
  • Expand all
IllustrationIn the Navigator, right-click Expert Advisors and choose Refresh. JournalSync appears in the list.

Step 04

Allow Tradino and attach the EA

MetaTrader 5 blocks Expert Advisors from contacting any website you haven't approved. Approve Tradino once:

  1. 1Click Tools → Options and open the Expert Advisors tab.
  2. 2Tick Allow algorithmic trading.
  3. 3Tick Allow WebRequest for listed URL.
  4. 4Double-click the empty row under it, type https://tradino.net and press Enter. Type the address exactly, with https:// and no slash at the end.
  5. 5Press OK.
Options
ServerChartsTradeExpert AdvisorsNotifications

Allow algorithmic trading

Disable algorithmic trading when the account has been changed

Disable algorithmic trading when the profile has been changed

Allow WebRequest for listed URL:

https://tradino.net

+ add new URL like 'https://www.mql5.com'

OKCancel
IllustrationTools → Options → Expert Advisors. Tick “Allow WebRequest for listed URL”, double-click the empty row and type the address exactly.

Now attach JournalSync to a chart and give it your key:

  1. 1Open any chart. The symbol and timeframe don't matter: JournalSync sends trades from the whole account, not just that chart.
  2. 2Drag JournalSync from the Navigator onto the chart (or double-click it). Its settings window opens.
  3. 3On the Common tab, make sure Allow Algo Trading is ticked.
  4. 4On the Inputs tab, double-click the value next to Key created in Settings (the ApiKey input) and paste your key.
  5. 5Leave the first input (ApiUrl) as it is. Optionally, give the account a name under AccountLabel; otherwise trades show the account number. BackfillDays is how many days back it imports on its first start; leave it at 0 to import the whole account history.
  6. 6Press OK, and turn on the Algo Trading button in the toolbar if it isn't already.
EURUSD, H1

JournalSync

JournalSync

JournalSync 1.00
CommonInputsDependencies

Allow Algo Trading (Common)

VariableValue
Leave as is unless told otherwisehttps://tradino.net/api/mt5/ingest
Key created in Settingstj_mt5_Q3vX9k…
Shown as the trade's account (blank = account number)
History to import on first start (0 = all)0
OKCancel
IllustrationDrag JournalSync from the Navigator onto any chart. On Common, tick Allow Algo Trading; on Inputs, double-click the “Key created in Settings” value and paste your key.
■Algo Tradingoff▶Algo Tradingon
IllustrationThe Algo Trading button in the toolbar has to be on (green). When it is off, no Expert Advisor runs, JournalSync included.
Attach JournalSync to one chart per terminal. To sync a second account, run it in that account's terminal too; you can use the same key or create one per computer.

Step 05

Check it works, then journal

  1. 1In MetaTrader 5, open the Toolbox (View → Toolbox, or Ctrl+T) and select the Experts tab.
  2. 2Within a few seconds you should see queued … position(s) from the account history and then sent … position(s). The Journal tab also says the expert loaded.
  3. 3In Tradino, open Trades: your closed positions are there. A long history arrives in batches and can take a few minutes. Import trades → Automatic now shows a Last sync time next to your key.
  4. 4From now on, each position you close is sent within a few seconds while the terminal is open.
Toolbox

09:14:02JournalSync (EURUSD,H1)JournalSync: queued 12 position(s) from the account history.

09:14:07JournalSync (EURUSD,H1)JournalSync: sent 12 position(s).

11:42:31JournalSync (EURUSD,H1)JournalSync: sent 1 position(s).

TradeHistoryNewsMailboxJournalExperts
IllustrationThe Experts tab of the Toolbox (View → Toolbox). “sent … position(s)” means the trades reached Tradino.

Trades database

Home PC · Last sync 11:42

#SymbolDirectionP&L
41EURUSDLong+$182.40
40XAUUSDShort−$96.10
39GBPJPYLong+$64.75
38US30Short+$210.00
IllustrationSynced trades land in Trades, numbered in order. Import trades → Automatic shows when each key last synced.

Start journalling

  • Trades. Open a trade to add tags, a rating, notes and whether you followed your plan. The EA only updates symbol, side and P/L when it re-sends a trade, so everything you write is kept.
  • Reviews. Write a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly review to look back on a whole session or period, not just one trade.
  • Calendar. Your Dashboard shows the month as a calendar of daily P/L, coloured by result, so your good and bad days stand out.

Trade 41 · EURUSD

Followed planWaited for confirmation

Waited for the London retest. Took partials at 1R, let the rest run.

Calendar

IllustrationThen journal: tag and rate each trade, write the daily or weekly review, and read your month on the calendar.

06 · Help

Troubleshooting

Start with the Experts tab in MetaTrader 5's Toolbox: every message from JournalSync begins with JournalSync:.

The Experts tab says “send failed (HTTP -1, error 4014)”

MetaTrader is blocking the request because the address is not allowed. Go back to Tools → Options → Expert Advisors and check that Allow WebRequest for listed URL is ticked and the list contains exactly https://tradino.net.

Other “send failed” messages (for example a timeout or HTTP 429) are temporary. JournalSync keeps the trades queued and retries every few seconds.

An alert says “the server rejected the API key”

The key is wrong, incomplete or was revoked. Create a new key in Import trades → Automatic and copy the whole key, starting with tj_mt5_, with no spaces.

After this alert JournalSync stops sending. Remove it from the chart (right-click the chart → Expert Advisors → Remove), drag it onto the chart again and paste the new key.

A trade I took isn't in the journal

JournalSync only sends while MetaTrader 5 is open with the EA on a chart. Trades placed from the phone app, or while the computer was off, arrive the next time the terminal runs: it catches up from its last sync by itself.

Open the Experts tab and look for “sent … position(s)” after the trade closed. A position that is still partly open is sent once it is fully closed. Settings → MetaTrader 5 sync shows when the key last synced.

To import everything again, remove the EA from the chart, delete its JournalSync.… variable in Tools → Global Variables (F3) and attach it again. Trades already in the journal are not duplicated.

An alert says “set ApiUrl and ApiKey in the EA inputs”

The key input is empty, or the first input was changed. Paste your key into Key created in Settings and make sure the first input is https://tradino.net/api/mt5/ingest.

Nothing appears in the Experts tab

Check that the Algo Trading button in the toolbar is on and that Allow Algo Trading is ticked on the EA's Common tab. When either is off the EA's icon in the chart's corner is greyed out and it does nothing.

Make sure JournalSync is still attached: its name shows in the top-right corner of the chart. Closing that chart removes it.

JournalSync isn't in the Navigator

The file went into the wrong folder. Use File → Open Data Folder from the same MetaTrader 5 you are running (each installed terminal has its own folder), put the file in MQL5/Experts, and Refresh the Navigator or restart MetaTrader 5.

If MetaTrader 5 says the file can't be loaded, update MetaTrader 5 to the latest version and try again.

macOS: I can't find the folder, or the app behaves oddly

MetaTrader 5 for Mac runs the Windows terminal inside a compatibility layer (Wine), so its files live in a Windows-style drive_c folder. Always start from File → Open Data Folder. To get there by hand, press ⇧⌘G in Finder and paste the folder path shown in step 03.

The Library folder is hidden in Finder by default; ⇧⌘G or holding Option in the Go menu reaches it.

If you run MetaTrader 5 through CrossOver or another Wine wrapper, the data folder is inside that bottle's drive_c instead. File → Open Data Folder still finds it.

If the Navigator doesn't show the new file after Refresh, quit MetaTrader 5 completely (⌘Q) and open it again.

Trades went to the wrong journal

Each key writes to the journal you chose when you created it. Create a new key, choose the right journal, and paste it into the EA. Revoke the old key afterwards.

Older trades are missing

On its first start, JournalSync imports every position in the account history, unless History to import on first start (BackfillDays) is set to a number of days. Set it to 0 to import everything; changing it makes the EA import history again. You can also upload a MetaTrader 5 trade history report with Import trades. A trade that arrives both ways appears once.

Trade times are an hour out

Times are converted to UTC using your broker's current time offset, so trades from before a daylight-saving change can be an hour off. Edit the date on the trade if it matters; a re-send won't change it back.

Trades stop arriving when my computer is off

JournalSync only runs while MetaTrader 5 is open. When the terminal starts again it sends everything that closed since its last sync, and Tradino ignores anything it already has, so nothing is lost or duplicated. To stay live around the clock, run MetaTrader 5 on a VPS.

Settings says only owners and admins can manage keys

You are a member of someone else's journal. Ask its owner or an admin to create the key, or use a journal of your own.

Not on tradino.net? If your journal is hosted at another address, use that address in Tools → Options and set the first EA input to the API address shown in Import trades → Automatic.

Your next trade,
already in the journal.

Create a free account, get your key and let MetaTrader 5 do the logging. You do the reviewing.

Start freeOpen my journal