How to Trade Forex/CFDs/Crypto/Metals in Binary.com MT5

How to Trade on the MetaTrader 5 Platform

How to login to MetaTrader 5

Visit www.binary.com and log in to your account

Select ‘MetaTrader’ from the top right-hand menu

On the MetaTrader 5 dashboard, click ’Trade on MT5 web platform’

Next, log in to your MT5 real account, enter MT5 login and Password

How Open a new Position

Step 1: Right-click your chosen symbol (currency pair) and select ‘New Order’ or simply double-click on the symbol to open the ‘New Order’ window

Step 2: Adjust the limits of your contract and select ‘Buy by Market’
Note: You can also choose ‘Sell by Market’ to ‘short sell

Step 3: Click ‘OK’ to confirm the order

 

How to close your position in MT5

Step 1: Double-click on the open position in the Terminal window to modify or delete the order

Step 2: Click ‘Close by Market’

Step 3: Click ‘OK’ to confirm


Or To close an open position, click the ‘x’ in the Trade tab in the Terminal window.

Or right-click the line order on the chart and select ‘close’.

As you can see, opening and closing your trades on MT5 is very intuitive, and it literally takes just one click.
 

How to check your ‘trading history’

Step 1: Click on the ‘History’ tab to view the profit/loss for a contract

Step 2: Select a particular contract and refer to the ‘Profit’ column to see its profit/loss

Forex

The Foreign Exchange Market (forex) is the worlds largest and most liquid market – where anyone can buy, sell, and exchange currencies.
 

What is forex trading

The foreign exchange market (forex) is the worlds most liquid and most traded market, where trades worth trillions are completed each day.

Forex trading involves buying one currency and selling another currency at the same time. This is why you always see them quoted in pairs. For example: EUR/USD and GBP/USD.

Which currencies can I trade

Forex trading involves buying or selling these "currency pairs". When you buy a currency pair such as EUR/USD, it means that you are buying the EURO and selling the USD at the same time.

Currency pairs are categorised as follows:

• Major pairs – Consist of the worlds most widely traded currency pairs
• Minor pairs – Consist of less liquid currency pairs
• Exotic pairs – Consist of one non-USD major currency thats paired with the currency of an emerging economy, for example: GBP/HKD

The spread – why it matters

When you see currency pairs offered by a broker or trading service, there are usually two prices available: the ask price and the bid price. These are also known as the buy price and the sell price respectively.

The spread is the difference between the ask and bid price.

Based on the table below, can you tell what is the spread for the EUR/USD currency pair?
 

Symbol	Bid	Ask
EUR/USD	1.05652	1.05653
GBP/USD	1.24509	1.24515
USD/CHF	1.01010	1.01015
USD/JPY	113.248	113.251
USD/CAD	1.31441	1.31444
AUD/USD	0.76876	0.76879
AUD/NZD	1.06683	1.06691
AUD/CAD	1.01043	1.01050
AUD/CHF	0.77652	0.77658

Lets calculate the spread for EUR/USD:

Ask price – Bid price = Spread

1.05653 – 1.05652 = 0.00001

What time is the market open for me to trade

The forex is an over-the-counter market where trading takes place between two parties, and not with a centralised exchange or marketplace.

Depending on your broker or trading platform, you can start trading from the time the Sydney market opens on Monday morning to the time the New York market closes on Friday evening – up to 24 hours a day, five days a week.

Binary.com clients can trade forex from Sunday 21:00 GMT to Friday 21:00 GMT.

How to trade forex

A forex trader always has one objective in mind when trading: to exchange one currency for another in order to make a profit.

This is why weve come up with the following three-step tutorial to help you bridge that gap and make your first trade:

Step 1: Learn to read currency pairs

One of the first things most forex traders learn is how to read a currency pair. There are two parts to a currency pair
 

EUR / USD

Tips

• The base currency is always equal to one unit.
• The ask price of the currency pair indicates how much of the quote currency is required to buy one unit of base currency. This is more commonly known as the exchange rate.

For example, if you see that the EUR/USD has an ask price of 1.05382, youll sell 1.05382 USD (quote currency) for every 1 EUR (base currency) you buy.

If the bid price is 1.05229, youll buy 1.05229 USD for every 1 EUR you sell.

Step 2: Understand when to buy and when to sell

Think that a certain currency will go up or down? Learn when you should buy (or "go long") and when to sell (or "go short").

Traders choose to buy a certain currency pair if they think the value of the base currency will rise. The opposite is also true: they sell a certain currency pair if they think the value of the base currency will fall.

Lets compare the differences between buying and selling, using the EUR/USD as an example:
 

Step 3: How to purchase your first currency pair

After youve decided which position you want to take, your next step is to purchase that currency pair on MetaTrader 5.

Heres an example of the EUR/USD currency pair and its bid-ask price:

To go long, youll want to click on Buy to purchase 1 EUR for 1.17726 USD

To go short, youll click on Sell to sell 1 EUR and receive 1.17725 USD in return.

 

Forex margin policy

Margin allows you to trade on leverage – meaning your existing capital can give you a much higher level of market exposure.

For example, if you wanted to purchase 100 units of a particular asset thats trading at 50 USD per unit through a traditional broker, it would typically cost you 5,000 USD for this transaction.

However, with leverage you can purchase those 100 units at a fraction of the typical cost – depending on the leverage afforded to you by your broker or trading platform.

How to calculate margin

You can determine the margin for our currency pairs by using the formula below:

For example, if you buy one lot of the USD/JPY pair with a contract size of 100,000 and leverage of 100:1, the margin that you need to purchase one lot of USD/JPY will be calculated as follows:

Whats a margin call and how is it applied

Equity is the sum of your balance and floating profit and loss (PnL). Margin level is the ratio of equity to margin. When that ratio reaches a specified percentage (usually 100%), your account will be placed under margin call. This does not affect your ability to open new positions; it serves to alert you that your floating PnL is moving lower. However, it is recommended to add funds to your account in order to keep your positions open. Alternatively, you may close losing positions.

Whats a stop out level and how is it applied

If your margin level reaches an even lower level (usually 50%), it will reach the stop out level where it is unable to sustain an open position. This will lead to some, or all your open positions being forcibly closed (also known as "forced liquidation").

When your account hits the forced liquidation level, your orders and positions are forcibly closed in the following sequence:

1. We delete an order with the largest margin reserved.
2. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, your next order will be deleted. However, orders without margin requirements will not be deleted.
3. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, we will close an open position with the largest loss.
4. We will continue to close open positions until your margin level becomes higher than the stop out level.

Forex Contract Specifications

Major pairs

Minor pairs

Exotic pairs

 

How to read the contract specifications table

The forex is typically traded in lots. One standard lot is equivalent to 100,000 units. Each time you open a position on a currency symbol, you can start with a minimum transaction of 0.01 lots.

For information about forex leverage, refer to our Margin Policy above.

Important notes on our swap rates (overnight funding)

If you keep any positions open overnight, an interest adjustment will be made to your trading account as indication of the cost required to keep your position open.

This interest adjustment (or swap rate) is based on interbank lending rates, on top of a 2% fee.

The interest adjustment is calculated in points – meaning we will convert the relevant interbank lending rates to points in the base currency.

Please take note that our swap rate also depends on the time and days you hold your positions open:

• You will be subjected to swap rates if you keep a position open past 23:59:59 GMT.
• Positions that are still open on Wednesday at 23:59:59 GMT will be charged three times the swap rate to account for weekends – a standard practice for all forex brokers.
• Our swap rate may also be adjusted to take holidays into account.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralised digital assets that enable instant payments to anywhere in the world.

What is cryptocurrency trading

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralised digital currencies on the blockchain.

Some of the things that cryptocurrencies have in common include:

• Decentralisation – The decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies means that no single government body or financial authority has control over them
• Blockchain technology – All cryptocurrencies use a variation of blockchain technology (a kind of public ledger) to score records of each transaction.
• High level of security – Each cryptocurrency transaction is secured through advanced cryptographic techniques that make it almost impossible to counterfeit

Trading cryptocurrencies on our MetaTrader 5 platform means taking a position on a cryptocurrency pair when you expect it to rise or fall in value so you can make a profit when your prediction is correct.

How to trade cryptocurrencies

Trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin pairs without owning them. Our cryptocurrency pairs quote a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin against a fiat currency, such as the US dollar.

Similar to forex trading, you must understand when to buy (or "go long") and when to sell (or "go short"). In forex trading, youll buy a certain currency pair if you think the value of the base currency will rise. The opposite is also true: you will sell a certain currency pair if you think the value of the base currency will fall.

The same concept applies to our cryptocurrency pairs.

Lets compare the differences between buying and selling, using the BTC/USD as an example:
 
In a nutshell, when you go long on the BTC/USD with Binary.com, you are not purchasing bitcoin directly. Instead, youre taking a position that the BTC/USD will rise in value whereby you will make a profit. If you go long on the BTC/USD and its value falls, then you will make a loss.
 

Cryptocurrency margin policy

Margin allows you to trade on leverage – meaning your existing capital can give you a much higher level of market exposure.

For example, if you wanted to purchase 100 units of a particular asset thats trading at 50 USD per unit through a traditional broker, it would typically cost you 5,000 USD for this transaction.

However, with leverage you can purchase those 100 units at a fraction of the typical cost – depending on the leverage afforded to you by your broker or trading platform.

How to calculate margin

You can determine the margin for our cryptocurrency pairs by using the formula below:

For example, if you wanted to buy one unit of the BTC/USD cryptocurrency pair at a price of 4831.400 USD and at a margin rate of 10%, the margin that you need to purchase one lot of BTC/USD will be calculated as follows:

Whats a margin call and how is it applied Equity is the sum of your balance and floating profit and loss (PnL). Margin level is the ratio of equity to margin. When that ratio reaches a specified percentage (usually 100%), your account will be placed under margin call. This does not affect your ability to open new positions; it serves to alert you that your floating PnL is moving lower. However, it is recommended to add funds to your account in order to keep your positions open. Alternatively, you may close losing positions.

Whats a stop out level and how is it applied

If your margin level reaches an even lower level (usually 50%), it will reach the stop out level where it is unable to sustain an open position. This will lead to some, or all your open positions being forcibly closed (also known as "forced liquidation").

When your account hits the forced liquidation level, your orders and positions are forcibly closed in the following sequence:

1. We delete an order with the largest margin reserved.
2. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, your next order will be deleted. However, orders without margin requirements will not be deleted.
3. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, we will close an open position with the largest loss.
4. We will continue to close open positions until your margin level becomes higher than the stop out level.

 

Cryptocurrency Contract specifications

Contract specifications

Symbol	Description	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
BTC/USD	Bitcoin vs US dollar	1	0.01	0.01
ETH/USD	Ethereum vs US dollar	1	0.10	0.01
LTC/USD	Litecoin vs US dollar	1	0.10	0.01
BCH/USD	Bitcoin Cash vs US dollar	1	0.01	0.01
XRP/USD	Ripple vs US dollar	1	100	100
DSH/USD	Dash vs US dollar	1	1	1
EOS/USD	EOS vs US dollar	1	1	1
ZEC/USD	ZEC vs US dollar	1	1	1
XMR/USD	XMR vs US dollar	1	1	1
BNB/USD	BNB vs US dollar	1	1	1

How to read the contract specifications table

Each time you open a position on a cryptocurrency pair, you can start with a minimum volume as indicated in the table above.

To learn more, read our Margin Policy that further explains our margin requirements.

Swap scheme

Symbol	Description	Swaps Long (per annum)	Swaps Short (per annum)
BTC/USD	Bitcoin vs US dollar	-20%	-20%
ETH/USD	Ethereum vs US dollar	-15%	-15%
LTC/USD	Litecoin vs US dollar	-20%	-20%
BCH/USD	Bitcoin Cash vs US dollar	-17%	-17%
XRP/USD	Ripple vs US dollar	-45%	-45%
DSH/USD	Dash vs US dollar	-21%	-21%
EOS/USD	EOS vs US dollar	-24%	-24%
ZEC/USD	ZEC vs US dollar	-17%	-17%
XMR/USD	XMR vs US dollar	-24%	-24%
BNB/USD	BNB vs US dollar	-20%	-20%

 

CFDs

Contracts for difference (CFDs) are financial derivatives that allow you to trade on the movement of underlying assets without owning them.

What is CFD trading

A Contract for difference (CFD) is a financial derivative that allows you to potentially profit by speculating on the rise or fall of an underlying asset, without actually owning that asset.

The movement of the underlying asset determines your profit or loss – depending on the position that you have taken.

Advantages of CFD trading

• Trade with leverage
  • Trade a larger position than your exisiting capital.
• Hedge your portfolio
  • Offset potential losses to your investment portfolio by hedging with CFDs.
• Go long and short
  • Trade long and short positions, depending on your preferred strategy.

What you can trade with CFDs

Contracts for difference (CFDs) allow you to speculate on a number of markets, including indices, shares, and commodities. At Binary.com, we offer popular cash indices, cryptocurrencies, as well as proprietary Synthetic Indices that simulate market movement.

 

How to trade CFDs

New to CFD trading? We explain a few basics that all CFD traders need to know before they start trading.

When to buy and sell

When you are trading CFDs, you can choose to open a buy position (if you think that the price will rise) or a sell position (if you think that the price will fall).


Buy

In this case, you predict that the price will rise. This is also known as going long.


Sell

In this case, you predict that the price will fall. This is also known as going short.

Lets use the US 100 index as an example:

If you decide to buy or go long on the US 100 index, your profit will continue to increase as long as the price of the US 100 index keeps rising. However, if the price falls, the losses you incur will also increase.

The opposite is true if you decide to sell or go short on the US 100 index. This means that your profit will continue to increase as long as the price of the US 100 index keeps falling. However, if the price rises, the losses you incur will also increase.

How to calculate your profits and losses

Lets say a US 100 contract is worth 1 USD per point in the underlying asset. If you decide to go long on the US 100, and the asset price rises by 10 points, that represents a 10 USD profit for you.

However, if the asset price falls by 10 points, that represents a 10 USD loss for you.

To learn more, please read our CFD contract specifications.

How to close a position

When you decide to close an open contract, you only need to choose “Close Position” option from context menu.

CFD margin policy

Margin allows you to trade on leverage – giving you the same level of market exposure using much less capital.

For example, if you wanted to purchase 100 units of a particular asset trading at 50 USD per unit through a traditional broker, it would cost you 5,000 USD for this transaction.

With leverage, you can purchase 100 units of the same asset at a fraction of the cost.

How to calculate margin

You can determine the margin for our CFDs by using the formula below:

For example, if you buy one lot of an underlying asset at a price of 20,000 USD and a margin rate of 0.01, the margin required to purchase that one lot will be calculated as follows:

Whats a margin call and how is it applied

Equity is the sum of your balance and floating profit and loss (PnL). Margin level is the ratio of equity to margin. When that ratio reaches a specified percentage (usually 100%), your account will be placed under margin call. This does not affect your ability to open new positions; it serves to alert you that your floating PnL is moving lower. However, it is recommended to add funds to your account in order to keep your positions open. Alternatively, you may close losing positions.

Whats a stop out level and how is it applied

If your margin level reaches an even lower level (usually 50%), it will reach the stop out level where it is unable to sustain an open position. This will lead to some, or all your open positions being forcibly closed (also known as "forced liquidation").

When your account hits the forced liquidation level, your orders and positions are forcibly closed in the following sequence:

1. We delete an order with the largest margin reserved.
2. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, your next order will be deleted. However, orders without margin requirements will not be deleted.
3. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, we will close an open position with the largest loss.
4. We will continue to close open positions until your margin level becomes higher than the stop out level.

CFD contract specifications

Cash indices

Symbol	Description	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
DAX_30	Germany 30 Cash index	1	0.10	0.10

Synthetic indices

Symbol	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
Volatility 10 index	1	0.30	0.01
Volatility 25 index	1	0.50	0.01
Volatility 50 index	1	3.00	0.01
Volatility 75 index	1	0.001	0.001
Volatility 100 index	1	0.20	0.01
Volatility 10 (1s) index	1	0.20	0.01
Volatility 25 (1s) index	1	0.005	0.001
Volatility 50 (1s) index	1	0.005	0.001
Volatility 75 (1s) index	1	0.005	0.001
Volatility 100 (1s) index	1	0.10	0.01

 

Crash/Boom indices

Symbol	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
Crash 1000 index	1	0.20	0.01
Boom 1000 index	1	0.20	0.01
Crash 500 index	1	0.20	0.01
Boom 500 index	1	0.20	0.01

Step indices

Symbol	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
Step index	10	0.10	0.01

Range break indices

Symbol	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
Range break 100 index	1	0.01	0.01
Range break 200 index	1	0.01	0.01

How to read the table above

A Contract for difference (CFD) is a derivative contract that allows you to profit by speculating on the rise or fall of an underlying asset. Your profit and loss is calculated through the difference in the buy and sell prices of the underlying asset.

Each time you open a position on an index symbol, you can start with a minimum volume transaction as indicated in the table above.

Crash/boom indices

With Crash 1000 (500) index, theres an average of one drop in the price series that occurs at anytime within 1000 (500) ticks.

With Boom 1000 (500) index, theres an average of one spike in the price series that occurs at anytime within 1000 (500) ticks.

Step indices

With Step index, there is equal probability of up/down movement in the price series with fixed step size of 0.1.

Range break indices

Range break index fluctuates within a range between an upper and lower price level, also known as borders. When it hits either border, the index occasionally breaks through the range with a jump or crash, creating a new range. There are two types:

Range break 100 breaks through the range on average once every 100 times that it hits the border.

Range break 200 breaks through the range on average once every 200 times that it hits the border.

Important notes on our swap rates (overnight funding)

If you keep any positions open overnight, an interest adjustment will be made to your trading account as indication of the cost required to keep your position open.

The interest adjustment is calculated in annual base for long and short positions according to the formula: (current price*contract size*volume in lots*specified swap size/100)/360.

Please take note that our swap rate also depends on the time and days you hold your positions open.

Metals

Diversify your portfolio with all four types of precious metals that are widely known as "safe haven" investments: gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.

What is metals trading

Diversify your portfolio with some of the most popular commodities in the world including gold and silver.

Metals trading lets you speculate on the price movement of a particular metal asset in order to profit from the price difference when the asset value rises or falls.

Metal – a hard commodity
Metals are also known as "hard" commodities as they are natural resources that must be mined or extracted.

Metals are categorised into two types:

• Industrial metals
  • Industrial metals – also known as base metals – are abundant, but oxidise or corrode easily. Industrial metals feature heavily across a wide range of industrial and commercial applications, including electrical wiring, automobiles, and batteries.
• Precious metals
  • Precious metals are harder to come by and are more valuable than industrial metals. Because precious metals are softer and less reactive, they are widely used in jewellery, medical devices, and electronics.

Why you should trade precious metals with Binary.com

• Competitive spreads
  • Trade metals on competitive fixed and variable spreads.
• Commission-free
  • Pay no commission on all metal contracts.
• Comprehensive
  • Trade all four precious metals on one platform.

How to trade metals

Learn the basic concepts of trading metal pairs on our MetaTrader 5 platform.

When to buy and sell

When you are trading metals, you can choose to open a buy position (if you think that the price of an asset will rise) or a sell position (if you think that the price of an asset will fall).

Buy

In this case, you predict that the price will rise. This is also known as going long.


Sell

In this case, you predict that the price will fall. This is also known as going short.

Lets use the XAU/USD (Gold vs US dollar) metal pair as an example.

If you decide to buy or go long on the XAU/USD, you will profit if the price of the XAU/USD rises, and incur losses if the price falls.

If you decide to sell or go short on XAU/USD, you will profit if the price of the XAU/USD falls, and incur losses if the price rises.

Factors that affect metal prices

Knowing when to buy and sell metals largely depends on how well you know the factors that influence market prices. The most common influencing factors are:

• Supply – Decline or increase in supply
• Demand – Driven by industrial and commercial applications, including new technological products or fashion trends
• Market volatility – Political, economic, or social instability may lead to more volatile financial markets that affect the prices of certain metals

Keeping up with market news and trends in a certain sector can help you tremendously, especially if youre just starting out.

How to calculate your profits and losses

Lets use the XAU/USD metal pair again as an example.

Due to market volatility and golds reputation as a safe-haven asset, you predict that the price of gold will rise.

After you purchase one lot of XAU/USD at a price of 1,255.06 USD, the price of gold increases and you decide to sell when it reaches 1,255.80 USD. Your profit or loss comes down to the price difference multiplied by the total lots you purchased.

Your profit or loss is calculated as follows:
   

Please note that one lot is equivalent to 100 units, based on our contract specifications.

Metals margin policy

Margin allows you to trade on leverage – giving you the same level of market exposure using much less capital.

For example, if you wanted to purchase 100 units of a particular asset trading at 50 USD per unit through a traditional broker, it would cost you 5,000 USD for this transaction.

With leverage, you can purchase 100 units of the same asset at a fraction of the cost.

How to calculate margin
You can determine the required margin for our metal pairs by using the formula below:

For example, if you buy one lot of the XAU/USD pair at 300:1 leverage and a market price of 1,250.15 USD, the margin required to purchase that one lot will be calculated as follows:

Without margin, purchasing one lot of the XAU/USD pair will cost you:

100 * 1250.15 = USD 125,015
 

Please note that one lot is equivalent to 100 units, based on our contract specifications.

Whats a margin call and how is it applied

Equity is the sum of your balance and floating profit and loss (PnL). Margin level is the ratio of equity to margin. When that ratio reaches a specified percentage (usually 100%), your account will be placed under margin call. This does not affect your ability to open new positions; it serves to alert you that your floating PnL is moving lower. However, it is recommended to add funds to your account in order to keep your positions open. Alternatively, you may close losing positions.


Whats a stop out level and how is it applied
If your margin level reaches an even lower level (usually 50%), it will reach the stop out level where it is unable to sustain an open position. This will lead to some, or all your open positions being forcibly closed (also known as "forced liquidation").

When your account hits the forced liquidation level, your orders and positions are forcibly closed in the following sequence:

1. We delete an order with the largest margin reserved.
2. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, your next order will be deleted. However, orders without margin requirements will not be deleted.
3. If your margin level is still under the stop out level, we will close an open position with the largest loss.
4. We will continue to close open positions until your margin level becomes higher than the stop out level.

Metals contract specifications

Symbol	Description	Lot size	Minimum volume	Volume step
XAG/USD	Silver vs US dollar	5000	0.01	0.01
XAU/USD	Gold vs US dollar	100	0.01	0.01
XPD/USD	Palladium vs US dollar	100	0.01	0.01
XPT/USD	Platinum vs US dollar	100	0.01	0.01

How to read the table above
Our metal pairs are typically traded in lots. One standard lot is equivalent to 100 units except silver where 1 lot equals 5,000 units. Each time you open a position on a symbol, you can start with a minimum transaction of 0.01 lots.

For information about forex leverage refer to our Margin Policy.

Important notes on our swap rates (overnight funding)

If you keep any positions open overnight, an interest adjustment will be made to your trading account as indication of the cost required to keep your position open.

This interest adjustment (or swap rate) is based on interbank lending rates, on top of a 2% fee.

The interest adjustment is calculated in points, meaning we will convert the relevant interbank lending rates to points in the base currency.

Please take note that our swap rate also depends on the time and days you hold your positions open:

• You will be subjected to swap rates if you keep a position open past 23:59:59 GMT.
• Positions that are still open on Wednesday at 23:59:59 GMT will be charged three times the swap rate to account for weekends – a standard practice for all brokers.
• Our swap rate may also be adjusted to take holidays into account.