How to Place a Trade With Stop Loss and Take Profit in MetaTrader 5

When you see a setup in our Telegram channel, you need to enter it correctly and quickly. This guide walks through placing a trade with a stop loss and take profit in the MetaTrader 5 mobile app on iPhone or Android. The desktop version works the same way with a slightly different layout.

Before you start

• Log in to your broker account in MT5 (demo or live).
• Add the gold symbol to your watchlist. Tap Quotes, then the + icon, and search for XAUUSD. Your broker may name it XAUUSD.s, XAUUSDm or GOLD.
• Calculate your lot size first with the lot size calculator.

Opening a market order

1. Go to Quotes, tap XAUUSD and choose Trade. You can also open the chart and tap the trade icon.
2. Make sure the order type is Market Execution.
3. Set the volume (lot size), for example 0.10.
4. Enter your Stop Loss and Take Profit prices in the fields provided. For a buy, the stop loss must be below the current price and the take profit above it. For a sell, the opposite.
5. Tap Buy by Market or Sell by Market.

Your position now appears in the Trade tab, and the SL and TP lines appear on the chart as dashed lines, just like in our trade screenshots.

Placing a pending order

If the setup gives an entry price that the market has not reached yet, use a pending order instead:

• Buy Limit: buy below the current price (buying a pullback into support).
• Sell Limit: sell above the current price (selling a rally into resistance).
• Buy Stop: buy above the current price (buying a breakout).
• Sell Stop: sell below the current price (selling a breakdown).

Choose the order type, enter the price, add SL and TP, and tap Place. You can set an expiry so the order cancels itself if it does not fill.

Editing stop loss and take profit

To move your stop to breakeven or adjust targets:

1. Open the Trade tab.
2. Press and hold the position (Android) or swipe left on it (iPhone), and choose Modify.
3. Change the SL or TP price and tap Modify to confirm.

On the chart, you can also drag the SL and TP lines directly if one-click trading is enabled in settings. Learn when it makes sense in moving your stop to breakeven.

Closing part of a position

To take partial profit at TP1, open the position from the Trade tab, choose Close, and change the volume to the part you want to close (for example 0.05 of a 0.10 position) before confirming.

Common errors and fixes

• "Invalid stops": your SL or TP is on the wrong side of the price, or too close to it. Check direction and distance.
• "Invalid volume": the lot size is below the minimum or not a multiple of the lot step (usually 0.01).
• "Market closed": gold is closed at the weekend and has a short daily break around rollover.
• "Not enough money": the position needs more margin than you have free. Reduce the lot size.

Practise on demo first

Open a demo account with your broker and place a few trades with SL and TP before going live. Mistakes like a missing stop loss or a wrong direction cost nothing on demo.

This article is general education, not financial advice. Trading involves substantial risk, and you can lose more than you expect. Only trade with money you can afford to lose.