This is the hands-on lesson: from a clean computer to a first order placed the way the earlier modules taught. Do all of it on a demo account first — same platform, same live prices, virtual funds. Nothing here needs real money.
Install and log in
Download MetaTrader 5 from the IEXS platforms page — always from the broker, never from a third-party site. Install, launch, and log in with the account number, password and server name from your account email (File → Login to Trade Account). The connection indicator bottom-right shows live ping when you are in. If you prefer nothing installed, the same login works in the browser through WebTrader, and on the MT5 mobile apps.
Set up the workspace
Market Watch (Ctrl+M) lists instruments — right-click to show all or hide what you never trade. Drag a pair onto the chart area, pick a timeframe from the toolbar, and set the chart style you can read best. Save it as a template (right-click → Templates → Save) so every new chart opens your way. Turn on one-click trading only after you trust your own click.
The first order, done properly
- Decide the trade from the chart: level, direction, invalidation — the analysis module in one sentence.
- Size it: risk 1% of the demo balance, measure the stop distance, and compute the volume with the trading calculator. The lot size is an output, never a guess.
- Press F9 (New Order): set Volume, type the Stop Loss and Take Profit prices into the ticket itself, then Buy or Sell. Both protective orders travel with the position from the first second.
- Verify in the Toolbox (Ctrl+T) → Trade tab: position, SL/TP, floating P&L. Closing is one click on the ×, or right-click for partial close.
Then do it twenty more times
The goal of the demo phase is not profit — it is making the ticket mechanical: size from risk, stop attached, screenshot for the journal, every single time. When the routine survives twenty trades without a shortcut, the platform is no longer the risk. That is the point of switching to live, and not before.