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mt5 for mac - cover

How To Install MT5 on a Mac (inc. M1, M2 & M3 & Sonoma)

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Although there’s no native version of MT5 for Mac, here we’ve looked at the best ways to use MT5 on a Mac including on the latest Apple Silicon Macs and macOS Sonoma.

Before You Go Any Further…

Before going through any of the ways of using MT5 on a Mac, we strongly recommend taking a look at TradingView which is a FREE alternative to MT5.

We found TradingView is even BETTER than MT5 for doing technical analysis of currency markets and day trading from your Mac desktop.

We also ranked it the best Forex trading platform due to its ease of use and powerful trading tools.

TradingView works in a browser so it works easily on both Intel and Apple Silicon M1, M2 and M3 Macs.

You can even link TradingView to your trading account so that you can trade directly without leaving the app.

You can start using TradingView for free here to test it for yourself.

Does MT5 Run on Macs?

A native version of MT5 for Mac does not exist because MT5 is a 32-bit application and since macOS Catalina, Macs no longer support 32 bit apps (this includes Apple Silicon Macs).

If you search “MT5 for Mac” however, you can still download an emulated version from the developer MetaQuotes.

We do not recommend downloading and installing MT5 on a Mac this way though.

The reason is because this emulated version of MT5 provided by MetaQuotes uses an emulation layer known as “PlayOnMac” to run MT5 which can be very unstable and doesn’t run very well on Apple Silicon Macs.

Other problems with the official MetaQuotes download of MT5 on Mac are:

  • Many features do not work in the version of MT5 provided by MetaQuotes such as adding indicators and MetaTrader market.
  • You’ll frequently be plagued by messages that “MetaTrader needs to be updated” which become increasingly annoying when you’re trading.

So instead, here we show the best ways to install or use MT5 on a Mac which provide much greater functionality, stability and features than the emulator download provided by MetaQuotes.

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1. Virtual Machine

mt5 for mac

In our testing we found by far the the best way to install MT5 on a Mac is to install Windows on your Mac using a virtual machine and then use the Windows version of MetaTrader 5.

This gives you the full functionality of the Windows version with no limitations and much greater stability unlike the wrapped emulator versions provided by MetaTrader which use PlayOnMac.

Running MetaTrader 5 on a Mac this way gives you all the benefits of the Windows version of MetaTrader, including adding indicators and other add-ons such as MetaTrader Market.

It’s also far more stable than the official Mac version of MT5 provided by MetaQuotes.

Virtual machines allow you to switch between macOS and Windows in just one click so you get the best of both worlds.

We found the best virtual machine to run MT5 on a Mac was Parallels which installs Windows 11 automatically on a Mac in minutes.

Parallels does require an annual subscription and there are other virtual machines available but none of them work as well as Parallels at running MT5 on a Mac or make it as easy to install Windows.

Parallels is also the only way to run Windows on a Mac that is officially endorsed by Microsoft.

Just follow these instructions to install MT5 on a Mac.

  • Download Parallels for Mac and run the installer. You can use the free trial to try it first.
  • Double click on the Parallels download and when prompted by macOS click “Open” and then click “Accept” on the End User License Agreement.
  • Parallels will now download the installer and then prompt you for your Mac admin username and password to continue the setup.
  • Parallels will ask permissions to access your Mac Desktop, Downloads and Documents folders. Click on “Finish”.

parallels desktop permissions

  • Parallels will then automatically download and Install Windows 11 when you click Install Windows. If you’re using an Apple Silicon M1, M2 or M3 Mac it will download and install Windows 11 ARM.install windows 11 m1 & m2 Mac
  • Parallels will then start to download Windows 11 from Microsoft.

parallels downloading windows 11 on m1 and m2 mac

  • Once is has validated the install, Parallels will then start the Windows 11 installer on your Mac just as if it were installing Windows on a PC.

parallels windows installer

  • When this is completed, you’ll get an “Installation Complete” message.

windows 11 install complete m1 m2 mac

  • To finalize the setup, Parallels will prompt you for your Parallels username or password. You can setup an account if you don’t already have one or sign in with your Apple, Google or Facebook account too.

sign into parallels account

  • After you’ve signed-in, Parallels will give you access to a 14 day free trial but if you’ve purchased a Parallels license already, you can enter the license key next.
  • Parallels will then display the Windows 11 End User License Agreement which you must click on “Accept” before continuing. You’ll then have full access to Windows 11 on your Intel Mac or Windows 11 ARM on an Apple Silicon M-chip Mac.

windows 11 installed on apple silicon m1 and m2 mac parallels

  • Since you’re using a fresh install of Windows 11, the first thing you’ll need to do is install the latest updates for Windows 11 from Microsoft. To do this, go to the Windows Start Menu > Settings > System > Windows Update which is in the bottom left hand corner.
  • Windows 11 may prompt you to activate it at this point but you can simply click “Close”. Windows 11 is free to use and you only need to activate it with a key if you want advanced customization options such as changing the wallpaper or desktop theme.

windows 11 activation parallels

  • Click on “Check for updates” button in the top right corner of the Windows Update screen and then install the updates. This can take some time depending on the speed of your internet connection.

update windows 11 parallels mac

  • When you have installed all the updates, Windows 11 will then restart to apply them.
  • Once Windows has restarted, you can then configure Parallels to optimize how it uses resources on your Mac. To do this, go to your Windows 11 desktop and select “Actions” from the Menu bar across the top and then select “Configure” at the bottom of the Menu.
  • You’ll then see the Windows 11 Configuration Window in Parallels. The most important setting to change is the CPU & Memory allocation under the “Hardware” tab. You can leave the settings on “Automatic” if you want Parallels to manage it for you but we recommend increasing the Memory on Apple Silicon Macs. So for example, if you have an Apple Silicon MacBook Pro with 16GB of unified memory, you can allocate at least half of this to Parallels (i.e. 8GB). This makes it easier for your Mac to run Windows in Parallels smoothly at the same time as macOS.

windows 11 virtual machine configuration parallels

  • There are many other options you can configure in Parallels. If you click on the “Options” tab across the top for example and select “Sharing”, you can configure how macOS and Windows 11 share files and folders.

windows 11 on m1 mac - parallels sharing

  • Once you’ve configured Windows to run on your Mac in Parallels, you then simply download the Windows version of MT5. Make sure you download the Windows version and not the Mac version.

mt5 download

  • Then simply double click on the MT5 EXE files and follow the installation instructions to install MetaTrader 5 in Windows on your Mac.

mt5 running on mac

  • Once MT5 is installed, make sure you are updated to the latest version by going to the MT5 Menu bar and select Help > Check Desktop Updates > Latest Release version.

Pros:

  • Easy to install and setup
  • Much more stable than using the MT5 Mac download by MetaQuotes
  • Allows you to use all MT5 features like Windows users
  • Works on both Apple Silicon Macs and Intel Macs

Cons:

  • After Parallels free trial requires subscription

2. Boot Camp (Intel Macs Only)

mt5 on mac - boot camp

Boot Camp is a free utility in macOS that also allows you to install Windows or an older version of macOS on a separate partition on your Mac hard drive.

Like with Parallels, once you’ve installed Windows using Boot Camp, you can install the Windows version of MT5 on your Mac.

This isn’t as convenient as using Parallels however as you can’t run Windows and macOS at the same time. You have to boot your Mac in either macOS or Windows to use it.

Boot Camp also is also not available for Apple Silicon M1, M2 and M3 Macs.

You can find full instructions on how to install Windows on a Mac using Boot Camp here.

Pros:

  • Boot Camp is free to use
  • Allows you to install Windows for free
  • Allows you to run the Windows version of MT5
  • More stable and more features than the official MT5 Mac download from MetaQuotes

Cons:

  • Doesn’t run Windows and macOS simultaneously
  • Doesn’t work on Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3 Macs

4. MT5 WebTrader

mt5 web trader on mac

If you don’t need the desktop version of MetaTrader 5 installed on your Mac desktop the easiest way to use MT5 on a Mac is via the MetaTrader 5 web platform which is the Cloud version of MetaTrader 5.

Although you won’t have MT5 installed on your Mac desktop, you get all the functionality of MetaTrader and it works instantly in any web browser including on Apple Silicon M1, M2 and M3 Macs.

MetaTrader 5 for the web allows you to do all the things you can do in the desktop version including placing any type of market and pending orders, trade currencies, stocks and futures.

You can also do in-depth market analysis with 30 technical indicators and 24 graphical objects to choose from.

Other features of the web version of MetaTrader 5 include:

  • Real and demo accounts
  • Netting and hedging position accounting systems
  • Pending and stop orders
  • 3 chart types and 9 timeframes
  • Real-time quotes in Market Watch
  • Dark theme

You can choose to use a demo account or you can also link it to your broker account with a username and password.

mt4 web version setup

There are also broker branded versions of the MT5 web trader platform which you can use too. These are exactly the same as MetaTrader for the web but connect directly to the broker and feature their design and branding.

Most Forex platforms offer their own custom web version of MT5 but some suggestions are:

Pros:

  • MT5 web version doesn’t require any installation
  • Works in any browser on any version of macOS
  • Works on Apple Silicon Macs
  • Links to broker accounts
  • Allows you to trade with a demo account

Cons:

  • Can’t be used offline

4. VPS Server

There are several companies such as VPSForexTrader that offer Virtual Private Servers (VPS) which allow professional traders to trade faster using dedicated 24/7 servers.

Since you’re connecting to MT5 on a remote Windows PC, it works on both Intel and Apple Silicon M-chip Macs.

This provides a direct ISP connection to a private server so you can enjoy better hardware to trade faster, without any interruptions 24 hours a day.

These servers are private and for your use only so you don’t have to share bandwidth or processing power with other users, thus providing a faster and more stable trading environment.

VPS servers also allow you to run MetaTrader in the Cloud so all you need to do is subscribe to one of their plans and then use a remote desktop software to connect to MetaTrader remotely.

A VPS provider usually charges a monthly fee for use of a virtual private server and the cost differs depending on the power of the servers you subscribe to.

The more powerful the server, the more instances of MetaTrader you can install and the more processing power you have.

Here’s how to run MetaTrader 5 on a Mac using a VPS Server.

mt5 vps setup remote desktop

  • Then simply click “Start” at the top of the app.

mt5 vps mac

 

  • You’ll then see your VPS Server desktop where you’ll be able to install and run multiple versions of MetaTrader depending on the account you’ve signed-up for.

Pros:

  • Hosted in the Cloud so nothing to install
  • Allows you to run multiple versions of MT5
  • Works on both Intel & M1/M2/M3 Macs
  • Allows you to trade 24/7

Cons:

  • Requires a subscription to a VPS server
  • Requires remote desktop software
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