CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Trade only with money you can afford to lose.
Open Exness Account →
Download hub

Exness download — one program, several connections (Tanzania)

MetaTrader is installed once; a provider is added inside it as a connection, and one installation can hold more than one.

Open Exness Account →

100+ instruments  ·  Founded 2008

MetaTrader is installed once on a device, and a provider is added inside it as a connection — one installation can hold several. The program, its menus and its settings are shared by every connection; the server entry, the account number and the list of symbols belong to each connection on its own. That is why a terminal already installed for another provider does not have to be removed before this one is added.

What is installed, per device

DeviceWhat actually gets installedOfficial source of the file
Android phone / tabletExness Trade app (or Exness Go for Standard and Pro)Google Play
iPhone / iPadExness Trade appApp Store
Windows 10 / 11 PCMetaTrader 5 or MetaTrader 4 desktopExness account area
MacMetaTrader 5 or MetaTrader 4, or the web-based Exness TerminalExness account area / browser
Any browserExness Terminal (web) — nothing to installRuns in the browser

Where each part of the setup is described

When a terminal is already on the machine

A machine that already has MetaTrader 5 or MetaTrader 4 on it usually needs no second copy: the program is provider-neutral, and a provider is added inside it as another server entry. What a fresh install does bring is the current build of that program, which is a separate question from which connection is used with it. On a phone the Exness Trade app is its own program rather than a connection inside MetaTrader, and the Exness Terminal installs nothing at all. Google Play and the App Store are the official app sources; an APK from a third-party site such as apkpure is not recommended for an app that reaches a trading account.

Open an Exness account →

The program is not the provider

MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are pieces of software written by a platform vendor, not by any single broker. A broker appears inside them as a server entry — a name in a list that the program connects to. This is the reason the same program can be found on machines belonging to people who have never used the same provider.

It is also the reason a download page and an account page are two different subjects. The download decides which program will be running; the connection decides which record it opens. Neither answers the other's question.

The browser platform sidesteps the whole question by not being installed: see Exness Terminal for what that changes.

What every connection shares, and what it does not

Everything that makes the program feel like itself is shared across every connection inside it: the version that is running, the menus, the chart tools, the interface language, the keyboard shortcuts. Change any of them and the change is there whichever connection is opened next.

What does not carry across is everything that identifies a counterpart. The server entry is per connection. The account number is per connection. The list of symbols is per connection, and so are the specifications sitting behind those symbols — which is why an instrument present under one connection can be absent under another, on the same screen, in the same program.

The practical read: if something looks different after switching, ask first whether it is a program setting or a connection property. Program settings survive the switch; connection properties do not.

A terminal that is already on the machine

A machine that already runs MetaTrader for someone else's server is not a problem to be cleared away. The usual course is to keep the program and add the server entry, because the program was never tied to the previous provider in the first place.

Two cautions are worth stating plainly. First, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are separate programs, not versions of one — having one installed does not cover a connection intended for the other. Second, an old installation is running an old build, and a build is a program property rather than a connection property, so updating it changes what every connection inside it looks like.

The phone case is different again: the Exness Trade app is a program of its own rather than a connection inside MetaTrader, so it stands beside an existing terminal instead of joining it.

Adding a connection to a terminal that already exists

  1. Check which program is actually installed — MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 look alike and are not interchangeable.
  2. Leave the existing server entries alone; a new one is added beside them, not over them.
  3. Add the server entry for the connection being set up, then sign in with the account number that belongs to it.
  4. Confirm which connection is live by reading the server name and account number the program is showing, not by the chart on screen.
  5. Expect the symbol list to change with the connection, and the menus and tools to stay exactly as they were.

Nothing in this sequence involves reinstalling the program: it is a connection being added, not software being replaced.

Shared by the installation, or owned by one connection

Part of the setupShared by the whole installationSet per connection
The program and its buildYesNo
Menus, chart tools, shortcutsYesNo
Interface languageYesNo
Server entryNoYes
Account numberNoYes
List of symbolsNoYes
Specification behind a symbolNoYes

Anything in the left group survives a switch between connections; anything in the right group is replaced by the switch.

Frequently asked questions

Does MetaTrader have to be installed again for a second connection?
No. One installation can hold several server entries, and a connection is added inside the program rather than by installing another copy of it.
Can a terminal installed for another provider be used here?
Usually yes. MetaTrader is written by a platform vendor rather than by a broker, so the program itself is not tied to whoever it was first connected to. The server entry is what changes.
Does having MetaTrader 5 cover a MetaTrader 4 connection?
No. They are two separate programs rather than two versions of one, and a connection built for one of them will not open in the other.
What does a connection add that the installation did not?
The server entry, the account number and the list of symbols, together with the specifications behind those symbols. None of that arrives with the installer.
Why does the symbol list change after switching connection?
The list belongs to the connection, not to the program. A symbol available under one server entry can simply be absent under another.
Does the browser platform need any of this?
No. Nothing is installed for it, so there is no program to share between connections and no build to keep updated.

Related Exness pages