MetaTrader Shortcut Keys: MT4 and MT5 Hotkeys, Verified

Every MetaTrader shortcut list on the web answers the same easy question — what does each key do — and skips the three hard ones: which platform the list is for, which keys behave differently on the other one, and what a keyboard cannot do at all. This page answers those, with every mapping checked against the MetaQuotes documentation for both platforms rather than copied from another list.

Where MetaTrader Shortcuts Actually Work

Both official hotkey lists sit in the desktop terminal documentation, and every entry on them refers to a desktop element: chart windows, the Market Watch, the Navigator, the Toolbox. Several keys even change meaning depending on which of those windows is active — F9 opens the New Order window from a chart and from the Market Watch, while the same G key that toggles the chart grid toggles the grid of whichever panel has focus.

That is worth knowing before memorising anything: a shortcut is a desktop-terminal skill. It transfers between brokers, because the terminal is the same, but it does not transfer to the web or mobile versions of the platform.

The Shortcuts Worth Learning First

The official lists carry dozens of entries, most of which open windows a trader visits once a month. A small set earns daily use, and it is the same set on both platforms. Two keys in that set belong to workspace management — Shift+F5 switches to the previous profile, which pairs naturally with templates and profiles for keeping chart setups reusable.

Same Key, Different Answer: MT4 vs MT5

Most published lists describe one platform and let the reader assume the other matches. Mostly it does; the exceptions are exactly where assumptions cost time.

F2 is the clearest split: on MT4 it opens the History Center, the window for reviewing and editing price data, while on MT5 it opens the Task Manager. A trader who learned F2 on MT4 and presses it on MT5 gets a diagnostics panel instead of price history.

MT5 also documents keys MT4 never listed — Ctrl+K toggles real volumes, a data series MT4 does not carry — and adds Ctrl+F5 to cycle profiles forward, where MT4 documents only the backward step. The broader feature differences between the two terminals are covered in our page on MT4 and MT5 differences.

MT5 adds one more behaviour that changes how any list should be read: a hotkey can be assigned to almost any element in the Navigator — an indicator, a script, an Expert Advisor — through the Set hotkey command, and the documentation states that assigned hotkeys take priority over predefined ones. A terminal with custom assignments can therefore contradict every published table, including this one.

Chart Navigation From the Keyboard

Chart movement is where the keyboard genuinely beats the mouse. The official mapping, identical on both platforms: minus zooms the chart out, plus zooms it in, Home jumps to the start of the price history, End returns to the current bar, and F12 with Shift+F12 steps a single bar in either direction.

Alt+1, Alt+2 and Alt+3 switch the chart between bars, candlesticks and a line — useful when a pattern needs checking against a cleaner rendering. Ctrl+I opens the indicator list and Ctrl+B the objects list, which together cover most cleanup of a crowded chart.

What No Hotkey Can Do: Executing a Trade

A question traders have asked in the MQL5 community since 2006 is which key sends a buy or sell order. The answer, in both official lists, is that none does. F9 opens the New Order window with every field editable, and the order still needs a click to send. The keyboard route is deliberately one step short of execution.

The feature that removes that step is one-click trading, which trades the confirmation step for speed after an explicit agreement — a platform setting, not a shortcut. Anything faster or more customised than that is script territory: MT5’s Navigator hotkeys can launch a script that places an order, which is how keyboard trading is actually built when someone needs it.

Speed at the order ticket also does nothing about an order the server refuses — the order rejection codes page covers why a perfectly fast order can still come back unfilled.

Published Shortcut Lists That Get It Wrong

Checking lists against the vendor documentation turned up real defects in the two most visible ones. A broker guide published in 2024 lists both the minus and the plus key as zoom in — the official mapping is minus out, plus in. A second guide, from 2019, documents MT4 only, never says so, and has not been touched since — a reader on MT5 gets the F2 behaviour above wrong by following it.

Neither page cites the MetaQuotes documentation, which is the only source that moves when the platform does. That is the practical reason to prefer the vendor lists over any article, this one included: the sources line below names exactly where every mapping here came from.

Who This Is Not For

Memorising shortcut tables is the wrong project for someone still learning what the windows contain — the shortcuts compress navigation a trader already does, and compress nothing for one who does not do it yet. It is also not a route to faster execution: that is a settings and scripting question, not a keyboard one.

Before relying on any key in live trading, three checks take a minute: press it on a demo chart first, confirm which platform your list describes, and on MT5 open the Navigator context menu to see whether custom assignments already claim the key.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most useful MetaTrader shortcut keys?

For daily use: F9 opens the New Order window, F8 opens chart properties, F11 gives a full-screen chart, F12 steps the chart one bar at a time, Ctrl+F enables the crosshair, Ctrl+E allows or prohibits Expert Advisors, and Ctrl+Z restores a deleted chart object. The rest of the official lists mostly open windows that a toolbar click reaches just as fast.

Are MT4 and MT5 shortcut keys the same?

Mostly, with documented exceptions. F2 opens the History Center on MT4 and the Task Manager on MT5. MT5 adds Ctrl+K for real volumes and Ctrl+F5 to cycle profiles forward, and it allows custom hotkeys in the Navigator that take priority over the defaults. Learning on one platform transfers to the other only after checking those differences.

Is there a hotkey to place a trade in MetaTrader?

No. F9 opens the order window and the order still needs a click to send. Fast execution is provided by one-click trading, which is a platform setting with its own agreement, or by a script assigned to a Navigator hotkey on MT5. No default key sends an order by itself.

Do MetaTrader shortcuts work on mobile or web?

The official hotkey lists document the desktop terminals, and every shortcut refers to desktop windows such as the Market Watch, Navigator and Toolbox. The mobile and web versions have different interfaces without those panels, so the desktop key mappings do not carry over.

Can you change the default MetaTrader shortcuts?

The predefined chart and window keys are fixed, but MT5 allows a hotkey to be assigned to almost any Navigator element, such as an indicator, script or Expert Advisor, through the Set hotkey command. The documentation states that assigned hotkeys take priority over predefined ones, so a custom assignment can override a default key.

The working checklist: verify the platform before trusting any list, test keys on a demo chart, check the Navigator for custom assignments, and treat the MetaQuotes documentation as the reference that outranks every article.