Every MetaTrader 5 account ships with two passwords, and the difference between them decides how much damage a leaked credential can do. If you connect accounts to any third-party service — a copier, an analytics tool, a prop-firm dashboard — knowing which password to hand over is not optional knowledge.
The two classic passwords
The master password (sometimes just "the password") is full control. Logged in with it, a client can trade, modify and close positions, change account settings, and — critically — change the passwords themselves. Whoever holds the master password is the account, as far as the broker is concerned.
The investor password is a read-only login. It shows balance, equity, open positions, pending orders, and full trade history, but every trading action is rejected. It also cannot change any password.
| Master | Investor | |
|---|---|---|
| View balance, equity, positions, history | ✅ | ✅ |
| Place, modify, close trades | ✅ | ❌ |
| Change passwords | ✅ | ❌ |
| Risk if leaked | Total | Someone reads your P&L |
That last row is the whole point. A leaked investor password is embarrassing; a leaked master password is an emptied account — the attacker can trade it into the ground, and by changing the password first, lock you out while doing it.
The rule: hand out the weakest credential that works
Whatever you are connecting an account to, ask what the integration actually does:
- Reads data only — trade journals, analytics dashboards, performance trackers, monitoring: use the investor password. If a service that only displays your statistics insists on a master password, treat that as a red flag and ask why.
- Places trades — copier followers, execution bots: this historically required the master password, because MT5 had nothing in between.
That "nothing in between" was the long-standing problem. Giving a copier service your master password so it can place trades also gives it the power to change that password and move beyond trading. Most services are honest; the credential model still shouldn't require you to bet on it.
Build 6060 finally adds the middle ground
MetaTrader 5 build 6060 introduced two additional access modes, each with its own password:
- Trader mode — allows trading, but prohibits password changes and deposits or withdrawals.
- Money Manager mode — allows deposits, withdrawals, and transfers between accounts, but prohibits trading and password changes.
Trader mode is the credential copier services and execution bots should have been getting all along: it can trade, and nothing else. It cannot lock you out and it cannot touch funds. Money Manager mode is the inverse — treasury operations with no execution power — which finally lets you split "who moves money" from "who trades" in account-management setups.
The catch: both modes require broker-side support, so availability depends on when your broker enables them. Until then, the master/investor split is what you have.
Practical guidance
- Set an investor password and actually use it. Some traders never set one and hand out the master password by default. The investor password is configured in the terminal (or by your broker) and costs nothing.
- Rotate the master password after any integration you've abandoned. Changing the master password invalidates sessions that used it. If you trialled a service two years ago with your master password, that credential may still work today.
- Different passwords per purpose once Trader mode is available. One credential per integration means one revocation per integration, instead of a password change that breaks everything at once.
- Never put any MT5 password in client-side code, a repo, or a shared doc. Server-side configuration only.
How this maps to MetaKit
MetaKit's account tiers mirror the credential model deliberately. A read-only account works with an investor password — the platform reads balances, trades, and history, and physically cannot execute, matching what the credential allows. A full account needs a trading-capable password (master today; Trader mode as brokers roll out build 6060), because copier followers and execution require it.
The advice we give in getting started is the same advice this whole post boils down to: connect with the weakest credential that does the job, and escalate only when a feature genuinely requires it.