initialize

Establish a connection with the MetaTrader 5 terminal. There are three call options.

Call without parameters. The terminal for connection is found automatically.

initialize()

Call specifying the path to the MetaTrader 5 terminal we want to connect to.

initialize(
   path                      // path to the MetaTrader 5 terminal EXE file
   )

Call specifying the trading account path and parameters.

initialize(
   path,                     // path to the MetaTrader 5 terminal EXE file
   login=LOGIN,              // account number
   password="PASSWORD",      // password
   server="SERVER",          // server name as it is specified in the terminal
   timeout=TIMEOUT,          // timeout
   portable=False            // portable mode
   )

Parameters

path

[in] Path to the metatrader.exe or metatrader64.exe file. Optional unnamed parameter. It is indicated first without a parameter name. If the path is not specified, the module attempts to find the executable file on its own.

login=LOGIN

[in] Trading account number. Optional named parameter. If not specified, the last trading account is used.

password=“PASSWORD”

[in] Trading account password. Optional named parameter. If the password is not set, the password for a specified trading account saved in the terminal database is applied automatically.

server=“SERVER”

[in] Trade server name. Optional named parameter. If the server is not set, the server for a specified trading account saved in the terminal database is applied automatically.

timeout=TIMEOUT

[in] Connection timeout in milliseconds. Optional named parameter. If not specified, the value of 60 000 (60 seconds) is applied.

portable=False

[in] Flag of the terminal launch in portable mode. Optional named parameter. If not specified, the value of False is used.

Return Value

Returns True in case of successful connection to the MetaTrader 5 terminal, otherwise - False.

Note

If required, the MetaTrader 5 terminal is launched to establish connection when executing the initialize() call.

Example:

import MetaTrader5 as mt5
# display data on the MetaTrader 5 package
print("MetaTrader5 package author: ",mt5.__author__)
print("MetaTrader5 package version: ",mt5.__version__)

# establish MetaTrader 5 connection to a specified trading account
if not mt5.initialize(login=25115284, server="MetaQuotes-Demo",password="4zatlbqx"):
    print("initialize() failed, error code =",mt5.last_error())
    quit()

# display data on connection status, server name and trading account
print(mt5.terminal_info())
# display data on MetaTrader 5 version
print(mt5.version())

# shut down connection to the MetaTrader 5 terminal
mt5.shutdown()

See also

shutdown, terminal_info, version