# Use the MetaTrader 5 API on Linux and macOS URL: https://docs.fxapis.com/guides/linux-macos > Why the official MetaTrader5 Python package only works on Windows next to a running terminal, the Wine, Docker and VPS workarounds people use on Linux and… If you have tried `pip install MetaTrader5` on a Mac or a Linux server, you have met the problem this page is about. The official package is built for Windows and talks to a MetaTrader 5 terminal running on the same machine. This guide explains why, what people do about it, and how to skip the problem entirely by trading over HTTP. ## Why the official package needs Windows [#why-the-official-package-needs-windows] MetaQuotes' own documentation describes the package as a way to obtain data "via interprocessor communication directly from the MetaTrader 5 terminal". It is not a network client for the broker: it is a bridge to a terminal process on the same computer. Two facts follow from that: * **It needs a running MetaTrader 5 terminal.** `initialize()` "establishes a connection with the MetaTrader 5 terminal", and takes the path to the terminal's `.exe`; if required, the terminal is launched when `initialize()` is called. Every call after that — `order_send`, `positions_get`, `history_deals_get` — goes through that terminal. * **It is published for Windows only.** On PyPI, the files published for the package are Windows x86-64 wheels (`win_amd64`); there are none for Linux or macOS, so `pip` on those systems finds nothing it can install. Sources, checked on 30 September 2026: [MetaTrader5 on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/MetaTrader5/), [Python integration — MQL5 documentation](https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/python_metatrader5), [`initialize()` — MQL5 documentation](https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/python_metatrader5/mt5initialize_py). ## The workarounds people use [#the-workarounds-people-use] ### Wine [#wine] MetaQuotes publishes instructions for running the MetaTrader 5 terminal on Linux through Wine, with an install script for Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint and Fedora, and a separate page for macOS ([MetaTrader 5 on Linux](https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/start_advanced/install_linux)). That runs the *terminal*. To use the Python package, you then also install a **Windows** build of Python inside the same Wine prefix, install `MetaTrader5` there, and run your script with that interpreter. ### A bridge between Linux Python and Wine Python [#a-bridge-between-linux-python-and-wine-python] Open-source projects such as [mt5linux](https://pypi.org/project/mt5linux/) automate the second half: a server runs in Wine's Windows Python next to the terminal, and a client library in your normal Linux Python forwards each call to it over RPyC. Your code imports a module that mirrors the `MetaTrader5` API. ### Docker images [#docker-images] Community images bundle Wine, the terminal, a Windows Python, a bridge like the one above, and often a VNC server so you can see the terminal's window. They make the setup reproducible; they do not make it smaller. ### A Windows VPS [#a-windows-vps] The simplest option that keeps the official package: rent a Windows machine, install the terminal, run your Python there, and expose what you need to the rest of your system yourself. ### What all of them have in common [#what-all-of-them-have-in-common] Each approach runs a full desktop trading terminal that you now operate: * **One terminal per account at a time.** A terminal is logged in to one trading account; trading many accounts at once means running many terminals and keeping track of which is which. * **A GUI application on a server.** It expects a display (a virtual one under Xvfb or VNC), updates itself, and can stop on a dialog nobody sees. * **Keeping it alive is your job**: restarts, logins after a broker disconnect, disk and memory per terminal, and noticing when one has quietly stopped. * **Your code is tied to where the terminal runs**, which is usually not where the rest of your application runs. For one personal account on one machine, that is often fine. For a product that trades other people's accounts, it becomes an operations project. ## Doing it over HTTP instead [#doing-it-over-http-instead] fxapis runs the MetaTrader 5 terminals for you, in our cloud, and gives you a REST API. Your code — on macOS, Linux, Windows, a container, a serverless function, in any language — makes HTTPS requests: * No terminal, VPS, Wine or Expert Advisor on your side. * Many accounts at once, each connected with its login, password and server. * An account comes online in about ten seconds in our tests when needed, and can go offline by itself when idle. * Orders sent with an `Idempotency-Key` are safe to retry with the same key, and every order gets a recorded result; an unclear one is confirmed with the broker, not guessed. ### The same trade, both ways [#the-same-trade-both-ways] With the official package, on Windows, next to a terminal: ```python import MetaTrader5 as mt5 mt5.initialize(login=26177561, password="…", server="VantageMarkets-Demo") tick = mt5.symbol_info_tick("EURUSD") result = mt5.order_send({ "action": mt5.TRADE_ACTION_DEAL, "symbol": "EURUSD", "volume": 0.01, "type": mt5.ORDER_TYPE_BUY, "price": tick.ask, "deviation": 20, }) print(result.retcode, result.price) mt5.shutdown() ``` With fxapis, from anywhere: ```python import os, uuid, requests API = "https://api.fxapis.com" s = requests.Session() s.headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {os.environ['FXAPIS_KEY']}" account = s.post(f"{API}/v1/accounts", json={ "login": "26177561", "server": "VantageMarkets-Demo", "password": os.environ["MT5_PASSWORD"], "mode": "warm_on_demand", }).json()["data"] # once; keep account["id"] order = s.post(f"{API}/v1/accounts/{account['id']}/orders/market", headers={"Idempotency-Key": str(uuid.uuid4())}, json={"symbol": "EURUSD", "side": "buy", "volume": "0.01", "deviationPoints": 20}, timeout=90, ).json()["data"] print(order["state"], order["filledPrice"], order["retcode"]) ``` The fxapis version needs no price: a market order executes at the market, and an account in `warm_on_demand` mode comes online by itself for the order. For a complete program with correct retries, see the [Python guide](/guides/python) — or the same program in [Node.js](/guides/nodejs), [PHP](/guides/php), [C#](/guides/csharp), [Go](/guides/go), [Java](/guides/java) or [Ruby](/guides/ruby). ### Mapping the package's calls [#mapping-the-packages-calls] | `MetaTrader5` package | fxapis | | -------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `initialize()`, `login()` | [`POST /v1/accounts`](/api-reference/accounts/connect-an-mt5-account) once, then [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/warm`](/api-reference/lifecycle/bring-an-account-online) (or let an order bring it online) | | `shutdown()` | [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/cool`](/api-reference/lifecycle/take-an-account-offline), or nothing — idle accounts go offline by themselves | | `order_send()` with `TRADE_ACTION_DEAL` | [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/orders/market`](/api-reference/trading/place-a-market-order) | | `order_send()` with `TRADE_ACTION_PENDING` | [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/orders/pending`](/api-reference/trading/place-a-limit-stop-or-stop-limit-order) | | `order_send()` with `TRADE_ACTION_SLTP` | [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/positions/{ticket}/modify`](/api-reference/trading/move-a-positions-stop-loss-or-take-profit) | | `order_send()` with `TRADE_ACTION_REMOVE` | [`POST /v1/orders/{id}/cancel`](/api-reference/trading/cancel-a-pending-order) | | Closing with an opposite `TRADE_ACTION_DEAL` | [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/positions/{ticket}/close`](/api-reference/trading/close-a-position) | | `positions_get()` | [`GET /v1/accounts/{id}/positions`](/api-reference/trading/positions-on-an-account) | | `history_deals_get()` | [`GET /v1/accounts/{id}/deals`](/api-reference/history/an-accounts-full-deal-history) | | `history_orders_get()` | [`GET /v1/orders?accountId=…`](/api-reference/history/list-orders) | | `order_calc_margin()`, `order_calc_profit()` | [`POST /v1/accounts/{id}/calculate`](/api-reference/trading/margin-required-or-profit-at-a-price) | | `symbol_info_tick()`, `copy_rates_*()`, `copy_ticks_*()` | No equivalent — see below | Some differences to expect: * **Volumes and prices are strings** (`"0.01"`), not floats, so no size is ever rounded by a double. * **Stops are absolute prices**, as in MT5. * **Return codes are kept.** Each order carries the broker's own `retcode`; errors carry a stable `code` such as `ORDER_REJECTED` or `SEND_FAILED`. See [Errors](/errors). * **Positions are a snapshot with a timestamp** (`observedAt`), refreshed about every 15 seconds while the account is online. ### What fxapis does not replace [#what-fxapis-does-not-replace] fxapis is for trading accounts and their history. It does not stream prices or serve bars and ticks, so if your strategy computes signals from MT5 market data, you need a data source for that part. It supports MetaTrader 5 only, not MetaTrader 4. There are no event webhooks yet; you poll. ## Next steps [#next-steps] * [Quickstart](/quickstart) — an API key to a filled demo order in about five minutes. * [Place MT5 orders from Python](/guides/python) — a complete, correct program. * [Connect MT5 accounts](/guides/connect-accounts) — server names, passwords and states.