CompareVela vs MetaTrader 5 · 2026

Vela: state-of-the-art charts and orderflow from real trades, in your browser.

Vela is our next-generation charting platform: charts engineered in-house, footprint and TPO built from real trades, 66 drawing tools, unlimited Price Alerts, Replay, paper trading, and Quant, our coding agent, built in, on every plan including Free. Here is how Vela compares with MetaTrader 5, with MetaTrader 5’s wins marked as wins.

The short answer

20 rows, 4 MetaTrader 5 sourcesSources

  • Choose Vela if you want analysis-first charts in your browser: footprint and TPO from real trades, 66 drawing tools, unlimited Price Alerts that reach Telegram, Discord, and Slack, Pine Script® through PineTS, and Quant, our coding agent, built in.

  • Stay with MetaTrader 5 if you trade forex and CFDs live through your broker, run Expert Advisors in MQL5, or want phone apps and up to 100 charts open at once.

At a glance.

Both columns checked November 3, 2026

  • Included
  • Partial, or paid plans only
  • Not included
Vela and MetaTrader 5 at a glance, with the source of each MetaTrader 5 fact
Chart types

Vela · Included: Candles, bars, line, area, baseline, and Heikin Ashi, plus footprint and TPO.

MetaTrader 5 · Partial: Three: bars, Japanese candlesticks, and a line.

Charts (MetaTrader 5 help)
Footprint and TPO

Vela · Included: Footprint, TPO, CVD and delta, and volume profiles on every plan, including Free, built from real trades.

MetaTrader 5 · Partial: No footprint or TPO among its chart types; Depth of Market is built in.

Charts (MetaTrader 5 help)
Drawing tools

Vela · Included: 66 drawing tools across 7 groups on every plan.

MetaTrader 5 · Partial: 44 analytical objects.

MetaTrader 5 trading platform
Price alerts

Vela · Included: Unlimited Price Alerts on every plan, Free included.

MetaTrader 5 · Partial: Alerts in the terminal; its platform page lists no alert counts.

MetaTrader 5 trading platform
Coding agent

Vela · Included: Quant, our coding agent, built into Vela on every plan.

MetaTrader 5 · Included: An AI Assistant built into MetaEditor writes, analyzes, and fixes MQL5 code from a plain description, free with an MQL5.community account, and the terminal works with outside agents over MCP.

Build 6060 release notes: AI Assistant and MCP
Scripting language

Vela · Included: Pine Script® v6 and v5 run on Vela as written through PineTS, our open-source runtime, with a Pine editor beside the chart.

MetaTrader 5 · Included: MQL5, for Expert Advisors and indicators, written in MetaEditor.

MetaTrader 5 trading platform
Live trading

Vela · Not included: Not on Vela: orders fill on paper.

MetaTrader 5 · Included: Through your broker: 2 market, 6 pending, and 2 stop order types plus a trailing stop, with netting and hedging.

MetaTrader 5 trading platform
Free plan

Vela · Included: Free, no credit card: unlimited Price Alerts, the Orderflow suite, Replay, paper trading, and Quant usage.

MetaTrader 5 · Included: Free to download and use; your broker provides the account.

Download MetaTrader 5
01

Charts

The engine, the layouts, the chart styles, and the tools you draw with.

Chart types

Vela

Candles, bars, line, area, baseline, and Heikin Ashi, plus footprint and TPO.

MetaTrader 5

Three: bars, Japanese candlesticks, and a line.[3]

Timeframes

Vela

From one second to one month, with custom timeframes from Essential up.

MetaTrader 5

21 timeframes, from one minute to one month.[3]

Charts open at once

Vela

16 charts per tab on every plan, including Free, with up to 16 linked charts in one desktop window.

MetaTrader 5

Up to 100 charts open at once.[1]

Drawing tools

Vela

66 drawing tools across 7 groups on every plan: the Fibonacci and Gann sets, harmonic patterns, Elliott waves, and position tools with R:R.

MetaTrader 5

44 analytical objects.[1]

02

Orderflow and data

The flow inside every candle, where the data comes from, and the markets you can chart.

Footprint and TPO

Vela

Footprint, TPO, CVD and delta, and volume profiles on every plan, including Free, built from real trades. Orderflow lookback scales by plan: 1 day on Free, 30 days on Essential, up to full history on AI Ultra.

MetaTrader 5

No footprint or TPO among its chart types; Depth of Market is built in.[3]

Where the data comes from

Vela

From LuxAlgo on every plan: real-time US stocks and ETFs, crypto, forex, and commodities on Free, licensed CME futures on paid plans. No broker needed.

MetaTrader 5

From the broker you connect: MetaQuotes provides no brokerage services, and the markets, forex, stocks, and futures, are your broker’s.[1]

03

Alerts

What you can alert on, how many you get, and where they reach you.

Price alerts

Vela

Unlimited Price Alerts on every plan, Free included.

MetaTrader 5

Alerts in the terminal; its platform page lists no alert counts.[1]

Where alerts reach you

Vela

In-app, email, browser notifications, Telegram, Discord, and Slack on every plan, and webhooks from Essential up: up to 16 destinations per alert.

MetaTrader 5

Its platform page lists no Telegram, Discord, Slack, or webhook delivery.[1]

04

Code and strategies

Who writes the code, what language runs it, and how a strategy is tested.

Coding agent

Vela

Quant, our coding agent, built into Vela on every plan: it reads and draws on your chart, writes indicator and strategy code, and tests it against history. Free includes Quant usage that refills every 5 hours and every week.

MetaTrader 5

An AI Assistant built into MetaEditor writes, analyzes, and fixes MQL5 code from a plain description, free with an MQL5.community account, and the terminal works with outside agents over MCP.[4]

Scripting language

Vela

Pine Script® v6 and v5 run on Vela as written through PineTS, our open-source runtime, with a Pine editor beside the chart.

MetaTrader 5

MQL5, for Expert Advisors and indicators, written in MetaEditor.[1]

Pine Script®

Vela

Runs as written through PineTS: paste a script, press Run, or have Quant port an older one to v6.

MetaTrader 5

Doesn’t run Pine Script®: scripts are written in MQL5.[1]

Indicators

Vela

The LuxAlgo Library, the largest indicator library in trading: hundreds of free indicators on Free, and the full Library of 800+ advanced tools from Essential.

MetaTrader 5

38 built-in indicators, 80+ technical indicators and analytical tools counting graphic objects, and 2,500+ apps in its Market.[1]

Backtesting

Vela

Strategies mark every entry and exit on the chart, with a Backtest Summary and a full report: performance, trade analysis, the trade log, and Monte Carlo simulation. Backtesting is research, not prophecy.

MetaTrader 5

A multi-currency Strategy Tester with a visual mode.[1]

05

Trading and practice

Paper accounts, replaying the past, keeping a journal, and what reaches a live market.

Paper trading

Vela

On every plan, Free included: a $100,000 paper account, up to 5 accounts, and market, limit, and stop orders from the chart with a stop loss and a take profit.

MetaTrader 5

Free demo accounts, opened through brokers.[1]

Replay

Vela

On every plan with a free account: pick a start bar, play it forward, and trade it on a replay account of its own, with a results card when it ends. Up to 16 charts replay on one clock.

MetaTrader 5

The Strategy Tester’s visual mode plays a strategy over history. Manual bar replay is not listed on its platform page (checked November 3, 2026).[1]

Live trading

Vela

Not on Vela: orders fill on paper. From Essential up, Custom Alerts reach your own bot over signed webhooks.

MetaTrader 5

Through your broker: 2 market, 6 pending, and 2 stop order types plus a trailing stop, with netting and hedging.[1]

06

Platforms

Where it runs and what you need to open it.

Apps

Vela

In the browser, and a free desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

MetaTrader 5

Windows and macOS, Linux through an install guide, a web terminal, and iOS and Android apps.[2]

What you need to open it

Vela

A free LuxAlgo account, no credit card and no brokerage account.

MetaTrader 5

A demo or live account from a broker that offers MetaTrader 5.[1]

07

Plans

What you get for nothing and how the paid plans are sold.

Free plan

Vela

Free, no credit card: 16 charts per tab, unlimited tools per chart, unlimited Price Alerts and 5 Custom Alerts, the Orderflow suite with 1-day lookback, Replay, a $100,000 paper account, and Quant usage that refills every 5 hours and every week.

MetaTrader 5

Free to download and use; your broker provides the account.[2]

Paid plans

Vela

Essential, Premium, Ultimate, and AI Ultra, monthly or annual, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first payment.

MetaTrader 5

None: the platform is free, and your broker sets trading costs.[2]

Which one.

Vela

For traders who analyze before they execute: state-of-the-art charts in the browser or on the desktop, footprint and TPO built from real trades, 66 drawing tools, unlimited Price Alerts that reach Telegram, Discord, and Slack, Replay, Pine Script® that runs as written through PineTS, and Quant, our coding agent, built in. Data comes from LuxAlgo, no broker needed. Free to start.

MetaTrader 5

For forex and CFD traders who execute through their broker, run Expert Advisors in MQL5, test them in the multi-currency Strategy Tester, and want phone apps and up to 100 charts open at once.

Questions traders ask about Vela and MetaTrader 5

See it on a chart.

Free to start, no credit card: 16 charts per tab, unlimited Price Alerts, the Orderflow suite on real trades, Replay, a $100,000 paper account, and Quant, our coding agent, from the first chart. The easiest charts you’ll ever switch to.

MetaTrader® and MQL5® are registered trademarks of MetaQuotes Ltd. MetaTrader 5 facts checked November 3, 2026. Vela™ is a trademark of LuxAlgo Global, LLC. Vela runs Pine Script® through the independently developed PineTS engine and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, or in any way officially associated with TradingView, Inc. “Pine Script”, “TradingView” and “Lightweight Charts” are trademarks or registered trademarks of TradingView, Inc. Third-party details are taken from the vendors' public documentation and may change; corrections are welcome at LuxAlgo.