Published 2026-08-29
Hedging vs netting: why baskets need hedging
MetaTrader 5 has two account models, and picking the wrong one stops a basket manager working at all — every basket rule is measured from the legs that are open.
On a MetaTrader 5 netting account a symbol has exactly one position: buy again and the new order is merged into the existing one at an averaged entry. On a hedging account every order stands as its own position.
Why baskets need hedging
A basket manager works by counting legs: how many are open, where the outermost one sits, and what each one is sized at. That is the input for deciding when to add and where the shared TP goes. On a netting account all of it collapses — the terminal only reports one position with a combined volume.
- The rule "add a leg when price is this far from the outermost one" has no outermost leg to measure from.
- Writing one shared TP onto every leg becomes writing a TP onto a single position.
- A cap on legs per direction is meaningless when the count is always one.
Check whether your account is hedging or netting in the MetaTrader 5 Trade tab before you attach an EA. Some brokers set it at account opening and it cannot be changed afterwards.
MetaTrader 4 is different
MT4 has no netting model — every order is separate to begin with. That is where this basket logic was first written, and when it was ported to MetaTrader 5 the shape was kept identical, which only holds on a hedging account.