# MT5 Python copy_rates_from()

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This is the markdown version of https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions/python-copy-rates-from, written from the same records as that page.

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Returns a number of bars for one instrument and timeframe, counting back from a date.

- Function: `copy_rates_from()`
- Interface: MetaTrader5 Python package
- Group: Bars and ticks
- Status: verified. Source: [mql5.com](https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/python_metatrader5/mt5copyratesfrom_py), checked 2026-10-12.

This is a Python function, not an HTTP endpoint. It has no method, no path and no address to send a request to: the package talks to a MetaTrader 5 terminal running on the same computer. It is in no OpenAPI file on this site and the request builder does not list it.

Note: The page says the terminal supplies bars only as far back as its charts hold, a limit set by the terminal's Max. bars in chart setting. The page warns that Python builds a datetime in local time while the terminal stores times in UTC, so dates passed to the package should be created in UTC.

## Signature

The form of the call on the vendor's page, with the vendor's comments taken out.

```python
copy_rates_from(
  symbol,
  timeframe,
  date_from,
  count
)
```

## Arguments

- `symbol` (type not stated, required): The instrument's name. The page's example value is "EURUSD".
- `timeframe` (type not stated, required): The bar size, as a value of the package's TIMEFRAME enumeration, for example TIMEFRAME_H1.
- `date_from` (type datetime or int, required): The opening time of the newest bar wanted. The page says it is given as a datetime object or as a number of seconds since 1 January 1970. Only bars that open at or before this time are returned.
- `count` (type not stated, required): How many bars to return.

## Return value

- Type: `numpy array or None`
- What comes back: One row per bar with the named columns time, open, high, low, close, tick_volume, spread and real_volume. On failure the page says it returns None, and that last_error() gives the reason.

## Sample

Written by this site from the signature and arguments recorded on this page. It has not been run against a terminal, a server or an account, and the values in it are placeholders. No credential is typed into it: where one is needed it is read from an environment variable on your own machine. Nothing is entered on this site.

```python
from datetime import datetime, timezone
import MetaTrader5 as mt5

if not mt5.initialize():
    raise SystemExit(f"initialize() failed: {mt5.last_error()}")

# Built in UTC, as the page asks.
until = datetime(2026, 1, 9, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
rates = mt5.copy_rates_from("EURUSD", mt5.TIMEFRAME_H1, until, 24)
if rates is not None:
    for bar in rates:
        print(bar["time"], bar["open"], bar["close"])

mt5.shutdown()
```

## Related MT5 Python functions: Bars and ticks

- [copy_rates_from_pos()](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions/python-copy-rates-from-pos): Returns a number of bars for one instrument and timeframe, starting from a bar index where 0 is the bar now forming.
- [copy_rates_range()](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions/python-copy-rates-range): Returns the bars for one instrument and timeframe that open between two dates.
- [copy_ticks_from()](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions/python-copy-ticks-from): Returns a number of ticks for one instrument, starting from a date.
- [copy_ticks_range()](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions/python-copy-ticks-range): Returns the ticks for one instrument between two dates.

## More on MetaTrader 5

- [All MetaTrader 5 functions](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions): 78 documented here, grouped by what they do.
- [Historical candles: the call at each API](https://openbrokerapi.com/endpoints/candles): The same job at every broker and platform API recorded here, HTTP or not.
- [MetaTrader 5 API quickstart](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/quickstart)
- [All MetaTrader 5 error codes](https://openbrokerapi.com/errors/mt5)
- [MetaTrader 5 API page](https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5): The full record: access, authentication, limits and the source for each.

## Licence and how to cite

The records behind this page are all rights reserved. This file is the page itself, at its own address, in another format. It is not part of the CC BY 4.0 downloads listed at https://openbrokerapi.com/data. Quote from it with a link to the page.

Cite as: MT5 Python copy_rates_from(). Broker API Hub, https://openbrokerapi.com/platforms/metatrader-5/functions/python-copy-rates-from, newest check 2026-10-12.

Where you rely on a single figure, cite the source and the checked date printed beside it as well. Where this page and a broker's own documentation differ, the documentation wins.