diff --git a/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/AdhocMetrics.test.ts b/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/AdhocMetrics.test.ts
index 79b153de2..2f145de2b 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/AdhocMetrics.test.ts
+++ b/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/AdhocMetrics.test.ts
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ describe('AdhocMetrics', () => {
       .find('[data-test="add-metric-button"]')
       .click();
 
+    // Title edit for saved metrics is disabled - switch to Simple
+    cy.get('[id="adhoc-metric-edit-tabs-tab-SIMPLE"]').click();
+
     cy.get('[data-test="AdhocMetricEditTitle#trigger"]').click();
     cy.get('[data-test="AdhocMetricEditTitle#input"]').type(metricName);
 
diff --git a/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/visualizations/line.test.ts b/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/visualizations/line.test.ts
index 94d295b5e..889428ab2 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/visualizations/line.test.ts
+++ b/superset-frontend/cypress-base/cypress/integration/explore/visualizations/line.test.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ describe('Visualization > Line', () => {
     cy.get('[data-test=metrics]')
       .find('[data-test="add-metric-button"]')
       .click();
+
+    // Title edit for saved metrics is disabled - switch to Simple
+    cy.get('[id="adhoc-metric-edit-tabs-tab-SIMPLE"]').click();
+
     cy.get('[name="select-column"]').click().type('num{enter}');
     cy.get('[name="select-aggregate"]').click().type('sum{enter}');
     cy.get('[data-test="AdhocMetricEdit#save"]').contains('Save').click();
diff --git a/superset-frontend/spec/javascripts/explore/components/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle_spec.jsx b/superset-frontend/spec/javascripts/explore/components/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle_spec.jsx
index be02d6b55..360995005 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/spec/javascripts/explore/components/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle_spec.jsx
+++ b/superset-frontend/spec/javascripts/explore/components/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle_spec.jsx
@@ -46,15 +46,25 @@ describe('AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle', () => {
     expect(wrapper.find(Tooltip)).toExist();
     expect(
       wrapper.find('[data-test="AdhocMetricEditTitle#trigger"]').text(),
-    ).toBe('My Metric\xa0');
+    ).toBe(`${title.label}\xa0`);
   });
 
   it('transfers to edit mode when clicked', () => {
     const { wrapper } = setup();
-    expect(wrapper.state('isEditable')).toBe(false);
+    expect(wrapper.state('isEditMode')).toBe(false);
     wrapper
       .find('[data-test="AdhocMetricEditTitle#trigger"]')
       .simulate('click');
-    expect(wrapper.state('isEditable')).toBe(true);
+    expect(wrapper.state('isEditMode')).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('Render non-interactive span with title when edit is disabled', () => {
+    const { wrapper } = setup({ isEditDisabled: true });
+    expect(
+      wrapper.find('[data-test="AdhocMetricTitle"]').exists(),
+    ).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(
+      wrapper.find('[data-test="AdhocMetricEditTitle#trigger"]').exists(),
+    ).toBeFalsy();
   });
 });
diff --git a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopover.jsx b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopover.jsx
index bfe8391b2..ae39d183b 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopover.jsx
+++ b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopover.jsx
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import { ColumnOption } from '@superset-ui/chart-controls';
 import FormLabel from 'src/components/FormLabel';
 import { SQLEditor } from 'src/components/AsyncAceEditor';
 import sqlKeywords from 'src/SqlLab/utils/sqlKeywords';
+import { noOp } from 'src/utils/common';
 
 import { AGGREGATES_OPTIONS } from 'src/explore/constants';
 import columnType from 'src/explore/propTypes/columnType';
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ const propTypes = {
   onChange: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
   onClose: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
   onResize: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
+  getCurrentTab: PropTypes.func,
   columns: PropTypes.arrayOf(columnType),
   savedMetrics: PropTypes.arrayOf(savedMetricType),
   savedMetric: savedMetricType,
@@ -52,6 +54,7 @@ const propTypes = {
 
 const defaultProps = {
   columns: [],
+  getCurrentTab: noOp,
 };
 
 const ResizeIcon = styled.i`
@@ -64,12 +67,20 @@ const ColumnOptionStyle = styled.span`
   }
 `;
 
-const SAVED_TAB_KEY = 'SAVED';
+export const SAVED_TAB_KEY = 'SAVED';
 
 const startingWidth = 320;
 const startingHeight = 240;
 
 export default class AdhocMetricEditPopover extends React.Component {
+  // "Saved" is a default tab unless there are no saved metrics for dataset
+  defaultActiveTabKey =
+    (this.props.savedMetric.metric_name || this.props.adhocMetric.isNew) &&
+    Array.isArray(this.props.savedMetrics) &&
+    this.props.savedMetrics.length > 0
+      ? SAVED_TAB_KEY
+      : this.props.adhocMetric.expressionType;
+
   constructor(props) {
     super(props);
     this.onSave = this.onSave.bind(this);
@@ -81,6 +92,7 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopover extends React.Component {
     this.onDragDown = this.onDragDown.bind(this);
     this.onMouseMove = this.onMouseMove.bind(this);
     this.onMouseUp = this.onMouseUp.bind(this);
+    this.onTabChange = this.onTabChange.bind(this);
     this.handleAceEditorRef = this.handleAceEditorRef.bind(this);
     this.refreshAceEditor = this.refreshAceEditor.bind(this);
 
@@ -94,6 +106,10 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopover extends React.Component {
     document.addEventListener('mouseup', this.onMouseUp);
   }
 
+  componentDidMount() {
+    this.props.getCurrentTab(this.defaultActiveTabKey);
+  }
+
   componentWillUnmount() {
     document.removeEventListener('mouseup', this.onMouseUp);
     document.removeEventListener('mousemove', this.onMouseMove);
@@ -207,6 +223,11 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopover extends React.Component {
     document.removeEventListener('mousemove', this.onMouseMove);
   }
 
+  onTabChange(tab) {
+    this.refreshAceEditor();
+    this.props.getCurrentTab(tab);
+  }
+
   handleAceEditorRef(ref) {
     if (ref) {
       this.aceEditorRef = ref;
@@ -316,16 +337,33 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopover extends React.Component {
         <Tabs
           id="adhoc-metric-edit-tabs"
           data-test="adhoc-metric-edit-tabs"
-          defaultActiveKey={
-            propsSavedMetric.metric_name
-              ? SAVED_TAB_KEY
-              : adhocMetric.expressionType
-          }
+          defaultActiveKey={this.defaultActiveTabKey}
           className="adhoc-metric-edit-tabs"
           style={{ height: this.state.height, width: this.state.width }}
-          onChange={this.refreshAceEditor}
+          onChange={this.onTabChange}
           allowOverflow
         >
+          <Tabs.TabPane key={SAVED_TAB_KEY} tab={t('Saved')}>
+            <FormGroup>
+              <FormLabel>
+                <strong>{t('Saved metric')}</strong>
+              </FormLabel>
+              <Select name="select-saved" {...savedSelectProps}>
+                {Array.isArray(savedMetrics) &&
+                  savedMetrics.map(savedMetric => (
+                    <Select.Option
+                      value={savedMetric.id}
+                      filterBy={
+                        savedMetric.verbose_name || savedMetric.metric_name
+                      }
+                      key={savedMetric.id}
+                    >
+                      {this.renderColumnOption(savedMetric)}
+                    </Select.Option>
+                  ))}
+              </Select>
+            </FormGroup>
+          </Tabs.TabPane>
           <Tabs.TabPane key={EXPRESSION_TYPES.SIMPLE} tab={t('Simple')}>
             <FormGroup>
               <FormLabel>
@@ -356,27 +394,6 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopover extends React.Component {
               </Select>
             </FormGroup>
           </Tabs.TabPane>
-          <Tabs.TabPane key={SAVED_TAB_KEY} tab={t('Saved')}>
-            <FormGroup>
-              <FormLabel>
-                <strong>{t('Saved metric')}</strong>
-              </FormLabel>
-              <Select name="select-saved" {...savedSelectProps}>
-                {Array.isArray(savedMetrics) &&
-                  savedMetrics.map(savedMetric => (
-                    <Select.Option
-                      value={savedMetric.id}
-                      filterBy={
-                        savedMetric.verbose_name || savedMetric.metric_name
-                      }
-                      key={savedMetric.id}
-                    >
-                      {this.renderColumnOption(savedMetric)}
-                    </Select.Option>
-                  ))}
-              </Select>
-            </FormGroup>
-          </Tabs.TabPane>
           <Tabs.TabPane
             key={EXPRESSION_TYPES.SQL}
             tab={t('Custom SQL')}
diff --git a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle.jsx b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle.jsx
index 08eb9e855..4c2f3f466 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle.jsx
+++ b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle.jsx
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 import React from 'react';
+import { t } from '@superset-ui/core';
 import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
 import { FormControl } from 'react-bootstrap';
 import { Tooltip } from 'src/common/components/Tooltip';
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@ const propTypes = {
     hasCustomLabel: PropTypes.bool,
   }),
   onChange: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
+  isEditDisabled: PropTypes.bool,
 };
 
 export default class AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle extends React.Component {
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle extends React.Component {
     this.onInputBlur = this.onInputBlur.bind(this);
     this.state = {
       isHovered: false,
-      isEditable: false,
+      isEditMode: false,
     };
   }
 
@@ -52,11 +54,11 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle extends React.Component {
   }
 
   onClick() {
-    this.setState({ isEditable: true });
+    this.setState({ isEditMode: true });
   }
 
   onBlur() {
-    this.setState({ isEditable: false });
+    this.setState({ isEditMode: false });
   }
 
   onInputBlur(e) {
@@ -67,9 +69,16 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle extends React.Component {
   }
 
   render() {
-    const { title, onChange } = this.props;
+    const { title, onChange, isEditDisabled } = this.props;
+    const defaultLabel = t('My Metric');
 
-    return this.state.isEditable ? (
+    if (isEditDisabled) {
+      return (
+        <span data-test="AdhocMetricTitle">{title.label || defaultLabel}</span>
+      );
+    }
+
+    return this.state.isEditMode ? (
       <FormControl
         className="metric-edit-popover-label-input"
         type="text"
@@ -92,7 +101,7 @@ export default class AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle extends React.Component {
           role="button"
           tabIndex={0}
         >
-          {title.hasCustomLabel ? title.label : 'My Metric'}
+          {title.label || defaultLabel}
           &nbsp;
           <i
             className="fa fa-pencil"
diff --git a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger.tsx b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger.tsx
index 649d3fee0..c5d0e92f0 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger.tsx
+++ b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger.tsx
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@
 import React, { ReactNode } from 'react';
 import Popover from 'src/common/components/Popover';
 import AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle from 'src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle';
-import AdhocMetricEditPopover from './AdhocMetricEditPopover';
+import AdhocMetricEditPopover, {
+  SAVED_TAB_KEY,
+} from './AdhocMetricEditPopover';
 import AdhocMetric from './AdhocMetric';
 import { savedMetricType } from './types';
 
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ export type AdhocMetricPopoverTriggerState = {
   popoverVisible: boolean;
   title: { label: string; hasCustomLabel: boolean };
   labelModified: boolean;
+  isTitleEditDisabled: boolean;
 };
 
 class AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger extends React.PureComponent<
@@ -57,6 +60,7 @@ class AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger extends React.PureComponent<
         hasCustomLabel: props.adhocMetric.hasCustomLabel,
       },
       labelModified: false,
+      isTitleEditDisabled: false,
     };
   }
 
@@ -89,11 +93,12 @@ class AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger extends React.PureComponent<
   }
 
   render() {
-    const { adhocMetric } = this.props;
+    const { adhocMetric, savedMetric } = this.props;
+    const { verbose_name, metric_name } = savedMetric;
     const { label, hasCustomLabel } = adhocMetric;
     const title = this.state.labelModified
       ? this.state.title
-      : { label, hasCustomLabel };
+      : { label: verbose_name || metric_name || label, hasCustomLabel };
 
     const overlayContent = (
       <AdhocMetricEditPopover
@@ -106,6 +111,11 @@ class AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger extends React.PureComponent<
         onResize={this.onPopoverResize}
         onClose={this.closePopover}
         onChange={this.props.onMetricEdit}
+        getCurrentTab={(tab: string) =>
+          this.setState({
+            isTitleEditDisabled: tab === SAVED_TAB_KEY,
+          })
+        }
       />
     );
 
@@ -113,6 +123,7 @@ class AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger extends React.PureComponent<
       <AdhocMetricEditPopoverTitle
         title={title}
         onChange={this.onLabelChange}
+        isEditDisabled={this.state.isTitleEditDisabled}
       />
     );
 
diff --git a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricDefinitionValue.jsx b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricDefinitionValue.jsx
index 5bae01d5b..30acfdaa5 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricDefinitionValue.jsx
+++ b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricDefinitionValue.jsx
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export default function MetricDefinitionValue({
 
   if (option instanceof AdhocMetric || savedMetric) {
     const adhocMetric =
-      option instanceof AdhocMetric ? option : new AdhocMetric({});
+      option instanceof AdhocMetric ? option : new AdhocMetric({ isNew: true });
 
     const metricOptionProps = {
       onMetricEdit,
diff --git a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricsControl.jsx b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricsControl.jsx
index 83b5c1661..7b7233fe4 100644
--- a/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricsControl.jsx
+++ b/superset-frontend/src/explore/components/controls/MetricControl/MetricsControl.jsx
@@ -191,7 +191,9 @@ class MetricsControl extends React.PureComponent {
             // compare saved metrics
             value === oldMetric.metric_name ||
             // compare adhoc metrics
-            value.optionName === oldMetric.optionName
+            typeof value.optionName !== 'undefined'
+              ? value.optionName === oldMetric.optionName
+              : false
           ) {
             return changedMetric;
           }
@@ -263,7 +265,7 @@ class MetricsControl extends React.PureComponent {
     }
     return (
       <AdhocMetricPopoverTrigger
-        adhocMetric={new AdhocMetric({})}
+        adhocMetric={new AdhocMetric({ isNew: true })}
         onMetricEdit={this.onNewMetric}
         columns={this.props.columns}
         savedMetrics={this.props.savedMetrics}