Expert advisor not working and how to fix it
- December 23, 2021
- Reading time: 6 minutes
Expert advisor not working? Now that can be pretty annoying. Don’t panic, we will give you a full tutorial of how to fix this issue. That is if the script has no errors. You will see that many issues with your expert advisor are easily fixed. Just follow the steps below.
Is your MT4 terminal connected?
Make sure that your trading terminal is connected to the internet. Check the icon in the bottom right corner of your platform and see if it changes (live connection)
Is autotrading enabled?
To start your expert advisor in autotrading mode, enable this clicking the button in the main menu. It should turn green.
Did you enable "live trading allowed" in the EA's settings?
Is Live trading enabled? You can find this after you drag and drop the EA into the chart section and click the “Common” button in the top menu of that field. Or once your EA is already dragged and dropped, click the little smiley icon in the top right corner to check your settings.
Do your see the icon "smiling"?
In the top right corner the smiley icon should have a happy face.
DNL settings
In your settings you can tick the box for “Allow DNL imports”.
Expert advisor settings (inputs)
Many expert advisors come with numerous settings (set files) that can be adjusted. Make sure you check the setting for the spread and slippage and other imputs. For example if the max Spread is 2 pips, you will not see a trade in a GBPNZD pair since that spread is typically wider.
Check the Magic number
Pretty much all EA’s are coded with a so called “Magic number”. This number allows the EA to run on multiple charts (pairs) without getting confused. Usually this is a 5 digit random number which you can type in the EA settings.
Check the Journal for error reports
In the bottom section of your trading terminal you will find the expert and journal tabs. Click on them to see if you see any errors. Your programmers might want these files to check.
Common error codes are:
Error code 130 (ERR_INVALID_STOPS): This indicates your StopLoss or TakeProfit value isn’t valid. Check them and make sure they are large enough.
Error code 131 (ERR_INVALID_TRADE_VOLUME): This means your Lot value isn’t valid.
Error code 133 (ERR_TRADE_DISABLED): Autotrading isn’t enabled in your MT4 platform.
You might want to contact your programmer in case you don’t know how to fix this.
Expert advisor activation key
Many Expert Advisors come with an activation key. Make sure you entered the correct key.
Currency pair extensions
For some reason most forex brokers use various extensions for showing all currency pairs. For example; EURUSD will look like EURUSD.c . This “.c” extension might confuse your EA. Its very simple for a programmer to fix this.
Buy and Sell order at the same time
If this occurs your broker is probably located in the United States. Reason why this is a problem is because of regulations that forbid to go long and short at the same time. This is important to know before you want to trade with a grid trading robot using this method.
Allow webrequest
Some EAs require to enable “allow webrequest” or “allow DLL imports” which you can find in the top menu under options >> expert advisors
Missing file message
If you purchase an EA on the internet, make sure to check if you downloaded the complete .ex file including library ordll files. Without these files your robot will not work. Another thing to check is to see if the file is located in the correct folder. For examle, an indicator should be stored in the indicator folder and not in the expert folder.
Broker server issues
If your forex broker server is offline, contact your broker to ask them to have a look and reboot their server as soon as possible. If it happens often, you might want to switch broker.
Remove the Expert Advisor and reinstall on your computer
If you checked all possible issues, try to remove your EA from the terminal. Right click on the little smily icon and follow the steps.
Or watch this video
Still not fixed?
Contact your programmer and see if he can help you. Worst case scenario is that you bought a toxic file that will never work. So be careful where to buy an expert advisor online. If you see an interesting EA you can always contact us to have a look and see if it is not a scam robot. We happen to have helped creating the best scalping robot in the market and you can test it for free!
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