Put your robot into MetaTrader 5
Your robot is one file. Put it in MetaTrader 5's Experts folder, drag it onto a chart, and switch Algo Trading on. Five steps, each explained, and what to check afterwards.
No licence key or internet setting is needed. The robot's numbers and its accounts are built into the file.
Before you start
You will download your robot from your account page. Its name ends in .ex5. Its compile log comes with it; keep both.
You need MetaTrader 5 on a computer: Windows, the official Mac app, or a VPS. The phone apps cannot run robots. Where robots run.
MetaTrader 5 must be logged in to one of the accounts you named for the robot. On any other account the robot shows a message and does nothing. The account lock.
Check first
You have
- Your robot file, ending in .ex5
- MetaTrader 5 on a computer, up to date
- MetaTrader logged in to an account the robot was built for
- A chart of the symbol the robot trades
The five steps
MetaTrader 5 keeps robots in a folder called Experts. Once your robot is there, it appears in the Navigator and you can put it on a chart.
These are the same five steps the builder shows you with every download, so you can follow them there or here. If a step does not look the same in your MetaTrader, it may be an older version: keep MetaTrader up to date.
In MetaTrader 5
Put your robot on a chart
Download the file. Save your robot somewhere you can find it, for example your Downloads folder.
Copy it into the Experts folder. In MetaTrader 5, choose File
then Open Data Folder. In the folder that opens, open MQL5, then Experts, and copy your robot file there. Refresh the Navigator. Back in MetaTrader 5, open the Navigator with View
then Navigator or Ctrl+N. Right-click Expert Advisors and choose Refresh. Your robot appears in the list. Drag it onto a chart. Open a chart of the symbol your robot trades, then drag the robot from the Navigator onto it. In the window that opens, on the Common tab, tick "Allow Algo Trading" (older versions: "Allow Auto Trading"). Press OK.
Switch Algo Trading on. On the toolbar, press Algo Trading (older versions call it AutoTrading). The button is green when it is on.
Your robot's name and icon appear in the top right corner of the chart. If the icon shows a cross, Algo Trading is still off.
Check that it is running
When your robot starts it writes one line in MetaTrader's Experts tab: its name, its build, and the accounts it may run on (the last four digits of each). On an account it was not built for, it writes the same message it shows on the chart, and shows one alert.
To see the Experts tab, open the Toolbox with View
A robot that trades only in certain hours, or whose safety limit has stopped it for the day, sits quietly until its next chance. The chart says why. Troubleshooting has every message with its fix.
In MetaTrader 5
Signs that it is running
- The robot's name and icon are in the top right corner of the chart
- The Algo Trading button on the toolbar is green
- The Experts tab shows the robot's start line with your accounts
- The chart shows no message from the robot
What the robot needs from you
Try it on a demo account first, and in the Strategy Tester before that. Once it is on, it follows its rules by itself while MetaTrader 5 is open and connected to your broker. If you close MetaTrader or turn off your computer, it stops.
It runs only on the accounts you named. It does not contact our website, so there is nothing else to set up, and it keeps working if our website is down.
A robot that pauses around news reads MetaTrader's own economic calendar on a live chart. In the Strategy Tester it needs the news file from our free news helper. The news file.
Your robot runs while
All four are true
- MetaTrader 5 is open
- It is connected to your broker
- It is logged in to an account you named
- Algo Trading is on
To keep it running all the time
Use a VPS: a computer you rent online that stays on. Some brokers offer one, and MetaTrader has its own. About a VPS.
More help
Each page takes one part of running a robot.
Test in the Strategy Tester
Run your rules on past prices, read the result, and make the news file some robots need.The account lock
Where to find your account number, how to change accounts, and what the lock does and does not stop.Where robots run
MetaTrader 5 on a computer, the Mac app and a VPS. Not the phone apps. Keep MetaTrader up to date.Safety limits and stops
Set the numbers, see what happens when a limit is reached, and stop your robot yourself.Troubleshooting
Every message your robot can show on the chart, in plain words, with the fix.
Join the waitlist
We will email you once, when TheTradingRobot opens.