EA Problem Checklist
It drives me crazy when I call tech support and the customer service person asks, “Is your computer plugged in?” When I step back and think about it, however, they ask dumb questions for a reason. Some people really do forget to check the obvious things.
If you’re stuck trying to load a MetaTrader expert advisor and you cannot get it to trade, this checklist will help you resolve the most obvious problems.
You should see the name of your expert advisor and a smiley face in the top right corner of your open chart. The image below contains a blue line. Everything is correctly displaying above that blue line.
Expert Advisor Problem Checklist
Do you see the name of your expert advisor on the chart? If yes:
- If an X appears, then click the big EA button at the center top of the screen. It should appear pressed down
- If an upside down smile (a frown appears), then right click on the chart. Choose Properties. Click the Common tab. Select “Allow live trading” and “Allow DLL Imports”. Remove the check next to “Confirm DLL Function calls”
- Click the Inputs tab. Change the inputs to whatever values you desire. Push OK.
- If a smiley face appears, you’re all done.
Do you see the name of your expert advisor on the chart? If not:
Drag and drop the EA onto the chart.
- Click the Common tab. Select “Allow live trading” and “Allow DLL Imports”. Remove the check next to “Confirm DLL Function calls”
- Click the Inputs tab. Change the inputs to whatever values you desire. Push OK.
The X appears on the chart because the Expert Advisors button is not pushed down
The frown on the chart indicates that “Allow Live Trading” is not enabled.
The smiley face appears on the chart after the Expert Advisors button is pushed down.
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