How to Install an EA in MT5 and Place Your First Automated Trade

How to install an EA in MT5: put the robot into the Navigator window, attach it to a chart, tick Allow Algo Trading in its settings and switch on the Algo Trading button. This guide walks through all six steps on a RoboForex demo account with MACD Sample, the robot that ships with MetaTrader 5, and ends with its first trade.

An Expert Advisor (EA) is a program that opens and closes trades in MetaTrader 5 by its own rules. Each step below has the screenshot from our demo terminal, so you can compare it with your own screen as you go.

How to Install an EA in MT5: Six Steps From File to First Trade

The whole path takes six steps. The first three put the robot on a chart, the next two give it permission to trade, and the last one shows where its trades appear.

1. Put the robot into MT5Navigator, Expert Advisors
2. Open a chartSymbol and timeframe
3. Attach the robotDrag it onto the chart
4. Set permissions and inputsCommon and Inputs tabs
5. Turn on Algo TradingToolbar button and icon
6. Find the first tradeToolbox tabs

What you need before you start:

• Desktop MetaTrader 5 on Windows or macOS. Our screenshots come from the macOS version, the menus are the same on Windows.
• A trading account connected to the terminal. Use a demo account for the first runs: the robot trades with virtual money at real market prices.
• A robot. The examples use MACD Sample, which is included in every MetaTrader 5 installation.

Step 1: Put the Robot Into MetaTrader 5

A robot can run only once it appears in the Navigator window under Expert Advisors. Open Navigator from View, Navigator, or with Ctrl+N on Windows. How the robot gets there depends on where it came from.

To install a robot from a file, open File, Open Data Folder. In the folder that opens, go to MQL5, then Experts, and copy the file there. Return to MetaTrader 5, right-click Expert Advisors in Navigator and choose Refresh. The robot appears in the list.

An .ex5 file is ready to run. An .mq5 file is source code: open it in MetaEditor (the IDE button on the toolbar) and press Compile, and the terminal creates the .ex5 next to it.

For robots from the MQL5 Market, including free ones, see Expert Advisor Download for MT5. This guide continues with MACD Sample, so there is nothing to install yet.

Step 2: Open a Chart for the Robot’s Symbol and Timeframe

A robot trades the symbol and timeframe of the chart it is attached to. Its description usually names the ones it was built and tested on. Running it on other settings without a test changes its results. MACD Sample is demonstrated here on EURUSD, one-hour chart (H1).

1. Start MetaTrader 5 and check that it is connected to your account. The account number and server appear in the window title.
2. Open Market Watch from View, Market Watch.
3. Find EURUSD. If the symbol is missing, right-click inside Market Watch, choose Symbols and switch it on.
4. Double-click the symbol, or right-click it and choose Chart Window.
5. Click H1 on the timeframe bar at the top of the terminal.

Step 3: Attach the Robot to the Chart

With the chart open, the robot goes onto it straight from Navigator.

1. In Navigator, expand Expert Advisors, then Examples, then MACD, and find MACD Sample.
2. Drag MACD Sample onto the chart and release the mouse button. Double-clicking the robot's name does the same and attaches it to the active chart.
3. The robot's properties window opens with two tabs, Common and Inputs. Step 4 covers both.

One chart holds one robot. If you drag a second robot onto the same chart, it replaces the first. To run two robots, open a second chart and attach the second robot there. Two copies of one robot on the same symbol need separate magic numbers.

Step 4: Allow Algo Trading and Keep the Default Inputs

The properties window decides whether this robot may trade and with what settings. For the first demo run, tick one box and leave the inputs as they are, after one look at the trade size.

Common Tab

Tick Allow Algo Trading. Without this tick the robot stays on the chart but cannot send orders, even when algo trading is switched on for the whole terminal.

Inputs Tab

The Inputs tab lists the settings that control the robot: how it finds a signal, when it opens and closes a position and how large the trade is.

• Keep the defaults on the first run. Change an input only when you know what it does and after checking the change in the Strategy Tester.
• Check Lots. This input sets the trade size. MACD Sample opens 0.1 lot by default. Make sure that size fits your demo balance before you press OK.

Press OK. The window closes and the robot stays on the chart, waiting for the terminal-wide switch in Step 5.

Step 5: Turn On Algo Trading and Check the Robot’s Icon

Press the Algo Trading button on the toolbar at the top of MetaTrader 5, or Ctrl+E on Windows. This button allows automated trading for the whole terminal. A robot trades only when both switches are on: the button and the Allow Algo Trading box from Step 4.

Then look at the top right corner of the chart, where the robot's name and a small cap icon sit. In our terminal the two states look like this:

• Trading allowed. The Algo Trading button shows a green triangle and the cap next to MACD Sample turns blue. The robot is running and will act on its next signal, which does not mean an instant trade.
• Trading not allowed. The button shows a red square and the cap is grey. Check the button, the Common tab and the messages in the Journal.

The Options window holds more permission settings, and some robots also need WebRequest or DLL access. Both are covered in MetaTrader 5 Automated Trading: How to Enable Algo Trading and Expert Advisor Permissions in MT5.

Step 6: Find Your Robot’s First Trade

The Toolbox panel at the bottom of MetaTrader 5 shows everything the robot does. Open it from View, Toolbox, or with Ctrl+T on Windows. Each tab answers a different question.

Start with the Journal. In our terminal the line "expert MACD Sample (EURUSD,H1) loaded successfully" appeared with Experts in the Source column, followed by "automated trading is enabled" once the button was pressed.

With a clean log, the robot waits for its signal. When the conditions of MACD Sample are met, it sends an order, the Journal records it, and the position appears in the Trade tab. After the position closes, its result moves to History.

The wait depends on the strategy. MACD Sample on H1 checks its conditions on each new price and can go hours or days without a signal. An empty Trade tab with no errors in the Journal and Experts tabs means the robot is waiting. If a trade does not appear after the strategy should have triggered, go to the five checks below.

What the Robot’s Inputs Mean: Lot Size, Stops and Magic Number

Once the first demo trade has run, the next question is which inputs to change. Most robots share the same three groups of settings, and MACD Sample shows them clearly.

Lot Size

Lots is the size of every trade. On EURUSD, 0.1 lot is 10,000 euros, and each pip of price movement is worth about 1 USD. A 30-pip move against the position at 0.1 lot costs about 30 USD, at 1 lot about 300 USD. Choose the lot from the loss you accept on one trade. On a 4,470 USD demo balance, as in our screenshots, 0.1 lot is a moderate size for a first test.

Stops: Take Profit and Trailing Stop

Take Profit (in pips), 50 by default, closes the position once it gains 50 pips. Trailing Stop Level (in pips), 30 by default, moves a stop-loss behind the price once the position is 30 pips in profit, and the stop then follows the price at that distance. MACD Sample sets no fixed stop-loss at entry. Until the trailing stop starts, the robot closes a losing position only on its own MACD exit signal, so the lot size from the previous paragraph is your main risk control. Robots that have a Stop Loss input usually set it in pips or points in the same way.

Signal Settings

MACD open level and MACD close level set how far the MACD line must be from zero before the robot opens or closes a position. Higher values mean fewer, stronger signals. MA trend period, 26 by default, sets the moving average that the robot uses to confirm the trend direction before it opens a trade.

Magic Number

A magic number is an ID that a robot writes on every order it opens. It lets the robot manage only its own positions when several robots or a manual trader use the same account. If you run two copies of one robot on two charts, give each copy its own magic number. MACD Sample sets its number inside its code, so the Inputs tab has no field for it.

Change one input at a time and test each change in the Strategy Tester before you run it on the demo account. Save a working set with the Save button on the Inputs tab, and Load returns to it later.

Five Checks That Get an Attached Robot Trading

A robot that sits on the chart and does not trade usually has one of five attachment issues. Go through them in this order before you change its inputs or reinstall the terminal.

If all five pass and the Journal or Experts tab shows an error such as no money, invalid volume or market closed, the cause sits with the account, the server or the instrument. Those cases are in the Seven Checks section of the automated trading guide.

How to Keep Your Robot’s First Trades Small and Under Control

A robot that runs without errors still has to prove its strategy. Move it through four stages and go to the next one only after you have read the results of the previous one.

1. Strategy TesterTest on history. Read the maximum drawdown, the number of trades and the ratio of profit to loss next to the final result.
2. Demo accountRun it at live prices with virtual money. Check that signals and orders work the way the test showed.
3. Cent accountReal execution with small amounts on a RoboForex cent account. Check the minimum lot and contract size first.
4. Live accountStart with the smallest lot and a loss limit you set before the first trade.

At every stage, judge the robot by its largest drawdown, the longest run of losing trades, how often it trades and how it behaves in strong trends and in a sideways market. A high share of winning trades says little on its own. Past results do not guarantee future returns.

The robot trades only while MetaTrader 5 is running and connected. For round-the-clock work, the terminal can run on a RoboForex VPS, a remote server that stays on when your computer is off.

How to Pause or Remove the Robot

• Pause all robots. Press the Algo Trading button again. Every robot in the terminal stops sending orders. Positions they opened stay open until you close them.
• Remove one robot. Right-click its chart, choose Expert List, select the robot and press Remove. The other robots keep working, and its open positions stay open.

Conclusion

Six steps take a robot from a file to a live order: Navigator, chart, attach, Allow Algo Trading, the Algo Trading button and the Toolbox tabs where its trades appear. Two switches decide whether it may trade, and the cap icon on the chart shows their state at a glance. Open a RoboForex demo account, attach MACD Sample to a EURUSD H1 chart in MetaTrader 5 and watch the Journal and Trade tabs for its first trade.

FAQ