Expert Advisor Not Working? A Checklist to Fix It
An expert advisor not working on MT4 is almost never broken code: it is one of ten ordinary causes, and they take minutes to rule out in the right order. Work down the list and stop at the first thing that is wrong.
The two switches
- AutoTrading is grey. The button in the toolbar has to be green. Grey accepts the robot on the chart and silently discards every order it sends.
- Automated trading is not allowed. In Tools → Options → Expert Advisors, Allow automated trading has to be ticked; a sad face in the corner of the chart means exactly this. Allow DLL imports is a different permission that only matters for robots calling an external library.
The chart
- You are between decisions. Stillness is the strategy’s normal state: a grid robot can spend long stretches waiting for its signal. Most “it is not trading” reports are this.
- Wrong symbol. Many brokers add a suffix, so the pair on your terminal may be
EURUSD.raworAUDCAD-VIPrather thanEURUSD. The expert advisor expects the exact symbol and refuses to act on any other chart. - Not enough history on the chart. A freshly opened chart may not be ready, so the robot fills its price history before it decides rather than guessing.
The account and the market
- The symbol is not fully tradable. Close-only mode, a disabled instrument or a session that has ended all stop orders while the terminal looks fine.
- Conditions the robot will not trade. A very wide spread or a thin market is a reason to skip a decision, not an error. Over a weekend open, skipping is the correct behaviour.
- Not enough free margin. A grid holds several positions at once and the account carries all of them together. Below the capital the level was sized against, the broker refuses the next order long before the basket is finished.
The plumbing
- The terminal is disconnected. Check the status bar and the Journal tab. After a reconnection the robot refills its price history before deciding again, so a gap in the feed shows up as silence and then a normal decision.
- MetaTrader 4 is still running the old file. Replacing an
.ex4while a chart has the robot loaded changes nothing: the terminal only reads the file from disk when the module starts. Remove the chart and drag the expert advisor on again from the Navigator, as in How to Install an Expert Advisor on MT4.
If it still does nothing
Check that the set file matches the chart’s pair and variant in Kestrel Forex EA Settings and Set Files by Level, and that the machine hosting the terminal has not been rebooting under you — VPS for Your Forex EA: What You Need and Which to Use covers what to ask a provider.
One last thing that is not a fault: an open basket under water is the strategy working, not failing. Kestrel has no stop loss, so a position stays open until the basket closes at its shared target.
If none of this explains it, contact Daemon Digital LLC with what the Journal and Experts tabs show.
For the full setup path, start with Kestrel Expert Advisor Support.
Frequently asked questions
The chart shows a smiling face but nothing happens. Is that normal?
It can be. The face only means the expert advisor is loaded and allowed to trade, and a grid robot can spend long stretches waiting for its own signal. Check the list below before assuming a fault.
Should I restart MetaTrader 4 when the robot goes quiet?
Check the Journal and Experts tabs first. A restart hides the message that explains the cause, and the robot rebuilds its price history on start, so you lose the evidence without fixing anything.
Can the broker stop an expert advisor from trading?
Yes. A symbol set to close only, a market whose session has ended or an account without trading permission all stop orders while the terminal itself looks healthy.
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