AutoTrading is green, but the EA still won't trade

The Algo Trading button is green. The EA is on the chart. Everything looks connected. And not a single trade goes out.

If you have already checked the obvious things, the cause is almost always this: "AutoTrading is on" is not one setting. It is four separate permissions, and the green button only tells you about one of them.

The four permissions, and what each one means

An MT5 expert advisor can only place an order when all four of these are true. They are checked in different places and only one of them is visible on the toolbar.

1. The terminal allows algorithmic trading

This is the green Algo Trading button, and the setting behind it at Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → Allow Algorithmic Trading. It is terminal-wide. This is the one everybody checks, and it is usually fine.

2. This particular EA instance allows it

Separate from the toolbar. Click the chart, press F7, go to the Common tab, and look for Allow Algo Trading. If that box is unticked, this EA does nothing while every other EA on the terminal trades normally. It is easy to leave unticked when you attach an EA in a hurry.

3. The account allows trading

Set by the broker, not by you. The usual cause is logging in with the investor password instead of the trading password. Brokers issue two: one gives full access, the other is read-only for showing your account to someone else.

An investor login is the cruellest version of this problem, because everything looks right. Balance, equity, open positions, charts, history — all correct and live. The EA runs, reads prices, calculates normally. It simply cannot place an order, and nothing on screen says so.

4. The account allows expert advisors specifically

Some brokers can disable EA trading on an account while leaving manual trading enabled. Rare, but it happens on unverified accounts and on certain account types.

Why your monitoring probably won't catch it

Here is the part worth knowing if you rely on any dashboard, bot or alert to tell you your EA is running.

Most reporting reads the first permission only — the terminal-wide flag — because it is the easiest to read. So a dashboard can show a cheerful green "AutoTrading: ON" for an account that is logged in with an investor password and physically cannot trade.

We had exactly this. A client spent several days convinced their installation was broken. Every remote check we had said the EA was healthy: licensed, heartbeating every sixty seconds, AutoTrading on, reading the gold price correctly to the decimal at the same moments as every other account. It placed no orders because the account itself did not permit it, and our telemetry was reporting the one flag that was true.

If you are checking someone else's terminal remotely, assume "AutoTrading on" means only that the button is green.

How to find out which one it is, in order

1. Open the Experts tab (Ctrl+T → Experts). An EA that is blocked at permission 2, 3 or 4 will usually log an error when it tries to send an order. That single line names the cause faster than any amount of clicking.
2. Press F7 → Common and confirm Allow Algo Trading is ticked.
3. Try to place a manual trade, one micro lot, and close it immediately. If manual trading also fails, the problem is the account (permission 3), not the EA. If manual works and the EA does not, it is permission 2 or 4.
4. Re-log in with the trading password. File → Login to Trade Account, and use the master password rather than the investor one. This is harmless if you were already on the right one, and it is the fastest way to rule out the most common cause.

A note on remembering which password is which

You cannot tell from the terminal which password you typed weeks ago, and there is no display for it. Do not try to remember — just log in again with the trading password. Brokers label them clearly in the account-opening email, and the read-only one is normally marked investor, read-only or view only. If you cannot find it, most broker portals let you set a fresh trading password in a couple of clicks.

If all four are fine

Then the EA is genuinely deciding not to trade, which is a different problem with a different checklist — filters, sessions, spread limits, minimum balance, or simply waiting for its setup. Our eleven-point diagnostic covers those in order, cheapest checks first.

Related

• MT5 EA not trading? 11 reasons, in the order to check them
• Your EA stopped trading after a loss — and it is probably not broken
• Best VPS for MT5

Trading forex, gold and CFDs on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. An EA that is running correctly can still lose money, and you may lose some or all of your capital. Nothing here is financial advice. Please read our full Risk Disclosure.