How to install an expert advisor in MT5

The five steps

This covers a standard EA file — .ex5 compiled or .mq5 source. (Tech Kick Bot is not one: it ships as a Windows application that talks to the terminal, so its setup guide replaces steps one and two.)

1. Put the file where MT5 looks. In the terminal: File, then Open Data Folder, then MQL5, then Experts. Copy the .ex5 there. This folder — not the Program Files install directory — is the one that counts, and copying to the wrong one is why a freshly bought EA is not in the Navigator.

2. Refresh the Navigator. Right-click Expert Advisors in the Navigator panel (Ctrl+N if hidden) and choose Refresh, or restart the terminal. The EA should appear under Expert Advisors.

3. Attach it. Open a chart of the symbol and timeframe the EA is built for, then drag the EA from the Navigator onto it. A settings dialog opens.

4. Tick "Allow Algo Trading" in that dialog, on the Common tab. This is the per-EA permission, it defaults off on many builds, and skipping it produces an EA that draws on the chart and never trades.

5. Turn the global Algo Trading button green in the toolbar. This is the master switch over every EA in the terminal. Both this and step four must be on — one without the other trades nothing. If the button will not stay on, see AutoTrading disabled.

How to know it is actually running

• ·The chart shows the EA name in the top-right corner with a smiling face (older builds) or a small hat icon. No icon means not attached; a sad or grey face means attached but not permitted — see no smiley face.
• ·The Experts tab of the Toolbox logs an initialisation line from the EA within seconds of attaching.
• ·The Journal tab shows the terminal granting it trade permission rather than refusing it.

Running is not the same as trading. A correctly installed, fully enabled EA can legitimately sit for days waiting for its conditions — before reinstalling anything, work through expert advisor not working, which orders the real causes by likelihood.

The usual failures, in order

Nearly every failed install lands in one of four places: the file is in the wrong folder so the Navigator cannot see it; the EA appears but greyed out because it is an indicator, a broken download, or an MT4 file in an MT5 terminal; it attaches but one of the two Algo Trading switches is off; or it runs and simply has no setup to trade yet.

The MT4 case deserves the extra sentence: .ex4 and .ex5 are different formats for different platforms, they do not cross-load, and a marketplace still sells plenty of both. Check which terminal the EA was built for before blaming the install — see MT4 vs MT5.

Making it survive restarts

An attached EA persists through a normal terminal restart along with its settings, but Windows updates, crashes and profile switches can all detach it silently — the reasons and fixes are at EA not running after restart.

If the EA is meant to trade unattended, the machine it lives on matters as much as the install: a desktop that sleeps overnight is a stopped EA. That is the actual case for a VPS, and it is worth reading before paying for one.