The most common reason an EA "doesn't work" has nothing to do with the EA: the laptop went to sleep, Windows updated, the internet dropped at 3 a.m. and the terminal reconnected without AutoTrading. An Expert Advisor is only running while its MetaTrader terminal is open, connected, and has AutoTrading enabled. A VPS — a small Windows computer in a data centre that never sleeps — fixes all of that for a few dollars a month.
Step 1 — Choose a VPS
- Location: as close to your broker's server as possible (most MT5 brokers are in London LD4 or New York NY4). Lower ping = less slippage on stop orders.
- Spec: 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM runs one terminal with 3–5 charts comfortably; 4 GB if you run two terminals.
- Windows Server, not Linux — MT5 is a Windows program.
- Options: the MetaQuotes VPS inside the terminal (simplest, tied to one account), or a general forex VPS provider (more flexible, can run several terminals).
Step 2 — Connect and install MT5
Connect with Remote Desktop (Windows: search "Remote Desktop Connection", enter the VPS IP, username and password). Inside the VPS, download the MT5 installer from your broker's website — not from a search result — install it and log in with your trading account.
Then turn off everything that could interrupt it: Windows Update active hours set to the trading day, sleep and screen-off disabled in Power settings, and the terminal added to the Windows startup folder so it relaunches after a reboot.
Step 3 — Install the EA
For an MQL5 Market purchase: in the VPS terminal, open Tools → Options → Community and log in with your MQL5 account, then View → Toolbox → Market → Purchased, and install from there. Each activation counts, so install on the VPS, not on the laptop first.
Open the chart the EA is built for — for a Gold EA, XAUUSD H1 — and drag the EA from Navigator → Expert Advisors onto it. In the dialog, tick "Allow Algo Trading" on the Common tab, and set the inputs (the product page and setup guide list the recommended ones). Press the AutoTrading button on the toolbar; it should turn green and the EA's name in the chart corner should show a smiley or a running status.
Step 4 — The settings that bite later
- Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → "Allow automated trading" must be on; the AutoTrading toolbar button must be green. Both.
- One EA per chart, one chart per symbol, unique magic number per instance.
- Don't open the same account on your laptop with AutoTrading on — two terminals trading one account double the positions.
- Save a profile (File → Profiles → Save As) so a crash doesn't cost you the chart setup.
- Enable push notifications (Tools → Options → Notifications, MetaQuotes ID from the mobile app) so you hear about disconnects.
Step 5 — Check it weekly
Once a week, log in and look at four things: the connection indicator bottom-right (green bars), AutoTrading still green, the Journal tab for errors like "not enough money" or "invalid stops", and free disk space. Then compare the terminal's history with your Myfxbook page — if they match, everything is fine.
Cost reality
A basic forex VPS is $5–15 per month. On a $5,000 Gold account that's a fraction of one day's normal movement. Running an EA without one is the false economy.
