How to connect an Expert Advisor to your MT5 account
5 minute read
Connecting an Expert Advisor to a MetaTrader 5 account takes about two minutes once you have the four pieces of information it needs. Most of the time people spend on it goes into finding the server name and working out which password to use.
This describes how it works with TradeFx, where the Expert Advisor runs on our infrastructure rather than in a terminal on your machine. The principles are the same elsewhere; the steps are not.
What you need before you start
- Your 9-character licence code, from My Expert Advisors in the dashboard
- Your MT5 account number — the login, usually 8 or 9 digits
- Your server name, exactly as MetaTrader shows it
- Your trading password, not the investor password
The last two are where people get stuck, so they are worth a moment each.
Finding your server name
In MetaTrader 5, open File, then Open an Account, and the server appears next to your broker — something like Exness-MT5Real8 or ICMarketsSC-MT5. It is also shown in the bottom-right corner of the terminal while you are connected.
Copy it exactly, including capitals, hyphens and any trailing number. A server name that is close but not identical will fail to connect, and the error the broker returns is rarely specific about why.
Trading password, not investor password
MetaTrader accounts have two passwords. The investor password is read-only: it lets software see the account but not place orders. The trading password — sometimes called the master password — can place orders.
An Expert Advisor has to place orders, so it needs the trading password. If you enter the investor password the account will connect and then simply never trade, which is a confusing failure to diagnose. If you are not sure which you have, reset the trading password with your broker before you start.
The four steps
- Open Trading Accounts in your TradeFx dashboard and choose Connect account.
- Pick the licence you want to use, or paste the 9-character code.
- Enter a name for the account, the platform, your account number, the server and the trading password.
- Submit. We verify the credentials, check the account type, and the Expert Advisor starts on a verified account.
The name is only for you — it is what the account is called in your dashboard, so "Exness Live" is more useful than the account number.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Usual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Credentials rejected immediately | Server name not exactly right | Copy it again from the terminal, including the trailing digits |
| Connects but never trades | Investor password used instead of the trading password | Reset the trading password with your broker and reconnect |
| Rejected for TradeFx Heddge specifically | The account is netting, not hedging | Open a hedging-enabled MT5 account; netting cannot hold both sides |
| Connects, then drops | Account logged in elsewhere, or the broker restricts concurrent sessions | Close other terminals using the same login |
What happens to your password
It is encrypted before it is stored and is never displayed again — not to you and not to our staff. It is used to connect to your broker and nothing else.
It does not allow deposits or withdrawals. A MetaTrader trading password can place and manage orders; moving money is done through your broker, by you. You can disconnect the account from your dashboard at any time, which stops the Expert Advisor immediately.
Connecting an account is not the same as being ready to trade
A connected account will start taking positions as soon as the Expert Advisor sees a setup. Decide your account size and make sure you are comfortable with the drawdown before you connect, not after. Disconnecting stops new trades but does not close positions already open.
Questions
- Do I need to leave MetaTrader running on my computer?
- No. The Expert Advisor runs on our infrastructure, so your machine can be switched off. You only need MetaTrader to look at the account yourself.
- Can I use one licence on two accounts?
- No. A licence covers one trading account at a time. You can disconnect it from one account and connect it to another, but it cannot run on both at once.
- What if I change brokers?
- Disconnect the old account in your dashboard and connect the new one with the same licence code. Nothing needs to be reissued.
- Will I still be able to trade the account myself?
- Yes, though we would not recommend it on the same account. Manual positions and the Expert Advisor will both be using the same margin, and the results become impossible to read apart.
- How do I know it is actually working?
- The dashboard shows the account as connected, the Expert Advisor as active, and a trade statement that fills in as positions close. If the licence shows as connected but the statement stays empty for days in an active market, tell us.