Automated trading is disabled in MT5: what it means and how to fix it

In short: One switch is off. Turn on the Algo Trading button (Ctrl+E) and the EA's own permission; only the broker can fix "disabled by server".

"Automated trading is disabled" means MetaTrader 5 refused an Expert Advisor's order because one switch on the order's path is off. Two switches are yours: the Algo Trading button and the EA's own permission. "Disabled by server" is the broker's switch, and no button in your terminal changes it. This page shows how to tell them apart.

Menu names come from MetaTrader 5 build 6230; older builds say AutoTrading where this page says Algo Trading.

What does "automated trading is disabled" mean?

In MT5, "automated trading is disabled" means the terminal or the broker's server refused an Expert Advisor's order because one of six permission checks is off. Two are yours, the Algo Trading button and the EA's own permission; the account flag on the trade server is the broker's.

Think of an order as a parcel passing a chain of locked doors, each with a different keyholder. One closed door stops it, and the EA usually carries on as if nothing happened. The MQL5 documentation on trade permissions (MQL5 Reference, retrieved 8 October 2026) describes the first four doors; doors 5 and 6 are covered by the references further down.

1. Terminal: the Algo Trading button and its Options checkbox. Yours.
2. Program: the EA's own "Allow Algo Trading". Yours.
3. Account, for EAs: a flag on the broker's trade server. The broker's.
4. Account, in general: no connection, an archived account, trading switched off on the server, or an investor login.
5. Symbol and market: the symbol's trade mode and its sessions.
6. Money: enough free margin for the order.

Two return codes name doors 1 and 3: 10027, "Autotrading disabled by client terminal", and 10026, "Autotrading disabled by server" (trade return codes). The terminal words them "Algo Trading disabled at the client terminal" and "Algo Trading disabled on the server side". "Client" means your terminal program, not you. The wider list is in MT5 EA error codes.

Fix 1: how do you turn on Algo Trading in MT5?

To turn on Algo Trading in MT5, click the Algo Trading button on the toolbar or press Ctrl+E until it is green: green means the terminal lets EAs trade, red means it does not. The button and Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → "Allow algorithmic trading" are two handles on one terminal-wide permission. The help says that when it is off, trading is blocked for every EA, even ones allowed individually (MetaTrader 5 help).

You should see a green button and no 10027 on the next order.

Fix 2: is the EA itself allowed to trade?

The Algo Trading button is global, but every MT5 EA also has its own permission, "Allow Algo Trading" on the Common tab of its properties. Untick it and the EA runs and analyses but cannot trade, even with a green button.

The top-right corner of the chart shows the EA's name and an icon: one icon means trading is enabled, the other means the EA may not trade (MetaTrader 5 help). Older builds drew a smiley and a sad face; recent ones show a play or stop badge, depending on the build.

To change it without re-attaching, right-click the EA in the Navigator (Ctrl+N): the menu has Enable Algo Trading and Disable Algo Trading for that EA. The properties window with the Common tab can also be reopened from the chart's right-click menu (the path varies by build).

Two traps. Only one EA can run on a chart, so a second one dropped on it takes the first one's place. And re-attaching may reset your inputs: reload the settings file (how to load a .set file in MT5).

Fix 3: which Options checkboxes switch Algo Trading off again?

Algo Trading switches itself off when a guard checkbox is ticked in Tools → Options → Expert Advisors and the account, the profile, or the chart's symbol or period changes; it stays off until you turn it back on.

Open Tools → Options (Ctrl+O) → Expert Advisors. Build 6230 lists:

• Allow algorithmic trading: the master switch, the same as the toolbar button.
• Disable algorithmic trading when the account has been changed.
• Disable algorithmic trading when the profile has been changed.
• Disable algorithmic trading when the chart's symbol or period has been changed.

The last three are guards. With the account guard ticked, a login to a demo account and back leaves the button red and the EA silent. The terminal logs "automated trading is disabled because the account has been changed" (Journal tab). Untick the guards only on purpose.

On the same tab, the WebRequest list is a separate gate (WebRequest not allowed in MT5).

"Disabled by server": what does the broker control, and how do you ask?

If the text says "Algo Trading disabled on the server side" (10026), the button is not the problem. MQL5 states that "automated trading can be disabled at the trade server side" and exposes it as the account property ACCOUNT_TRADE_EXPERT, "allowed trade for an Expert Advisor" (trade permissions, account properties). Nothing in your terminal changes it. Whether EAs are allowed may depend on the account type, and only the broker knows why, so ask.

Send support your account number, server name, the exact message and code from the Experts or Journal tab, the time of the attempt (server time), and one question: "Are Expert Advisors allowed on this account type, and is anything restricting my account?" A demo account of the same type is a quick cross-check: if the EA trades there, the cause is most likely the account, not the EA.

If the answer is no, the options are another account type or another broker, not a workaround. Check that the broker accepts clients from your country first.

Are you logged in with the investor password?

If you log in to MT5 with the investor password, the account is read-only: the EA can load and the button can be green, but every trading operation is refused. Log in with the master (trading) password to trade.

The login window takes the master (trading) password or the investor password in the same Password field. The investor password is read-only: the help says you can follow the account, analyse prices and run EAs, but not trade (MetaTrader 5 help). The terminal journal then records "trading has been disabled - investor mode" (MQL5 Reference).

Fix: File → Login to Trade Account and enter the trading password.

Is the market closed, or is the symbol close-only?

An MT5 order also fails when the symbol cannot be traded right now: 10018 is "Market is closed", and 10017 is "Trade is disabled" (it does not say which switch, so check the account too). A symbol's trade mode is Disabled, Long only, Short only, Close only or Full access (SYMBOL_TRADE_MODE). Close-only lets an EA close positions but not open new ones; long-only refuses new short positions.

Check it in Market Watch (Ctrl+M): right-click the symbol → Specification, which lists the trade mode and the sessions in server time.

Why is my MT5 EA still not trading? Read the Experts and Journal tabs

An MT5 Expert Advisor that stays silent has either been refused with a code that the Experts and Journal tabs name, or has sent no order at all because of its own filter, no free margin, the wrong chart or a closed terminal. The decision table below maps each symptom to a fix, and MT5 EA error codes explains the codes.

Open the Toolbox (Ctrl+T). Experts shows what EAs print and report; Journal records what you and the terminal did, trade operations included. Look for a code at the moment you expected a trade. No error usually means the EA never sent an order. The usual reasons:

• The EA's own filter. Many EAs have trading hours, spread limits or entry filters. Compare the hours with server time, not your clock.
• No free margin. Worked example, calculated on 8 October 2026 with the margin calculator formula and illustrative balances: cent account, 1:100, gold at $4,448.47 (an example price), 100 oz per lot (check your Specification), equity 500 USC, margin in use 440 USC, so 60 USC is free. One lot needs 100 × 4,448.47 ÷ 100 = 4,448.47 USC, so the EA's next 0.02-lot order needs 88.97 USC. That exceeds the 60 USC free, so the server answers 10019 (not enough money) while the Algo Trading button stays green. At 1:2000 the same order needs 4.45 USC.
• The wrong chart. The symbol is not the one the EA expects (a broker suffix, say), or another EA replaced yours.
• The terminal is not running. A sleeping PC trades nothing (does an EA run when the PC is off).

To read most doors at once, create a script (MetaEditor: File → New → Script), paste this, compile with F7, drag it onto the EA's chart and open the Experts tab. It compiles with no errors in MetaEditor of build 6230.

void OnStart()
{
   Print("Connected to server: ",         (bool)TerminalInfoInteger(TERMINAL_CONNECTED));
   Print("Terminal allows algo trading: ", (bool)TerminalInfoInteger(TERMINAL_TRADE_ALLOWED));
   Print("This script may trade: ",        (bool)MQLInfoInteger(MQL_TRADE_ALLOWED));
   Print("Account allows trading: ",       (bool)AccountInfoInteger(ACCOUNT_TRADE_ALLOWED));
   Print("Account allows EAs: ",           (bool)AccountInfoInteger(ACCOUNT_TRADE_EXPERT));
   Print(_Symbol, " trade mode: ", EnumToString((ENUM_SYMBOL_TRADE_MODE)SymbolInfoInteger(_Symbol, SYMBOL_TRADE_MODE)));
   Print("Free margin: ", AccountInfoDouble(ACCOUNT_MARGIN_FREE));
}

"Account allows EAs: false" is door 3. "Account allows trading: false" on a live connection points to the investor password, an archived account or a server restriction. The "script may trade" line describes the script, not your EA; for the EA, read the chart icon. An unrestricted symbol shows SYMBOL_TRADE_MODE_FULL.

Quick decision table

What can go wrong?

Switching Algo Trading on lets the EA place real orders on whatever account is logged in. Turn it on only for an EA you understand, after checking the active account.

Switching it off does not close anything. An EA that manages open positions cannot close or modify them while the switch is off, so they stay open. Stop-loss and take-profit levels are stored and executed on the broker's server and keep working, but a trailing stop runs in the platform (MetaTrader 5 help). Check open positions before switching it back on.

An EA that trades is not necessarily one that is sensible to run. Martingale-style grid EAs carry risk: on a strong move and with too small a deposit a stop-out is possible (Risk, plainly).

Midas is an Expert Advisor for MetaTrader 5 that trades gold (XAUUSD) with a grid; it runs on hedging cent accounts. Its install guide goes through these switches in steps 6, 8 and 9, and the troubleshooting page adds the Midas-specific checks.

This is a technical guide, not a forecast or individual investment advice.

FAQ

How do I enable automated trading in MT5?

In MT5, press the Algo Trading button (Ctrl+E) until it is green; the "Allow algorithmic trading" box in Tools → Options → Expert Advisors is the same terminal-wide permission. Then tick "Allow Algo Trading" on the EA's Common tab. If the Experts or Journal tab still says "disabled by server", the block is the broker's and these switches cannot clear it.

What do "autotrading disabled by client terminal" and "by server" mean in MT5?

Code 10027, "disabled by client terminal", means the switch in your terminal is off: the Algo Trading button or its Options checkbox. The EA's own permission is a separate switch. Code 10026, "disabled by server", means the broker's trade server does not allow automated trading on that account, and no button changes it. Send support your account number, server name and the exact message.

Why is my MT5 EA not trading when the Algo Trading button is green?

In MT5 the green Algo Trading button is only one of six permission checks. Check the EA's own permission and chart icon, whether you logged in with the investor password, the symbol's trade mode and sessions, free margin, and the EA's own filters. The Experts tab usually names the code; an empty log means the EA most likely sent nothing.

Why does Algo Trading turn off by itself in MT5?

Most likely a guard option in Tools → Options → Expert Advisors. If "Disable algorithmic trading when the account has been changed" (or the profile, or the symbol and period) is ticked, that event switches trading off until you press the button again. Logging into a demo account and back is one example. Untick the guards only on purpose.

What does MT5 error 10019 "not enough money" mean when an EA stops opening orders?

Error 10019 means the margin the new order needs is more than your free margin, while the Algo Trading button stays green. In an illustrative example, a cent account at 1:100 with 500 USC equity and 440 USC margin in use has 60 USC free, and the next 0.02-lot order needs 88.97 USC, so it is refused. At 1:2000 the same order needs 4.45 USC.