Before you start
- —A funded MT5 account with the broker you intend to run live, not a different one.
- —Your licence key from the account area, and the account number it will be bound to.
- —A machine that will stay online — ideally a VPS rather than a laptop.
- —Ten minutes of undisturbed attention. Rushed installations are where the mistakes live.
Installation
- —In MT5, open File → Open Data Folder, then navigate into MQL5 → Experts.
- —Copy the downloaded .ex5 file into that folder and close the window.
- —Back in MT5, right-click Expert Advisors in the Navigator and choose Refresh. The EA appears in the list.
- —Open a fresh XAUUSD chart on the timeframe specified in your setup sheet, then drag the EA onto it.
- —In the Common tab, enable Allow Algo Trading. In the Inputs tab, paste your licence key exactly as issued.
Verification checks people skip
- —Confirm the smiley face in the top-right of the chart, not just the Algo Trading button being green.
- —Check the Experts tab for the licence validation line. It should confirm activation and the bound account number.
- —Confirm the symbol name matches your broker's exact gold symbol — XAUUSD, XAUUSD.pro and GOLD are different symbols.
- —Verify the chart timeframe against the setup sheet. Running the wrong timeframe changes the strategy entirely.
If something goes wrong
The three most common problems are a licence key bound to a different account number, algo trading disabled at the terminal level rather than the chart level, and a broker symbol mismatch. All three produce a clear line in the Experts tab, which is the first place to look before contacting support — and the first thing support will ask you for.
Verifying the installation before risking capital
The installation is not finished when the smiley face appears in the corner of the chart. It is finished when you have confirmed that the algorithm can read the symbol correctly, compute a lot size that matches your expectation, and place and modify an order on a demo account without error. Ten minutes of verification prevents the most common category of first-week support ticket.
A four-step verification pass
- —Confirm the symbol name matches your broker's gold contract exactly, including any suffix.
- —Check the contract specification: tick size, contract size and minimum stop distance.
- —Run on demo until the first trade opens, then confirm the stop is where the rules say it should be.
- —Restart the terminal deliberately and confirm the algorithm recovers its state.
Common installation failures and what they mean
Almost every failed setup falls into a small number of categories, and each has an unambiguous signature in the journal. Reading the Experts and Journal tabs before contacting support usually resolves the issue in minutes, because MetaTrader is unusually explicit about why it refused to do something.
Reading the journal like a diagnostic
Everything discussed here is applied on a public, third-party verified account — updated continuously, losing weeks included.