In order for your EA to take or manage trades, Auto Trading has to be enabled in MT4 and the individual settings.

A quick way to verify if your EA has auto trading enabled is to check the top right corner and if it has a “Sad face” then it means that Auto-Trading is disabled for the EA, It if has a “Smily face” then it means that the EA will be able to manage and take trades.

Auto Trade Disabled (Sad Face)

Auto Trade Enabled (Smily Face)

If your EA shows the Sad Face follow the next tutorial to enable Auto Trading

Enable Automated Trading in MT4 #

Make sure that “Allow automated trading” is checked in the “Expert Advisors” tab of the options

Verify Automated Trading Is Enabled in MT4 #

Check that your Automated trading icon is turned on (this is a quick way to check if automated trading is allowed)

If the icon shows the stop icon then you can click on it to enable automated trading.

If automated trading is allowed then the icon will look as follows

Enable Automated Trading in the Expert Advisor (EA) #

Finally, make sure that your individual EA has trading permissions by going to the EA settings and making sure that the option is checked as shown below.

Once the steps are done you should see the Smily face in your EA