MetaTrader 5 is the de-facto standard platform for retail algorithmic trading. Brokers provide it free; you download it either from your broker or from MetaQuotes directly. Installation is unremarkable. What matters for automation is everything after installation, because MT5 ships with algorithmic trading partially disabled and several defaults tuned for manual use.

Demo first, always

Open a demo account before anything else — in MT5: File → Open an Account, pick your broker or the MetaQuotes demo server, and choose a balance and leverage that mirror what you would actually trade. A demo that is ten times your real intended balance teaches you nothing about how a strategy feels at your size.

Every lesson in this curriculum assumes you will run things on demo for weeks before a single real trade. This is not ritual caution. Demo is where you learn a strategy's rhythm — trade frequency, typical drawdown, how it behaves on quiet days — without paying tuition to the market.

The settings that actually matter

  • Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → "Allow algorithmic trading" must be enabled, and the button in the toolbar must show green. Both switches exist; both must be on.
  • Broker server time zone: most brokers run GMT+2/+3 so that the daily candle closes with the New York session. Some strategies depend on this; know what your broker uses.
  • The "Max bars in chart" setting affects how much history indicators and EAs can read. For backtesting-heavy work, raise it.
  • Enable the Journal and Experts tabs at the bottom of the terminal and read them. Every EA problem you will ever have announces itself there first.
  • If an EA needs external data, its web requests must be whitelisted under the same Expert Advisors options page — a security feature many setup guides forget.

Keeping it running

An EA only trades while the terminal is open, connected, and the EA is attached to a chart. Close your laptop and the strategy stops. This is why serious automated setups run on a VPS — a small always-on server, often physically near the broker's servers to reduce latency. Most brokers offer one, and independent providers cost a few dollars a month.

A VPS is not mandatory for learning. It becomes relevant the moment you would be upset that a strategy missed a trade because your computer was asleep.

Common mistakeAttaching an EA to a chart and assuming it is working. Check the top-right corner of the chart for the EA's name and a blue (not grey) hat icon, and confirm activity in the Experts tab.