MT5 EA Daily Monitoring Checklist

MT5 EA Daily Monitoring Checklist — 5 Things to Check Every Day

Once you've set up your EA on a VPS, it's tempting to think "it runs itself now." It doesn't. EAs can stop silently due to errors, broker issues, or VPS reboots — and if you don't catch it, you lose trading days. This guide shows the daily routine that keeps your EA running safely for the long term.

The 5-Minute Daily Checklist

Run through this list first thing in the morning, top to bottom. Each item is explained in detail under "Daily Checks (4 Items)".

• Expert tab: no ERR_, "Error" or "Failed" entries in today's log
• AutoTrading button: the "AutoTrading" button on the toolbar is ON (green)
• Open positions: symbol, number of positions and SL are as expected
• Margin level: not down in the caution zone (below 200%)
• EA not trading? Use the "Troubleshooting Flowchart" below to find the cause

Recommended Check Frequency

Daily Checks (4 Items)

1. Expert Tab Error Log

The Expert tab in MT5 (bottom panel) shows every EA's runtime log in chronological order.

Normal log example

2026.05.18 09:00:01 SampleEA (XAUUSD,H1): No signal. ATR=1245, EMA50=1998.23
2026.05.18 10:00:01 SampleEA (XAUUSD,H1): BUY SIGNAL confirmed. Lot=0.02, SL=1996.00, TP=2003.50
2026.05.18 10:00:02 SampleEA (XAUUSD,H1): Order placed successfully. Ticket #12345678

Logs that need attention

ERR_NO_MONEY         → Insufficient margin — can't open position
ERR_TRADE_DISABLED   → AutoTrading is OFF in MT5
ERR_CONNECTION       → Connection to the broker is lost
ERR_MARKET_CLOSED    → Outside trading hours (weekends, holidays)
ERR_INVALID_STOPS    → SL/TP too close to current price
Margin level too low → Margin level fell below the EA's threshold

The ERR_… names above are simplified labels to show the meaning. The exact wording depends on the EA and the MT5 build; in MT5's standard trade return codes they correspond to 10019 (not enough money), 10027 (AutoTrading disabled by the client terminal), 10017 (trade disabled), 10031 (no connection to the trade server), 10018 (market closed) and 10016 (invalid stops).

ERR_TRADE_DISABLED deserves special attention: either the "AutoTrading" button in MT5 is OFF, or the EA was stopped manually. It also appears when MT5 restarted after a VPS reboot but the EA did not resume automatically.

Seeing ERR_NO_MONEY specifically? It fires even when your balance looks fine — our dedicated guide walks through all 6 causes and the fix: ERR_NO_MONEY in MQL5 — 'not enough money' (134 / 10019). For every other code, see the MQL5 / MT5 Error Code Reference.

Recommended check workflow

1. Open MT5 → click "Expert" tab at the bottom
2. Search for "Error", "ERR_", or "Failed" in today's entries
3. If errors are present, check the Error Code Reference and apply the fix
4. After fixing, restart the EA or remove and re-attach it to the chart

If the Expert tab gets too long to read

Right-click → "Clear" resets the display (the log files themselves are kept).

2. Is the AutoTrading Button ON?

Check every day that the "AutoTrading" button (the green button) on MT5's top toolbar is ON. In newer MT5 builds this button is labelled "Algo Trading".

• ON: the button is bright green
• OFF: the button is greyed out (the smiley face on the chart turns dark)

After a VPS reboot, MT5 may start automatically but with AutoTrading switched OFF. In that state the EA still appears on the chart but will not trade at all.

After a VPS reboot, verify

1. MT5 is running
2. AutoTrading toolbar button is ON (green)
3. Each chart shows a smiley face icon in the top-right
4. "Algo Trading" is enabled in Tools → Options → Expert Advisors

If any of these are off, the EA stopped. Re-enable and check that the Expert log shows recent entries.

Check MT5's auto-start setup

To keep MT5 running on the VPS at all times:

1. In the Windows Start menu, right-click the MT5 shortcut → "Properties"
2. If you run MT5 in portable mode, leave the /portable option at the end of "Target" as it is (do not add it to a normal installation afterwards — it changes the data folder location, so your EAs and settings seem to disappear)
3. Put the shortcut in the Startup folder (shell:startup)

3. Open Positions

Open the "Trade" tab in the Terminal (bottom panel) and confirm:

1. Is the EA holding positions on the right symbol? A gold EA holding a EURUSD position points to a MagicNumber misconfiguration

2. Does the Comment column show the right EA name? Each EA writes its name into Comment. An unknown position may be a manual entry made by mistake

3. Is the number of positions as expected? If an EA set to OneTradePerDay=true holds several positions, check its settings

4. Is SL set correctly? A position with SL=0.0 has no stop-loss (very dangerous)

Also look at:

• Holding duration: Are positions held longer than the EA's strategy timeframe?
• Floating loss: Is any single position showing unusually large unrealized loss?
• Take-profit: Is TP correctly set on every position?

Stale position warning

If a position has been open for more than ~3× the EA's typical holding period (e.g., H1 EA holding more than 4–6 hours), one of these may have happened:

• TP wasn't reached and the EA waits for stop-loss
• TP was set too far away (parameter issue)
• Manual stop-loss hit but the EA didn't close (rare)

When unsure, close the position manually rather than letting unlimited drawdown accumulate.

4. Margin Level

Your current margin level is shown in MT5's account panel (or at the bottom of the "Trade" tab).

Margin level = (Equity ÷ Used Margin) × 100

Margin level guide

The levels at which a margin call and a stop-out (forced liquidation) are triggered differ by broker and account type. The table above is a general guide — check the actual levels in your own account's trading conditions.

When several EAs hold positions at the same time, the margin level can drop quickly. Gold positions in particular consume a lot of margin.

If the margin level is low

1. Deposit additional funds to restore the margin level
2. Close some open positions manually
3. Lower the EA's RiskPercent before restarting it

Weekly and Monthly Checks

Weekly P&L review (every Monday)

Run this every Monday morning.

1. Terminal → "History" tab (or MT5 → "Reports") → set the period to last week or last month
2. Check:
   • Net P&L: Realistic compared to backtest expectation?
   • Trade count: Roughly matching the EA's typical weekly count?
   • Win rate: Within ±10pt of backtest figure?
   • Maximum drawdown: Within 1.5× backtest max DD?

Weekly comparison template

Week of: YYYY-MM-DD

EA:                  SampleEA (XAUUSD,H1)
Trade count:         12
Win rate:            58.3% (BT: 56.5%)
Profit factor:       1.43 (BT: 1.41)
Net P&L:             +$48.50 (+0.49%)
Max drawdown:        2.1% (BT max: 14.5%)
Notes: 

When weekly figures are within reason, do nothing. Performance fluctuates — the goal is to spot structural problems, not chase noise.

Saving a report (monthly)

Right-click the History tab → "Save as Report" to export an HTML report. Saving one every month makes it much easier to analyse the EA's performance later.

VPS and MT5 maintenance (about once a week)

Monthly maintenance checklist

• Account password rotation — Change MT5 investor password (read-only) and main password
• Backup MQL5/Experts/ folder — Save your EA .ex5 files in case of VPS failure
• Review monthly P&L vs backtest expectation — Big deviation = investigate, don't blindly change parameters

Troubleshooting Flowchart

EA is not entering trades
    ↓
Is the AutoTrading button ON?
    NO → Turn the button ON
    YES ↓
Any errors in the Expert tab?
    ERR_NO_MONEY → Check margin / deposit
    ERR_TRADE_DISABLED → Restart the EA
    ERR_CONNECTION → Check the broker server
    No errors → There is simply no signal yet (normal)

Pattern 1: "EA was running yesterday but no trades today"

Most likely causes:

• AutoTrading button got switched off (often by accident)
• MT5 was restarted but didn't auto-relaunch
• The pair's market is closed (holiday)
• Spread filter (MaxSpread) was triggered by widening spreads

Check Expert log for messages like Spread too wide or AutoTrading disabled.

Pattern 2: "Same loss happens repeatedly"

Most likely causes:

• The market entered an environment the EA wasn't optimized for
• Broker spread widened significantly (check your broker's spread history)
• News event impact (was there a major release recently?)

Don't change parameters reactively — wait for 30+ trades of data before deciding.

Pattern 3: "Profitable in backtest, losing in live"

Common causes:

• Slippage worse than backtest assumed (especially for scalping EAs)
• Spread in live broker wider than backtest setting
• Latency to broker server is high (VPS too far from broker DC)

Solutions:

• Tighten MaxSlippage parameter
• Compare live spreads against your backtest settings, and consider a raw-spread / ECN-type account if spreads are the main gap
• Choose a VPS in the same region as your broker

Summary

EA "automation" does not mean "unattended". A 5-minute check every day catches problems early and keeps losses small.

The 5-minute morning routine:

1. Expert tab → search for errors
2. AutoTrading button → confirm green (and the smiley face on each chart)
3. Trade tab → confirm no stale or unexpected positions
4. Margin level → check headroom

Add the weekly P&L review and the monthly maintenance checks, and you will notice EA stops and malfunctions much sooner.

FAQ

Q: MT5 crashed on the VPS by itself. What should I do?

First check why MT5 stopped in the Windows Event Viewer (Win key → "Event Viewer"). Low memory and reboots caused by Windows Update are the most common causes. Review MT5's auto-start setup and take steps to prevent it from happening again.

Q: How long are Expert tab logs kept?

By default MT5 displays up to several thousand lines. The log files are saved per day in the MQL5/Logs/ folder. We recommend backing them up regularly before old logs are removed.

Q: Will the EA stop automatically when the margin level drops?

It depends on the EA. Most EAs on this site have Guard_EmergencyMargin (default 120%: closes all positions when the margin level falls below it) and Notify_MarginAlert (default 150%: sends a warning when it falls below); a few EAs use UseMarginEmergencyClose / EmergencyMarginLevel (default 150%) for the same emergency close. Some EAs also have UseMarginCheck / MinMarginLevel instead: with UseMarginCheck = true (default false), new entries are stopped when the margin level falls below MinMarginLevel (default 200%). That only stops new entries — open positions are not closed. Check each EA page's parameter list to see which settings your EA has.

Q: Can I monitor MT5 remotely from my smartphone?

Yes. Log in to the same account in the MT5 mobile app (iOS/Android) and you can see open positions, balance and margin level from your phone. You can also set up push notifications to receive important alerts.

Q: Is it normal that the EA doesn't trade on weekends?

Yes, that's normal. The FX market closes over the weekend (in server time, from the end of trading on Friday until around 00:00 on Monday). It is correct behaviour for the EA not to enter trades during that time. Open positions are carried over the weekend, though (swap applies).

Q: I won't be able to touch the VPS for a week. Should I stop the EA?

For a short period (about a week), one option is to confirm the EA is running normally and leave it as it is. If you're worried, switch MT5's "AutoTrading" button OFF, or turn ON each EA's "pause button" (in the EA's GUI). For a long period (a month or more), we recommend closing all positions before intentionally shutting down the VPS.

Related Articles

• ERR_NO_MONEY in MQL5 — 'not enough money' (134 / 10019), causes & fixes
• MQL5 / MT5 Error Code Reference — ERR_TRADE_DISABLED & more
• Best VPS for MT5 EA in 2026
• How to Backtest MT5 EAs Properly
• EA Drawdown Management
• EA Rankings — current EA list