EA not running — troubleshooting

Red smiley, sad face or no smiley at all? Here are the most common causes and fixes.

If your EA isn't doing what it should, it's usually down to one of five standard causes. Go through them one by one.

1 — Algo trading off

This is cause no. 1. In the MT5 header at the top there is an "Algo Trading" button. If it's red, all EAs are blocked.

Fix: Click the button. It should turn green.

2 — Algo trading disabled in the EA dialog

Even if the global algo trading button is on: each EA has its own setting as well.

Fix: Right-click the chart → "Expert Advisors" → "Properties". In the "Common" tab, "Allow algorithmic trading" must be ticked.

3 — Licence not activated

TMB EAs require a valid licence. If the EA reports an "Invalid License" error or similar on start-up:

Fix: Copy the licence key from the confirmation email or from /library/ and enter it in the EA's Inputs tab. For licences bound to an MT5 account: make sure you activate on the account that belongs to the licence.

4 — Wrong symbol or timeframe

Some EAs are designed for specific symbols or timeframes (e.g. EURUSD M15 only). If the EA runs on a different symbol, it does nothing at all or makes nonsensical trades.

Fix: Check the product description in the Library — it states which symbol/timeframe the EA is made for. Switch the chart accordingly.

5 — Market closed

Forex markets close from Friday evening until Sunday night. CFD indices each have their own hours. Outside market hours the EA cannot open trades.

Fix: Wait until the market is open again. In the "Market Watch" window you can see whether the symbol is currently live (price changing) or frozen.

Reading logs: In the lower MT5 area, there's the "Experts" tab. Here, each EA logs its behavior — errors, trade attempts, license checks. If none of the above points help: Check the Experts logs, as they usually indicate what’s going wrong.
If nothing helps: take a screenshot of chart + logs and write to us at support@tmb-invest.de. We usually reply within 24 hours.
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