MetaTrader EA troubleshooting

Sad face on the chart, an idle connection card, or nothing in the Experts journal. Work through the checks in order and read the code the EA logged.

Web Updated 26 July 2026

What this does

Four things have to be true for the VEXA Sync Expert Advisor to deliver a trade: MetaTrader is open, the EA is attached to a chart and allowed to run, https://mt-sync.vexatrade.ai is on the WebRequest list, and the key in VexaApiKey is current. The failures below are in the order they actually happen.

Before you start

Open two things and keep them in view.

The Experts tab of MetaTrader’s Terminal panel (Ctrl+T). Every attempt the EA makes is logged there, including why it was refused.
The EA Connection card on the MetaTrader page in VEXA. It refreshes every 15 seconds and shows the IP your last successful sync came from.

Start here: read the face on the chart

The EA puts a small face in the top right corner of the chart it is attached to.

Sad face. The EA loaded but is not allowed to run. Check three things, in this order:

The AutoTrading button in the MetaTrader toolbar. It has to be on. This is a terminal-wide switch and it overrides everything else.
The EA’s own permission. Right-click the chart, open the EA’s properties, and on the Common tab check Allow Algorithmic Trading on MT5, or Allow live trading on MT4. The two terminals use different wording for the same setting.
That you dragged the EA onto a chart at all. An EA sitting in the Navigator panel is installed, not running.

No face at all. The EA is not on the chart. Press Ctrl+N, expand Expert Advisors, and drag VEXA Sync onto any open chart.

Smiley face but nothing arrives. Move on to the journal.

Read the Experts journal

A healthy start logs VEXA Sync: connected within about five to ten seconds of attaching the EA. If you see a refusal instead, match it below.

What the journal reports	What it means	What to do
`missing_bearer`	The EA sent no key.	The VexaApiKey input is empty. Open the EA properties, go to Inputs, and paste the key.
`malformed_key`	The key is not a VEXA key.	You pasted something else, or the paste was truncated. Real keys begin `vxa_`.
`unknown_key`	The key is not one VEXA issued.	Usually a typed key rather than a copied one. Rotate and copy the new value.
`revoked`	The key was revoked in VEXA.	Generate a new key and paste it into the EA.
`no_integration`	The MetaTrader connection was removed on VEXA’s side.	Set the connection up again from the MetaTrader broker page.
`invalid_key`	The key failed verification.	Rotate the key and paste the new one.
`rate_limited`	Too many requests too quickly.	Nothing to fix. The EA backs off and retries.
`ts_out_of_window`	The batch timestamp is more than five minutes from real time.	Your computer’s clock is wrong. Turn on automatic time in Windows and let it resync.
`schema_invalid`	The batch was malformed.	Reinstall the EA file from the Download card, in case the copy on disk is damaged.
`commit_failed`	VEXA accepted the batch and failed to store it.	Nothing you can fix at your end. The EA keeps the batch and retries.

Nothing in the journal at all, not even an error, points at the WebRequest list. Open Tools, then Options, then Expert Advisors, tick Allow WebRequest for listed URL, and confirm https://mt-sync.vexatrade.ai is in the list exactly, with no trailing slash and no path.

The connection card says Idle

Yellow means VEXA has heard from the EA before but not recently. In order of likelihood:

MetaTrader is closed. The EA only runs while the terminal is open.
The chart the EA lived on was closed, or the profile was switched. Drag it onto a chart again.
The machine slept. Trades closed while it was asleep sync on the next launch, so wait a minute after waking before assuming anything is lost.

If you want the connection to stay green around the clock, run MetaTrader on a forex VPS. This matters more on MT4, which sends on a 60-second timer rather than reacting to each close.

Trades are arriving but old ones are missing

On MT4, the EA can only see what the terminal is showing it. Press Ctrl+T, open Account History, right-click inside it, and choose All History. With a shorter period selected, MT4 hands the EA roughly one month and nothing earlier.

MT5 does not have this limitation, and it runs a full reconciliation sweep every six hours to pick up anything a busy period missed.

If history is still short after that, see Some of my trades are missing.

What you should see

A smiley face on the chart, VEXA Sync: connected in the Experts tab, and a green pulsing dot on the EA Connection card naming a recent sync time. Trades appear in VEXA without you exporting anything.

There is no Sync Now button for MetaTrader accounts. The EA pushes to VEXA rather than VEXA pulling from your terminal, so there is nothing to trigger from this end.

Install the VEXA Sync Expert Advisor Put the VEXA Sync EA into your desktop MetaTrader 4 or 5 terminal so closed trades reach VEXA on their own. Your VEXA Sync API key The key that links your MetaTrader terminal to VEXA is shown once for 60 seconds. How to generate, rotate and revoke it, and what breaks when you do. Some of my trades are missing Part of your history imported and part did not. Almost always the export covered less than you thought, or your broker splits its history across several files.

Still stuck? Email support@vexatrade.ai.