If the MTContext Expert Advisor is on your chart but your dashboard shows the terminal as disconnected — or the EA never went green in the first place — it's almost always one of a handful of things. Work through these in order; they're roughly most-common first.
1. Algorithmic trading is off
This is the usual culprit. The EA can't run at all if algo trading is disabled.
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Tools → Options → Expert Advisors → Allow algorithmic trading must be enabled.
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The Algo Trading button in the toolbar must be on (green).
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On the chart's EA dialog, the Common tab's Allow Algo Trading box must be checked.
A running EA shows a smiley face in the top-right corner of the chart. A sad face or an "×" means it isn't running — recheck the above.
2. The license key is wrong or missing
Open the EA's inputs (right-click the chart → Expert Advisors → Properties → Inputs) and check the key:
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It must start with
MTMCP-and have no trailing spaces (a stray space from copy-paste is a common cause). -
It must be the exact key from your dashboard, not an old or revoked one.
A 401-style rejection in the logs means the key is invalid, mistyped, or revoked.
3. The key hasn't been bound yet
A brand-new key only becomes usable after a terminal connects with it once. If this is a fresh key, letting the EA connect is the binding step — but if you generated the key and are testing in a client before the EA ever connected, that's the problem. Get the EA connected first. See Activating your license key.
4. Outbound connection is blocked
The EA connects outward to MTContext's cloud over a WebSocket — it doesn't open any inbound port, so there's nothing to forward. But an outbound block will still stop it:
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A corporate firewall, VPN, or antivirus blocking outbound HTTPS/WebSocket traffic.
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A proxy that intercepts TLS.
Try the same terminal on a different network (or briefly without the VPN) to isolate this. If it connects elsewhere, the block is on the original network.
5. Check the EA's own logs
MetaTrader's Experts and Journal tabs (bottom panel) show what the EA is reporting — connection attempts, auth results, and errors. That's the fastest way to tell a key problem (auth rejected) from a network problem (connection never establishes).
Still stuck?
If the EA reports connected but your AI client says there's no terminal, that's a different issue — see "No terminal connected" in your AI client. Otherwise, re-run the install from Installing the EA on MT5 to rule out a missing step.
Manage your keys and check terminal status at mtcontext.com/dashboard.