How to Install an Expert Advisor on MT4

Where the file goes

An expert advisor is a single compiled .ex4 file. In MetaTrader 4, open File → Open Data Folder, then MQL4, then Experts, and drop the file there.

Use that menu rather than browsing by hand: MetaTrader 4 often keeps its data somewhere other than the folder you installed into, and a file copied to the wrong place never appears. Restart the terminal and the robot shows under Expert Advisors in the Navigator.

Enable automated trading

Two switches have to be on, and they are independent of each other.

• The AutoTrading button in the toolbar has to be green. Grey means the terminal accepts the robot on a chart and then ignores every order it sends.
• In Tools → Options → Expert Advisors, Allow automated trading has to be ticked. Allow DLL imports is a separate permission, only relevant for robots that call an external library.

Attach it to each chart

Open a chart for each combination you chose — one to four pairs, with Patient, Active or both for each — and drag the expert advisor onto it from the Navigator. Each chart loads its own set file.

The Inputs tab of the dialog that opens is where the set file loads. Which preset belongs to which portfolio and level is in Kestrel Forex EA Settings and Set Files by Level.

Confirm it is running

A smiling face in the top right corner of the chart means the robot is loaded and automated trading is allowed. A sad face means it is loaded but disabled; no face means it never attached.

Then wait. The robot holds for its own signal, so a quiet chart on the first day is normal. The Experts tab shows the robot’s decisions and the Journal tab shows connection problems.

If you replaced the .ex4 file, remove the robot from the chart and drag it on again: reopening the properties re-reads the settings but not the file. And if the chart stays silent after patient checking, work through Expert Advisor Not Working? A Checklist to Fix It before changing a setting.

Getting the Kestrel file

The licence includes the EA file, the set files for the four pairs in both variants at your level, free updates while the licence is active, a private Telegram group for clients and email support at [email protected]. You buy by writing to us — email or Telegram.