Isn’t it just terrible to lose connection to MetaTrader 4? You can’t monitor your current transactions, close positions on time at the end of the day or prior to the major news releases, earn more money by opening an extremely successful trade, etc. Even if you are a spectacular trader a small message “No connection” will erase everything.
Today we’ll take a look at possible causes of this problem and find out how to solve them.
Main Reasons for the Issue
Remember that Forex trading is performed through the Internet. Making any action from your device, you send a request to the broker's server. In case of any failure along the way, the connection will be lost. There are several main reasons for this:
- Lack of Internet connection or troubles with a proxy server
- An outdated OS such as Windows XP
- An outdated version of your terminal
- Failure of MetaTrader 4 settings
- Your account was blocked by a broker or hacked
Restoring Connection Between Your Terminal and Broker
In any confusing situation, you should start by turning off and back on your program. In some cases, due to some magic, your connection is restored. If restarting doesn't help, it's time to check your Internet connection.
Look at your Internet icon on the control panel of your computer or other devices. If you work through Wi-Fi, then even a minimal connection should be enough. The broker is extremely interested in granting access to its clients, therefore trading is possible even with a poor Internet signal. You may not have any connection at all. To check, open a browser and go to any site - social networks, search page, news portal, etc. If the site doesn’t open, try the following:
- Make sure that you’ve paid for your Internet. If you forgot to do this, make the payment.
- Check the news from your provider. Perhaps it is carrying out some planned work. I would suggest learning about such things in advance.
- Contact your provider so that they would fix the connection problem as soon as possible.
- If you use Wi-Fi in some other place, such as a cafe, try moving to another place with a better connection.
Once the Internet connection is established and the sites in the browser start to open, restart the MetaTrader.
MetaTrader 4 and Your OS Compatibility
To immediately remove a couple of points from the list of issues above, check the version of your trading platform and operating system. MetaTrader developers have ceased to support Windows XP since it is very outdated. The old version of a terminal could work in the past. However, when updating MetaTrader 4, you will begin to receive a message about lost connection.
The bad news is that you won’t find a suitable old version of the terminal after the update. You’ll need to update your OS at least to Windows 7 version.
The same applies to the trading terminal itself. At some point, developers cease to support certain versions of the program and connection with them might be lost. Try to keep track of updates and timely install them.
Problem with a Trading Server
To optimize the work, trading servers need periodic diagnostics and maintenance. Unfortunately, on the part of the trader, this can lead to a settings failure, which can be restored in two ways.
The first way is to scan the connection to the server:
- Left-click on the connection icon in the lower right corner of the terminal.
- In the drop-down menu choose the option “Rescan server”.
- Select the server with the highest connection. Lack of connection is indicated as “n/a”.
The second way is to open a demo account:
- Click on the “File” - “Open Account” on the main menu.
- In the pop-up window with the list of servers click on the “Scan” button and wait for the process to complete.
- Open a demo account to complete the process. Restart the terminal and log into your regular trading account.
Antivirus and Administrator Rights
Sometimes it’s your operating system that can block communication. Try right-clicking on the MetaTrader 4 icon and log in as administrator. If this doesn’t help, check your firewall settings. Your OS should be allowed to interact with MetaTrader 4. Simply add it to your firewall exceptions list.
Another common reason may be blocking the terminal by your antivirus. You will also need to add MetaTrader to the list of exceptions of your antivirus. Search the Internet to learn how to do this, indicating the name and version of your antivirus.
Connection Through Proxy
Some Internet providers offer a connection through a proxy server, which can be a problem when connecting to a broker. To fix the issue, you need to manually enter the settings of your proxy to MetaTrader. To do this, you need to find out the settings of your proxy from the provider, including the address, login, password, and type of proxy (SOCKS4, SOCKS5, HTTP).
When you have the information, go to “Tools” - “Settings” in your MetaTrader. In the “Server” tab, check the box “Enable proxy server”, press the “Proxy” button on the right, and in the new window enter the data from your provider.
As a rule, a message about the lost connection appears during the first installation of the terminal. Subsequent problems are almost always related to Internet issues. If you keep receiving this message, go through the list from this article to restore your connection.