Hi there,
I have recently started trading my demo account with an EA. Last night no trades were made even though the EA was on and the signals were all aligned for some nice looking trades. My trading laptop with MT4 was closed and therefore in standby mode all night… Would this cause the EA to not be activated?
Computer has to be online for the EA to get triggered right? what about standby?
Any ideas?
thanks!
I think you are referring to hibernate mode and you have assumed correctly. A computer in hibernation mode does not communicate on the network, so no updates are happening in MT4. When the computer is activated once again, the charts are updated, but of course, the trades are missed.
What you should do is adjust the control settings to never go into hibernation. Leave the settings for the screen saving mode alone, no point in burning out your screen. Other people use a VPS service to overcome this, but for a beginner, I would not recommend, you have a lot to learn as it is.
Thanks for the reply… I did check my settings and hibernation was not enabled. The setting for what to do when computer lid is closed was set to “stand by” - should I change this to “do nothing”?
I have heard of the VPS - and you are right, definitely not ready for that!
You do things differently than myself. I very seldom close my laptop cover except when transporting it. I didn’t realize that there were separate settings and I’m not familiar with them. “Do nothing” seems to be the logical choice.
I use the settings about the display and when to put the computer to sleep. They have drop down settings in minutes to choose from. There is a “never” setting which is what I recommend.
Thanks for your advice!! I have changed some settings now and hope to keep that EA trading while I sleep! 
Cheers!