MetaTrader Auto-Startup: Why Is It Important and How It Works?

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When trading with Expert Advisors it is important for your PC to be online as much as possible. But sometimes we just must restart our computers, for example to install updates. Some might argue that installing updates is a waste of time, but it is critical for your information security: you want systems working with money to be always updated. Why? Because hackers can use known vulnerabilities to get into your computer and steal your financial information. Installing updates allows you to mitigate this particular risk. Windows even has a built-in mechanism to simplify all that for you and protect you as much as it can: by default, it installs updates and reboots automatically.

Those automatic installations and reboots happen when you don't actively use your computer, usually when there's no one around, often at night. But what if you have Expert Advisors actively trading on the Asian session?

That's why you want your MetaTrader to automatically come up online after a reboot and continue trading. The solution to achieve this consists of three components:

1. Automatic Windows logon.

2. Automatic start of the MT application.

3. Automatic logon to the trading server.

Automatic logon

Windows stores information required for an automatic logon in the system registry. The registry is a database that stores all your computer's settings, you can learn more about it in Wikipedia​.

The auto logon settings are in the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" registry key. You may configure them manually​, but this way is prone to errors. That's why Microsoft created a simple to use utility, specifically for this purpose: AutoLogon​.

When you start this app, the "Username" and "Domain" fields will be pre-filled automatically, you'll just need to put in your Windows password. If you don't use any password on your machine, leave it empty.

Click "Enable" to enable automatic logon, and later, should you want to disable this feature, run the application again and click "Disable".

Automatic MT start 

Windows has too many places where it keeps programs to run at startup/login, the easiest among them to use is the "Startup" folder in your user profile.

You most likely already have a shortcut to a MetaTrader client on your desktop, so here's what you need to do:

1. Open an Explorer window and copy/paste this into the address bar: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

2. Press "Enter".

3. Explorer should open your Startup folder – put this window aside.

4. Right-click your MetaTrader shortcut on the Desktop and select "Copy".

5. Now go to the Startup folder, right-click the empty space there and select "Paste".

6. Restart your computer – your MetaTrader should start automatically.

Automatic logon to the trading server

That's the easiest part and you most likely already have this enabled. If you clicked that "Save password" checkbox while setting up your account in MetaTrader, then you are good. You can learn more about this functionality in the official documentation​.

This article is brought to you by Fozzy​: a Forex VPS provider built by professionals for professionals.