Install & operating guide
Everything from a fresh MetaTrader install to your first managed trade. Budget about twenty minutes the first time. You only do this once.
Step 01What you need before starting
- MetaTrader 5 — the MT4 version will not work
- A broker account that carries the instruments you want to trade
- A machine that stays on — a home PC left running, or a VPS
- Your subscription, active, from the pricing page
Step 02Get your licence key and files
Go to your licence page and enter the key from your subscription email. You'll see:
- Your licence key, in the form
TNT-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX - The URL you need to allow in MT5
- A field to bind your MT5 account number
- The download button
Download the file. You'll get TuneAndTrade.zip containing two files.
Step 03Install the files
In MetaTrader 5, open File → Open Data Folder. A Windows Explorer window opens. Navigate into MQL5. Then:
| File | Goes into |
|---|---|
| TuneAndTrade_Master.ex5 | MQL5\Experts\ |
| TuneAndTrade_PanelHost.ex5 | MQL5\Indicators\ |
Close the Explorer window. Back in MT5, right-click anywhere in the Navigator panel and choose Refresh. Tune and Trade now appears under Expert Advisors.
Step 04Allow the licence URL in MT5
MetaTrader blocks outbound connections until you approve the address. Without this the system cannot confirm your licence and will not trade.
- In MT5: Tools → Options → Expert Advisors
- Tick Allow WebRequest for listed URL
- Click the empty row and type:
https://api.tuneandtrade.com - Press Enter, then OK
www, and https not http.
MetaTrader matches this string literally — one wrong character and it silently
fails with error 4014. This is the single most common setup problem, and the
dashboard will tell you plainly if it happens.
Step 05Attach it to a chart
- Open a chart for the instrument you want to trade — for example XAUUSD
- Set the timeframe to M5
- Make sure the Algo Trading button in the MT5 toolbar is green. If it's red, click it
- Drag TuneAndTrade_Master from the Navigator onto the chart
- In the dialog, open the Common tab and tick Allow Algo Trading
- Open the Inputs tab. Licence key is the very first field — paste yours there
- Click OK
The dashboard appears in a strip below your chart. Check the badge at the top-right: LIVE means the licence checked out and the system is running.
Step 06Settings that matter
There are a lot of inputs. These are the ones worth thinking about — the rest can stay at their defaults.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Licence key | From your licence page. Required. |
| Risk % per trade | The share of your equity a single losing trade costs you. Start at 0.5%. 1% is normal. Above 2% is aggressive and will produce drawdowns most people are not prepared for. |
| Start in risk mode | Set true to size from your equity. Set false to trade a fixed lot instead. |
| Daily loss limit % | New entries stop for the day once losses reach this. 3% is a sensible starting point. Set 0 to disable, though I would not. |
| Daily profit target | New entries stop once the day is up by this much. Off by default. Turn it on if you prefer banking a set amount and walking away. |
| Risk distance | An ATR multiplier. This drives position sizing — a wider setting means smaller positions for the same risk percentage. |
| Runner mode | Banks two targets, then lets the remainder run to the reversal instead of closing it at a third. On by default. |
| Flip confirm bars | How many closed bars the new direction must hold before a reversal counts. |
Step 07The dashboard, button by button
Stats
Floating P/L on open positions, today's total and this month's. All live.
Controls
| BUY / SELL | Open a trade manually, right now, using your current lot and risk settings. |
| CLOSE ALL | Flatten everything on this symbol immediately. |
| AUTO | Turns automatic trading on or off. Open positions are left exactly as they are, and your daily limits keep running either way. |
| B/E | Places a stop at your entry price on the open position. Note this is the only stop the system ever places, and only when you press it. |
| ADD | Add another position in the same direction as the one already open. |
| −ADD | Removes the volume you added, leaving the original entry in place. |
Lot size
Type a lot directly, tap a preset, or nudge with − and +. When risk mode is on this box is read-only, because the system is calculating the lot for you.
Risk
| RISK | Green when sizing from your equity. Grey when using a fixed lot. |
| SMA − / + | Changes the moving average length live. The next closed candle is read from the new average. |
| T1 / T2 / RUN − / + | Nudge the profit targets while a trade is open. They are set in R — multiples of what you are risking — so 1.00 means "take half off once the trade has made what it was risking". RUN caps the runner; leave it at — and the runner has no ceiling. |
| TGT | Arms the daily profit target, and nudges it up or down. |
The status strip
Your open position with its stop, P/L and staged-exit progress on the first line. Balance, risk mode, daily percentage against the limit, target progress, and licence days remaining on the second.
The badge
| LIVE | Everything fine, system running. |
| TARGET | Daily profit target reached. New entries paused until tomorrow. |
| HALT | Daily loss limit reached. New entries paused until tomorrow. |
| LICENCE | Licence problem. The status strip explains which one. |
Step 08Daily operation
Once it's running there is very little to do, which is the point. But "very little" is not "nothing":
- Leave MetaTrader running with Algo Trading green
- Check in once a day. Glance at the badge and the daily figure
- Don't fiddle mid-trade. Changing risk settings while a position is open produces confusing results
- Watch for broker maintenance windows, when spreads widen and the system may behave differently
- Re-download after an update — MT5 does not auto-update. Existing installs keep the version they have
Step 09When something goes wrong
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Red LICENCE badge, "URL not allowed" | Step 04 wasn't completed or the address has a typo. Check it character by character. |
| "Wrong MT5 account" | Your key is bound to a different account. Rebind it on your licence page. |
| "Subscription inactive" | Payment failed or the subscription was cancelled. Open the billing page from your licence page. |
| Dashboard sits on the price chart | The panel host indicator isn't in MQL5\Indicators. Re-do step 03 and reattach. |
| Nothing trades at all | Check the Algo Trading button is green and "Allow Algo Trading" was ticked when you attached it. |
| No new entries, badge says HALT or TARGET | Working exactly as designed. A daily limit was reached. It resets at the next daily rollover. |
| Orders rejected by the broker | Usually lot size below the broker's minimum, or the market is closed. The Experts tab in MT5 gives the exact reason. |