# How to Verify Your EA Is Pushing Trades Correctly

> Before you trust your journal data, verify that your EA is actually syncing correctly. Here are the specific checks to confirm everything is working.

**Tags:** ea, verification, troubleshooting, sync-check
**URL:** https://traderjournal.app/metatrader/how-to-verify-ea-pushing-trades-correctly

---


# How to Verify Your EA Is Pushing Trades Correctly

Setting up the EA is step one. Verifying that it is actually pushing data correctly is step two. Here are the specific checks to confirm your sync is working as expected.

---

## Check 1 - The EA Icon on the Chart

The EA icon in the top-right corner of the chart it is attached to shows its status:

**Smiley face (green circle):** EA is running without errors. This is the good state.

**Angry face (red circle):** EA has encountered a critical error and stopped running. Common causes: auto trading disabled, missing WebRequest permission, or a code error.

**No icon / just the EA name:** The EA is loaded but not initialized. This usually means auto trading is disabled globally.

If you see the angry face, check the MT4/MT5 Experts tab for the specific error message.

---

## Check 2 - The Experts Log

In MT4: Look at the bottom panel, Experts tab.
In MT5: Toolbox (Ctrl+T) > Experts tab.

After the EA runs its first sync cycle, you should see log entries. What successful output looks like:

"TJ Sync: Push successful. Trades: 3, Equity: 10420.50"

Or if there are no new trades since the last sync:

"TJ Sync: Push successful. Trades: 0, Equity: 10420.50"

Both are correct. The "Trades: 0" message means the EA ran, found no new closed trades, but still pushed the equity snapshot successfully.

Error messages to watch for:

"URL not allowed" - WebRequest not enabled for the API domain
"Authentication failed" - Wrong API key in the EA inputs
"Connection failed" - Network issue or server temporarily unavailable
"Invalid API URL" - The ApiUrl input is incorrect

---

## Check 3 - The App Reflects Current Balance

In Trader Journal, pull to refresh on the Dashboard. The account balance shown in the stats section should match your MT4/MT5 account balance.

If the balance is wrong or not appearing, the equity snapshot push is failing even if trades are syncing. Check the Experts log for equity-related errors.

---

## Check 4 - Close a Test Trade and Check

The most conclusive verification: open and immediately close a small trade on a demo account, then check whether it appears in the journal within 30-60 seconds.

1. Open a 0.01 lot trade on any pair in MT4/MT5
2. Immediately close it
3. Wait 30-60 seconds
4. Pull to refresh in the Trader Journal app

The trade should appear in the Dashboard's recent trades list.

If it does not appear after 2 minutes, the sync is not working. Check the Experts log.

---

## Check 5 - Review the Trade Data

Open the trade in Trader Journal and verify the fields are correct:

- Symbol matches what you traded
- Direction (buy/sell) is correct
- Entry and exit prices match what you see in MT4/MT5 history
- Commission and swap are populated if applicable

If the prices or P&L look wrong, there may be a calculation issue worth reporting to support.

---

## Common Fixes Summary

| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| EA angry face | Enable auto trading in MT4/MT5 toolbar |
| "URL not allowed" in log | Add API URL to WebRequest list in Options |
| "Authentication failed" | Check and correct API key in EA inputs |
| No data in app | Ensure you saved the account in the app before running the EA |
| Wrong balance shown | Check that initial balance matches your current balance |

---

Download Trader Journal at android.traderjournal.app or ios.traderjournal.app.