Financial Instruments Business Operator Kanto Finance Bureau Director (Kinsho) No. 1960 / Membership Association Investment Trusts Association, Japan Membership No. 012-02323 Go to GogoJungle Home
icon List
Yohaku
10/17/2026 18:30
Release： 10/17/2026 18:30
Update： 10/17/2026 18:30
Yohaku
Investment style : Day Trade
Investment career : More than 10 years
Investment amount : 5 million - 10 million JPY
We study logic daily...
Article cover image

"Indi" but not working: sometimes it refers to EA (you can tell by the Navigator's hat icon)

I am Yohaku, making MT4/MT5 indicators and handy tools. What I create is decided from the complaints that appear in Gogolion reviews and questions.

Among them, I have repeatedly seen voices like “I bought the indicator, but it doesn’t appear in the Navigator” or “I added it, but it doesn’t work.” There are several reasons, but surprisingly common is that “the category is Indicator, but the content is an EA.” This time, I will summarize how to tell them apart and how to confirm where to place them.

First, the conclusion

  • Even products sold as “Indi” can have content that is an EA (an automatically running program).
  • How to tell is by the Navigator icon. If it has a person with a hat, it is an EA.
  • EA goes in the “Experts” folder, Indicators go in the “Indicators” folder. If placed in the wrong location, it will not appear in the Navigator in the correct place.

Why do the category and the content mismatch

There are three main types of programs that run on MT4/MT5.

  • Indicator: draws lines or arrows on the chart
  • Expert Advisor (EA): automatically trades or notifies, i.e., it moves on its own
  • Script: runs once and ends

The “category” in the marketplace is a name for classifying products. This is separate from whether the program is an EA or an indicator. Even tools that can only be made as an EA in terms of mechanism, such as the order panel or monitoring tool, may appear on the shelf under “Indicators.”

Therefore, buying from the “Indicator” shelf does not guarantee that the content is an indicator. If the content is an EA, placing it in the same way as an indicator will not work.

How to tell: the hat icon in the Navigator

If you want to confirm after installation, check the Navigator (the list on the left of the screen).

  • Under “Expert Advisors,” items arranged with a hat-wearing icon → EA.
  • Under “Indicators,” items arranged → Indicator.

If you placed something into the Indicators folder but it does not appear under “Indicators,” it may be an EA. Look under the “Expert Advisors” with the hat icon.

EA and Indicator: what you can do differ

Since they are different types, how you attach them to charts also differs.

  • Indicators can be stacked on a single chart in multiple copies.
  • EA can be only one per chart. If another EA is already running on the chart, you cannot attach another.

Therefore, when using EA tools, attach them to a chart that does not have an EA (or open a new chart if needed). If you find that “Attaching to the same chart as another tool prevents it from moving,” one of them may be an EA, and you are hitting the one-EA-per-chart limit.