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MT5 Keeps Disconnecting During Trading: Diagnose

If MT5 is dropping its connection during live sessions - not just at broker maintenance windows - there is a specific failure point in the path between your machine and the broker's server. This page finds it.

TL;DR

MT5 keeps a persistent TCP connection to the broker's server alive. If anything interrupts that connection - Wi-Fi packet loss, ISP routing instability, router NAT timeout, or broker server load - MT5 drops and has to reconnect. Each reconnect is time without market data and time when orders cannot execute. The diagnostic ladder: Wi-Fi first, then router, then ISP routing, then the broker's server itself.

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Symptom
MT5 shows "No connection" or "Reconnecting" repeatedly during live trading.
Likely cause
Wi-Fi packet loss, ISP instability, or router NAT timeout.
Risk
Open positions with no ability to close or modify during the disconnect window.

What's actually happening

MT5's connection to the broker's server is a long-lived TCP session. The platform sends keepalive signals regularly to maintain it. If a keepalive doesn't receive a response - because a packet was lost, the route became unreachable, or the broker's server didn't respond in time - MT5 considers the connection dead and starts the reconnect sequence.

This reconnect sequence takes time: resolving the hostname, opening a new TCP connection, re-authenticating, and re-downloading the current market state. During that window, your chart is frozen, your open positions cannot be managed, and any EAs you have running are not processing ticks.

The question is which layer is dropping the keepalive. That is what the diagnostic steps below identify.

Quick self-diagnosis - 5 minutes

  1. Check the Journal tab for disconnect timestamps
    MT5 Journal logs every connection event. Note the time of each disconnect. Check if your general internet (browser, other apps) was also affected at those exact times. If yes - it's your router or ISP. If MT5 alone drops - it's the specific path to the broker's DC.
  2. Switch from Wi-Fi to Ethernet
    If disconnects stop on a wired connection, Wi-Fi interference or packet loss is the cause. This is the most common fix and it costs nothing.
  3. Run a continuous ping during a trading session
    Windows: ping your-broker-hostname.com -t. Watch for timeouts. Each timeout correlates to a potential MT5 disconnect. Count them over an hour to quantify the problem.
  4. Test via mobile hotspot for a full session
    If MT5 stays connected all session on mobile data but drops on your main connection, your ISP's routing to the broker's DC is the problem.
  5. Check for pattern in disconnect times
    If disconnects cluster at London open (08:00 UTC) or NY open (13:00 UTC), ISP route congestion during peak hours is the cause. If they happen randomly throughout the day, it's a different failure mode - possibly router NAT table timeout or ISP instability.

What actually fixes this - honest ranking

1

Ethernet over Wi-Fi

The single most impactful free fix. Wi-Fi packet loss is the most common cause of MT5 disconnect cycles. A wired connection eliminates this entirely. Do this first, before anything else.

2

TradersProxy - stable route to the broker's DC

If the problem is ISP routing instability to the broker's datacenter, a trading proxy that maintains a dedicated, prioritized path reduces dropout frequency. The proxy's connection to the broker's DC stays stable even when general ISP routing is noisy.

3

VPS near the broker's DC (for always-on EA traders)

A VPS co-located near the broker's server achieves sub-5 ms RTT with virtually zero packet loss. MT5 disconnections become essentially non-existent. The tradeoff: you're now managing a remote machine and paying VPS costs on top of your trading infrastructure.

4

Router firmware update or replacement

Consumer routers with small NAT tables or outdated firmware can time out long-lived TCP connections. Updating firmware or switching to a business-grade router with larger connection tables can fix disconnects that persist even on wired connections.

If the route is the problem, a dedicated trading proxy is the fix at the infrastructure level — a relay node co-located near your broker's datacenter replaces the unstable public internet hops with a dedicated path. 7-day trial on Starter →

When it's not a network problem

  • Broker server maintenance. Brokers perform maintenance on a schedule - typically Sunday 22:00–23:00 UTC. A single disconnect during that window per week is normal. Multiple disconnects at random times are not.
  • MT5 platform resource starvation. If your machine is running heavy processes alongside MT5, the platform may not send keepalives fast enough. Check CPU and RAM usage during the disconnect event.
  • Account session limit. Some brokers limit the number of simultaneous sessions per account. Logging in from two devices can cause one to disconnect. Check whether the disconnect correlates to another device logging in.
  • Broker server overload during news. The broker's server has a connection capacity. During extreme volatility events, the server may throttle or drop connections. This is outside your network's control.
FAQ

MT5 maintains a persistent TCP connection to the broker's server. If anything interrupts that connection - packet loss from Wi-Fi, ISP congestion, router timeout, or broker server load - MT5 has to reconnect. Each reconnect is a brief gap in market data and a window where orders cannot be sent.

Check the Journal tab timestamp against general internet behavior. If your browser stays connected but MT5 drops, the problem is the specific route to the broker's server. If your entire internet cuts out simultaneously, it is your router or ISP.

Yes, but it is much less common. Ethernet eliminates Wi-Fi interference and packet loss. If disconnections persist on a wired connection, the cause is upstream: ISP routing, router firmware, or the broker's server.

A VPS co-located near the broker's datacenter can achieve sub-5ms RTT with minimal packet loss - essentially eliminating network-caused disconnections. The tradeoff is managing a remote machine and higher cost compared to a proxy.

One brief disconnect per day during a session restart or broker maintenance window is normal. Multiple disconnects per session - especially during active trading hours - indicates a real routing problem worth fixing.