Imagine this for a moment:
You get your MetaTrader 4
(MT4) account all set up and ready to roll.
You’ve played around with the software little bit on a paper trading and demo account, and have a pretty good feel for how everything is supposed to work.
You’ve got the green light from your broker that all of your documents are good to go – now you are fully verified and can start trading on MT4.
There’s just one wrinkle:
For some reason this platform is telling you that you don’t have enough money to make the kinds of trades you want to make. Why does MT4 say not enough money in your account?
MetaTrader 4 displays the ‘Not Enough Money’ error code when you are either short of account balance, or even margin. If you already have open trades that are using a substantial amount of your margin, this would mean you do not have enough money to open new positions. This would be the most common occurrence of the error message.
Why Does MT4 Say Not Enough Money?
1. Account Hasn’t Been Funded Yet
The most common reason that you are going to see this error code, the “Not Enough Money” error code, is simply because your account hasn’t yet been funded.
Now, there’s a difference between your account not being funded yet and you initializing your deposit.
While most brokers do a great job of getting your deposited funds into your account and available right away, some of them take a little bit longer than others.
You might just have to wait 24 hours (rarely any longer than that) for your account to technically be funded and this error code goes away.
2. Account is Sufficiently Funded for This Trade
Secondly, you might have funded your account with a specific amount of money but don’t have enough to cover the kind of trade you’re looking to do right now.
It’s not hard to lose track of where you allocate your funds in your MetaTrader 4 software. Especially if you are particularly active with your trading.
All you might have to do to fix this is fund your account a little more to cover this trade (and any others you want to execute).
3. Account isn’t Sufficiently Funded to Meet Margin Requirements
Finally, you might see the “Not Enough Money” MT4 error pop up if you don’t have enough funding to meet the margin requirements that you are hoping for.
A lot of this depends on the margin rules established by your broker.
These rules can vary from one broker to another, and since is not uncommon for people that multiple accounts on multiple brokers in Forex it’s not hard to get these rules sort of jumbled up.
This is the most common reason you may be seeing the ‘Not Enough Money’ error message whilst trading on MT4. I’d recommend brushing up on what margin is within forex, to further understand why you may be falling short.
How to Fix MT4 Saying Not Enough Money
1. Fund Account to Get Approval for the Trade
The easiest way – and the most reliable way – to resolve this problem once and for all is to simply fund your account to get full approval for all the kinds of trades you’re looking to do.
As a general rule of thumb, a lot of Forex traders recommend that you carry at least 10% “extra” to sort of buffer your account.
This is money that you aren’t necessarily going to trade or invest with, but it’s always there as a sort of rainy day fund to cover you if you want to jump on a new position.
Keep your account fully funded and you won’t see this error at all!
In Conclusion – Why Is MT4 Showing The ‘Not Enough Money’ Error Message?
In short, you’re seeing an error message from MetaTrader 4 simply because you don’t have enough money in your account. Whether this is made from account balance or margin, you’ll need to ensure you fix the problem by increasing your account funds. By doing this, you’ll no longer see the ‘Not Enough Money’ error message when trading on MT4.
I hope this helped you! If you are still having any issues, please comment down below and I will try my best to assist.
