MT4 error 2: Common error
Stop retrying, read the Journal.
Updated 24 October 2026. Runs in your browser; nothing you type is uploaded.
The number after "error" in MT4's Experts or Journal tab. 161 codes, as MQL4's reference words them.
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What MQL4 says
2ERR_COMMON_ERROR- Common error
From MQL4's table of error codes, read 24 October 2026. An Expert Advisor reads it with GetLastError() after a call fails; the Experts and Journal tabs print what the EA logs.
What causes it
The trade server refused the request without a more specific reason. In MetaQuotes' MQL4 Book, the order script treats 2 as a critical error and stops, where it retries 135, 136 and 146.
How to fix it
Stop sending the same request in a loop. Read the Journal tab for the server's own message at the time of the failure, and take it to the broker with the time and the order details if it repeats.
Source: MQL4 Book: Opening and placing orders. No MQL4 code is shown because none here was compiled; adapt the steps to your EA.
Other MT4 errors
- MT4 error 0: No error returned
- MT4 error 1: No error returned, but the result is unknown
- MT4 error 3: Invalid trade parameters
- MT4 error 130: Invalid stops
- MT4 error 131: Invalid trade volume
- MT4 error 132: Market is closed
- MT4 error 133: Trade is disabled
- MT4 error 134: Not enough money
- MT4 error 136: Off quotes
- MT4 error 4051: Invalid function parameter value
- MT4 error 4107: Invalid price
- MT4 error 4111: Shorts are not allowed
- MT4 error 4112: Automated trading by Expert Advisors/Scripts disabled by trade server
- MT4 error 4200: Object already exists
- MT4 error 5004: Cannot open file
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