MT4 Status Bar
One quick method to check the real time internet connection between your MT4 platform and the server of your online gold broker is to check the MT4 status bars on the MT4 platform interface - MT4 Connection Bar in MetaTrader 4 Status Bar.
On the xauusd examples illustrated & explained below MetaTrader 4 Connection Bars on MT4 Status Bar is Shown:
The MT4 status bar is used to show if there is a connection to the trading servers or not, if there's a connection to the trading server, then a trader can place trades to the online gold market using MT4 gold charts. When there is a connection MT4 gold charts can then keep updating - if MT4 Gold Charts on your gold platform are Not Updating - you should first check the connection using MetaTrader 4 Connection bars on MT4 Status Bar.
Green Bars - on the Connection bars in MT4 Status Bar shows there is a connection, next to the green bars there will also be the kilobytes downloaded & uploaded indicated as a figure.
Red Bars - Connection bars in MT4 Status Bar show that there is no connection and trades to the brokers' server cannot be opened.
Red bars may also mean that your internet connection is down, therefore if you are using a connection like dial up and red bars come up, then maybe it is your internet connection, and not necessarily the broker's server. A common question by traders is - Why are MT4 Gold Charts Not Updating? if your MT4 xauusd charts are not updating then you may need to first check the connection of the MT4 platform to your gold broker using this MT4 connection bars in MetaTrader 4 status bar - MT4 Gold Charts Not Updating.
To show the status bars on the MT4 platform, a trader needs to use the "Status Bar" button on the 'View' menu options as shown below, Click to check, once the option is checked the MT4 status bar will appear at the bottom right corner of your MT4 Platform.
How to check if there is an online connection on the MT4 Software
MT4 Gold Trading Software Connection Bars on the Status Bar - Green Bars show that the connection is online & Red Bars explain that the connection is offline. The connection may be either your internet service provider or gold broker server. Most of the time it will be your internet service provider as the brokers have 2 to Three simultaneous servers & there is no way all of them can be offline even if it is for 1 second.