Top Most Unfortunate Limitations of MT4/MQL4 | Forex Factory

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Top Most Unfortunate Limitations of MT4/MQL4

  • #1
  • First Post: Apr 11, 2008 7:40am Apr 11, 2008 7:40am
I have just encountered a limitation for not being able to access the broker's announcement like "closing in 4 hours".. it's quite critical because I will not know whether I should close my positions or not. If I leave it open, the gap high/low in the opening day will give me a big risk.. As a result, we cannot make a fully automatic EA

Is there any other unfortunate limitation worth noticing ?
  • #2
  • Apr 11, 2008 8:14am Apr 11, 2008 8:14am
Quoting hongkonger
Is there any other unfortunate limitation worth noticing ?
Yeah, MT4 has a crap backtester.
  • #3
  • Apr 11, 2008 8:21am Apr 11, 2008 8:21am
Quoting forexmoments
Yeah, MT4 has a crap backtester.
but other platforms are much more crapper..
  • #4
  • Apr 11, 2008 9:44am Apr 11, 2008 9:44am
mq4 files have a size limitation that doesn't show up until you try to compile it. Aggravating when you are creating very complex EA's.
  • #5
  • Apr 11, 2008 10:03am Apr 11, 2008 10:03am
Quoting magnumfreak
mq4 files have a size limitation that doesn't show up until you try to compile it. Aggravating when you are creating very complex EA's.
I am now implementing the 5 mins trend follower in trading system section. I have broken it into many pieces and then link them up by global variables.. I think it may solve your problem. Btw, what is that size ?

You reminded me of the inability of MT4 to return array values from another EA/indicator.
  • #6
  • Apr 11, 2008 10:19am Apr 11, 2008 10:19am
Quoting magnumfreak
mq4 files have a size limitation that doesn't show up until you try to compile it. Aggravating when you are creating very complex EA's.
Wow. Haven't run into this.

About how big a file are you talking about?
  • #7
  • Apr 11, 2008 10:27am Apr 11, 2008 10:27am
Quoting hongkonger
I have just encountered a limitation for not being able to access the broker's announcement like "closing in 4 hours".. it's quite critical because I will not know whether I should close my positions or not. If I leave it open, the gap high/low in the opening day will give me a big risk.. As a result, we cannot make a fully automatic EA

Is there any other unfortunate limitation worth noticing ?
Im sorry to mentioned this.. but in the span of 1 day you have opened 3 threads, at the rate it is going you will be having 1,095 threads in a year, it might be hard for you to monitor in which thread you put your question and in which thread you have the answer.. As a suggestion.. why dont you just put them in one thread for easier retrieval. Just my 2 cents.
  • #8
  • Apr 11, 2008 11:38am Apr 11, 2008 11:38am
The back tester works just fine, but it is easy to make mistakes.
They should have implemented MQL as a COM or .NET API so that you can write your system in any language and use a debugger.
The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.
  • #9
  • Apr 11, 2008 1:18pm Apr 11, 2008 1:18pm
Quoting blueruby
Wow. Haven't run into this.

About how big a file are you talking about?
LOL! Can't remember if it is physical size or lines of code that it freaks out on.

The last EA that I wrote had approximately 60 separate functions, things like calculating stop loss, multiple possible entry points, calculations for taking profit based on volitility, tracking the max number of open and non-stop funded orders, etc etc etc. It basically performs all the necessary functions that you would normally have to do yourself. I feel like we have built a program that very closely mimicks the trading style of the person who requested it. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 2,500 lines of code.



Oh, and one of the biggest limitations of mt4........ no debug software. It would be nice to be able to step through code and watch variables. Right now you have to either use the comment function or print.
  • #10
  • Apr 12, 2008 8:43am Apr 12, 2008 8:43am
Quoting hongkonger
I have just encountered a limitation for not being able to access the broker's announcement like "closing in 4 hours".. it's quite critical because I will not know whether I should close my positions or not. If I leave it open, the gap high/low in the opening day will give me a big risk.. As a result, we cannot make a fully automatic EA

Is there any other unfortunate limitation worth noticing ?

Not clear on why broker didnt send you a mail in Terminal Mailbox..if this close down was outside normal published trading times.
  • #11
  • Apr 12, 2008 9:08am Apr 12, 2008 9:08am
Quoting cliffedwards
Not clear on why broker didnt send you a mail in Terminal Mailbox..if this close down was outside normal published trading times.
the broker did send the email, he is trying to get an indicator to read that email and close positions that are open. In MT4 you cannot read the incoming mail, you can only send mail.
  • #12
  • Apr 12, 2008 11:31am Apr 12, 2008 11:31am
No true multi-monitor support.

Yes you can just resixe your MT4 accross several monitors and then resort the charts. That comes with its own issues. I would like to see an Undock Chart feature and be able to place a chart and chart alone on any monitor of my choosing. When you have an unusual screen layout, the current system is a pain in the butt.
Que
  • #13
  • Apr 12, 2008 2:22pm Apr 12, 2008 2:22pm
Quoting magnumfreak
mq4 files have a size limitation that doesn't show up until you try to compile it. Aggravating when you are creating very complex EA's.
Can you circumvent this with #includes or #imports, or is the size of the resulting file relevant?
  • #14
  • Apr 12, 2008 4:00pm Apr 12, 2008 4:00pm
Quoting Wonko
Can you circumvent this with #includes or #imports, or is the size of the resulting file relevant?
best way to do it is to break down some of your functions into separate files. I am just an old school programmer and prefer to keep things in one file. Whatever data you need from a file you can just make it like an indicator and call the file with a icustom call.
  • #15
  • Apr 12, 2008 4:26pm Apr 12, 2008 4:26pm
The main thing I have found to be limiting in MT4 is the Broker time. EOD and BOD are not changeable and I think they should be completely controllable. They are in AmiBroker.

In AB you can have, for example a hour bar start at 13 minutes after and run until 12 minutes after the next hour. This way you get hour increments, but not at the same time everyone is expecting them. It does this for all timeframes and timeframes are completely customizable.
  • #16
  • Apr 12, 2008 5:04pm Apr 12, 2008 5:04pm
Quoting magnumfreak
best way to do it is to break down some of your functions into separate files. I am just an old school programmer and prefer to keep things in one file. Whatever data you need from a file you can just make it like an indicator and call the file with a icustom call.
haha..yes, I have many icustom call, but since indicator cannot return array values, I have a lot of global variables setting in subprograms and getting in main program.. which makes me even a worse old school programmer...

even worse, becoz of the limitation of each indicator file allow only 8 visual buffers at max, which makes me further break down the indicators themselves sometimes..
  • #17
  • Apr 12, 2008 5:48pm Apr 12, 2008 5:48pm
Quoting magnumfreak
requested it. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 2,500 lines of code.
Hi magnetfreak, may I know the execution speed of compiled program from your 2-2.5K lines of code? but I think it shouldnt be a problem right? Even it lasts for a minute, usually the strategies are written such that it only gets executed when a bar is completed. The most high frequency trading strategies in FF are for 5 mins.. so there should not be a problem. However, the market may change within 1 minute and the conditions assumed at the beginning of the execution will be no longer valid.. will it be the case?
  • #18
  • Apr 12, 2008 8:16pm Apr 12, 2008 8:16pm
I keep the execution speed quick by only calling functions as needed. Since they reside outside the Start() function they only load the processor down with calculations when needed. My Start() function in the file with 2000+ lines of code has less than 150 lines of code.

I run this EA on 20 pairs at once without lag issues.
  • #19
  • Apr 13, 2008 9:40am Apr 13, 2008 9:40am
Quoting magnumfreak
the broker did send the email, he is trying to get an indicator to read that email and close positions that are open. In MT4 you cannot read the incoming mail, you can only send mail.
I assume you mean "programatically"... Yes?
This is a coding problem?

Because ...I received six mails on Friday in my MT4 Platform Terminal window, MailBox Tab, from my live MT4 broker- MIG.
  • #20
  • Last Post: Apr 13, 2008 11:40am Apr 13, 2008 11:40am
yes, programmatically. what he basically wants to do is to have the ea read the emails coming in, then interpret those that indicate the broker will be closing soon and have it close any open orders.
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