Change an EA and change your life

Greetings,

Can the lot size of an EA be changed for the next trade while the EA is attached to a pair???

Have been testing an EA recently and all has been well. It's designed to stay in the market at all times, closing the current position and opening one in the opposite direction at the same time. This has been working fine, until ...

While the EA was attached to a pair, with a proper trade running, I have opened the EA properties to change the Lots for the next trade. This works fine for opening the new trade with the revised lots BUT the previous trade does NOT close ... This has happened a few times now.

Note that the changes were for Lot Size only ... nothing else. Magic number remains unchanged.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Here is the active part of the code for closing a long position.
//+-------------+
//| Close - Long
//+-------------+

bool TradeCloseLong=false;

if (SARD1>Bid && OrderFind(magicnolong)) TradeCloseLong=true;

if (TradeCloseLong && OrderFind(magicnolong)) OrderClose(glbOrderTicket,OrderLots(),Bid,3,CLR_NONE);




= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Any thoughts as to why changing the lot size and re-attaching an EA negates the close feature are appreciated.

Possibly it is forgetting the glbOrderTicket. Why not try simply "OrdetTicket()"?

If you are increasing the lot size, chances are it trying to close the trade with a lot size that is too large ... for example closing a 2 lot size trade when the original trade was only 1 lot ... just a thought.

Hi Chandra,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I'll test your suggestion.

Not being enough of a programmer myself (beginner here) I don't yet understand the impact of the global functions. This particular EA has 4 main "steps". Open long, Close long, Open short & Close short ... then Open long again as the cycle repeats. Any chance that the global command would be necessary for these 4 steps?

I'll give it a test anyway and see what happens... Thank you.

Pip Parade.

Hello Akuma,

Thank you for your input. Yes, I am increasing the lot size and perhaps that is what the MetaTrader does not like.

My hope with this is to be able to increase the size of the "next" trade, as the account grows (in theory). Ultimate objective would be to do this automatically but the model isn't there yet ... so I was increasing the lot sizes manually.

The formula does not take this into account however as it only looks for 2 items to determine a close. First if the market condition (SARD1>Bid) or (Bid>SARD1) then the Second item is to locate the Magic Number. Since it's the same EA, the Magic number has not changed.

Perhaps Chandra is correct but I'm still open to suggestions.

Thank you... Pip Parade

when you make changes you are effectively placing the expert back on the chart again - this way it is forgetting that it has a trade open.

my guess is that it has no routine for checking if there is already an open trade.

Report from the field. Tried to revise from glbOrderTicket to simply OrderTicket ... didn't work New pair still opens fine but the previous one will not close ...

Again, this is only when I change the lot size and reconnect the EA. Soultrader's comment seems to be correct (& possibly Akuma's) but I'm still befuddled ... since I thought the magic number would identify any trades to be closed.

Still researching for an answer on this one...

magic number tells which trade to close, but only if it's been told to look for one first.

you need a routine to check for open orders with that specific magic number - at some point in the program a variable is set to say 'im in a trade' - you need a routine which does this:

1. are there open trades?
2. are they mine (magic number match)?
3. if 1 & 2 are yes then set my open trade variable to yes
4. manage the trade from where i left it

The "OrderTicket()" must be used inside the OrderSelect function. You are using it outside of that and it won't work. Generally best/easier to keep order/position management inside the OrderSelect loop.

You can also do it another way. Add the following line in your OrderFind function:

Then the old line itself will work. This way it can find the glbOrderTicket value after restart (or whenever it forgets!).

chandra