I'm having trouble with trailing stops and order execution | Forex Factory

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I'm having trouble with trailing stops and order execution

  • #1
  • First Post: Nov 24, 2008 7:33pm Nov 24, 2008 7:33pm
Howdy folks,

I'm having some problems with my EA. The problems occur at random.

The first problem is with trailing stops. Sometimes they work properly and the other times they don't trail properly. The stop adjusts itself both on the way up and the way down. In a long it will follow price up and when price falls the stop will also fall. That isn't supposed to happen.

The other problem I'm having is with correct sequence of order placement. My EA is a sort of grid EA where it places trades up and down on price and each consecutive trade has a different trade parameter depending on the success or failure of the previous trade. If the last trade hits TP then it restarts the series. If the trade ends in SL then it immediately enters a SAR trade with different TP and SL settings than the previous trade.

The problem I have in this instance is that the EA is only supposed to place one trade at a time. Sometimes the EA will hit a SL and place the remaining trades I have programmed all at once and all in the same direction. This is not a problem that occurs all the time or consistently, but generally when I hit a string of 6-9 losing trades in a row. Then on the 7th - 10th trade it will place 10-13 trades at once as I only have 20 trades programmed in the EA.

What is the typical cause of these problems? Bad MT4 installation? Bad EA code? Computer malfunction? What's up?

Thanks,
Matt
  • #2
  • Nov 25, 2008 8:19am Nov 25, 2008 8:19am
I believe the above happened is base on the lack of logical development of your EA.

I believe you just code without any planning on how your EA should work. To program an EA with the level of difficulties you mention: trailing stops and different parameters in different situations, requires a detail plan of the overall how the EA will execute.

Some other area you should be careful:
1) What if the OrderSend() failed? or Requotes happened?
2) What if SL or TP not set appropiately? ( your case )
3) What if OrderDelete() or OrderClose() not work?
4) What if the spread increases during news time?

To answer your question.
1) Trailing stop.
If the order is OP_BUY, the TP should be the maximum of current TP and new calculated TP.
If the order is OP_SELL, the TP should be the minimum of current TP and new calculated TP.
2) Order not place as desired. We didn't see the code, can't tell. I guess it is the design of your code has glitches.
If everyone believes it, it will work.
  • #3
  • Nov 26, 2008 5:00am Nov 26, 2008 5:00am
Quoting permanentjaun
Howdy folks,

I'm having some problems with my EA. The problems occur at random.

The first problem is with trailing stops. Sometimes they work properly and the other times they don't trail properly. The stop adjusts itself both on the way up and the way down. In a long it will follow price up and when price falls the stop will also fall. That isn't supposed to happen.
I've had the same mistake that you describe.

Let me guess, your trailing stop (pseudo-) code looks like this:

  1. if we have a buy order:

    1. set new stop loss = ask - trailingstop

  2. if we have a sell order:

    1. set new stop loss = bid + trailingstop

The problem with this is, that you trail in both direction, like you described it. To solve this, make sure, that the new stop loss isn't below the old stop loss (on a long position) / above the old stop loss (on a short position):

  1. if we have a buy order:

    1. get current stop loss of order and check if ask > old stop loss:

      1. set new stop loss = ask - trailingstop

  2. if we have a sell order:

    1. get current stop loss of order and check if bid < old stop loss:

      1. set new stop loss = bid + trailingstop

Don't change the stop loss if the current bid or ask would result in less profit!

Here's some MQL code:

PHP Code
/**
 * Update trailing stops
 */
void updateTrailingStops()
{   
      double stoploss;
      
      // Iterate through each order and pick the ones that belong to our EA
      for(int j=0;j<OrdersTotal();j++)
      {
         if(OrderSelect(j,SELECT_BY_POS,MODE_TRADES)==false)
            break;
         
         if(OrderMagicNumber()!=MAGICNUMBER || OrderSymbol()!=Symbol())
            continue;
      
         if(OrderType()==OP_BUY)
         {
            // Is order already in profit zone?
            if (Ask-TrailStop*Point > OrderOpenPrice())
               // Is new loss above current orders stoploss?
               if (Ask-TrailStop*Point > OrderStopLoss())
                  OrderModify(OrderTicket(),OrderOpenPrice(),Ask-TrailStop*Point,0,0,Blue);
            continue;
         }
         if(OrderType()==OP_SELL)
         {
            // Is order already in profit zone?
            if (Bid+TrailStop*Point < OrderOpenPrice())
               // Is new loss below current orders stoploss?
               if (Bid+TrailStop*Point < OrderStopLoss())   
                  OrderModify(OrderTicket(),OrderOpenPrice(),Bid+TrailStop*Point,0,0,Blue);
            continue;
         }
      }
}
  • #4
  • Last Post: Dec 17, 2008 11:47pm Dec 17, 2008 11:47pm
Hey thanks for that Adam,

just starting to get into programming EAs and that code for trailing stop is really easy to understand!

Now to apply it to a simple EA i'm trying to write up on my own

-Jeremy
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