Expert Advisor Troubleshooting Guide
If your expert advisor isn't working
correctly (and chances are there will be a few
bugs), please be sure to include the following
information when you email me for support. This
will help ensure that your issue will be solved
as quickly and inexpensively as possible.
- Attach The Log - This is very important. Please attach the expert
advisor log file from the date(s) that the
trades were placed. Be sure to test your EA
with Debug=true.
You may want to include the logs from the
day before and after, if applicable. See
the FAQ below for log file locations.
- Include Order Numbers - Be sure to mention the ticket
numbers of specific trades that were
placed incorrectly, along with a
description of the problem with that
trade.
- Attach The Settings File - You may want to attach a
settings
(.set) file showing the parameters
that you are testing with. This is especially true if you are backtesting the EA. See the FAQ
below on how to save a settings file.
- Screenshots - Screenshots
can be helpful, but are not a replacement
for the above information! In most cases they're not even necessary. Please send
screenshots as image files instead of word
processing documents. See the FAQ below for
more information on sending screenshots.
When demo testing your EA, please try to
limit your testing to no more than 2 charts or
expert advisors at a time. Trading multiple
charts at once increases the size of the log
file and the time required to troubleshoot.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I save my expert
advisor settings to a file?
- Click the Save
button in the bottom-right corner
of the Expert
Properties window to save
your current settings to a file.
The file is saved to the \experts\presets
folder by default with a .set
extension. If you're using the
Strategy Tester, the default save folder
is \tester.
- Where are the server
files for my broker's demo server?
- In some cases, I
may need to test your expert
advisor on the same server you're
using to determine a problem. The
server files are located in the
\config
folder and have the .srv
extension. Attach any files that say "demo".
- How do I take a
screenshot?
- Use the PrtScr
key on your keyboard (above the
Insert key and to the right of the
F12 key) to save a screenshot to
the clipboard. Use the Paste
function (Ctrl+V) in any
image program to paste the
screenshot. Save it as a .jpg,
.gif or .bmp
file.
- Please use
a program such as MS Paint
(installed on every Windows
machine) or a free program such as
Irfanview, instead of a Word document.
- Why can't I place a
small stop loss? What is a stop
level?
- The stop level is
the minimum number of pips away
from the Bid & Ask price that
you are allowed to place a stop
loss, take profit or pending order.
For most brokers, this is less than
5 pips, although it varies by
broker. The image below will
illustrate:
- Remember that
for the stop loss, you are
adding the spread to the stop
level to determine the minimum
stop loss. So if the spread is
3 pips and the stop level is 3
pips, the minimum stop loss is
6 pips.
- Sell stop
loss, buy take profit, pending
buy stop and sell limit orders
must be placed above the upper
stop level. Buy stop loss, sell
take profit, pending sell stop
and buy limit orders must be
placed below the lower stop
level.
- If you attempt
to place a stop loss, take
profit or pending order inside
the stop levels, you will get
an error 130, "invalid
stops".
- Your expert
advisor will automatically
attempt to adjust the price so
that it is valid. In this case,
you'll likely never see an
error message. If you do not
wish for your EA to have this
behavior, it can be replaced
with a customized error
message.