This day trading business is definitely an exciting one! Maybe we should release an action/adventure motion picture in the near future! Hollywood, here we come!
It’s a hat-trick. We have experienced three back-to-back days of unacceptable delayed executions on MT4, resulting in losses. The good news is that FXLQ credited all three of these losses on Friday (3/2/2007). I already discussed Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s loss in my 2/28 post (“Will New MT4 System Solve our Trading Problems?“). I will discuss Thursday’s loss (the third one) today – plus some other exciting things. See the trading log below and my comments throughout.
This is the beginning of the log:
07:38:47 Expert StepStopExpert_v1[1].1 GBPUSD,M5: loaded successfully
07:38:47 Expert StepStopExpert_v1[1].1 EURUSD,M5: loaded successfully
07:38:47 Expert StepStopExpert_v1[1].1 USDCAD,M5: loaded successfully
07:38:50 ‘1002’: login (4.00, #29A90C7C)
The day starts with an attempt to buy 25 GBPUSD at 1.9626 at 09:44:59 UK time (see below), which got rejected exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds later when the price was lower; i.e., when the trade would have been profitable. Click here to see the chart.
09:44:59 ‘1002’: request was accepted by server
09:44:59 ‘1002’: request in process
09:46:29 ‘1002’: order sell 25.00 GBPUSD opening at 1.9626 sl: 0.0000 tp: 0.0000 failed [Off quotes]
An order was then placed to buy 25 GBPUSD at 1.9633 at 14:37:32 UK time (see below). This order got filled 1 minute and 22 seconds later when the price was lower; that is, when the trade would NOT have been profitable. This is totally unacceptable and it seems as if someone, somewhere is just holding the trades in queue to see which way the price goes – and is then deciding whether to fill them or reject them (“off quotes”). It is impossible for a trade to have been filled at a price that occurred 1 minute and 22 seconds earlier, unless the price didn’t change throughout that time – which wasn’t the case here. It is obvious that this execution did not occur earlier because the programmed stop would have been triggered – and it wasn’t. The execution was just reported late.
Notice that the first line of the day trading log above shows: “07:38:47 Expert StepStopExpert_v1[1].1 GBPUSD,M5: loaded successfully.” This means that the Expert Advisor (fancy name for a computer program) that places stops on GBPUSD was already loaded. Despite this fact, if you look at the trade log and the corresponding screenshot, the row highlighted in blue shows that the stop was never activated (see “0.0000” in the S/L column). This is obviously unnacceptable.
14:37:32 ‘1002’: request was accepted by server
14:38:46 ‘1002’: request in process
14:38:54 ‘1002’: order was opened : #212738 buy 25.00 GBPUSD at 1.9633 sl: 0.0000 tp: 0.0000
The final attempt to exit this trade (at 14:39:55) also resulted in a 17-second delay (from 14:39:55 to 14:40:12). See below.
14:39:33 ‘1002’: request was accepted by server
14:39:33 ‘1002’: request in process
14:39:33 ‘1002’: order #212738 buy 25.00 GBPUSD closing at 1.9624 failed [Off quotes]
14:39:55 ‘1002’: close order #212738 buy 25.00 GBPUSD at 1.9633 sl: 0.0000 tp: 0.0000 at price 1.9621
14:39:55 ‘1002’: request was accepted by server
14:39:55 ‘1002’: request in process
14:40:12 ‘1002’: order #212738 buy 25.00 GBPUSD at 1.9633 sl: 0.0000 tp: 0.0000 closed at price 1.9621
I asked FXLQ to credit the above trade in question as well as the previous two. This they did on Friday (3/2). I also demanded an explanation for these “mysterious” execution delays that are putting client capital at risk. They couldn’t provide it and told me that they couldn’t guarantee that these problems would not occur in the future. Furthermore, I was informed that the new multi-bank system will not allow the use of Expert Advisors (EA’s); i.e., the programs that we currently use to place stops automatically. This might not sound like a big deal, but it is. If stops have to be placed manually (i.e., without the use of EA’s), it will slow down scalping significantly or make it impossible altogether. Having automatic stops is also the safest thing for the client.
To top it all off, I was told by FXLQ that they wanted to cancel my IB (Introducing Broker) agreement since they weren’t going to be able to provide me with an appropriate solution! This infuriated me even more. Why didn’t they tell me this before? Why now; especially since I have been demanding answers from them for almost a year now?
I then received a termination letter by mail from FXLQ. The forex robot needs to hit the road again! I can’t say that I’m ecstatic about this, but I’m glad in a way. This means that we are being noticed. We are making waves. If this program didn’t have such great potential, we wouldn’t have been experiencing so much resistance. Thank God that I had already been working on a few backup plans in parallel.
I will tell you about them by tomorrow. I don’t anticipate not being able to trade for more than two weeks, so I ask you to stay put until I make another announcement tomorrow.
As the above incident was taking place, a psalm came to mind (Psalm 141:4):
Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil,
to take part in wicked deeds
with men who are evildoers;
let me not eat of their delicacies.
I’ll continue pushing forward; seeking what is right and appropriate for all of us – despite resistance :).
To more prosperous days ahead!
