trade.PositionModify deliberately sets wrong SL/TP

ranxero 2021.03.07 16:28

I'm experiencing a very strange behaviour on MT5 with

trade.PositionModify() calls.

I have an EA that automatically sets SL and TP for every new order, no matter whether stoplimit(= order) or market order(= position).

The strange thing is, it works fine for 3 times or so, sometimes only once, then on the next trade SL and TP are very much smaller, allthough same calculation and

almmost same SL/TP as price may have moved a little bit in between.

the smaller value, when this error occuirs, seems to be always the same, as if some default was used but IM a tno point providing such default.

There is no error thrown. The call itself returns true and when I read the ResultRetcode() it always gives me 10009 which is TRADE_RETCODE_DONE.

as you can see on the screen shot and the order list below from 5 orders 4 have been modified correctly but the one selected has different SL/TP values.

This happens totally out of any pattern. Sometimes after some correctly modifed trades sometimes right on the first one.

I do print our SL and TPs right before the modification and they are always correct.

I already chased the thing through the debugger but was not able to reproduce the error for a single time.

following he relevant code:

// here Sl and TP get calculated
    tradeUtils.CalculateSLTP(positionPriceOpen, positionVolume, Symbol(), calcType, sl, tp, tpSlFactor, balancePercentage, slPoints, riskLineName, fixedRiskAmount);
    if (sl!=0) {
      int direction = 0;
      if(positionType==POSITION_TYPE_BUY) {
        sl = NormalizeDouble(positionPriceOpen - sl, Digits());
        tp = NormalizeDouble(positionPriceOpen + tp, Digits());
        direction = 1;
      }
      if (positionType==POSITION_TYPE_SELL) {
        sl = NormalizeDouble(positionPriceOpen + sl, Digits());
        tp = NormalizeDouble(positionPriceOpen - tp, Digits());
        direction = -1;
      }
      ResetLastError();
      if (direction !=0 && sl>0 && tp >= 0) { // no stoplimt order or negative stops allowed
        if (sl!=positionSL) { // onl if different from current SL
          if (!trade.PositionModify(positionTicket, sl, tp)) { // always true
            errorTicket = positionTicketAsString;
            errorTitle = "POSITION: modification error " + trade.ResultRetcode();
            errorMsg = "Ticket " + positionTicketAsString +
                        "\n@ " +DoubleToString(positionPriceOpen, Digits()) + 
                        "\nSL "+DoubleToString(sl, Digits()) + 
                        "\nTP "+DoubleToString(tp, Digits()) + "\n\n";
            errorUtils.BuildErrorMessage(errorMsg, errorTitle, calcType);
            Comment("POSITION RES CODE ERR: " + trade.ResultRetcode() + "\nSL: " + sl + "\nTP: " + tp);
          } else {
            ticketsProcessedSuccessfully += positionTicketAsString + ";";
            Comment("POSITION RES CODE SUCC: " + trade.ResultRetcode() + "\nSL: " + sl + "\nTP: " + tp); // result code is 10009 - success
            return true;
          }
        }
      } else {
        errorTicket = positionTicketAsString;
        errorTitle = "POSITION: negative stops are not wllowed ";
        errorMsg = "Ticket " + positionTicketAsString +
                    "\n@ " +DoubleToString(positionPriceOpen, Digits()) + 
                    "\nSL "+DoubleToString(sl, Digits()) + 
                    "\nTP "+DoubleToString(tp, Digits()) + "\n\n";
        errorUtils.BuildErrorMessage(errorMsg, errorTitle, calcType);
      }
    }
  }

following the code that invokes the code above

// gets invoked by the EA's OnTradeTransaction() method 
void TradeManagerLib::OnTradeTransaction(const MqlTradeTransaction& trans,
                                            const MqlTradeRequest& request,
                                                const MqlTradeResult& result) {
  if (DoDisable) {
    return;
  }
  if (result.retcode==TRADE_RETCODE_DONE) { 
    // upper code is contained in the Scan() method                                                
    if (Scan(CalculationType, TPSLFactor, BalancePercentage, SLPoints, RiskLineName, FixeRiskAmount)) {
      return;
    }
  }                                                
}