Help Needed: Invalid Stops

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Apologies for any confusion beforehand, I'm pretty new to EA's and Mql5. That being said I made an EA that was seemingly working fine, then after editing a few things, went to test it again, only to find my Sell function not working because of 'Invalid Stops'. I've had this issue before and was always able to fix it but I'm at a loss. It's the same parameters as the buy condition just with nearly opposite operators. The Buy functions works as expected with no issues. Thanks in advance for any help!

CopyBuffer(handleEMA, 0, 1, 1, IndBuffer);
double MovAvg = IndBuffer[0];

double Closex1 = iClose(_Symbol, TimeFrame, 1);

	//Buy Condition
         if (OpenBuy<1)
         {
            double entry   = Closex1;
            double sl      = MovAvg - SLvsMA*_Point;
            double tp      = entry + (entry - sl)*TPvsRisk;
            double lots    = calcLots(entry - sl);
            
            trade.Buy(lots, _Symbol, entry, sl, tp, NULL);
         }
     
        //Sell Condition
         if (OpenSell<1 && OpenBuy>0)
         {  
            double entry   = Closex1;
            double sl      = MovAvg + SLvsMA*_Point;
            double tp      = entry - (sl - entry)*TPvsRisk;
            double lots    = calcLots(sl - entry);
         
            trade.Sell(lots, _Symbol, entry, sl, tp, NULL);
         }
Documentation on MQL5: Constants, Enumerations and Structures / Codes of Errors and Warnings / Trade Server Return Codes
Documentation on MQL5: Constants, Enumerations and Structures / Codes of Errors and Warnings / Trade Server Return Codes
  • www.mql5.com
Trade Server Return Codes - Codes of Errors and Warnings - Constants, Enumerations and Structures - MQL5 Reference - Reference on algorithmic/automated trading language for MetaTrader 5
 

Well, we cannot say what is causing the error because we don't have the full code nor the execution conditions. Buy there're a few things I would like to point out:

1 - Multiplying the tp/sl by _Point is usually incorrect. The minimum price movement is a tick. So you probably want to call SymbolInfoDouble(_Symbol, SYMBOL_TRADE_TICK_SIZE).

2 - As it is on item 1, if _Point * value returns a value that is not a multiple of tick, you'll get an error (invalid price). That is because the entry price, tp and sl must be a multiple of tick. Considering this, moving averages usually are not normalized to tick. If you add MovingAverage + value, you need to normalize it so it is a multiple of tick. Doing it like this should be fine:

double Normalize(double value, double step) // step is the tick_size, value is the value to be normalized
    {
        return MathRound(value / step) * step;
    }

 This should be done to the entry price, tp and sl. And maybe to the volume, if you do any math operation on it (step would be the volume step).

3 - It doesn't show in your code, but be sure the moving average is above the closing price when opening a sell position and below when opening a buy position. If not, invalid price may ocurr again, since the sl must be placed above the entry price when selling, and below it when buying.

 

So much is wrong here, so there are several things could be causing your issue.

I will try to touch on few main points that could cause you problems.


1)

Your entry price is just the last close price.

Since there's much of you code missing- who guarantee you that the last close price is the current market price? you don't show that you open a position on candle's start.

Also- Close price by default is either Ask or Bid (I currently can't remember which). But entry price for Buy and Sell is Ask and Bid respectively.


2)

This one is probably the one causing you the error message, but since it is also using the value of entry price (which I talked about above) I posted this second.

You are using the MA value plus some other variables to calculate the T/P and S/L.

What guarantees you that the T/P and S/L prices are actually above or below the current price?

For example the S/L calculation of MA - SLvsMA could still be higher than your open price (and the opposite for your T/P calculation).


I'm not an native English speaker, so I hope I've made my points clear enough.


Let me know if something isn't clear.


Cheers.

 
2025.03.09 22:31:00.259 Trades '404798033': failed buy stop 0.01 XAUUSD at 2907.702 sl: 2905.120 [Invalid stops] (bad stops)
how to solve this gays??
 
Alberd joon #:
2025.03.09 22:31:00.259 Trades '404798033': failed buy stop 0.01 XAUUSD at 2907.702 sl: 2905.120 [Invalid stops] (bad stops)
how to solve this gays??

Search this website. There are many threads discussing this very issue. If you want more help, then you need to give more in your description. What price did you try to modify, or was it an attempt to open a new trade? manual or by ea?

 
Alberd joon #:
2025.03.09 22:31:00.259 Trades '404798033': failed buy stop 0.01 XAUUSD at 2907.702 sl: 2905.120 [Invalid stops] (bad stops)
how to solve this gays??

To Fix this Issue, you need to:

  1. Retrieve the broker’s minimum stop distance.
  2. Check that the distance between your entry and SL is not less than this minimum.
  3. Adjust the SL (and/or TP accordingly) if it’s too close.

Below is an updated code snippet with these changes: Try it....

// Retrieve the minimum stop distance in points (converted to price value)
double minStopDistance = SymbolInfoInteger(_Symbol, SYMBOL_TRADE_STOPS_LEVEL) * _Point;

CopyBuffer(handleEMA, 0, 1, 1, IndBuffer);
double MovAvg = IndBuffer[0];

double Closex1 = iClose(_Symbol, TimeFrame, 1);

// Buy Condition
if (OpenBuy < 1)
{
   double entry = Closex1;
   // Calculate desired stop loss based on your EMA and factor
   double desiredSL = MovAvg - SLvsMA * _Point;
   
   // Ensure that SL is below entry and meets the minimum distance requirement
   if(entry - desiredSL < minStopDistance)
      desiredSL = entry - minStopDistance;
      
   double sl = desiredSL;
   double tp = entry + (entry - sl) * TPvsRisk;
   double lots = calcLots(entry - sl);
            
   trade.Buy(lots, _Symbol, entry, sl, tp, NULL);
}

// Sell Condition
if (OpenSell < 1 && OpenBuy > 0)
{  
   double entry = Closex1;
   // Calculate desired stop loss based on EMA and factor
   double desiredSL = MovAvg + SLvsMA * _Point;
   
   // Ensure that SL is above entry and meets the minimum distance requirement
   if(desiredSL - entry < minStopDistance)
      desiredSL = entry + minStopDistance;
      
   double sl = desiredSL;
   double tp = entry - (sl - entry) * TPvsRisk;
   double lots = calcLots(sl - entry);
         
   trade.Sell(lots, _Symbol, entry, sl, tp, NULL);
}
 

I've the same problem.. and if you have only one operation in action you can consider put in a var the price of your stop loss and when it is reached the you close your operation with trade.close()

For more ops you can maintain an array of stoplosses and a mark which is included in the comment of each operation, onTick if one of the prices of the array is reached then iterate all open operations and close the operation with the comment of the stoploss in the array of pairs [stoploss, comment]... and with this the problem must be solved... now i'm going to test it. Happy coding.

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