ECN order execution capacity

[MisterAudio]

I have a question....but let me explain the situation first.....

I know FXOpen's ECN platform has a very high status as one of the fastest, and most reliable trading accounts in the industry. I have been trading with one for several months and I have been fairly impressed. There have been hacker attacks that brought the servers down, but the servers were beefed up twice. Since then I have not noticed any difference despite word of the attacks continuing.

So....at this point I am figuring that the FXOpen ECN server can handle huge input/output capacity. Since it is public knowledge that all EAs are allowed on the ECN accounts, I was preparing to try trading the Million Dollar Pips EA on my ECN account. I figured from the description of this EA, the FXOpen ECN account is a perfect candidate....super fast order execution, super tight spreads, low commission fees, no limitations on placing pending orders close to the market price, and the ability to place stoploss and take profit levels in the pending orders.

So...here is the problem... I have been hunting for information about anyone trade the MDP EA on an FXOpen ECN platform and have only been able to find a few posts about it. The only feedback I have been able to find is that people are getting a lot of rejected orders due to invalid stoploss. I know that the MDP is a very high frequency trading EA and that order execution speed is incredibly important for it to succeed. I have not seen anyone complaining of this problem on any other broker.

SO...my question is.... Is the ECN platform here at FXOpen compatible with these requirements this EA needs, and if so, why are people getting rejected orders due to invalid stoploss and what could be done to fix this problem?

[FXOjafar]

My first question would be "Has the EA been optimised for ECN?"
Is it running on other ECNs?
Can you post some logs of the invalid stop loss errors? The logs may help to see what is going wrong.

[MisterAudio]

I believe the EA was intended to be used on an ECN platform. The author says it won't open positions if the spread is greater than 2 pips, and the order execution must be super fast. He also says it works best if you can use the pending order function, which apparently places buy and sell stops within 1 pip from the bid/ask price....in addition to allowing the stoploss to be added to the pending order. Most orders are closed in less than 1 minute.

I have only had the EA on my account 1 day, and it did not take any trades. I looked at some of the demo accounts, and they had only one trade, so it may have just not triggered an order on my price feed. As of right now, I haven't been able to get any answers about these accounts other people have been trying to trade with FXOpen. If they were micro of standard accounts, that would be why they are not getting good results.

I know that most people are getting good results running it on ECN/STP accounts from Think Forex, Pepperstone, FinFX, and Hot Forex....which are the recommended brokers by the EA maker. FXOpen is bigger than these companies, and I believe is better setup to handle what this EA requires. As of yet, I don't know what anyone posting about problems with it on FXOpen has been using as far as their account type is concerned.

Anyway....I would venture to surmise form your response that I am correct that FXOpen's ECN account should be about the best option.

[FXSupporter]

MisterAudio,

To find out the reason why the EA is not trading, we need the logs. If you feel uncmfortable with posting them publically here, you can send them to dealer1@fxopen.com

If the orders are rejected with the comment "Invalid SL TP" --> try checking if your EA is setting the pending order open price, stop loss and take profit correctly, as follows:

BUY LIMIT
Open price --> Below the market price
Stop Loss (S/L) --> Below the open price
Take profit (T/P) -->Above the open price

SELL LIMIT
Open price --> Above the current market price
Stop Loss (S/L) -->Above the open price
Take profit (T/P) -->Below the open price


Buy stop order
Open price --> Above the current market price
Stop Loss (S/L) --> Below the open price
Take profit (T/P) --> Above the open price


SELL STOP
Open price --> Below the current market price
Stop Loss (S/L) --> Above the open price
Take profit (T/P) ---> Below the open price


If some of these parameters are set incorrectly, eg. the open price for a buy limit order is above the market (while it needs to be below the market), your pending order will be rejected with this comment.

[MisterAudio]

My EA just got another signal. Here is one of the strings of error messages I received in the journal:

pending order sell stop 0.10 EURUSD at 1.43699 sl: 1.43829 tp: 1.43565
order sell stop 0.10 EURUSD opening at 1.43699 sl: 1.43829 tp: 1.43565 failed [Invalid S/L or T/P]

I edited out my account number.
I will send my log file to dealer1@fxopen.com and hopefully you guys can figure out why these orders are rejected.

[MisterAudio]

The email has been sent. I only sent the Journal file. I didn't see any error messages in the experts log, but it is huge anyway. 250MB huge. So if they need that....I will have to hunt through it and try to cut out the pieces pertaining to the orders.

Also, thank you both for the help!