LotStep and MinLots were changed in FXT but to no avail

[billworld]

I just purchased the latest TickStory for the express purpose of being able to (supposedly) easily edit a FXT file for offline use. It's not working for me. Details follow.

I have my data from FXCM (downloaded via their Historical Data Downloader) and to ensure that data set doesn't get messed up by demo data automatically downloaded from FXCM MT4 I created a separate installation just for strategy development and backtesting which is not connected to any account. Backtesting works fine with the exception that the system thinks the EURUSD MinLot and LotStep should be .1 and this affects my backtests. So, I purchased TickStory, changed the FXTs to .01 for MinLot and LotStep but still have the problem both when backtesting (see lots circled below in Tester) and when executing a script to get the MarketInfo LotStep (see circled script result in middle which shows LotStep=0).

To accurately backtest my strategy I need the LotStep to be .01 not .1. When I run the strategy from a connected demo account (in a different install) the script to show LotStep accurately shows LotStep=.01. And, yes, the broker (FXCM) supports LotStep .01 for EURUSD. So, now I need to be able to backtest with this while offline.

I've spent quite a bit of time on this and am at a loss for what to do next. Please help.

Thanks

Bill

[tickstory]

Hi Bill,

With your back-testing account, could you firstly ensure that you have logged in at least once to your broker. This will download important settings for the terminal. After that, you can log the terminal out.

Regarding LotStep, we've tried editing the FXT file and it does change the lot step. Did you use the code:

Print("Lot step: " + DoubleToStr(MarketInfo(Symbol(), MODE_LOTSTEP)));

Some other things to check:

- Are your FXT files read-only? This will prevent MT4 from overwriting the files with new data (and potentially writing the incorrect LotStep if you haven't logged into your terminal at least once).

- If you delete the FXT files and simply run the back-test, what LotStep do you get? If it's still zero, this again points to the terminal not having the correct settings.

- If things still aren't working, could you please send a screenshot of your FXT settings (i.e. re-open the FXT file and take a screenshot)? Just be aware that depending on your regional settings, you will need to specify the Lotsize as 0,01 if you're set for EU and 0.01 in most other places. I'm sure you got it right, but it can sometimes be worthwhile noting.

Let us know how you go.

Thanks.

[billworld]

I'm not sure if I logged in at least once, I think I did. That was weeks ago when I set up the separate backtesting install. Regardless, yesterday I logged in again but then of course MT4 started erasing/replacing my history data with new data from the demo login account (which differs a bit from the historical data), so I then had to quit out of the app (which took some work as it was really caught up in some processing) and then delete and re-import some of the historical data. I still need to reimport the M1 data but since that file is huge and takes a long time I'm waiting for this other issue to get resolved before tending to this. To be clear, is the "log in at least once" requirement for each launch of MT4? If so, then we'll have a problem here as logging in deletes/replaces historical data and the whole purpose of being offline is to prevent this from occurring. But, if I need to be logged in in order to get accurate LotStep and MinLot info then we'll have a problem.

Yes I'm using the correct lotstep code for printing (same as you show below).

I checked and the two FXT files I have were not set to Read Only within the file system. I assume that's where I'm to check for that?

I just closed the terminal, relaunched from within TS and deleted the two FXT files and ran my script again and LotStep=0.

Requested screen shot is included. Note: TS FXT Editor is making the change to the FXT files. After deleting the FXT files of course there is no FXT file there for MT4 to look at. But, does MT4 look to one of these files even when just running a script or only when running the Tester?

I remain desperate for a solution here and hopefully you can assist.

Thanks

Hi Bill,

With your back-testing account, could you firstly ensure that you have logged in at least once to your broker. This will download important settings for the terminal. After that, you can log the terminal out.

Regarding LotStep, we've tried editing the FXT file and it does change the lot step. Did you use the code:

Print("Lot step: " + DoubleToStr(MarketInfo(Symbol(), MODE_LOTSTEP)));

Some other things to check:

- Are your FXT files read-only? This will prevent MT4 from overwriting the files with new data (and potentially writing the incorrect LotStep if you haven't logged into your terminal at least once).

- If you delete the FXT files and simply run the back-test, what LotStep do you get? If it's still zero, this again points to the terminal not having the correct settings.

- If things still aren't working, could you please send a screenshot of your FXT settings (i.e. re-open the FXT file and take a screenshot)? Just be aware that depending on your regional settings, you will need to specify the Lotsize as 0,01 if you're set for EU and 0.01 in most other places. I'm sure you got it right, but it can sometimes be worthwhile noting.

Let us know how you go.

Thanks.

[billworld]

Looks like the FXT Overwrite Protection thin isn't working with my install of the latest FXCM MT4. Here are the steps are followed:

1) Opened MT4 offline, ran backtest on small sample of data, confirmed LotStep/MinLot was at .1 not .01
2) Quit MT4
3) Launched Tickstory, open FXT file used in test in step 1, edited LotStep/MinLot to .01 from .1, saved FXT, opened it again to confirm changes stuck, they did
4) Launched MT4 from within Tickstory (press F8), saw title bar of MT4 change to indicate "FXT Overwrite Protection Mode"
5) Ran same backtest from step 1, confirmed LotStep/MinLot was at .1 not .01

I'm stuck with being unable to set the LotStep to .01 while working offline.

[billworld]

Another user reports the same issue I've encountered at https://forum.mql4.com/46922.

His points:
--------
MarketInfo("AUDNZD", MODE_MINLOT)

is returning 0.1 as well. It should return 0.01
--------

Is exactly the same issue I’ve encountered. The only workaround I've found are the following steps:

1) After launching MT4 login to one’s account
2) Login again but without a password, this in effect disconnects one from the MT4 server, one will see a “Common Error” status on the lower right of the window (note: if you don’t first connect and then disconnect the error reads “disconnected” as opposed to “common error” which means you won’t get the MarketInfo() MinLot info)
3) Go to history center and delete all data and re-import, this is unfortunately necessary as when you log in MT4 replaces existing history data with it’s data

These steps must be repeated every time one launches MT4. It’s a major chore but it’s the only thing that works.

[tickstory]

Hi Bill,

With regard to your questions:


- Re: the requirement to log in once, this only needs to be done once per MT4 installation. It simply allows MT4 to download important information from the broker such as the symbol list & their specifications and so forth.
- Can you please ensure that your FXT are marked as read-only in the filesystem. This should prevent them from being deleted. You should be able to similarly do this for the HST files if they are being overwritten when you log in.

If you found a workaround then that's great, although re-exporting the historical data doesn't sound convenient. If you have your FXT & HST files set as 'read-only', does this eliminate the need for the re-export?

Thanks.