Old Tick Error on MT4

Have any of the forum members managed to find a way of over-coming the Old Tick error when using an EA, is there a script that can be written to sort out Old Tick when it occurs?

 

Can you be a little more specific?

 

Hi Cowmadagan,
Sorry I thought it was a more common place problem, if you have an EA working for you, you will find under the Termanal Function (Your trades, History, Alerts, Mail box, Expers and Journal If the EA stops working unexpectedly, it is probably a Tick Error in your Journal. I don't profess to be a fundi on MT4, but I read that it is a delay error, either created by a bad connection or IT speed, or more likely by your broker trying to destabalise any good EA action that could benefit you, kind of like a time delay that upsets your EA, but I am not sure, all I know is that you get anyway close to a Holy Grail, in no time you will start to suffer from Old Tick Errors and litteraly be neutaralised. I am not saying it is a scam, but more of a broker management tool (I Think) hell I don't know, that is why I am asking the Forum.

 

Feed problems are the nature of the beast, unfortunately.
Were the problems you've detected during times you weren't watching, or while you were watching?
If they were while you were watching then you should make a habit of surfing to make sure it's not a local net connection thing. Living in big cities helps this.
I've personally drawn your question to the attention of superiors, so try to be patient.

 

I'd guess old ticks would be worse than old fleas.

I'm definitely not an expert, but would hope that there is a way to deal with this. Even the best connection will have the occasional momentary glitch (deliberate or not).

 

I have been testing an EA which shows excellent results in Strategy Testing, but while showing fantastic test results, it wont open trades on the demo’s I have it attached to. This has been going on for months, sure I have been watching it. I can see the Trigger Indicator move into the trade position and nothing happens. I had a programmer look at the program, and he said it should work and should open trades, but he also said check your Journal for the Error Type, which I did it was "Old Tick" hundreds of them.

This has been happening at times of low and high volume, so it is not a traffic related problem. It is quite well documented on the Web, but no one seems to have a solution to Old Tick. The general consensus it is broker generated

I live in a rural area, but have set up a remote desktop on the Web, which is always live, so there should be no connection problem. I just can't find a solution to the problem. I hope someone in the forum can.

 

We need other small program

We need small program to bridge it with metatrader and when old tick error has occur , this program will close and restrat the metatrader again.
only way i found is opening and closing the metatrader .

 

Thank you Mohammed,

So glad to hear that someone else knows about it!

Would the "small program" be a scrip, or would it need to be an EA as this could occur repeadedly?

 

Old Tick from FXCM themselves

This e-mail is in HTML format, please change your settings to HTML or contact FXCM if you need assistance.




Tony,




I saw your trace route and wanted to follow up with you regarding the issue you were experiencing.


Feel free to get in contact with me anytime between 8 - 5 PM (East Coast US) if you're still having trouble.


Below is some general information regarding old tick on MT4 from our MT4 technical dept.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The MT4 terminal gets tick updates from the server and compares that tick update with the clock on the client terminal and with the clock on the client computer. The MT4 terminal will calculate the tick as “old” if there is a discrepancy between the time on your computer and your client terminal; e.g., your MT4 shows the time as 22:23 and your local time should show 2:23. If your computer displays the time as 2:28 instead of 2:23, that could cause the terminal to calculate a tick as “old.” The computer time has to remain correct as often as possible.



As MT4 compares the time tick-updates are received with the time on the terminal and computer clock, it is also a consideration that the network connection plays a part in this. MT4 will determine how long it takes to receive a new tick and compare that to how long it usually takes to receive a new tick. A slower network connection and a computer clock showing a time that is not exactly correct can lead to the platform designating ticks that are “old” while there may be nothing wrong with the price or the price feed itself, the terminal simply thinks it is when compared to the time and average time for tick-update.



Generally, the “old tick” message does not stop trading. The error message indicates only that the platform is calling a tick old, whether it is in fact old or not. Most Expert Advisors will ignore this. Though there are few exceptions to this, some Expert Advisors will not trade given this error message.



If seeing this message, here are few steps that can be taken:



First, check the clock on the computer and make sure that is updated and is correct.



Ensure the network connection is not timing out or is subject to any unusual latency; you can test that with a trace route.



Lastly, it is possible you can see the old tick error message if you have a large gap in your price history on the charts. If you notice that this is the case, you can delete your history files then reconnect. The terminal will replace the history files with fresh data.



Best regards,



Brian Hinman


(888) 503-6739
bhinman@fxcm.com
Website: FXCM