Z12 all trades closed by Zorro but there are still a lot opened

Hi Zorro community,

I am testing the Z12 since 06.09.2018 with a demo account at Global Prime using the MT4 bridge. Zorro Version 1.83 is running on a VPS 24h.

Today I closed Zorro. It asked me if all open trades should be closed. I said yes expecting that all trades will be closed. But instead that just a small amount of trades (13) was closed by Zorro, and the majority (69 trades) is still opened.

This behaviour seems like an error to me. I worry that Zorro lost the connection to the still opened trades and would have never closed them in the future if I would have kept Zorro running. Which makes me worry if Zorro is reliably managing all trades without the need to interfere by myself because Zorro isn't reliable handling all trades.

Any advice? Am I wrong? Is Zorro wrong?

Thank you for your help!

82 trades open by z12 at the same time? Are you sure?

Yep. I am starting from scratch. But your reaction is telling me that this is not normal.

It is not normal. My suggestion:
- update at the last version and use the last Mt4 plugin included!
- Close all the trades double check in Mt4.
- Start again z12
- When Z12 will start it should not resume any old trades.

if it happens again send the logs to the support.

Ciao

I made the same experience with Z12 on 1.83 on a FXCM demo account and I wondered about the number of trades after approx. one week and also the assets the trades where openend seemed to me a bit confusing. Because I didn't want to trade Z12 real I didn't follow this issue further on.

I've been running Z12 live for about 7 months and I find at 1 or 2 orphaned trade per week. I just watch it carefully and close it when I see it. I suppose if I hadn't done that I'd have dozens of them by now.

Alright. I will install the new version 1.88 and come back with the results. Thank you.

Hi dmac, how do you distinguish managed trades from orphan trades?

Good to know. Thanks for your comment. Which system are you trading now, why and what is your experience?

Still running Z12, it's doing well.

https://www.myfxbook.com/members/darcymac/zorro/2569912

I have the zorro status html file linked to the root of a web server running on the VPS. I check this on my phone from time to time and also check MT4 app on my phone. If MT4 is showing fewer trades than zorro is, I have a mismtach and I scan through till I find it.

Hi Dmac,
Can you explain how you find the orphan trades in a little more detail? I am using an IB paper account and I can't easily determine what is open and what is orphaned (what is open but shouldn't be).
I have the .html page the zorro produces open and it has 19 trades open. I've only had zorro running for 9 days.
Is there perhaps a way in the logs to identify trade errors?

So you've got 19 showing in zorro. Go into IB and count the actual trades there. If it's not 19 you've got an orphan or two.

Then to find the orphan, go to the zorro trade log and examine each symbol. Let's say have 4 positions in USDCAD. Go look at the USDCAD positions in IB and find the one that doesn't belong (using lot size, date, etc). Close it manually. I do this for each symbol until everything matches again.

The MT4 log is also helpful, it'll show errors if you scroll back. I'm not sure you have the same sort of log in IB for rejected orders, probably not.

Are you trading Z12 in IB? What kind of leverage?

First error I found: I don't have 19 open orders. I have 5 open orders with 14 phantom orders.

I'm really struggling to hunt down the orders in the logs. I first tried using "enter" as a keyword search and that failed. I am now using the '[' as the delimiter and I can see trades that have actually been placed as opposed to the "phantom" trades.

However, it looks like on of the phantom trades may have actually executed as I can't find any other trade for that currency pair and price in the IB logs.

The leverage in IB varies by asset type. Anywhere from 33-1 up to 50-1.

Ok, wait, there's a difference between the phantom trades and orphans. Phantom trades are in curly braces {}. These are shadow trades that zorro opens for trading the equity curve and virtual hedging. You can ignore these.

Just look at the ones in square brackets and compare them to actual open trades at the broker.

If you've got 5 actual positions in zorro you should have 5 at the broker.

Got it. I have 5 at the brokerage and 5 on zorro.

I had lots of error messages, which is what originally got me looking at the logs. Have you found any way of identifying orphan trades besides manually scanning logs? I don't have any currently, but don't want some to pop up and miss them.

Hello,
I just wanted an information how much did you set the capital with the slider?
did you change any parameters on the .ini file?
Hello and thanks

Back when I started, the required capital for Z12 was higher than the initial capital. So when I started my account with a $5K deposit, I set the capital slider to about $4K.

After version 1.83, the Z12 backtests began showing a required capital number that was less than the initial capital. I'm not exactly sure how to interpret that, but I've since adjusted the capital upwards to be just a bit under the actual equity in the account.

I changed nothing in the ini file except the max capital setting.

Thank you!

hello Dmac ,
hanks for the info.
I wanted to ask you do the backtest every time you stop the strategy?
Hello
I started with 3500 with the capital put in 2000 but now I'm in DD, I'm worried

No, I've never run any backtests on my live server. I think this means that the CBI is now inaccurate on that server. I think at some point I should copy up a DBL file from a recent backtest to fix that.

unfortunately the dbl have to be present before Z strategy starts... there is another post on this matter

I just switched from paper to live and within a few hours I received the following error.

Order rejected - reason:Order increases leveraged FX position. GBP-CASH--0--IDEALPRO--USD
Error 075: (GBP/USD:VO:S) - can't open 1@1.2969 at 20:07:30


I called IB and it has to do with NFA compliance and that I don't have 10 million in my bank account.

I'm trying to set up an account with OANDA so that I can properly trade the Z12 algo.

Hopefully, that will solve the leverage issue. Otherwise I'm moving to Canada!

I think you're still only getting 1:50 or 1:33 with Oanda? I'd suggest a non-US broker like IG or Global Prime.

I think you're still only getting 50:1 with Oanda? I'd suggest a non-US broker like IG or Global Prime.

You are 100% correct. Unfortunately, neither IG nor Global Prime accept US citizens as clients. If there were a way around it, I'd love to know as I currently can't trade CFD's or get full leverage.

What about a friend or relative in Canada willing to act as a local agent for a Canadian corporation? Canadian banks are pretty easy to deal with from the US.

Global Prime will accept a Canadian corp as a client. I don't expect they'd care where the beneficial owner is located.

I have two Canadian friends, but they are worried about the process. Are you suggesting that they would need to serve as the statutory agent for a Canadian LLC?
Assuming that works, would the funds need to come from a Canadian bank?
If so, asking them to open a Canadian bank account seems to be a deal breaker.

Yes, a Canadian corporation needs a local registered agent. That person is not a Director or shareholder though, and has no legal or tax liability. There are companies (law firms) that can do this for you as well I think.

The bank account is trickier, but I am pretty sure it can be done without visiting in person (for a business account). You'd have to contact one of the big 5 banks to find out for sure. Your agent has nothing to do with this though, those docs need a Director's signature.

Although I don't even know if the broker would care if the funds came from a Canadian bank, they may not.

I spoke with Global Prime today and they said even if the corporation is Canadian, none of the beneficiary owners can be US citizens, or they have to have an ECP. Unfortunately, I don't think it's feasible.

Hello,
sorry I wanted an information the operations you have closed by hand or the Z12 strategy in date 29.10.2018?thank you

I upgraded from 1.83 to 1.88 and accidentally hit yes to close all trades. It's slowly getting back in now.