Signal Bot Processing, FAQ and Error Log messages
This article provides background to Altrady's Signal Bot, and further details about Bot Settings.
Signal Bot Processing
Entry Size
Placing Entries
Entry Errors and Warnings
Take Profit Orders
Stop Loss
Signal Bot Positions
Example values
Initial Entry Order Size
DCA prices and sizes
Take Profit: Profit Volume
Frequently Asked Questions
No signals received for X hours/days
Base broken on the chart. Why no signal?
Signal Bot won't save
Signal Bot warning and error messages
Error Log messages
Push notifications for the Signal Bot
What happens if I Delete or Close a bot position?
Once a signal is sent by the provider, these are the steps followed before a position is opened.
The signal will be matched to your bot's:
exchange
quote currency
maximum and minimum volume settings
maximum and minimum price settings
If the signal does not match the above requirements, it is ignored (no error message).
If the signal matches all of the above, your bot filters will be matched against the signal and the market:
number of positions already open (Max concurrent positions)
number of positions already open for the market (Max positions per market)
algorithm (CBS only)
Minimum and maximum success rate (CBS only)
Whitelist
Blacklist
If a signal does not meet the filter requirements, an error is listed in the Error Log, noting which filter was not passed.
If the signal meets the filter requirements, the signal bot will attempt to open a position, using the entry and DCA settings.
If there are not enough funds to place at least one of the entry orders, the bot will not open a position and an error message will be sent.
The Signal details can be viewed on the Bot Overview and Bot Positions pages. Click the (i) next to the market name.
When using a percentage of your account, the available account size is used.
If (total position size including DCAs * the maximum concurrent positions) is greater than the available account size, a warning will be shown
The bot will attempt to place all entries (including DCAs) as soon as the signal is received.
Entry Prices
Altrady calculates DCA cost (and quantity) based on the initial entry order size not current position size.
DCA order prices are offset from the Signal Price (excluding any Entry Deviation).
If the price has dropped to the DCA price when the entries are placed, the initial entry and first DCA can fill at the same price. When this happens, the trades arrows on the chart will be on top of each other. You can see the fill price (and amount) in two places:
trade notifications
on the chart, by turning on "Show price of closed orders" and "Show quantities on closed orders" in the Chart Settings.
When the entries are placed, the position created by a bot will try to recover from any errors that occur.
These include exchange errors and ""not enough funds to place all entries"" errors.
For a bot where one or more DCA orders can't be placed due to funds not being available, the position will be opened with as any entries as can be placed, and the remaining entries will be shown as Failed orders.
If there are not enough funds for the initial Entry order, the position will fail and be cancelled.
You will receive an email and push notification if one or more orders can't be placed.
Failed orders will be displayed in the open orders widget and on the chart.
The data for failed orders is retained. This means that when you have manually released some funds for DCA orders, you can simply edit the position and activate the DCA orders again.
When take profit orders fail, on each new trade in the position, take profit orders will be tried again.
As soon as an entry is filled, the amount is distributed between the TP/s and TPs are placed on the exchange. Keep in mind if your initial entry is small and you split it between 2 or more TPs, your order size might be smaller than the exchange allows.
If there are still open DCA/s, then more DCAs can be added or removed manually by editing the positions.
At any time prior to a TP filling, the position size can be increased (more DCA orders can be added), in the Trading widget.
Once a TP is filled or part-filled, any remaining DCAs will be cancelled.
If the position remains open and there is a Stop Loss, its price will not change.
TP prices are based on the Average Entry price. The percentage profit will stay the same, but price will increase or reduce, depending on your actual entry price.
Like DCAs, if there are still Pending or open TPs, then more can be added.
Once all TPs have been deleted or filled, no more can be added.
If a Profit Volume of <100% is used, then some of the position will be excluded from the TPs.
This amount can be used to keep Free Coins as per QFL method.
This amount will NOT BE RESERVED.
At the moment, Profit Volume can only be specified when using the Custom Take Profit.
SL is based on the entry order price (including price deviation, if used). See video https://youtu.be/GjCdCGdVXeY
Three types of Trailing Stop Loss are available when the Custom Stop Loss option is chosen.
A Stop Loss cooldown (also called Stop Loss timeout) can be included, which will only execute the Stop Loss, if the Current Price is still below the Stop Price after the set amount of time.
An Emergency Stop Loss can also be included. The Emergency % set, is based on the % below the entry order price. If the price reaches the Emergency Stop Loss price, any Stop Loss cooldown/timeout that was set will be cancelled, and a Market order will be sent to the exchange to close the position.
As soon as the signal is received, the initial entry orders ares placed, and a new Signal Bot position is opened. Until the first entry fills or part-fills, the size of this position will be zero.
Once a bot position has been opened, it will behave in the same way as an Altrady Smart Position:
You can see the position details in My Positions and the Break Even Calculator
You can see Orders in My Orders. Closed orders will show the average trade price and the date of the last fill.
The position can be edited in the Trading widget by clicking on one of the order price handles, or from My Orders.
You can also see your bot positions under the Bots section by clicking on one of your bots.
You will receive trade notifications in the same way as for other trades.
Your Base Scanner settings have no affect on the bot and bot settings do not affect the Base Scanner.
1a. Signals don't come at regular times. See:
signal frequency.
b. Exchanges also vary in the number of signals depending on how many markets they have. Check the CBS Monthly Reports linked here. Apply your filter settings at the top, and see how many days have no signals vs some signals.
2a. Check your Error log to see if you have received signals that have been filtered out.
b. Click the (i) to the right of the market name to see the signal details for those signals (see image above). You can tell if you are excluding too many.
c. Note that some signals are filtered out before reaching the error logging--volume and price filters. If your volume filter is very restrictive, you won't get many signals but the rejected ones won't be in the log.
Signals are sent when a broken base meets a number of criteria.
Maybe your bot did get a signal but it was filtered out? See 2 b and c above.
There are extra conditions for a signal to be sent--a base crack is not enough.
See What triggers a CBS signal
Check the whole settings page for error messages.
Not enough balance for one entry of one signal? Resync your balances for the relevant account on the portfolio page to make sure that recently added funds are available.
The message below is a warning and won't stop your bot from saving or operating. The amount specified is based on Maximum Positions x total entry size (i.e. initial entry and all DCAs).
See also Push Notifications below.
Entry order expired: A signal was received and initial orders placed. But the Entry expiry time in your bot settings was reached and the position was cancelled. To see which market, ither check email for details, or click the push notification to open the market.
Error placing orders 1 of 4 Buy orders: There were not enough funds available to place all entry orders, 1 of the 4 failed (the lowest DCA). The bot will continue, and use just the 3 DCAs. Or you can make more funds available to the account: then edit the smart order and save, so the bot will check for the extra funds and place the 4th DCA.
Error placing orders 1 of 2 Sell orders: There were not enough funds available to place all TP orders, 1 of the 2 failed (the highest TP). The bot will continue, and use just 1 TP.
This is rare, and mostly caused by slow response from the exchange so that funds are not available for placing orders when the order is placed. If you see that the balance has become available, edit the smart order and save, so the bot will check for the extra funds and place the 2nd TP.."
There was an issue trying to execute the smart order: Order Book is in Limit Only mode (GDAX). GDAX sometimes places pairs in limit-only mode, which means market orders cannot be placed (will be rejected by the exchange), but limit orders are still allowed, as long as the order will sit in the order book and not be taken immediately. For a signal bot position, the initial entry will be a limit order but might be "above the book", and be taken immediately (if the price is already lower than the order price). Other Signal Bot market orders are: Stop Loss, TSL, and Trailing Take Profit. If the error occurs on one of these, and the position is still open, it can be edited and a Limit exit order can be placed to sell the coins. If the position is closed, the coins will need to be sold outside the position using a limit sell order.
When a signal arrives that matches your bot's exchange, quote currency, max and min volume, max and min price, the bot will then check your filter settings to determine whetger or not to open a position. When a position is not opened, a message is posted in the Error Log for the bot.
(1) See Using Altrady's Signal Bot with Futures exchanges
Close Position (from Position Info or My Positions) can be used to immediately sell all remaining coins at limit or market, and close the position.
Delete will cancel open orders and delete the position from your position list. Coins already purchased won't be sold.
Signal Bot Processing
Entry Size
Placing Entries
Entry Errors and Warnings
Take Profit Orders
Stop Loss
Signal Bot Positions
Example values
Initial Entry Order Size
DCA prices and sizes
Take Profit: Profit Volume
Frequently Asked Questions
No signals received for X hours/days
Base broken on the chart. Why no signal?
Signal Bot won't save
Signal Bot warning and error messages
Error Log messages
Push notifications for the Signal Bot
What happens if I Delete or Close a bot position?
Signal Bot Processing
Once a signal is sent by the provider, these are the steps followed before a position is opened.
The signal will be matched to your bot's:
exchange
quote currency
maximum and minimum volume settings
maximum and minimum price settings
If the signal does not match the above requirements, it is ignored (no error message).
If the signal matches all of the above, your bot filters will be matched against the signal and the market:
number of positions already open (Max concurrent positions)
number of positions already open for the market (Max positions per market)
algorithm (CBS only)
Minimum and maximum success rate (CBS only)
Whitelist
Blacklist
If a signal does not meet the filter requirements, an error is listed in the Error Log, noting which filter was not passed.
If the signal meets the filter requirements, the signal bot will attempt to open a position, using the entry and DCA settings.
If there are not enough funds to place at least one of the entry orders, the bot will not open a position and an error message will be sent.
The Signal details can be viewed on the Bot Overview and Bot Positions pages. Click the (i) next to the market name.
Entry Sizes
When using a percentage of your account, the available account size is used.
If (total position size including DCAs * the maximum concurrent positions) is greater than the available account size, a warning will be shown
Placing Entries
The bot will attempt to place all entries (including DCAs) as soon as the signal is received.
Entry Prices
Altrady calculates DCA cost (and quantity) based on the initial entry order size not current position size.
DCA order prices are offset from the Signal Price (excluding any Entry Deviation).
If the price has dropped to the DCA price when the entries are placed, the initial entry and first DCA can fill at the same price. When this happens, the trades arrows on the chart will be on top of each other. You can see the fill price (and amount) in two places:
trade notifications
on the chart, by turning on "Show price of closed orders" and "Show quantities on closed orders" in the Chart Settings.
Entry Errors and Warnings
When the entries are placed, the position created by a bot will try to recover from any errors that occur.
These include exchange errors and ""not enough funds to place all entries"" errors.
For a bot where one or more DCA orders can't be placed due to funds not being available, the position will be opened with as any entries as can be placed, and the remaining entries will be shown as Failed orders.
If there are not enough funds for the initial Entry order, the position will fail and be cancelled.
You will receive an email and push notification if one or more orders can't be placed.
Failed orders will be displayed in the open orders widget and on the chart.
The data for failed orders is retained. This means that when you have manually released some funds for DCA orders, you can simply edit the position and activate the DCA orders again.
When take profit orders fail, on each new trade in the position, take profit orders will be tried again.
Take Profit Orders
As soon as an entry is filled, the amount is distributed between the TP/s and TPs are placed on the exchange. Keep in mind if your initial entry is small and you split it between 2 or more TPs, your order size might be smaller than the exchange allows.
If there are still open DCA/s, then more DCAs can be added or removed manually by editing the positions.
At any time prior to a TP filling, the position size can be increased (more DCA orders can be added), in the Trading widget.
Once a TP is filled or part-filled, any remaining DCAs will be cancelled.
If the position remains open and there is a Stop Loss, its price will not change.
TP prices are based on the Average Entry price. The percentage profit will stay the same, but price will increase or reduce, depending on your actual entry price.
Like DCAs, if there are still Pending or open TPs, then more can be added.
Once all TPs have been deleted or filled, no more can be added.
If a Profit Volume of <100% is used, then some of the position will be excluded from the TPs.
This amount can be used to keep Free Coins as per QFL method.
This amount will NOT BE RESERVED.
At the moment, Profit Volume can only be specified when using the Custom Take Profit.
Stop Loss
SL is based on the entry order price (including price deviation, if used). See video https://youtu.be/GjCdCGdVXeY
Three types of Trailing Stop Loss are available when the Custom Stop Loss option is chosen.
A Stop Loss cooldown (also called Stop Loss timeout) can be included, which will only execute the Stop Loss, if the Current Price is still below the Stop Price after the set amount of time.
An Emergency Stop Loss can also be included. The Emergency % set, is based on the % below the entry order price. If the price reaches the Emergency Stop Loss price, any Stop Loss cooldown/timeout that was set will be cancelled, and a Market order will be sent to the exchange to close the position.
Signal Bot Positions
As soon as the signal is received, the initial entry orders ares placed, and a new Signal Bot position is opened. Until the first entry fills or part-fills, the size of this position will be zero.
Once a bot position has been opened, it will behave in the same way as an Altrady Smart Position:
You can see the position details in My Positions and the Break Even Calculator
You can see Orders in My Orders. Closed orders will show the average trade price and the date of the last fill.
The position can be edited in the Trading widget by clicking on one of the order price handles, or from My Orders.
You can also see your bot positions under the Bots section by clicking on one of your bots.
You will receive trade notifications in the same way as for other trades.
Your Base Scanner settings have no affect on the bot and bot settings do not affect the Base Scanner.
Example values
Initial Entry Order Size
DCA prices and sizes
Take Profit: Profit Volume
Frequently Asked Questions
No signals received for X hours/days
1a. Signals don't come at regular times. See:
signal frequency.
b. Exchanges also vary in the number of signals depending on how many markets they have. Check the CBS Monthly Reports linked here. Apply your filter settings at the top, and see how many days have no signals vs some signals.
2a. Check your Error log to see if you have received signals that have been filtered out.
b. Click the (i) to the right of the market name to see the signal details for those signals (see image above). You can tell if you are excluding too many.
c. Note that some signals are filtered out before reaching the error logging--volume and price filters. If your volume filter is very restrictive, you won't get many signals but the rejected ones won't be in the log.
Base broken on the chart. Why no signal?
Signals are sent when a broken base meets a number of criteria.
Maybe your bot did get a signal but it was filtered out? See 2 b and c above.
There are extra conditions for a signal to be sent--a base crack is not enough.
See What triggers a CBS signal
Signal Bot won't save
Check the whole settings page for error messages.
Not enough balance for one entry of one signal? Resync your balances for the relevant account on the portfolio page to make sure that recently added funds are available.
Signal Bot warning and error messages
The message below is a warning and won't stop your bot from saving or operating. The amount specified is based on Maximum Positions x total entry size (i.e. initial entry and all DCAs).
See also Push Notifications below.
Push notifications for the Signal Bot
Entry order expired: A signal was received and initial orders placed. But the Entry expiry time in your bot settings was reached and the position was cancelled. To see which market, ither check email for details, or click the push notification to open the market.
Error placing orders 1 of 4 Buy orders: There were not enough funds available to place all entry orders, 1 of the 4 failed (the lowest DCA). The bot will continue, and use just the 3 DCAs. Or you can make more funds available to the account: then edit the smart order and save, so the bot will check for the extra funds and place the 4th DCA.
Error placing orders 1 of 2 Sell orders: There were not enough funds available to place all TP orders, 1 of the 2 failed (the highest TP). The bot will continue, and use just 1 TP.
This is rare, and mostly caused by slow response from the exchange so that funds are not available for placing orders when the order is placed. If you see that the balance has become available, edit the smart order and save, so the bot will check for the extra funds and place the 2nd TP.."
There was an issue trying to execute the smart order: Order Book is in Limit Only mode (GDAX). GDAX sometimes places pairs in limit-only mode, which means market orders cannot be placed (will be rejected by the exchange), but limit orders are still allowed, as long as the order will sit in the order book and not be taken immediately. For a signal bot position, the initial entry will be a limit order but might be "above the book", and be taken immediately (if the price is already lower than the order price). Other Signal Bot market orders are: Stop Loss, TSL, and Trailing Take Profit. If the error occurs on one of these, and the position is still open, it can be edited and a Limit exit order can be placed to sell the coins. If the position is closed, the coins will need to be sold outside the position using a limit sell order.
Error Log messages
When a signal arrives that matches your bot's exchange, quote currency, max and min volume, max and min price, the bot will then check your filter settings to determine whetger or not to open a position. When a position is not opened, a message is posted in the Error Log for the bot.
| Error | Details | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Too many positions opened | Maximum positions | Ignore, or allow for more concurrent positions |
| Filters did not match: Algorithm | The signal algorithm is different to the bot algorithm/s | |
| Filters did not match: Black list | Market is excluded by the Black List filter setting | |
| Filters did not match: Max per market | Related to the Signal bot filter setting: Maximum positions per market. | e.g. if this is set to 1 and a position for that market is already open, then each time a new signal for the same market arrives, you will see this error message logged. NB. For Futures, Max per Market is always 1 or 2. (1) |
| Filters did not match: Max per market hedge | Related to the Signal bot filter setting: Maximum positions per market. | Specific to Signal Bots on Futures exchanges with HEDGE MODE enabled. One position is allowed in each direction at the same time (maximum 2 positions). This takes into account positions opened on the same account, outside the signal bot. For ONE-WAY mode, Only one position can be opened. |
| Filters did not match: Max success rate | The signal success rate is outside the success rate settings in the bot | |
| No entry orders to create | webhook code error | Error in the Signal bot settings |
| No orders could not be placed: exchange: BINA code: -1013 message: Invalid quantity. | webhook code error | Error in the bot settings or JSON code |
| No orders could not be placed: exchange: BINA code: -2010 message: This symbol is restricted for this account. | The exchange won't allow your account to trade this market. | Usually due to your location |
| undefined method | bug | please report this to support |
| No orders could be placed: exchange: BYBIF code: 35015 message: Qty not in range | invalid entry order size | |
| No orders could be placed: exchange: Not enough balance or Insufficient Balance | Not enough quote currency to place at least one order | add funds or reduce the initial entry size |
| Entry time expired | The initial entry order did not fill before the timer for Entry Order Expiration ran out | |
| Min_notional | initial entry order is too small for the exchange. | |
| Invalid Quantity | initial entry order is too small for the exchange. | Check available balance x entry percentage. Or fixed amount too small |
| Signal could not be processed within 5 minutes | Occurs when there is a huge increase in signals, usually during a market dump. | If the time taken to process the signal has been more than 5m then this error is thrown, and the bot gives up on that signal. The issue will usually resolve quite quickly. |
(1) See Using Altrady's Signal Bot with Futures exchanges
What happens if I Delete or Close a bot position?
Close Position (from Position Info or My Positions) can be used to immediately sell all remaining coins at limit or market, and close the position.
Delete will cancel open orders and delete the position from your position list. Coins already purchased won't be sold.
Updated on: 08/10/2024
Thank you!