# Why a signal was skipped Every reason Relay2Trade gives for not trading a signal, or part of one, with what it means and what you can do, grouped by what stopped it: the message, the listener, the day's limits, open positions, the account, stop-loss rules, symbols, price and spread, time, your plan, and MetaTrader or the connection. It also lists the signals that wait for you instead, the lines that only explain the size, and the broker's refusals. ## How to read a skip A skipped signal always carries its reason, in plain words, with the setting named as the Settings page spells it and the numbers of that moment (the numbers below are examples). 1. Open the signal: in the Desk, open Signals and pick "Skipped"; in the app, click it on the Dashboard or use "Browse all signals" with the outcome filter "Skipped". 2. Read the reasons under the levels. The first is the rule that decided; the others explain the size. When only part of the signal was traded, read "Legs not placed". The bell carries the first reason too ("XAUUSD BUY skipped — …"), ending "It can still be placed: open it to see how." when it can. Under a reason, "Go to “…”" opens the setting that stopped the signal (on the listener, for a listener's own), and "Force placement" places that one signal past your rule after showing what it would place, while the signal is younger than "Max signal age (min)". After you change a setting, "Try again" in the Desk ("Retry this signal" in the app) judges it again. The last section lists which reasons offer which button; see also https://relay2trade.com/help/the-signal-story.md. ## The message No setting changes most of these; when the reading was wrong, use "Read wrong?" on the signal. - **"No number in it, so it was not read as a signal."** and **"No trade word (buy, sell, long, short…) and no instrument with two prices in it, so it was not read as a signal."** The filter set the message aside unread ("skipped, not read" under Signals → "Every message"); in the Desk, "Read it anyway" reads it on request. If real signals from a group land here, send one to support so the filter learns how that group writes them. - **"It names an instrument and a side but no number, so it was not read as a signal. …"** Switch on "Read calls without a number" for a group that really trades on calls such as "GOLD BUY NOW". - **"A picture with no text: the app reads text only."** The same for a video, voice message, sticker, file, poll or paid post with no text. A caption is read. - **"Posted in a topic this listener does not read."** Change "Topics" on the listener if signals are posted there. - **"read, not a signal"** (status "not a signal"): a report, recap, chat, analysis or promotion. If it was a real call, report it with "Read wrong?" → "A trade that was ignored". - **"An ad or teaser, not a signal: it gives no target and points somewhere else …"** - **"It names no instrument, so it was not traded."** Set "What does this group usually trade?" on the listener. - **"Two entries (4235 and 4210) that do not fit its stop-loss and take-profits together: …"** Place it by hand if you know what the group meant. - **"looked like a signal, but whether to buy or sell could not be told — not traded"** and **"… the instrument could not be told — not traded"** (status "parse failed", filter "Could not read"). The app never guesses; report it if the message was clear. - **"The signal names "XAUUS", which is not a symbol name the app can read, …"** Usually a misreading. Report it, also when the group uses its own nickname for an instrument, so the app can learn it. - **"The signal's entry 10850 is 899% away from the market price 1.0852 — too far to be a real level, so it was most likely read wrong (a decimal comma, or another instrument). …"** The same for the stop-loss and a take-profit: a level more than double, or less than half, the market price is refused whatever your settings say. - **"The stop-loss is at the entry price, so the size can't be worked out."** Usually a misreading; report it. - **"The signal's TP3 (2380) is on the wrong side of the entry, a typo, so it was left out; Require full signal is on, so none was placed."** Turn "Require full signal" off to trade the other take-profits. - **"The reader could not be reached, so this message was not read and nothing was traded."** The connection from your computer to relay2trade.com failed, or reading was briefly unavailable on our side (then the app shows "Relay2Trade is having an outage" and https://relay2trade.com/status says so). Place it by hand if the price is still good. ## The listener - **"On Watch, so nothing was placed. Had it traded, the app would have placed this signal as follows."** or **"… would have skipped this signal, for the reason that follows."**, and **"… MetaTrader was not connected, so the app could not say what it would have done."** Set the listener's "Mode" to Manual or Auto to trade. - **"Listener Gold VIP is switched off (Enabled)."** Switch the listener on. - **"Listener Gold VIP is set to watch, so nothing from it is traded."** A limit order of this listener expired after it was set to Watch, so it did not go in at market. - **"unknown listener "…""** The listener was removed while its signal waited. - **"This listener only trades the symbols in its Symbols setting (XAUUSD), and EURUSD is not one of them."** Add the symbol to its "Symbols", or empty the list. - **"The price 4407.4 is already 46.0 pips from the signal's entry 4412, more than this listener's Max entry deviation (30 pips)."** Also in percent and for an entry zone ("… already 3.5 pips outside the signal's entry zone 2400–2404 …"; a price inside the zone passes). Raise "Max entry deviation", or set it to 0 to turn the check off. - **"The price 2396 is already better than the limit 2400, and this listener's If the price is already better is set to skip."** Choose "Enter at market, never worse than the entry" to take such signals. - **"The price 4167.53 had already gone through take-profit 4170, and this listener's If the price already passed a take-profit is set to skip."** Choose to trade the take-profits still ahead, or to wait at the entry. **"The price 4160 had already gone through every take-profit, the last at 4166."** leaves nothing to trade, and **"The price … had already gone through some of the signal's take-profits (2), and Require full signal is on, so none was placed."** follows "Require full signal". - **"The message is a BUY STOP at 44100: an order that waits for the price to reach it. This listener has Stop orders off, so it was read as an entry now."** A note, not a skip: turn on "Stop orders" to wait at your broker. **"The message is a BUY LIMIT at 2400: … This listener enters at market, so it was read as an entry now."** Set "Entry mode" to "Limit (at the entry or better)" to wait for the price. - **"the other side of this straddle already entered: only one side trades"** Turn on "Let both sides of a straddle trade". - **"Listener Gold VIP has 2 trades or orders on XAUUSD going the other way, and Opposite-direction signals is set to skip such a signal."** With "Close them only", the change of direction is an exit: **"Listener Gold VIP: closed its 2 trades and orders on XAUUSD going the other way, as Opposite-direction signals says; this signal itself is not traded."** As a preview, for example in a dry run, the record reads "… would close them and not trade this one" or "… would close them first, then trade this one"; for real, they are closed only if the signal would trade. ## Limits of the day The day starts again at midnight on your broker's server clock (see https://relay2trade.com/help/daily-limits.md). A listener's own limit gives the same reason with its name, and adds "The other listeners trade on." - **"You reached Max traded signals per day (5), so no new signals are traded until tomorrow."** Raise it, or set it to "No limit". Its own: **"Listener Gold VIP reached its own Max traded signals per day (3), …"** - **"Today's loss (210.00) reached Max daily loss (200.00), so no new trades open until tomorrow."** Its own: **"Listener Gold VIP lost 250.00 today on its own trades, which reached its own Max daily loss (250.00), …"** - **"Today's profit (320.00) reached Daily profit target (300.00), so no new trades open until tomorrow."** Its own: **"Listener Gold VIP made 150.00 today on its own trades, which reached its own Daily profit target (150.00), …"** - **"Only 12 seconds passed since the last entry, and Pause between signals (seconds) is 60."** It stops a burst of messages from opening many trades at once; lower it, or set it to "Off". Its own: **"Only 12 seconds passed since listener Gold VIP's last entry, and its own Pause between signals (seconds) is 60."** The daily loss and profit lines and the pause never offer "Force placement". ## Open positions and lots These count only trades the app placed, pending orders included. Your plan caps "Max open positions" at 10 on the 7-day plan, 10 on Basic, 50 on Advanced and 100 on Pro. - **"Open positions and pending orders: 10, and Max open positions is 10."** and **"… 3 on XAUUSD, and Max open positions per symbol is 3."** - **"Signals with open trades or pending orders: 3, and Max signals open at once is 3."** On an Auto listener such a signal waits for you instead, and "Force placement" trades it past that limit only. - A listener's own: **"Listener Gold VIP has 5 open positions and pending orders, and its own Max open positions is 5."**, the same per symbol, and **"Listener Gold VIP has 2 signals with open trades or pending orders, and its own Max signals open at once is 2."** (which waits for you like the profile's). - **"The signal needs 0.60 lots across 3 trades, 2.50 lots are already open, and Max total lots is 3.00."** and **"The signal needs 0.30 lots on XAUUSD across 3 trades, 0.80 lots are already open there, and Max lots per symbol is 1.00."** Lower the size, or raise the cap. A listener's own: **"… listener Gold VIP already has 0.50 lots open, and its own Max total lots is 0.50."** - **"Only 2 of the signal's 3 trades fit your limits, and Require full signal is on, so none was placed."** Turn "Require full signal" off to take the trades that fit. - **"netting account: a position is already open on EURUSD — one signal per symbol at a time"** While the position is open, new signals on that symbol are skipped. No setting changes this. ## The account and its money - **"Equity 950.00 is below your Lowest equity to trade (1000.00), so no new trades open."** Open trades are left alone. Lower the floor, or set it to "Off". - **"This signal's trades would bring margin use to 85.0%, above Max margin use % (80.0%)."** Lower the size, or raise "Max margin use %". - **"These trades would need margin of 131% of your equity, more than the account has free: the broker would refuse them."** Shown when you try "Force placement"; nothing was placed. - **"Even the smallest trade on XAUUSD, 0.01 lots, needs 450.00 USD of margin: 112% of your equity (400.00). …"** The account needs more funds or more leverage for that instrument. **"Even the smallest trade on XAUUSD, 0.01 lots, would bring margin use to 104% with the margin your open trades already hold."** New signals trade again once open trades free margin. - **"The size came to 0.004 lots, below the broker's smallest lot (0.01). Raise the size under Position sizing."**, then **"No trade: the size came to zero lots."** Common with "Risk % of equity" on a small account or a wide stop. Raise the size, or place it at the smallest lot with "Force placement". - **"The broker gave no value for this symbol's price moves, so the size can't be worked out."** The app will not guess, and the signal does not count toward your plan's signals. If it repeats, open the symbol's Specification in MetaTrader and ask your broker. ## Stop-loss rules See https://relay2trade.com/help/stops-and-follow-ups.md. - **"The signal has no stop-loss and Require stop-loss is on. …"** "Force placement" places it with no stop-loss at all, and the app tells you to put one on in MetaTrader at once. - **"Your own stop-loss is on but has no distance: set Own stop-loss (pips) above 0."** - **"Your own stop-loss of 0.5 pips is 0.05 in price on XAUUSD, no wider than the spread right now (0.20): …"** Set "Own stop-loss (pips)" wider; a gold pip is 0.10. - **"Your own stop-loss could not be placed: MetaTrader has no price for this symbol yet."** Usual right after MetaTrader starts or while the market is closed. ## Symbols - **"Your Allowed symbols (EURUSD, GBPUSD) does not have XAUUSD, …"** Add the symbol, or empty "Allowed symbols". It and the listener's "Symbols" must both allow a symbol. - **"Your broker has no symbol called US30 on this account, so the signal was skipped."** Your broker uses another name (US30 is DJ30 at some brokers). Press **"Tell the app what your broker calls US30"** on the signal and pick the symbol from your broker's list, or add it under Settings → "Symbols" → "Symbol names at your broker". You do it once; endings such as .s or .pro are found by themselves. The signal does not count toward your plan's signals. - **"Your broker lists XAUUSD, but trading it is switched off for this account, …"** ("Trade: Disabled" in the symbol's Specification) and **"… this account may only close trades on it, not open new ones, …"** ("Trade: Close only", often before holidays or when the broker withdraws an instrument). Ask your broker. ## Price and spread - **"The spread is 35 points, above Max spread (points) 20."** Spreads widen around news and at the daily rollover; on EURUSD 1 pip is 10 points. Orders waiting at the broker are not checked. Raise the cap, or set it to "Off". - **"stop-loss 2405 is not below the price (2408)"** (a buy) or **"… is not above the price …"** (a sell): the price had already run through the stop, or the stop was read wrong. - **"take-profit 2398 is not above the price (2401)"** (a buy) or **"… is not below the price …"** (a sell). On a Market listener, "If the price already passed a take-profit" can trade the take-profits still ahead, or wait at the entry. - **"The price 2392 had already gone through the signal's stop-loss 2395, so the trade it describes was over before it could be placed."** ## Time and age - **"Today (Saturday) is not one of your Trading days, so no new trades open. …"** The day follows your broker's server clock. - **"It is 23:10 on your broker's server clock, outside your Trading hours (08:00-22:00), so no new trades open."** The broker's clock, shown in MetaTrader's Market Watch, is often 2 or 3 hours ahead of UTC. Change the hours, or set "All day". - **"posted at 10:02; Telegram delivered it at 10:09, while the app was connected — 7 minutes late, over the Max signal age of 5 minutes, so it was not traded"** (status "stale", filter "Too old"). Raise "Max signal age (min)" only if the group's entries stay valid longer. - **"posted while the app was away, too old to trade — not read"** ("too old, not read" under "Every message"). Keep the computer awake while your groups post, or run the app on a VPS. - **"Posted 12 min ago and Max signal age is 5 min: its price has most likely moved on, so it can no longer be retried."** Place it by hand if you still want it. Trading days and hours never offer "Force placement". ## Plan and licence - **"Signal not processed: today's limit of 15 signals is reached."** (with your own number) Your plan's daily signals (10 on the 7-day plan, 15 on Basic, 35 on Advanced, 50 on Pro) are used up, and the message was not read. The count starts again at 00:00 UTC; a bigger plan, level 30 or a card adds more. - **"Signal not processed: more listeners sent signals today than your plan runs at once (…)."** Switch listeners off to your plan's number, or raise it. **"Signal not processed: signals came in on more profiles today than your plan runs at once (…)."** is the same for profiles. - **"Signal ignored — …"** No active subscription, a failed renewal payment, Terms not yet accepted, a sign-in that expired, or the licence not yet confirmed after a start; the reason follows the dash. Open Desk → Account → "Plan & billing" (see https://relay2trade.com/help/plans-licence-billing.md). ## MetaTrader, the trading switch and the connection None of these is placed later. See https://relay2trade.com/help/connecting-metatrader.md and https://relay2trade.com/help/troubleshooting.md. - **"Signal skipped — trading is turned off"** The profile's trading is off; switch it on ("Resume" in the Desk). Open trades keep their stop-loss and take-profit at the broker. - **"Signal skipped — MetaTrader 5 is not connected"** MetaTrader was closed, restarting or disconnected. Use "Repair" in the Desk or "Fix MT5 connection" in the app. - **"Signal skipped — MetaTrader 5 is open but not logged in to your broker"** The MetaTrader panel on the Connections page says why. - **"Not traded: this profile is not logged into a MetaTrader account. …"** Every signal is skipped until the profile is logged in again. - **"Not traded: this profile's MetaTrader was logged into another account. …"** Answer the question ("Trade on this account" or "No, log the profile out" in the Desk), or log MetaTrader back into the right account. ## Signals that wait for you instead These wait for "Trade it" or "Dismiss" for 10 minutes, even on an Auto listener (see https://relay2trade.com/help/listeners-and-modes.md): a listener on Manual (**"XAUUSD BUY is waiting for your approval"**); **"Duplicate — you already received this signal"** or **"Possible duplicate — very close to one you just received"**; **"Posted about 4 min before the app picked it up, after the connection to your listener was re-established. …"**; **"Read on your request, about 25 min after it was posted."** (after "Read it anyway"); "Max signals open at once" full; and **"Listener Gold VIP has 2 trades or orders on XAUUSD going the other way, and Opposite-direction signals is set to ask you: it waits in Approvals."** Untraded, they end as **"Dismissed from the approval list: not traded."** or **"Its time to be approved ran out: not traded."** ## Parts of a signal not placed The signal traded and some take-profits were left out. It shows "One or more legs were not placed — open the signal for the reason." and "Legs not placed" lists each: - **"not placed: Max take-profits per signal is 2"**. - **"not placed: Max open positions is 10"**, **"not placed: Max open positions per symbol on XAUUSD is 3"** and a listener's own (**"not placed: listener Gold VIP's own Max open positions is 5"**). The nearest take-profits are kept; **"take-profits kept by your limits: 2"** says how many fitted. "One trade: a share closes at each take-profit" counts a signal as one position. - **"lots too small to split further (broker minimum 0.01)"**, **"split into 2 parts (lots too small for 4 TPs)"** and **"lots too small to split across TPs — single order at TP1"**: the size could not give every take-profit the broker's smallest lot, so the furthest gave way. - **"on the wrong side of the entry, a typo in the signal: left out"**. Turn on "Require full signal" to sit such signals out instead. - **"TP6 (4210) is 9 times the usual step past the one before, more than Max jump between take-profits (5): left out as a likely typo."** and **"TP7 (4200) comes after TP6, which was left out as a likely typo, so it goes too …"** Raise the setting, or turn it off. - **"the price already went through 2 take-profits (4168): the rest are traded"** and **"the price was already through it (4170)"**: the take-profits still ahead are traded. **"the price already went through take-profit 4170 (4167.53): waiting at 4172 for it to come back"**: the listener waits at the entry with every take-profit. ## Lines that explain the size, not a skip A placed signal shows how it was sized and adjusted; nothing needs doing. The size line ("Size: 1.00% of 10000.00 USD equity …"), "One trade of …" and the netting line are explained in https://relay2trade.com/help/the-signal-story.md. - **"Rounded down to 0.02 lots: the broker sizes in steps of 0.01 lots, …"** - **"Capped at Max lots per signal (1.00)."** (raise the setting to allow more) and **"Capped at the broker's largest lot (50.00)."** - **"No stop-loss to size by (the signal gave none, and there is no default stop for this kind of instrument), so it trades your fixed lots: 0.01."** Set a default stop for that kind to size such signals by risk. - **"sl 30 pips → 1.0970"**, **"2 pip TPs anchored at 1.1000"**, **"entry band 2400–2404 → 2402"**: distances and zones turned into prices; **"sl 2399.8 → 2399.5 (broker minimum distance 30 points)"**: moved out to the broker's minimum distance. - **"price 2396 already better than the limit 2400 — entering at market, fill capped at the limit"**, **"a stop order waits at 44100: it enters once the price reaches it"** and **"price 44120 already at or past the stop 44100 — entering at market"**. - **"no TP in signal — runner position"**, managed by your "Runners" settings. - **"One trade per signal needs the trading bridge in MetaTrader updated, so this signal opens a separate trade for each take-profit."** Restart MetaTrader 5 once to load the current bridge. - **"Your own stop-loss: 20 pips → 1.0980 (the signal's stop 1.0950 is not used)"**: "Own stop-loss" is on. - **"The app stopped while placing this signal: 2 of 3 orders had gone out. They are recorded here and managed as usual."** - After "Force placement": **"Your own limits are set aside for this signal, as you chose."**, **"Placed now at market, as you chose."** and the like. ## The broker refused the order When your rules let a signal through and the broker or MetaTrader refused it, the status is "failed" and the bell says, for example, "XAUUSD BUY could not be placed — Not enough free margin on the account for this position size." Nothing opened for the refused part. A message whose orders were all refused is handed back to your daily signals while "Remote control" and "Sync activity" are on. - **"Not enough free margin on the account for this position size."** Lower the size, set "Max margin use %", or close something first. - **"The market for this symbol is closed right now."** "Trading days" and "Trading hours" can keep the app from trying. - **"Algo Trading is switched OFF in MetaTrader — …"** Click "Algo Trading" until it is green, or let the app's repair do it. **"The broker's server has algo trading disabled for this account — contact the broker."** Only the broker can allow it. - **"Trading is disabled for this symbol or account — the symbol may be quote-only (try the tradable variant) or the account restricted."** Map the signal's name to the tradable symbol under "Symbol names at your broker", or check you logged in with the trading password. - **"The stop levels are invalid — too close to the current price for this broker."**, **"The order size is invalid for this symbol (check min/max lot and lot step)."** and **"The order price is invalid for this symbol."** (often a pending order on the wrong side of the price; check "Entry mode"). - **"The broker requoted — the price moved before the order was placed."** and **"The price changed before the order could be placed."** Raise "Max slippage (points)" a little if it happens often. - **"No quotes for this symbol right now — …"** Check that the symbol ticks in Market Watch. - **"The order timed out before the broker confirmed it."** Check MetaTrader's Trade tab before doing anything else. **"No connection to the broker's trade server."** Check MetaTrader's connection in its bottom-right corner. - **"The broker's limit on pending orders has been reached."**, **"The broker's volume limit for this symbol has been reached."** and **"The broker's limit on open positions has been reached."** Set your own limits below the broker's. - **"Too many trade requests too quickly — the broker is throttling."** Usually passes by itself. - **"The broker rejected the order."**, **"… as invalid."**, **"The broker didn't accept the order's fill mode (unsupported filling type)."** and **"The broker rejected the order (code …) — …"** Try the same order by hand in MetaTrader to see the broker's own message, and send support a ticket if it repeats. ## Which reasons offer which button **"Force placement"**: a size below the broker's smallest lot, "Max total lots", "Max lots per symbol", "Max margin use %", "Max traded signals per day", "Max open positions", "Max open positions per symbol", "Max signals open at once", a listener's own versions of these, "Require stop-loss", "Require full signal", "Max entry deviation" ("Now, at market" or "As a limit at" the entry), "If the price is already better" set to skip, and a price already past some take-profits, or past all of them when the signal gave an entry (as a limit there). Nothing else. **"Go to “…”"**: whenever one of your settings stopped the signal, the profile's or a listener's own, including the listener's "Enabled", "Symbols" and entry settings, and the sizing setting when "Risk % of equity" or "Fixed cash" came out below the smallest lot. A refusal by the broker, the message or the account's margin has none. ## If something goes wrong - **Every signal is skipped for the same reason.** That reason is one setting; "Go to “…”" opens it. After many changes, "Restore default settings" puts the profile back to how the app starts out, keeping your listeners and the trading switch (see https://relay2trade.com/help/settings-overview.md). - **The reason looks wrong for the message.** It may have been read wrong: use "Read wrong?" on the signal. - **A signal never shows at all.** Open Signals and switch on "Every message". See https://relay2trade.com/help/how-a-signal-is-read.md. - **You need help with one signal.** Open a ticket from Support with the group, the symbol and the time it was posted, and the app log; in the app, also copy the "ID" from the signal's story (see https://relay2trade.com/help/troubleshooting.md).