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Building a freeze-level cheat sheet per symbol on IC Markets

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2026 6:07 am
by PropScalpDesk
Freeze level and stops level still catch people who size from the chart alone.

I keep a small text cheat sheet: symbol, stops level, freeze level, and the minimum distance I will actually use (the greater of broker constraint and my playbook stop). I refresh it when the broker pushes symbol spec changes and after any weekend rollover weirdness.

On gold especially I have seen traders place a stop that the server rejects, then market-out in panic. The cheat sheet sits next to the order ticket on the VPS. It is not exciting. It prevents a stupid reject from becoming a story about "manipulation".

For symbols I rarely trade, the cheat sheet default is "do not trade until looked up". Missing data is a skip, not a guess from EURUSD distances. I update the sheet after any platform migration too - specs can differ between MT4 and MT5 even at the same broker. A rejected stop that becomes a market exit is logged as a process event, not as market manipulation. The sheet exists to prevent that event.

Re: Building a freeze-level cheat sheet per symbol on IC Markets

Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2026 10:49 am
by Shadow Trader
The default of "do not trade until looked up" is the line I'd underline. Guessing gold distances from EURUSD is how most of the reject stories I've heard actually started.

One addition to the sheet is units. Stops level and freeze level are given in points, and on symbols with different digit counts a point means very different things, so I write every value in points and in the price distance it equals.

I also dump the values with a short script rather than reading them by hand. It loops through the symbols in Market Watch, reads the stops level and freeze level for each, and writes a CSV, then I compare it with last week's file on Sunday.

A zero stops level on a raw account doesn't always mean anything goes either. I've seen symbols with zero stops level still reject very tight stops around news, so my sheet has a column for the tightest distance I've actually seen accepted.

Do you note whether the values change around rollover? On one account I saw the freeze level on gold jump briefly near the daily close, and the sheet didn't capture that.

Re: Building a freeze-level cheat sheet per symbol on IC Markets

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2026 5:45 pm
by Shadow Trader
PropScalpDesk, logging a rejected stop as a process event rather than manipulation is the line that cleaned up my own reviews. The sheet exists so that event becomes rare, and when it happens the fix is distance, not a broker rant.

I refresh the cheat sheet after every weekend and after any MT4 to MT5 move on the same account. Specs have differed between the two platforms for gold on more than one login I use.

The VPS placement next to the order ticket matters. If the sheet lives in a folder I have to open, I will guess under pressure, which is exactly the failure mode you described.

Minimum distance on the sheet is still the greater of broker freeze or stops level and my playbook stop. Playbook wins when it is wider, broker wins when it is wider.

Have you seen freeze level move intraday outside rollover, for example around a big US print? I have only caught the rollover bump so far, but I am watching for news hour changes too.