Which EA log line has saved you the most money?
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2026 3:07 pm
Logging is dull until the day one line explains a problem that would otherwise have cost weeks. Most EA builders have a favourite line they now always include.
Some examples of lines that tend to earn their keep:
- "SKIP spread=2.4 limit=1.2" — showed a filter blocking far more trades than expected at 08:00 UK, because the threshold was set in pips while spread was calculated in points.
- "INIT contract=100 tickvalue=1.00 step=0.01" — logged at start-up, it caught a broker's contract change on gold before the first trade went out at ten times the intended size.
- "TIME server=10:00 gmt=07:00 london=08:00" — the line that exposed a DST bug the morning the clocks changed.
- "RETRY 10004 attempt=2" — revealed that the EA was resending orders during news, sometimes filling twice.
- "STATE positions_broker=1 positions_internal=0" — reconciliation after a reconnect, which caught an orphan position.
The pattern: log assumptions at start-up, log every skipped decision with the reason, and log any mismatch between what the EA thinks and what the broker reports.
What's the line that saved you? Post it with a sentence of context.
Some examples of lines that tend to earn their keep:
- "SKIP spread=2.4 limit=1.2" — showed a filter blocking far more trades than expected at 08:00 UK, because the threshold was set in pips while spread was calculated in points.
- "INIT contract=100 tickvalue=1.00 step=0.01" — logged at start-up, it caught a broker's contract change on gold before the first trade went out at ten times the intended size.
- "TIME server=10:00 gmt=07:00 london=08:00" — the line that exposed a DST bug the morning the clocks changed.
- "RETRY 10004 attempt=2" — revealed that the EA was resending orders during news, sometimes filling twice.
- "STATE positions_broker=1 positions_internal=0" — reconciliation after a reconnect, which caught an orphan position.
The pattern: log assumptions at start-up, log every skipped decision with the reason, and log any mismatch between what the EA thinks and what the broker reports.
What's the line that saved you? Post it with a sentence of context.