Automated tradingUpdated 4 min readBy the FXNOD team
Why is my trading bot not working? Nine causes and fixes
A trading bot that is not working is usually in one of three states: it never started, it is running but waiting for its entry signal, or it stopped because it reached a limit. Check the run status and the stop reason first. Most cases are a reached limit, an expired broker approval, or a signal that has simply not appeared yet.
First, find out which of the three it is
| What you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| The bot will not start | A missing approval, a setting the broker does not sell, or a limit on how many bots run at once |
| Running, but no trades | The entry rule has not been met yet. This is normal. |
| It stopped by itself | A stop loss, profit target, trade limit or stake ceiling was reached |
| It stopped with an error | The broker refused an order, or the connection to the broker was lost |
It will not start
- The broker has not approved automated trading for this tool. On FXNOD, Deriv asks you to allow the automated-trading connection the first time you run a bot on a real account, separately from manual trading. Approve it on Deriv's page and start again.
- The contract length is not sold on that market. Brokers offer different durations per market. A builder that reads them from the broker, as Bot Forge does, only lets you choose a length that exists.
- The stake is not an amount the broker accepts: below the contract's minimum, or with more decimal places than the account currency allows.
- You are already running the maximum number of bots. Stop one first.
It is running but not trading
A bot with a selective entry rule can sit for minutes with nothing to do. A streak rule needs the streak. An indicator rule needs the indicators to agree. Indicators also need history before they produce a value at all: a 14-period RSI on one-minute candles cannot speak for the first fourteen minutes of data. If the bot is waiting, it is doing its job. Loosening the rule to make it trade more is how a tested strategy becomes an untested one.
It stopped by itself
Read the stop reason on the run page. In FXNOD the common ones are: the session reached its stop loss, the session reached its profit target, the run reached its trade limit, the Martingale ladder ran out of steps, the next stake would have been above the most one trade may be, or your bots together reached the loss ceiling for the account. Each of these is the bot obeying a limit, and none is a malfunction.
It stopped with an error
- Not enough balance for the next stake. Recovery sizing reaches this quickly.
- The broker refused the order. Brokers cap the payout of a single contract, so a stake that has grown through several losses can be refused even though the first stake was accepted.
- The broker's approval expired or was withdrawn. Reconnect the account and allow the bot again.
- The broker itself is unavailable or under maintenance. Check its status page before changing anything in the bot.
A bot that loses is not a bot that is broken
The most common report of a bot not working is a bot working exactly as built and losing. If the trades match the rules you set, the software is fine and the question is the strategy. See why trading bots make losing trades.
Questions people ask
- Why did my bot stop after only a few trades?
- Almost always because a limit was reached: the stop loss, the profit target or the stake ceiling. A small stop loss combined with a stake that grows after losses ends a session within a handful of trades.
- Why does my bot work on demo but not on a real account?
- A real account usually needs its own approval for automated trading, has a smaller balance than the demo, and may be in a different currency with different stake rules. Check those three in that order.
- Does closing my browser stop the bot?
- It depends where the bot runs. A browser-based bot stops. A server-based bot, such as one started in FXNOD, keeps running and keeps its stop loss.
- Why is my bot not placing trades on a volatility index?
- Synthetic indices trade at all hours, so a closed market is rarely the reason. Look for an entry rule that has not been met, or an indicator still collecting history.
Run a bot that keeps its limits
FXNOD's bots run on its servers and will not start without a stop loss, so your limits hold when your device is off. Build one in Bot Forge or start a ready-made one in Auto Hub, on your Deriv demo account first.
Get started