I need to add this, but I can't make sense of how to do it.  I tried, but am now getting compile errors.  The links in the original post possibly showing the additional code in context now seem to be dead.

Could someone provide clear instructions that a non-programmer can follow, please?  Thank you.

i can find that in code. just look at top

#define TRADE_RETRY_COUNT 4
#define TRADE_RETRY_WAIT  100

Thanks mate maybe I should look a bit harder

I´ve advanced the function a bit to retry a few times if spread might possibly change below our threshold. If you want to use that, here it is:

bool IsWithinMaxSpread()
{
    bool WithinMaxSpread = true;

    for (int attempt = 0; attempt < TRADE_RETRY_COUNT; attempt++)
    {
        RefreshRates();
        WithinMaxSpread = true;

        if (Maximum_Spread_Points > 0)
        {
            double spread = NormalizeDouble(((Ask - Bid) / _Point), 0);
            //Need NormalizeDouble here because of rounding errors in MT4 that otherwise occur (confirmed in several backtests).

            if (spread > Maximum_Spread_Points)
            {
                Print("The current spread of ", DoubleToString(spread, 0), " points, is higher than the maximum allowed of ", DoubleToString(Maximum_Spread_Points, 0), " points. Try ", IntegerToString(attempt + 1), " of ", IntegerToString(TRADE_RETRY_COUNT), ".");
                WithinMaxSpread = false;
            }
        }
        Sleep(TRADE_RETRY_WAIT);
    }
    
    return(WithinMaxSpread);
}

Hi Geek, just wondering where in this code can I put how many times to retry the trade?
Where can I put how long to sleep for before retrying?

Input parameters section:

input int           Maximum_Spread_Points = 0;

To the OpenPosition function (need to add it there as we want to be able to tell if the EA tried to place a trade during the time the spread was to high or not):

void OpenPosition(int command)
{
    if (!IsWithinMaxSpread())
        return;

        [EXISTING CODE FROM HERE ON]

And a new function at the end of the MQ4 code:

bool IsWithinMaxSpread()
{
    bool WithinMaxSpread = true;

    if (Maximum_Spread_Points > 0)
    {
        double spread = NormalizeDouble(((Ask - Bid) / _Point), 0);
        //Need NormalizeDouble here because of rounding errors in MT4 that otherwise occur (confirmed in several backtests).

        if (spread > Maximum_Spread_Points)
        {
            Print("The current spread of ", DoubleToString(spread, 0), " points, is higher than the maximum allowed of ", DoubleToString(Maximum_Spread_Points, 0), " points. Skipping trade!");
            WithinMaxSpread = false;
        }
    }

    return(WithinMaxSpread);
}

Example validation-output (backtest and live tested)

2019.01.17 01:19:39.190    2018.09.26 05:00:00  10000000 SuperStrat GBPJPY H1 GBPJPY,H1: The current spread of 7 points, is higher than the maximum allowed of 6 points. Skipping trade!
2019.01.17 01:19:39.190    2018.09.25 13:00:00  10000000 SuperStrat GBPJPY H1 GBPJPY,H1: The current spread of 7 points, is higher than the maximum allowed of 6 points. Skipping trade!
2019.01.17 01:19:39.189    2018.09.24 04:00:00  10000000 SuperStrat GBPJPY H1 GBPJPY,H1: The current spread of 7 points, is higher than the maximum allowed of 6 points. Skipping trade!
2019.01.17 01:19:39.189    2018.09.20 03:00:00  10000000 SuperStrat GBPJPY H1 GBPJPY,H1: The current spread of 7 points, is higher than the maximum allowed of 6 points. Skipping trade!
2019.01.17 01:19:39.189    2018.09.19 18:00:00  10000000 SuperStrat GBPJPY H1 GBPJPY,H1: The current spread of 7 points, is higher than the maximum allowed of 6 points. Skipping trade!

Note that "Maximum_Spread_Points" is default at 0, which means the protection is disabled. Only if it is > 0, it will be used. This way you can default turn it off by leaving it at 0 if freshly exported from EA Studio and users can turn it on only if they really need it ;-)

By the amount of views this forum thread has (it is the second most viewed after "auto lot size calculation"), I can tell that people really seem to be looking for this feature in EA Studio "out of the box" and I´d say it´s a feature that every serious trader really NEEDS to use to protect from "catastrophic" entries that can kill the account in the worst case. if you just think Brexit / black swan events (CHF comes to mind) where we had spreads > 500 pips at times, it would be fatal to enter a trade at that spread and, if trading bigger amounts, can cost you a few thousand dollars or more quickly as right when you enter the trade you will be at -500 pips loss. And if that happens, EA Studio´s MT4 code will also not be able to set the stop loss (in case it´s < 500 pips) and the trade would go completely uncontrolled from there, not even having a stop loss (and this, by the way, is another feature you should think about: if the EA is unable to set a stop loss to a just opened position after say 3 times, it should close it right away as something BAD just happened - I have that in my own EAs all the time. Yes, one might think I am paranoid, but it´s a bit like driving without a seat belt, usually you never need it, but that one time you didn´t use it, can cost your life, or in this case, your whole account). Hence I think that the spread protection feature should be a *standard* in any serious platform / for any serious trader that does not just trade on demo.

don´t you think it would make sense to add such a spread-protection to the exported MT4 / MT5 code by default? You could set it to "0" as default (disabled) or 99999, so only people that want to use it can use it. I think that´s more new-user-friendly than having them modify the code on their own, as especially new users are not comfortable with that and just want a working strategy exported, but still will need spread-protection as it surely makes no sense to open a trade if the backtest was done at 1 pip spread and then there is a spread spike to 20 pips (for whatever reason) and their order gets messed up right from the start as it enters at such a high spread.

In terms of usability and to get more subscriptions, that really might be a good idea - keeping it easy (but expendable for experienced users) is always the best way to get as many users as possible.

Hi All,

Has this Portfolio spread protection code by ChristianS been tested for performance, anyone??

ChristianS wrote:

Great, thanks for your input.

So for the EA studio portfolio we can insert for maximum spread this solution:

static input int    Maximum_Spread     = 25; // Maximum Spread (points)

and add in the function void ManageSignal(Signal &signal)

Position position=CreatePosition(signal.MagicNumber);
   if(position.Type==OP_FLAT && signal.Scope==ORDER_SCOPE_ENTRY)
     {
       //Add protection maximum spread
      if(Ask-Bid>_Point*Maximum_Spread)
      return; 
      
      
      if(signal.Direction==ORDER_DIRECTION_BUY ||
         signal.Direction==ORDER_DIRECTION_SELL)
         if (OrdersTotal()<MaxTrades) {
         OpenPosition(signal);}
     }

This should not work correctly. Sometimes it is opening trades.
I put it into this code section and it is working.

void OpenPosition(Signal &signal)
  {
       //Add protection maximum spread
      if(Ask-Bid>_Point*Maximum_Spread)
      return; 

Has this Portfolio spread protection code by ChristianS been tested for performance, anyone??

First i set Max Spread to 50. The Gold Spread currently is 200.

Now the results. Here looks okay.

Now i set Max Spread to 300. The Gold Spread currently is 200.

And now there is something wrong. Now it must trade but this is in journal and make no trades.
And this i have checked with EURUSD and other pairs.

This is working for mt4 but the mt5 code not work. can you check with a print function

Just checked again if i add this to mq5 file.

 MqlTick tick;
   SymbolInfoTick(_Symbol,tick);
   if(tick.ask-tick.bid>_Point*Maximum_Spread)
      return;

it looks working well..but when i add this with a comment in journal

 MqlTick tick;
   SymbolInfoTick(_Symbol,tick);
   if(tick.ask-tick.bid>_Point*Maximum_Spread)
{
Print("The current spread is higher than the maximum allowed.");
}
return;

it doesnt work..can someone help me out