Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers about setup, accounts, alerts, logs and trade handling, with links to the full guides.

Need a log now? Open Experts, Journal, saved Experts logs, or TradingView’s Alerts log.

For a failed request, use EA Errors. For an alert that never reaches the next stage, use Missing signals.

Getting started

The basics

What is PineConnector?

PineConnector connects TradingView alert messages to supported MetaTrader accounts. Your message describes the action; PineConnector and the EA process it using your setup and the broker’s trading rules. Start with Getting Started for the recommended Edge setup.

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How do I contact support?

Open PineConnector Support chat here in the docs. For a trading issue, include the event time, Signal ID, full error and what you expected to happen. Share private account information only in the support conversation.

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What are your support hours?

The published support schedule follows the trading week, with business-day and local-public-holiday exceptions. Check the support channel for current availability. Do not use the live status of a documentation page as proof that an agent is available.

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Does PineConnector offer a trial?

PineConnector does not offer a free or paid trial. You can explore the homepage’s interactive demos and these guides before subscribing. The demos use sample data; sending signals to your own trading account requires an active paid plan.

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My earlier trial or subscription expired. How do I get access again?

Sign in to the Portal subscription page and review Core, Plus or Pro. After subscribing, check your connection and complete a new demo test alert before resuming an old automation.

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Account and billing

Plans and payment

Which plan should I choose, and what plans are available?

Choose according to how many trading accounts must be connected at the same time:

Core: 1 connection and 1 hosted MT5 terminal, Core analytics/tasks and email notifications.
Plus: up to 3 connections and 3 hosted MT5 terminals, detailed analytics, Premium tasks and Telegram notifications.
Pro: up to 5 connections and 5 hosted MT5 terminals, with priority support.

Hosted terminals use the same connection allowance; they are not extra accounts on top. Compare current prices and availability on the plans page.

Legacy subscriptions: Starter, Advanced and Professional have documented concurrent-account allowances of 1, 3 and 10. Check your actual Portal subscription before switching; these are not renamed Core, Plus and Pro plans.

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Which payment methods are accepted?

The published subscription guide lists credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard and American Express, plus PayPal. The payment methods offered at your checkout are the applicable options for that subscription.

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How do I cancel a subscription?

Manage cancellation on the Portal subscription page. Cancel before the next renewal to stop the next billing cycle, and check the confirmation and access end date.

Cancellation or a stopped hosted terminal does not close broker positions for you. Review open positions and pending orders directly with your broker. See the Terms of Service for the subscription and Edge end-of-service rules.

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What is the refund policy?

PineConnector does not offer refunds for partial billing periods or unused portions of the service. Cancellation stops future renewals according to the subscription terms. Read the full payment and refund policy before subscribing.

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Accounts, instances and License IDs

What is the difference between an account, an instance and a License ID?

Trading account: the broker account where orders are placed, with its own login and balance.
Instance: one connection for one trading account at a time.
License ID: the PineConnector identifier used to route alert messages to the connected account or group.

Count accounts, not symbols or strategies, when working out your instance needs. An ID can have several accounts attached.

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Where do I find my License ID, and how many digits should it have?

Open Portal Connections and use the copy control beside the License ID for your intended account. It is not the broker account login.

Current IDs are normally 13–14 digits; some legacy IDs differ. Copy the complete value shown in Portal rather than adding digits, shortening it or guessing a prefix. Its format alone does not prove it belongs to you or is connected.

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How many instances do I need?

You need one instance per trading account running at the same time, within your subscription allowance.

Your setup	Instances
One account, two strategies and 50 symbols	1
Two accounts running together	2
Five accounts running together	5
Switch from a challenge to a funded account, one at a time	1

The number of computers does not change the count. For several accounts on one device, use separate terminals. For several strategies on one account, see strategy separation.

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Should my accounts share one License ID or use separate IDs?

Use one ID for accounts that should receive the same alerts; use separate IDs for different destination groups. For example, three instances could be allocated as two under ID A and one under ID B.

A signal to a shared ID can reach every account attached to it. Check the actual group in Connections before testing. Multi-Instance Signals explains the account-by-account results.

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Can I use my licence with a different trading account?

Yes, licences are not permanently tied to one trading account. You can switch to another supported account when an instance is available, subject to your subscription and setup. Switching between accounts one at a time differs from running both together.

After switching, check the new account and License ID in Portal, then verify the destination before relying on existing alerts.

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How do I allocate instances between License IDs?

Review the accounts in Connections. The published allocation workflow is on the Licences page:

Select Configure License.
Use minus to remove an available instance allocation from the ID you are changing.
Select Add Another Unique License ID if you need a separate group.
Use plus to allocate the instance, then Configure to save.
Check the allocation and connected accounts in Portal.

Do not infer your allowance from the number of IDs. If your Portal does not show these controls, ask Support rather than disconnecting an active account to experiment.

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What should I check after changing an account or License ID?

The intended broker account is under the intended License ID.
Your alert uses that same ID; other accounts are in the group only if they should receive it.
The demo test workflow produces the expected account, symbol, direction and size, without unintended duplicates.

Changing the ID saved in these docs changes future copied examples only. It does not change your EA or existing TradingView alerts. Update the actual setup too; recreate a TradingView alert when its script or inputs change.

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How does the license expiration date work?

The published licensing guide uses UTC. An expiry at 1 January, 00:00 UTC is the start of 1 January, not the end of that day. Check the actual date and time shown in your Portal and convert it to your local timezone when planning access.

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Connections and installation

Where your setup runs

Can my trading accounts run on separate computers?

Yes. Self-hosted terminals can run on separate computers or VPS machines. Each intended account still needs the appropriate active connection and available instance. Use Multi-Terminal Setup when several terminals share one device.

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Do I have to leave TradingView or Chrome open?

No. TradingView runs created alerts on its servers. In a self-hosted setup, your MetaTrader terminal and PineConnector EA must remain running and connected on your computer or VPS. With Edge, the hosted MT5 terminal runs remotely; your local browser is not that terminal.

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Can I run PineConnector on a VPS?

Yes, using a supported Windows environment that permits the EA’s required DLL imports. The published self-hosted guidance specifies Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2016 and newer supported versions, rather than Windows 8 or Server 2012. Follow VPS Setup and the platform installation guide for the actual requirements.

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Why are license details missing after I enter my License ID?

First check the Experts output for the connection or loading error. Then confirm the ID, compatible operating system, required EA files, DLL permissions and trading permissions. The current MT5 guide does not require a WebRequest URL. An unsupported Windows version is one possible cause, not the only diagnosis. Follow the MT5 or MT4 setup guide.

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Can I use MetaTrader downloaded from my broker?

The published guide supports either the standard MetaTrader desktop terminal or your broker’s distribution. Use the correct MT4/MT5 version for your account, log in to the intended broker server, and confirm it satisfies the PineConnector setup requirements.

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Alerts, logs and terminal tools

Find the evidence

How do I open the Symbols list?

View
Symbols

Ctrl+U

Use the name in the Symbol column exactly, including capitalisation and prefixes/suffixes. A TradingView ticker is not necessarily the same name. Inspect the symbol’s specification for volume, trading-session and stop-distance rules.

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How do I open the Experts tab?

On Edge, select your hosted instance in Portal → Edge, then select Experts. You can read the logs in your browser without opening MT5. See the Edge log walkthrough.

In MT5, open View → Toolbox, then select Experts. In MT4, open View → Terminal, then Experts. This is where the EA prints its processing and diagnostic messages.

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How do I open the Journal tab?

On Edge, select your hosted instance in Portal → Edge, then select Journal to read the terminal’s logs in your browser.

Open the same lower panel: Toolbox in MT5 or Terminal in MT4. Select Journal for the terminal’s connection and trading messages. For an error such as 4756, inspect Journal and Experts at the matching time.

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How do I find Experts logs after closing MetaTrader?

Reopen that terminal and choose File → Open Data Folder. For MT5 EA logs, open MQL5/Logs; for MT4, open MQL4/Logs. Choose the file for the event date, typically named YYYYMMDD.log. Terminal Journal logs are in the data folder’s separate Logs directory.

Use the correct terminal’s data folder when several are installed. On Edge, use the Portal’s available connection/signal detail or contact support if the needed terminal log is not available to you.

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How do I open MetaTrader’s Global Variables?

Tools
Global Variables

F3

This opens the terminal’s stored global variables. Inspect them when a troubleshooting instruction requires it; do not delete or edit unfamiliar values as a general reset.

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What is the PineConnector Signals log?

The Signals log records messages received by PineConnector and the processing information available for them. Use its message, status, timestamps and account context to follow a request. A received signal is not, by itself, proof that the broker filled an order.

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Where do I find the Signal ID of an order?

Check the order or position’s comment when the default PineConnector comment is retained. A custom comment= can replace that display. Use the Portal’s Signals log and event time to locate the relevant record if the ID is not shown in the trade comment.

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Where is TradingView’s Alerts log?

Open the chart’s Alerts panel and select its log/history view. Inspect the triggered event’s time and message, then compare it with the PineConnector Signals log and MetaTrader output. Comparing only a chart arrow with a broker trade can miss alert-configuration or script issues.

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Why did TradingView stop an alert for triggering too often?

TradingView documents a limit of 15 triggers in 3 minutes for a regular alert. Watchlist alerts also have a per-symbol limit and a separate overall limit. Review frequent conditions or repeated calls before restarting it; TradingView’s current limits cover each case.

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EA behaviour and multiple accounts

Understand the resulting trade

Do I need to install every EA update immediately?

Review the release notes for fixes and the minimum version required by features you use. Plan updates when you can verify the setup afterwards, using the current Portal download. Do not assume an older version supports a newly documented feature.

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Do I need an EA on every symbol or timeframe?

No. One connected PineConnector EA instance can process messages for the broker symbols available to that terminal. Attaching extra copies to every chart is unnecessary and can introduce duplicate or conflicting processing. Follow the instance arrangement in your setup guide.

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How do I avoid unwanted multiple trades?

Check for duplicate TradingView alerts and unintended duplicate EA/connection instances first. Then review Pyramiding and Close on Reverse in EA settings for how repeated or opposite entry signals should behave. These settings are not a substitute for removing duplicate sources.

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How is the final trade volume handled?

The EA derives a target lot size from the message and selected sizing method, then checks the broker’s minimum, maximum and volume step. The published EA guidance rejects targets outside absolute min/max limits and rounds in-range targets to the nearest allowed step.

For example, with a 0.01 lot step, a target of 0.029 becomes 0.03 under that rule. Rounding can therefore increase the requested size slightly. Check the Experts output for the actual calculated and submitted volume.

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What is Signal Authentication?

It checks an additional signal credential according to your configured authentication settings. Use the Signal Authentication guide to set it up and understand failed checks. A License ID saved in this documentation does not verify or change your account’s authentication settings.

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What is Symbol Mapping?

It translates an incoming symbol name into the name required by your destination broker. Follow Symbol Mapping, then inspect the resolved symbol in your test result.

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An error appeared after a signal. What should I do?

Read the full message and choose the matching MT4 or MT5 case in EA Errors. If no trade appears and there is no error, use Missing signals to identify the last confirmed stage.

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Data, timing and price differences

Know the limits

What data is used by PineConnector?

Data needs depend on the features you use. Signal processing, the Portal, hosted terminals and Analytics are not the same data flow. For example, Analytics describes trading-history processing and its EA opt-out control.

Read the Terms of Service and contact Support for a specific privacy or data-handling question. Avoid putting passwords or secrets into public screenshots, shared code, or a copied page sent to another service.

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What is repainting, and how can it affect alerts?

Repainting means the script’s historical output can differ from what it showed in real time. Intrabar price changes, other-timeframe requests, historical plotting and data revisions can contribute. Waiting for bar close helps with some intrabar changes, but does not fix every cause. Review the script author’s warnings and TradingView’s explanation.

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What latency should I expect?

Measure the path you are actually using: TradingView webhook delivery, PineConnector receipt and forwarding, terminal processing, and broker execution. A fast internal server stage is not the same as end-to-end execution time. Use the available signal timestamps and terminal/broker logs; market conditions, hosting and broker execution can change the result.

The old FAQ’s version-specific median samples are historical measurements, not a guarantee for your current setup. Test the actual broker/account and connection you intend to use.

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Why do TradingView and MetaTrader show different prices?

They can use different data feeds, bid/ask quotes, spreads and timestamps. That matters when you send a fixed price for an entry, stop loss or take profit. Confirm the broker’s current quote and symbol rules before using that level.

Distance-based targets can avoid some fixed-price mismatches when they fit your strategy. They still need valid units and broker-accepted distances; changing order type is a strategy decision, not a universal error fix.

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