Recommended architecture
- Telegram listener. Receives new messages and edits from an authorized channel or group.
- Parser. Extracts symbol, direction, order type, entry, stop loss, take profits and management commands into a strict internal format.
- State store. Keeps a durable mapping between Telegram messages and MT5 tickets or order IDs.
- Execution bridge. Sends validated instructions to the MT5 Expert Advisor or terminal-side service.
- Reconciliation loop. Confirms what actually exists at the broker and repairs state after restarts or connection failures.
Signal parsing without guessing
The parser should accept only known formats and reject ambiguous messages rather than inventing missing values. Real channels may send examples such as BUY XAUUSD 2345, SL 2338, TP1 2352, TP2 2360, but formatting varies. A robust system normalizes whitespace, aliases, decimal separators and symbol names while preserving the original message for audit.
Market and pending orders
The command model should distinguish market Buy/Sell from Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop and Sell Stop. Entry-price validation matters because pending-order rules differ relative to the current market price and broker minimum distance.
Close, break-even and message edits
Trade management commands should reference the correct existing position. “Close now”, “close half”, “move SL to BE” or a revised stop should not be broadcast blindly across unrelated trades. The safest design links the management message to the original signal, then resolves the current broker position before applying the change.
| Command | Expected behavior |
|---|---|
| Close Now | Close the mapped open position and record the broker result. |
| Close Half | Reduce volume by the configured fraction, normalized to the broker's volume step. |
| Break Even | Move stop to a defined break-even rule only if broker stop constraints permit it. |
| Edited SL/TP | Validate and modify only the mapped position/order. |
Reliability controls that matter
- Deduplication: reconnects must not execute the same signal twice.
- Idempotent updates: repeating the same management command should not corrupt position state.
- Persistent mapping: message IDs and broker ticket IDs should survive restarts.
- Broker-side SL: where the strategy requires a protective stop, the actual order should carry it rather than relying only on the bridge staying online.
- Risk gate: optional limits for lot size, total exposure, spread, sessions, daily loss or maximum simultaneous positions.
- Audit logs: retain parsed instruction, validation result, broker response and error details.
How to test before live deployment
Build a library of real signal examples and expected parser outputs, then test every management command against demo trades. Important failure cases include malformed prices, duplicate Telegram delivery, channel edits, terminal restarts, network outages, rejected stop levels, insufficient margin and symbols with suffixes such as XAUUSDm.