AMF Guaranteed Stop for MT5

AMF Guaranteed Stop for MT5 is a 64-bit server plugin for MetaTrader 5 (file CPlugin.AMF.dll). It makes your trading server insist on a protective Stop Loss on every trade and reserves enough margin to cover the loss that the Stop Loss allows. It is built for brokers who work under AMF (France) rules and need to limit the risk a client can take.

This page describes version 2.00 (MT5 Administrator shows it as 200). The MetaTrader 4 edition has its own guide: AMF Guaranteed Stop for MT4. An overview of both is on AMF Guaranteed Stop.

Contents

• Who it is for
• What the plugin does
• What the plugin does not do
• Units: points, not pips
• Requirements
• Installation
• Upgrading from version 1.22
• Settings reference
• Rule line format
• Masks
• Which line is used for a trade
• How the rules work in detail
• Examples
• Licence and free trial
• What the plugin sends
• When a trial or a licence ends
• Troubleshooting
• FAQ
• Limitations and differences from the MT4 edition
• Changelog: version 2.00
• Getting the plugin

Who it is for

Brokers and white-label operators who run their own MetaTrader 5 server and want every client trade to carry a Stop Loss within limits they define, with the margin of the trade covering the worst-case loss. It works with hedging and netting accounts. Typical use: retail accounts of a broker that must limit client losses, with an optional fee for the guaranteed execution of the stop.

What the plugin does

For every account and symbol covered by your rules, the plugin does five things:

Two further optional features: a limit on the volume (in lots) a client can hold on one symbol, and a ban on Buy Stop and Sell Stop pending orders for chosen account groups.

What the plugin does not do

• It does not change the price or the way the server executes a stop order. Execution stays entirely with the MT5 server.
• It never blocks closing a position, never closes a position by itself, and never changes a client's balance except for the premium described above.
• It does not touch accounts and symbols that no rule line covers.
• It does not remove a Stop Loss that a client has already set.
• When it is not sure, it does nothing. If a price is missing, the server cannot answer a question the plugin needs (margin, the value of a point, the open positions), the settings are invalid, the plugin is switched off or there is no licence, the plugin does not intervene: the server handles the request exactly as if the plugin were not installed. It never rejects a request because of its own problem. The reason is written to the server journal.

Units: points, not pips

• Point means the smallest price step of the quote: one unit of its last digit. For a 5-digit quote such as EURUSD 1.10000, one point is 0.00001, so 1 pip = 10 points. For a 3-digit quote (USDJPY 150.000) one point is 0.001. For a 2-digit index quote (4500.25) one point is 0.01, even when the symbol moves in steps of 0.25. All distances in the settings are in points, not pips and not price steps.
• Lot means volume as shown in the trading terminal (1.00 lot, 0.10 lot).

Worked margin example. EURUSD (5 digits), buy at 1.10000 with Stop Loss 1.09500. The distance is 500 points (50 pips). With a contract of 100 000 units, 500 points is a loss of 500 USD per lot.

Requirements

• MetaTrader 5 server (64-bit) with plugin support.
• The plugins folder must be writable for the server process: the plugin keeps its licence file and two small files of its own there.
• Outgoing internet access from the server to update.cplugin.com, port 443 (HTTPS), for the free trial and for the automatic delivery and renewal of the licence. For a paid licence on a server without outgoing access, CPlugin support sends the licence file to install by hand.

Installation

1. Get a licence first (see Licence and free trial): without a licence or a running trial the plugin does not intervene at all.
2. Copy CPlugin.AMF.dll into the plugins folder of the MT5 server and add the plugin in the MT5 Administrator as usual.
3. Make sure the server can reach update.cplugin.com on port 443.
4. When the plugin is added for the first time, MT5 fills in a set of example parameters with Enable=0: the plugin loads them and does nothing. (If the configuration has no parameters at all, for example it was created without the Administrator, the plugin adds the missing example parameters itself, with Enable=0; it never changes a parameter you have set.) Replace the example rule lines with your own (format below), then set Enable=1.
5. Parameters changed in the Administrator are applied immediately, no restart is needed.

Files the plugin keeps next to the DLL: CPlugin.AMF.license (the licence), CPlugin.AMF.hub.key (the plugin's own key, see What the plugin sends) and CPlugin.AMF.hub.state (when it last contacted the update service). A copy of the DLL under another name is a separate installation with its own files and its own licence. One DLL file runs one plugin configuration; to run a second configuration on the same server, copy the DLL under another file name.

After the start, look at the server journal: the plugin prints its version and every parameter it has read (config: lines) and the line config: version N in force. Check that your rule lines are printed as you expect.

Upgrading from version 1.22

• A new licence is needed. Version 2.00 works only with the licence described in Licence and free trial, under its own product name AMF MT5. A licence file of version 1.22 (also a licence of the FlexibleLeverage plugin, which version 1.22 accepted) is not read. Until the new licence or a trial is in place the plugin does not intervene: orders are handled by the server as if the plugin were not installed.
• Already paying a subscription? Write to CPlugin support before or right after the upgrade: the subscription moves to the new licence and the paid period carries over. Do not buy again. You can keep using version 1.22 with your current licence for as long as you like.
• Your settings are kept. They live in the server's plugin configuration and are not replaced. Version 2.00 checks them more strictly, so check them before the upgrade (see the list below).
• Choose a quiet time. Replacing the DLL needs a restart of the MT5 trading server, not only of the plugin. Once started, the plugin keeps its DLL loaded until the server process ends; switching the plugin off and on in the Administrator keeps running the old DLL, and Windows refuses to overwrite the file while it is loaded. Check the version in the journal line "has been initialized (ver. ...)" after the restart. The plugin does not intervene until the licence is in place.
• Buying the licence: start the plugin, take the pairing code from the server journal, sign in to CPlugin Toolbox, open Billing, Licenses, enter the code and buy the licence. After the payment the licence reaches your server by itself at the plugin's next contact with the update service (at the start and then about once a day). The link to the page is written to the journal.

What to check in your settings before the upgrade:

Settings reference

The plugin is configured through its parameters in the MT5 Administrator. Example:

Enable=1
Verbose=1
Reject Pending Stops=0
Reject Pending Stops - Groups=demo*,test*
Commission comment=AMF
Current Working Preset=0
Preset[0] Name=Basic
Preset[0][0]=EURUSD,GBPUSD;-1;demo*;10;500;100;3.5;USD
Preset[0][1]=-1;Forex\*;*;20;-1;-1;0
Preset[1] Name=NFP
Preset[1][0]=-1;Forex\*;*;100;1000;50;10;USD

The settings are checked as a whole

Every parameter is checked every time the settings are loaded. If anything is wrong (a line with the wrong number of fields, a number that is not a number, a gap in the numbering, the same parameter twice, Current Working Preset pointing to a missing preset, an Enable value other than 0 or 1) nothing of the new settings is applied, and the journal lists every problem found, one line each:

• When you change the settings in the Administrator, the previous settings stay in force (config: rejected (...); configuration version N stays in force).
• When the server starts with invalid settings, the plugin does not intervene at all until the settings are corrected (there is no valid configuration, the plugin does not intervene).

So the plugin never works with half of your rules. Warnings (for example a line that can never match anything, or an unknown parameter name) are written to the journal but do not stop loading.

Rule line format

Preset[i][j] = symbols;symbols groups;user groups;minSL;maxSL;maxP;commission per 1 Lot;currency

Seven or eight fields separated by ;. The last field (currency) may be omitted or left empty.

Negative values other than -1, a minSL larger than maxSL, and a maxP so small that it is less than 0.00000001 lot are errors.

Masks

A mask is a short pattern that says which names or groups a rule applies to. Masks work exactly as the masks in the MT5 group settings.

Rules to remember:

• Upper and lower case are different: Demo* does not match demo\usd.
• Spaces at the end of a mask are ignored; spaces inside are part of the mask.
• One mask (between commas) may be up to 255 characters; tabs and other control characters are not allowed.
• -1 is not "everything". It means "this field is not used for choosing". To cover all symbols write *. If both symbols and symbols groups are -1, the line can never match any symbol and does nothing (the journal warns about it).

Which line is used for a trade

1. Only lines whose user groups match the account's group are considered.
2. Among them, the first line whose symbols mask matches the symbol name is used.
3. If no line matches by name, the first line whose symbols groups mask matches the symbol path is used.
4. If nothing matches, the plugin lets the trade through untouched.

So a line for a specific symbol always wins over a line for a whole folder, wherever the two lines stand in the list. Only the active preset (Current Working Preset) is looked at.

How the rules work in detail

The plugin looks at these requests: instant, market and exchange execution, placing a pending order, modifying an order or the Stop Loss / Take Profit of a position, activating a pending order, and the same actions done by a dealer, with the same rules.

Closing is never blocked. A request that closes or reduces a position is never checked: a close request, a close by an opposite position, Take Profit, stop out, an order that names the position it closes, and, on netting accounts, an opposite order that is not larger than the position. Only the part of an order that opens new exposure is checked: on a netting account with a buy of 0.5 lot, a sell of 0.7 lot is checked as a new sell of 0.2 lot (it needs a Stop Loss, and the margin is reserved for 0.2 lot). If the plugin cannot read the account's positions, it cannot tell a close from an open and does not intervene.

Opening an order

• No Stop Loss: rejected with Invalid stops (TRADE_RETCODE_INVALID_STOPS, 10016).
• Distance outside minSL or maxSL: rejected with Invalid stops. For market orders the distance is counted from the current price on the closing side (bid for a buy, ask for a sell); for pending orders, from the order price. The distance is counted to 0.01 point: with minSL=50, a distance of 49.60 points is rejected.
• Margin (market orders and activations): the plugin compares the normal margin of the trade (as the server calculates it) with the maximum loss at the Stop Loss: points from the open price to the Stop Loss on the losing side, times the value of one point for one lot, times lots, rounded to cents. A Stop Loss at or beyond the open price on the profit side allows no loss: it reserves nothing and the normal margin applies. The value of one point is the profit of a one-point move of one lot, in the account currency, as the server calculates it for the account's group. If the free margin of the account before the trade is lower than the larger of the two, the request is rejected with No money (10019). Otherwise the trade opens, and when the maximum loss is the larger amount, the margin of the new position is raised to it.
  • A trade that does not add margin (it hedges or reduces an existing position) is not checked.
  • The open price is the price the server prepared for the trade, otherwise the requested price, otherwise the current ask (buy) or bid (sell).
  • A dealer request with the flag skip margin check is not checked for margin.
• Maximum volume maxP: see below; rejected with Invalid volume (10014).

Modifying an order or a position

• Removing the Stop Loss is rejected.
• Moving the Stop Loss away from the price (lower for a buy, higher for a sell) is rejected.
• For a pending order, changing the order price and the Stop Loss together is allowed only when the potential loss (distance from the order price to the Stop Loss on the losing side) does not grow. Moving the order price away from its Stop Loss is rejected.
• On an open position the new Stop Loss must still be at least minSL points from the market. The maximum maxSL is checked when the order is placed or opened, not when it is modified.
• Adding a Stop Loss where there was none is allowed.
• Changing only the Take Profit is always allowed, and it does not touch the margin.
• After every fill of an order (a partly filled order is charged for the part already filled), when a netting position grows and when it is reversed, the server first sets the normal margin of the position. If the loss at the Stop Loss is larger, the plugin raises the margin of the position to that loss. It never lowers the margin the server has just set.
• After a Stop Loss change of a position the margin of the position is recalculated: the larger of the normal margin and the loss at the new Stop Loss. The plugin reads the margin the position really carries from the position itself, so a position opened before the plugin was switched on is handled correctly too. When the normal margin is the larger one, nothing changes. The margin of a position comes down (for example after the Stop Loss is moved closer to the price) only when the server can tell the plugin the normal margin of that position: the server answers the plugin's margin question, and the account has no position in the opposite direction on the same symbol. Otherwise the plugin keeps the higher margin and writes the reason to the journal.

Pending orders

• A pending order is accepted at placement when its Stop Loss follows the rules above.
• When the pending order is about to be activated, the plugin checks everything before it does anything:
  • a forbidden Buy Stop or Sell Stop (see below) is not activated and stays pending;
  • an order without a Stop Loss is not activated;
  • if the margin is not enough, the pending order is removed with the comment deleted [no money];
  • if the volume limit would be exceeded, the order is not activated and stays pending;
  • a pending order that only reduces or closes a netting position is never checked or removed, whatever its type; one that reverses the position is checked for the part that opens the new position. A partly filled order is checked for its remaining volume.

Maximum volume (maxP)

The limit applies per account and per symbol (the exact symbol name; EURUSD and EURUSD.m are different symbols). Pending orders are not counted.

• Hedging accounts: the sum of all open positions on the symbol, buy and sell added together, plus the new order, may not exceed maxP. Example with maxP=1: open buy 0.5 and sell 0.3; a new buy 0.2 is accepted (1.0), a new buy 0.3 is rejected (1.1).
• Netting accounts: the one net position after the order may not exceed maxP. Example with maxP=4: net buy 5 (the limit was lowered later), a sell 1 is accepted (it reduces the position to 4); with net buy 2, a sell 7 is rejected (it would turn into sell 5), a sell 6 is accepted (sell 4).
• An order that only reduces the position is always accepted, even above the limit. Nothing is ever closed by the plugin: a client above a lowered limit simply cannot add volume.

Premium on a triggered Stop Loss

When a position is closed by its Stop Loss and the matching rule has a non-zero commission per 1 Lot:

• The premium is the commission times the closed lots times the conversion rate from currency to the currency of the account group, rounded to cents once. The closed lots are those of the closing deal.
• Before charging, the plugin checks that the free margin covers the whole premium. If not, or if the conversion rate cannot be obtained, nothing is charged and an error is written to the journal.
• The premium is deducted by a separate commission deal with the comment <Commission comment> #<order ticket>.
• It is charged once per closing deal, even if the server reports the same closure twice; a Stop Loss closed in several deals is charged for each deal's volume. If the server refuses the commission deal, or accepts it without a deal number, the plugin does not try again (it cannot know whether the money moved) and writes an error to the journal: check the account by hand.

The order and the deal closed by the Stop Loss get the comment [Guaranteed SL Triggered] when the account and symbol are covered by an active rule line (minSL and maxSL not 0). The comment says only that the Stop Loss closed the position under the plugin's rules. It does not say that a premium was charged: the premium is a separate commission deal with your Commission comment text. A Stop Loss closure can carry the comment without a premium (for example, premium 0 or not enough free margin), and a premium can be charged without the comment (a line with minSL=0 or maxSL=0 and a premium). Positions closed by Take Profit, by the client, or by stop out do not incur the premium.

Forbidding pending stops

With Reject Pending Stops=1, a Buy Stop or a Sell Stop from an account whose group matches Reject Pending Stops - Groups is rejected with Trade disabled (10017) when the order is placed, and an already existing one is not activated.

Examples

Demo accounts on two symbols. Accounts in groups starting with demo, on EURUSD and GBPUSD: Stop Loss between 10 and 500 points, no more than 100 lots per symbol, premium 3.5 USD per lot.

Preset[0][0]=EURUSD,GBPUSD;-1;demo*;10;500;100;3.5;USD

All other Forex symbols. All other symbols in the Forex folder, all account groups: Stop Loss at least 20 points from the price, no maximum, no volume limit, no premium.

Preset[0][1]=-1;Forex\*;*;20;-1;-1;0

Everyone except VIP. Every account group except those starting with vip, on all symbols of the CFD folder: Stop Loss from 50 to 2 000 points.

Preset[0][2]=-1;CFD\*;!vip*,*;50;2000;-1;0

A news preset. A second preset with tighter rules to switch on during news (set Current Working Preset=1 before the release and back to 0 after):

Preset[1] Name=NFP
Preset[1][0]=-1;Forex\*;*;100;1000;50;10;USD

Ban on Buy Stop and Sell Stop for demo and test accounts.

Reject Pending Stops=1
Reject Pending Stops - Groups=demo*,test*

Licence and free trial

To work, the plugin needs a licence for using it on your trading server. It is not a MetaTrader licence: your agreement with MetaQuotes is not affected. The licence is the file CPlugin.AMF.license next to the DLL, delivered and renewed automatically by the CPlugin update service (or installed by hand). A licence can be limited to certain account groups or to group owners (the Company of the account group): accounts of other groups are then left to the server as if the plugin were not installed.

The licence is a subscription in CPlugin Toolbox (Billing, Licenses); the pairing code to attach it to your server is in the server journal (see Upgrading for the steps, which are the same for a new installation). Pricing is shown in Toolbox. The plugin is licensed under the CPlugin Server Plugin Licence Agreement.

When the licence file is read. The plugin reads CPlugin.AMF.license (and a revocation saved next to it, if any) when the plugin starts, before it handles the first request, and keeps the licence in memory; the daily contact with the update service renews it and saves the renewed file. Deleting the file on a running server changes nothing until the plugin is restarted. To stop the plugin at once, set Enable=0 in the MT5 Administrator; that takes effect immediately.

If the part of the plugin that talks to our update service cannot start, the plugin says so in the journal and keeps using the licence file next to it until the end date written in the file (no delivery, no renewal, no trial); restarting the plugin tries again.

Free trial

You do not need to register or to ask for anything to try the plugin. On its first start the plugin contacts our update service (update.cplugin.com, TCP 443) and receives a trial licence automatically, when a trial is available for this product.

The server journal shows the trial state and its end date, with a link to buy a licence.

What the plugin sends

In one sentence: the plugin tells our licence service which copy of the plugin runs on which trading server, so that your licence can be matched to that server, and nothing else. We never collect user data: nothing about your clients or traders.

It happens when the plugin starts and then once a day, over the internet to update.cplugin.com (port 443). Each time the plugin sends:

What is never sent: anything about your clients or traders (names, e-mails, phones, documents), accounts (logins, passwords, balances, equity, groups), orders, trades, prices, plugin settings, server journals, or the contents of your trading server database. The plugin has no way to send them: the message to our service simply has no place for such data.

Two more things to know. Our service sees the internet (IP) address the request comes from, as every web service does. And it never connects to your server and never sends it commands or programs: it only replies to requests that the plugin itself makes.

The complete official list of everything that is collected, the reason for each item and how long it is kept is on the telemetry page. The plugin also writes this notice and the link to your server journal every time it starts.

When a trial or a licence ends

Nothing breaks. Without a valid licence for an account's group the plugin does not intervene. Requests are handled by the server as if the plugin were not installed: no Stop Loss is required, no extra margin is reserved, no premium is charged, no comment is set. Trading never stops because of the plugin.

There is no separate "demo mode" with a limited number of trades: the trial is the full plugin for a limited time.

Margin already raised stays. A position that was opened while the licence was in force keeps the margin the plugin set for it (the loss at its Stop Loss) until the position is closed, or until its Stop Loss is changed while a licence is in force again. The plugin does not lower margins of open positions by itself. Premiums already charged are not returned.

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Does the plugin change the price at which my stops are executed? No. Execution stays with the MT5 server. The plugin only accepts or rejects requests and sets margin.

Does it make us compliant with AMF? No tool can do that for you. The plugin is a technical tool that applies the rules you configure; compliance remains the broker's responsibility.

Does it work on netting accounts? Yes. Closing is never blocked; only the part of an order that opens new exposure is checked. See How the rules work in detail.

Why does a folder mask like Forex match nothing? The symbols groups field is compared with the symbol path. Write Forex\*.

Can I use 0 as "no minimum"? No: a line with minSL=0 or maxSL=0 checks nothing. Use 1.

Can I switch rules for news time? Yes. Keep a second preset and change Current Working Preset; the change is applied immediately.

Does the plugin need a MetaTrader licence or change mine? No. The plugin's licence is for using the plugin on your trading server only.

Does the plugin read my clients' data? It does not send any (see What the plugin sends).

Limitations and differences from the MT4 edition

• Orders are checked by the plugin only for accounts and symbols that a rule line covers.
• The maxSL limit is checked when the order is placed or opened, not when it is modified.
• A pending order that only reduces or closes a netting position is never checked.
• One DLL file runs one plugin configuration.
• Margin that the plugin has raised stays with the position after the licence ends (see When a trial or a licence ends).

Changelog: version 2.00

Licence

• The plugin is its own product, AMF MT5. The licence comes from the CPlugin update service; the licence file CPlugin.AMF.license is delivered and renewed automatically.
• Subscription in CPlugin Toolbox; pairing code from the journal. Licence files of version 1.22 are not read.
• A free trial is issued automatically on the first start when one is available.
• There is no demo mode any more: without a licence the plugin does not intervene.
• When a trial or a licence ends, trading never stops.

Changed behaviour

Getting the plugin

Files can be downloaded from the CPlugin NuGet feed: CPlugin.MT5Plugin.AMF versions. Please install version 2.00 or later; this guide describes that version only.

Questions about the plugin, a trial extension or moving an existing subscription: contact us.