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Signal Validation ​

Every signal that enters TTMT passes through 7 stages of safety checks before a single order is placed. These checks catch typos, implausible values, duplicate signals, and constraint violations. A signal that fails any stage is rejected with a logged reason -- it never reaches your broker.

Stage 1: Signal Sanitizer ​

The signal sanitizer is the first line of defense. It evaluates the AI parser's output to determine whether the extracted values are credible enough to proceed.

Two-Phase Confidence Thresholds ​

The sanitizer operates in two phases with decreasing confidence requirements:

PhaseConfidence ThresholdBehavior
Phase 10.90 (strict)Signal must meet all structural requirements with high confidence
Phase 20.80 (relaxed)If Phase 1 fails, a second pass with relaxed thresholds catches borderline signals

What Phase 1 checks:

  • All required fields present (symbol, direction, at least one actionable price level)
  • Values are numeric and within plausible ranges for the instrument
  • Direction is unambiguous (BUY or SELL, not both)

What Phase 2 adds:

  • Allows partial signals (e.g., missing a TP but with valid entry and SL)
  • Accepts lower-confidence parses when the core structure is sound
  • Catches signals from channels with unusual formatting

Why Two Phases?

A single threshold creates a cliff: signals at 0.89 confidence are rejected while 0.91 passes, even when the difference is noise. The two-phase approach gives borderline signals a second chance with relaxed requirements, reducing unnecessary rejections without lowering overall safety.

Outcome: Signals below both thresholds are rejected immediately. No further validation occurs.

Stage 2: SL Validator ​

The stop-loss validator ensures the signal's SL value is reasonable and correctly positioned relative to the entry price.

Wrong-Side Detection ​

The most common signal typo is a stop loss on the wrong side of entry:

DirectionValid SLInvalid SL
BUYBelow entry priceAbove entry price
SELLAbove entry priceBelow entry price

A BUY signal at 1.1000 with an SL at 1.1050 is clearly wrong -- the SL is above the entry, meaning the trade would stop out immediately if price moves in the expected direction.

Too-Far Detection ​

An SL that is excessively far from entry is almost certainly a typo or parsing error. The validator flags any SL where:

SL Distance > 5 × TP1 Distance

For example, if TP1 is 50 pips away and the SL is 300 pips away, the SL is likely wrong. A legitimate SL is rarely more than 5 times the distance to the nearest take-profit.

Zone Plausibility ​

For signals with an entry zone, the validator also checks whether the SL makes sense relative to the zone:

SL Distance from Zone Edge > 5 × SL Distance from Entry

This catches cases where the SL is so far from the entry zone that it would create an unreasonable risk profile.

Correction Modes ​

When an invalid SL is detected, the system responds based on your configured behavior:

ModeWhat Happens
RejectTrade is rejected entirely
Use DefaultYour configured default SL (in pips per asset class) is applied
Auto-CorrectThe system attempts to fix the SL (e.g., flip wrong-side SL)

WARNING

Even in auto-correct mode, the corrected SL is re-validated. If the correction still produces an implausible value, the trade is rejected.

Stage 3: TP Validator ​

The take-profit validator runs 5 correction steps on every TP value in the signal. This is one of the most sophisticated validators in the system, because TP errors are both common and consequential.

Step 1: Wrong-Side TP Detection ​

Just like stop losses, take-profit targets can end up on the wrong side of entry:

DirectionValid TPsInvalid TPs
BUYAbove entryBelow entry
SELLBelow entryAbove entry

The critical detail: TTMT validates TPs against the entry zone boundaries, not the current market price. This matters in volatile conditions where the live price may have already moved past a valid TP level.

TTMT computes the correct reference point for TP validation:

DirectionReference Point
BUYThe lower of the zone low and entry price -- the most conservative entry
SELLThe higher of the zone high and entry price -- the most conservative entry

Why Entry Zone, Not Live Price?

In a fast-moving market, the live price might be at 5392 while the signal's entry zone starts at 5377. A TP at 5391 is perfectly valid -- it is above the entry zone. But if you compare it to the live price (5392), it looks like a wrong-side TP. Using entry zone boundaries prevents valid TPs from being incorrectly rejected.

Step 2: Duplicate TP Removal ​

If the parser extracts identical TP values (e.g., TP2 and TP3 are both 1.1050), duplicates are removed. This prevents multiple orders from targeting the exact same price level.

Step 3: TP Ordering Validation ​

Take-profit targets must be in ascending order for BUY trades and descending order for SELL trades:

  • BUY: TP1 < TP2 < TP3 < TP4 < TP5 < TP6
  • SELL: TP1 > TP2 > TP3 > TP4 > TP5 > TP6

If the TPs are out of order, the validator re-sorts them.

Step 4: TP Distance Validation ​

Each TP must be a reasonable distance from entry. TPs that are absurdly close (within the spread) or absurdly far (clearly a typo) are flagged.

Step 5: TP Count Validation ​

The system supports 1 to 6 TPs. If more than 6 are provided, the extras are trimmed. If zero valid TPs remain after the previous steps, the signal is rejected.

Stage 4: Entry Zone Validator ​

The entry zone validator classifies the signal's entry zone into one of five categories and takes appropriate action.

5-Way Classification ​

ClassificationConditionAction
ValidZone is well-formed and within normal rangeProceed as-is
InvertedLow boundary is above high boundaryAuto-correct by swapping values
NarrowZone is unusually compressedAccept (may result in fewer layer fills)
WideZone exceeds 3% (forex) or 5% (metals/crypto) of priceCap to maximum allowed width
InvalidZone fails structural checksReject or use auto-calculated zone

Width Caps ​

Wide entry zones create excessive risk because limit orders are spread across too large a price range. The validator enforces asset-class-specific caps:

Asset ClassMaximum Zone Width
Forex3% of price
Metals / Crypto5% of price

Zones exceeding these limits are capped to the maximum. The layer entry prices are recalculated within the reduced zone.

Inverted Zones Are Common

Signal providers sometimes list entry zones as "1.1050 - 1.1000" for a BUY trade, which is technically inverted (the first number is the high, not the low). TTMT auto-corrects this silently -- it is not treated as an error.

Stage 5: Duplicate Detection ​

The duplicate detection system prevents the same signal from being executed twice. This can happen when:

  • A channel edits and reposts a signal
  • A signal is forwarded from another channel
  • The AI parser processes the same message twice due to a retry

How It Works ​

A unique identifier is generated from the signal's core fields:

identifier = symbol + direction + entry + SL + TP1 + TP2 + ... + TPn

Before execution, the system checks whether this identifier has been seen recently. If it has, the signal is skipped (not rejected -- the distinction matters in logging).

Skipped vs. Rejected

A rejected signal failed validation -- something was wrong with it. A skipped signal was valid but has already been executed. The signal log distinguishes these so you can understand exactly why a signal was not traded.

Stage 6: Pre-Trade Validation ​

The final gate before execution checks five real-time conditions that cannot be validated from the signal alone:

CheckWhat It VerifiesFailure Action
Connection HealthBroker connection is active and responsiveReject (retry possible)
Symbol AvailabilityThe symbol exists on the broker and is tradeableReject
Volume LimitsCalculated lot size is within hard caps and broker limitsReject
Margin SufficiencyAccount has enough free margin for the tradeReject
Safety PauseThe per-account safety pause is not activeReject (queued for later)

Connection Health ​

The system verifies that the broker connection is active, synchronized, and not in a reconnecting state. Trading on a stale or disconnected connection risks orphaned orders.

Symbol Availability ​

Using the 4-strategy symbol mapping system, the validator confirms that the parsed symbol resolves to a tradeable instrument on your broker. This catches mismatches between channel terminology (e.g., "GOLD") and broker symbols (e.g., "XAUUSD.m").

Volume Limits ​

The calculated lot size is checked against:

  • The broker's minimum and maximum lot size for the symbol
  • TTMT's hard volume caps (5.0 / 7.5 / 10.0 lots based on risk level)
  • Individual sub-order viability (each of the 12 orders must be above the broker minimum or it is skipped)

Margin Sufficiency ​

A margin check confirms your account has enough free margin to support the intended position. This prevents trades from being placed only to be immediately rejected by the broker.

Safety Pause State ​

If the automatic safety pause has activated due to recent failures, the trade is held rather than rejected outright. It will be attempted once the safety pause completes its recovery test.

Validation Summary ​

StageWhat It CatchesFailure Rate (typical)
Signal SanitizerGarbled parses, missing fields, ambiguous direction~5-10% of raw signals
SL ValidatorWrong-side SL, extreme SL distance, zone implausibility~2-5%
TP ValidatorWrong-side TPs, duplicates, misordered, extreme distance~3-7%
Entry Zone ValidatorInverted zones, excessively wide/narrow zones~1-3%
Duplicate DetectionDuplicate signals, reposts, retries~5-15%
Pre-Trade ValidationConnection issues, symbol mismatches, margin, safety pause~1-3%

These Rates Vary by Channel

High-quality signal channels with consistent formatting may see rejection rates under 5%. Channels with irregular formatting, frequent typos, or casual messaging styles will see higher rates. TTMT's custom prompt system can significantly improve parsing accuracy for specific channels.