Operator runbook

ipda runs on the same host as its paired mt5-trader instance — it reaches the market-data and signal endpoints on 127.0.0.1, and mt5-trader must run on 64-bit Windows beside the MetaTrader 5 terminal. One ipda process per profile, always.

Startup checklist

Confirm mt5-trader

GET /health/live, then /health/ready. ipda refuses to submit while REQUIRE_READY=true and readiness is failing.

Confirm notification-service

When NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED=true, confirm it is reachable at NOTIFICATION_SERVICE_URL. Out-of-session signals are only visible through it (plus signals.jsonl).

Confirm env and logs

The profile env file must be readable only by the service user, and LOGS_DIR writable — open_trades.json lives there. Confirm PIP_SIZE matches the instrument.

Confirm the trigger

The service trades the reversal signal (Buy Chance / Sell Chance, RSI 14 crossing 25 / 75), not the ▲/▼ Supertrend labels. SUPERTREND_* values in the env file are inert.

Start exactly one process per profile


ipda                      # .env (forex)
ipda --profile deriv      # .env.deriv

Deployment (Windows)

Configure Task Scheduler to run .venv\Scripts\ipda.exe at logon, under the same interactive user that owns the terminal session, with:

Working directory set to the ipda repository (env files resolve relative to it)
Arguments --profile deriv for a second instance; none for the default profile
Parallel instances disabled for the same profile
Stdout / stderr captured — logs are newline-delimited JSON on stdout

Boot order: MetaTrader 5 → mt5-trader → notification-service → ipda. ipda tolerates the others being late (it logs data_poll_failed and retries), but a signal fired during the gap is lost, not queued.

Verifying configuration

The startup log event reports live values. Check it after every config change:


trigger: reversal
reversal_sensitivity: 14
reversal_levels: [25, 75]
target_tf_minutes: 5
trading_sessions: ["tokyo", "new_york"]
notifications_enabled: true
mfe_break_even_pips: 30
tracked_trades_restored: <n>

A bad session name, unknown notification channel, malformed session spec, inverted reversal levels, or USE_HARD_TARGETS=false all fail at startup with a message on stderr and exit code

Confirm the timeframe by checking that a signal_fired record’s bucket_start lands on a :00 / :05 / :10 boundary.

Logging

Location	Contents
Console	Newline-delimited JSON, `LOG_LEVEL=INFO` by default
`{LOGS_DIR}/signals.jsonl`	`signal_fired`, `signal_skipped_out_of_session`, `break_even_reached`
`{LOGS_DIR}/executions.jsonl`	One record per submit outcome
`{LOGS_DIR}/errors.jsonl`	`data_poll_failed`, `tick_poll_failed`
`{LOGS_DIR}/open_trades.json`	Tracked-trade state (atomic rewrite)

Handling events

Event	Action
`signal_skipped_out_of_session`	Working as configured — no order sent. Check sessions / host clock if this fires during hours you expect to trade.
`break_even_reached`	Move the stop to entry in MT5 yourself. Fires once per trade.
`tracked_trade_closed`	Inferred from price (`take_profit_reached`, `stop_loss_reached`, `ttl_expired`) — not broker fact. Check the terminal.
`signal_submitted` non-success	Follow mt5-trader runbook (`unready`, `rejected` / `stop_loss_too_close`, `unauthorized`, `unknown`).
`notification_failed`	Trading unaffected. Fix notification-service; event remains in `signals.jsonl`.

Restart behaviour

Signal de-duplication is in-memory. After a restart the bucket lock is empty, so a signal still present on the forming candle can fire again. The deterministic UUIDv5 signal_id lets mt5-trader’s idempotency ledger reject the duplicate — expect a 409 in the log.
Tracked trades survive. open_trades.json is reloaded; already-alerted trades stay silent.

Rollout

pytest and ruff check . clean.
Start with NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED=true and mt5-trader’s TRADING_ENABLED=false. Confirm session gate, logs, and Telegram without broker orders.
Enable TRADING_ENABLED=true on a demo account. Verify a 40/50 (forex) fill and a one-shot break-even notification at +30 pips.
Only then point the profile at a live account.

Always run exactly one instance per profile on the same host as the paired mt5-trader.