PineHook vs PineConnector

What carries over when you migrate, what differs, and what PineHook adds.

PineHook can read PineConnector's alert syntax directly, so migrating usually means changing your license ID and flipping one EA setting. This page covers what transfers, what does not, and where the two products differ.

For the syntax itself, see PineConnector Compatibility Mode.

What carries over unchanged#

Every documented PineConnector command. All the market and pending commands, the close family including the percentage and volume variants, cancels, the six close-and-open compounds with their CL+OL short forms, cancel-and-replace, the newsltp family, and EA control, including the padded LICENSE,eaoff,eaoff form. Command aliases (long, bull, bullish, short, bear, bearish) work too.

Every documented parameter. Both PineConnector's explicit syntax (vol_lots=, sl_pips=, entry_price=) and its legacy syntax (risk=, sl=, tp=, pending=), including the breakeven, pip-trailing and ATR-trailing parameters, spread=, accfilter=, secret= and comment=.

Your EA settings. PineConnector's unit-less parameters take their meaning from EA settings, and PineHook mirrors those under PineConnector Syntax, which covers Volume Type, Target Type, Pending Order Entry Type, Account Filter Type and the partial-close percentage.

sl=0. It moves the stop to breakeven, exactly as it does on PineConnector, including the partial-close variants that close part of a position and de-risk the rest.

Every sizing mode and account filter. All six of PineConnector's risk= interpretations are supported, from lots through dollar-risk, margin-committed and equity-percentage, along with accfilter= against balance, equity, free margin or margin level. PineHook gained these to reach parity, and they work in both syntax modes.

What differs#

atrshift=Only 0 is accepted. PineHook's ATR trailing always reads the most recent closed bar.
comment=Your text appears in Signal Logs on the dashboard rather than in the MT5 order comment. That field carries the identifiers PineHook uses to recognise a duplicate signal and avoid executing a trade twice.
Symbol mappingPineConnector maps symbols in their portal. PineHook does it in the EA, under Broker Symbol Mapping, using a prefix, a suffix, or explicit FROM:TO pairs.

Platform behaviour that is not alert syntax#

Some PineConnector features are portal settings rather than commands. They do not appear in your alerts, so they will not migrate with them. If your strategy depends on one, check the equivalent before you switch:

PineConnectorPineHook
Daily / cumulative profit-loss limits with actionsMax Daily Drawdown with the same three actions: block new trades, close everything, or close and halt until reset
Magic RestrictionMagic Number Mode (Single / Multi-Strategy), with per-signal magic=
Symbol prefix / suffixBroker Symbol Mapping EA inputs
Pyramiding modesNo direct equivalent. Use position limits and magic= scoping
Close on ReverseNo direct equivalent. Use the close-and-open compound commands, which are explicit about it
Shadow TargetsNo equivalent
Multi-instance replicationNo equivalent. One license, one terminal

Identical alerts, different results

If your strategy relies on Pyramiding or Close-on-Reverse, your alerts will run fine on PineHook and may still produce different positions, because those settings changed what an identical alert did on PineConnector. Worth checking before you move a live strategy.

What PineHook adds#

Available in both modes, including while you are running PineConnector syntax:

  • Laddered multi TP/SL gives you up to 10 take-profit and stop-loss rungs per position, each closing a share of the volume. See Multi TP/SL.
  • delay= holds a signal for a set time before executing it.
  • closetime= closes a position automatically a set time after entry.
  • Profit-filtered closes, because closeallprofit and closeallloss act on only the winners or only the losers.
  • Per-symbol EA control with eaon=EURUSD or eaoffexcept=EURUSD;GBPUSD.
  • Queue control, where clearqueue drops any delayed signals still waiting.
  • magic=ALL acts across every strategy on a symbol in one command.
  • marketprice= refuses a fill if the market has moved past the price your alert was based on. (PineConnector's spread= has a PineHook equivalent in maxspread_pips=, so that one is a tie rather than an addition.)
  • Delivery acknowledgements mean every signal reports back what happened at the broker, visible in Signal Logs.

Before you migrate#

  1. Set Signal Syntax Mode to PineConnector Compatibility and match the five PineConnector Syntax settings to your old configuration.
  2. If your broker uses prefixed or suffixed symbols, configure Broker Symbol Mapping.
  3. Send one alert of each type you rely on to a demo account first and confirm the result in Signal Logs.
  4. Check the platform-behaviour table above for anything your strategy depends on.
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