Known Quirks & Limitations

Important behaviors and limitations to be aware of when using PineChart.

`request.security()` — Market Watch Only

request.security() can only fetch data for symbols that are already in your Market Watch window. If you request a symbol that isn’t visible in Market Watch, the data will not load.

Workaround: Before running your script, add all required symbols to Market Watch (right-click Market Watch > Show All, or search and add individual symbols).

`input.*` Returns Defaults Only

All input.* functions (14 types) are implemented but currently return their defval (default value) only. There is no UI integration yet — you cannot change input values from a settings panel.

Workaround: Edit the default values directly in your Pine Script source file.

Series Lookback on TA Results Not Supported

Applying the history-reference operator [] to the result of a TA function call is not yet supported:

// This does NOT work yet:
prevSma = ta.sma(close, 20)[1]

// Workaround: store in a variable first
currentSma = ta.sma(close, 20)
prevSma = currentSma[1]

`for item in array` — Parsed but Not Executable

The for item in collection loop syntax is parsed by the engine but runtime iteration over arrays is not yet implemented. Use index-based for loops instead:

// This does NOT work yet:
for item in myArray
    sum += item

// Workaround: use index-based loop
for i = 0 to array.size(myArray) - 1
    sum += array.get(myArray, i)

NA Propagation Behavior

PineChart faithfully implements Pine Script’s na (Not Available) semantics. Be aware:

TA functions return na for the first N-1 bars (warmup period)
Any arithmetic with na produces na
Comparison with na returns false (e.g., na > 5 is false)
Use nz() to replace na with a fallback value
Use na() function to test for na (not == na)

Drawing Object Limits

Each drawing type (line, label, box) has a 500-object limit with FIFO (first-in, first-out) eviction. If your script creates more than 500 objects of one type, the oldest objects are automatically deleted.

This matches TradingView’s behavior where similar limits apply.

Unsupported Functions Return `na` or `0`

When your script calls a function that PineChart hasn’t implemented yet, the interpreter:

Logs a message in the MT5 Experts tab identifying the function
Returns na or 0 depending on context
Continues executing the rest of your script

Your script won’t crash — it will just have missing data for unsupported calls.

Instance Method Syntax Not Supported

Pine Script allows calling array methods on the object directly (e.g., myArr.push(5)). PineChart currently only supports the namespace form:

// This does NOT work yet:
myArr.push(5)

// Use this instead:
array.push(myArr, 5)

Multi-Timeframe Limitations

request.security() currently supports:

Simple OHLCV field access (close, open, high, low, volume)
Cross-symbol data (any symbol in Market Watch)
Higher-timeframe alignment with gaps and lookahead control
Tuple returns

Not yet supported:

TA expressions inside request.security() (e.g., request.security(sym, tf, ta.sma(close, 20)))
request.security_lower_tf() for lower timeframe data

Strategy Specifics

Strategies recalculate per-tick; indicators do not. On the latest bar, strategies re-execute on every incoming tick so they can react to intrabar price changes and submit orders in real time. Indicators only execute once per confirmed bar. This means barstate.isrealtime fires multiple times per bar in a strategy but effectively once in an indicator.
Strategies use MQL5’s CTrade for order execution — filling modes and order types depend on your broker
strategy.exit() trailing stop is not yet supported
strategy.closedtrades.* and strategy.opentrades.* history functions (~30 functions) are planned but not yet implemented
Backtesting uses MT5’s built-in Strategy Tester (no custom backtester)

MQL5 Platform Constraints

These are inherent to the MQL5 environment, not PineChart-specific:

No regex support: str.match() performs simple substring matching, not full regex
WebRequest restrictions: request.security() for cross-symbol data requires the symbol to be in Market Watch because MQL5 uses broker-provided data, not web APIs
Timer resolution: The chart refreshes on a 16ms timer cycle, which is sufficient for most use cases but differs from TradingView’s web-based rendering

Not Yet Implemented (Major Categories)

For the full function-by-function status, see the API Coverage page. Major missing categories include:

Map — map.* (11 functions)
Matrix — matrix.* (40+ functions)
Linefill — linefill.* (7 functions)
Polyline — polyline.* (3 functions)
Log — log.* (3 functions)
Date/Time functions — dayofmonth(), hour(), timestamp(), etc.
Plot variants — plotchar(), plotshape(), plotarrow(), bgcolor(), barcolor()
Advanced chart types — Renko, Kagi, Point & Figure, Range