Why did my indicator stop working, and how do I get it working again?

If your indicators were working and suddenly stopped working, we can help you get them up and running again.  

The cause

There are several reasons why your indicator may stop working.  The typical cause varies by platform.  If you're a TradeStation user, it may be that your indicator experienced an error, and TradeStation changed the status of the indicator to off.  

NinjaTrader Solution

If your NinjaTrader indicator(s) suddenly stop working, then the most likely cause of the issue is that your Machine ID has changed.  The Machine ID is a code generated by your NinjaTrader desktop that uniquely identifies your computer.  The ID is used to determine whether you're authorized to use an indicator.  The link between your Machine ID and your indicator is made when you first download your indicator. 

The Machine ID is based on your computer's hardware; if a significant change happens with your hardware, this ID could change.  When the Machine ID changes, your new Machine ID must be registered for your indicators to work.  If the Machine ID isn't registered for your indicator, you'll see an error window appear indicating that you are not authorized to use the indicator, similar to the following image:

To resolve this, you can get your updated Machine ID, and provide it to our support team so we can update your registration for your indicators.  Follow this link to learn how to send us your updated machine ID.

TradeStation Solution
If TradeStation has turned off your indicator, you can find the cause of the indicator by using TradeStation's Event Log.  The Event Log opens automatically when an error occurs, and lists the error(s) that occurred since you last started TradeStation. You can open the Event Log by selecting it under the View menu in TradeStation 9.x, and in TradeStation 10, you can open it via the menu sequence, View > Messages > Launch Events Log.  The following image provides an example of how errors may appear:

Once you select an error line from above, the details for that error appear in the Event Details, below. (Click on any of the Event errors from the list at the top.  If you don't see the Event Details, click on the Details button at the bottom right.)  The reason for the error is provided under the Event: description, circled in red in the image.  In this case, it says the study is not verified.  Just above that, Study/Strategy shows which indicator is the cause.  In this example, it's MQ PowerLines.  The other information in the Details provides the time, which workspace the error occurred on, and which chart window.  This way, you can identify the exact chart, indicator, and perhaps even bar where the problem occurred. 

If you're unsure how to fix the error, let our support team know the details so we can help.  TradeStation will sometimes set the status of an indicator to OFF, so that it doesn't create additional errors.  In this case, you'll want to open the settings for the indicator (Format/Analysis Techniques or Edit/Studies), select the indicator from the list for that chart, and click the Status button to turn it back on.  In the example image below, with the indicator selected, clicking the Status button will toggle its status to On again.  If the indicator continues to create an error and disable itself, please get in touch with our support team for help.