Terminal Log Files

A trading terminal writes a running record of its own activity: a journal of connections, order requests and server responses, and a separate log in which automated programs record their errors and messages. They are stored as dated text files in the platform's data folder and are usually the only account of what the client actually sent and what the server actually replied. They matter twice over. For automated trading they are where a silent failure explains itself — a rejected order, a symbol name that does not exist on this server, an expired licence, a disconnection mid-session. And in a dispute they are the client-side evidence: a complaint that an order was refused or a fill was late is assessed against timestamps, not screenshots. Because the files rotate and are eventually deleted, anything worth arguing about should be copied out on the day it happens, alongside the account statement covering the same period.