How to set a daily loss limit in MetaTrader 5
Short answer: MetaTrader 5 has no daily loss limit setting of its own. You pick the number before the session. You decide what counts toward it and what happens when you get there. Then you keep the rule by hand or you let a tool on the chart keep it for you.
Bad days rarely start with a big trade. They start with a normal loss. Then comes a second trade that's really a reaction to the first one. Then a bigger one to get back to zero. A daily limit is a line you draw while you're calm, so the decision is already made by the time you aren't.
Step 1: pick the number
Start from your risk per trade, not from a number that sounds sensible.
- Account: 10,000.
- Risk per trade: 0.5%, so 50.
- Daily limit: 2%, so 200.
That's four full stops. Four losers in a row is a bad day but a normal one. Going on after that is usually where the damage starts.
If your limit is only one or two stops away, a single bad trade ends the day. That can be exactly what you want. Just pick it on purpose.
You can set the limit as a percent of the account or as a fixed amount in your account currency. More on the difference in step 3.
Step 2: decide what counts toward it
This is where most home-made limits leak.
- Closed losses today. Obvious. Count them after commission and swap, because that's what left the account.
- Open positions. A floating loss is still a loss. If you only count closed trades, you can sit at -1% "officially" with another -1.5% open on the screen.
- What your open stops could still lose. This is the part people skip. A position that's flat right now can still hit its stop.
- Deposits and withdrawals. They aren't trading. Leave them out or a withdrawal will look like a losing day.
Room left = daily limit - (closed losses today + what your open positions lose if every stop is hit)
The second part already holds the floating loss. Don't count it twice.
Example: how much room is left
- Daily limit: 200.
- Two trades closed today at -50 and -60. The second one slipped a little past its stop.
- One position open, 40 away from its stop.
- Used: 110 closed plus 40 still at risk, so 150.
- Room left: 200 - 150 = 50.
Your next plan risks 75. It doesn't fit. Make it 50 or less. Or call it a day. This sum before every trade is the whole job of a daily limit. It's also the sum nobody wants to do after two losses.
Step 3: decide when the day starts
"Today" needs a clock. Daily candles in MetaTrader 5 follow the server's time, which often isn't yours. A loss at 23:30 your time can belong to tomorrow on the server. Pick one clock and stick to it.
Then pick what the percent is counted from.
- A percent of the balance at the start of each day. The line moves with the account. After a losing day it shrinks. Lose the full 200 on day one and day two starts at 9,800. 2% of that is 196.
- A fixed amount. 200 is 200 every day, until you change it. Easier to read. It doesn't shrink after a bad week, so check it now and then.
Neither one is wrong. What matters is that the number is set before the first trade of the day, not adjusted halfway through it.
Step 4: decide what happens at the line
There are two honest answers.
Stop opening new trades. Open positions stay with their stops. You don't add anything new until the day resets. This keeps the plan you already made for the open trades.
Close everything. Every position goes at market. The day ends at a known number. The cost is that a floating loss becomes a closed one, even on a trade that might have come back. If the limit is measured from the day's starting balance, tomorrow starts lower too.
Pick one in advance. The worst version is deciding at the line, with a red number on the screen.
Step 5: make the rule hard to break
By hand. Write the limit down where you'll see it. Check the room left before every trade, using the sum from step 2. When you hit the line, close the terminal. It works. It also depends on you being disciplined at exactly the moment you're least likely to be.
With a tool on the chart. An Expert Advisor can watch the account and do the sum for you. Before you trust one with your limit, check three things:
- Does it count trades opened outside it, by hand or from your phone?
- What does it do at the line: stop new trades, close everything or just warn?
- Can you switch it off in the middle of a bad day? If you can, how easy is it?
What a daily limit can't do
A stop is an order at a price, not a promise of that price. A gap over the weekend or a fast move on news can fill you past it. So the day can end past your line even if every rule held. A limit is a line you've drawn. It isn't a cap on the loss.
An EA also works only while the terminal is running. If your computer is off, so is the limit.
Common questions
Does MetaTrader 5 have a built-in daily loss limit?
No. The terminal has no setting for it. You keep the limit by hand or with an Expert Advisor running on a chart.
Should open positions count toward the daily limit?
Yes. A floating loss and the risk left to your stops are both part of the day. Count only closed trades and you'll find out about the real number too late.
Percent or fixed amount?
A percent follows the account up and down. A fixed amount is easier to read. Either one works if it's set before the session and you don't touch it during the day.
What if I hit the limit with a position still open?
That's step 4. Decide it before the session: leave the position with its stop or close it. Moving the stop further away to "give it room" is the one choice that makes the day worse.
Does a deposit reset the daily limit?
It shouldn't. A deposit isn't a trading result. If your tool counts it as one, a deposit gives you extra room you never meant to have.
Tomky, Dojiwave · Updated