Collie Gold on prop firms and shared accounts: how to size your exposure
Collie Gold works well on an account with hard limits and on an account shared with other EAs. This guide shows how to size its exposure in both cases.
Prop firms: use a fixed lot
Most firms work with a 5% maximum daily loss and a 10% maximum overall loss, measured against the challenge's starting balance. Since those limits are fixed in dollars, the simplest approach is a fixed lot: the cost of a basket at its stop stays constant instead of growing with the balance.
Here's the math we use: at the worst stop on record, a basket cost about 100 USD per 0.01 lot. That gives:
| Account | Fixed lot | One basket at the worst stop | Daily limit (5%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 USD | 0.02 | up to ~200 USD (4%) | 250 USD |
| 10,000 USD | 0.04 | up to ~400 USD (4%) | 500 USD |
| 25,000 USD | 0.10 | up to ~1,000 USD (4%) | 1,250 USD |
| 50,000 USD | 0.20 | up to ~2,000 USD (4%) | 2,500 USD |
| 100,000 USD | 0.40 | up to ~4,000 USD (4%) | 5,000 USD |
| 200,000 USD | 0.80 | up to ~8,000 USD (4%) | 10,000 USD |
The table puts the worst stop on record at about 4% of the account and leaves one percentage point of headroom under the 5% daily limit for slippage or gaps. In practice, the daily limit can absorb one stop per day, and the 10% overall limit can absorb two. Historically, a basket hit its stop a little over once a year; live, it can happen more often. Want more headroom? Use a smaller lot than the table: the cost of a stop shrinks in the same proportion.
How to set it up:
- Lot mode: Fixed lot size. Fixed lot size: the lot from the table.
- Max lot per entry: the same lot, as a safety cap.
- Account drawdown protection: "% of balance: close all baskets and stop the EA", with a 4.5% limit. It watches the open loss of Collie's baskets. A normal stop stays below that level, so it only fires if an exit slips past what was planned: it closes everything and stops the EA before the 5% daily limit.
- Leave the news filter on: Collie opens no new baskets on FOMC and payroll days, which many firms handle with special rules.
Before you start, check your firm's rules: some don't allow grids, hedging or EAs, and many offer lower leverage on gold. Collie needs a hedging account and enough margin for several open entries at once.
Sharing an account with other EAs
- Automatic lot calculated on: A fixed amount. Use Collie's slice of the account as the fixed amount. For example, on a 20,000 USD account split among four EAs, 5,000 USD for Collie.
- Magic number: Collie uses a range of numbers starting from the magic number you set. Keep at least 1,000 between it and any other EA's magic number.
- Panel: the drawdown shown on the panel is Collie's, not the whole account's, so you can track its slice without mixing it with the others.
- Drawdown protection: also measures Collie's baskets only. Losses from other EAs don't trigger it.
Keep in mind that margin belongs to the whole account. With several EAs open at once, prefer 1:500 leverage or higher.
Need help sizing it?
Send us your account size, your firm's daily and maximum loss rules (or the slice you want to give Collie) and your broker through the MQL5 chat. We'll reply with the numbers.
- Collie Gold on the Market: https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/200222
- Full manual: https://www.mql5.com/en/blogs/post/777124
- Lucky Dogs channel on MQL5: https://www.mql5.com/en/channels/021c0d9e2157dd01
Trading gold with leverage carries a risk of significant losses. Past results, whether tested or live, do not guarantee future results.
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