When does the trading day start? Daily loss limits, server midnight and floating losses

A daily loss limit sounds simple: lose more than a set amount today and trading stops. In practice two questions decide whether a trader stays inside it or breaches it without noticing: when "today" begins, and what counts as a loss.

Question 1: whose midnight?

Most prop firms and many brokers count the day from midnight on the broker's server clock, not your local clock. A server running on GMT+2 in winter (GMT+3 in summer) starts the new day at 23:00 or 22:00 in London, and at a completely different hour in New York or Sydney.

This matters in two ways:

• A trade opened late in your evening may already belong to the next trading day, with a fresh limit.
• A loss taken just before server midnight still counts against the old day, even if your local calendar has moved on.

The server time is visible in the Market Watch window of MetaTrader 5. Writing down the hour at which the server day turns over, in your own time zone, removes most of the confusion.

Question 2: balance or equity?

Some rule sets count only closed trades (balance). Others include open positions (equity), so a floating loss that never closes can still breach the limit. A few measure from the higher of balance or equity at the start of the day.

The difference shows up on days with a position held through a sharp move. With an equity-based rule, the limit can be reached while the trade is still open, and the account can end before the stop is ever hit.

Question 3: what is the starting point?

The daily limit is usually measured from the balance or equity at the moment the day starts. If the account finished yesterday with an open trade showing a gain, today's starting point may already include that floating gain. A pullback in the first hour can then use up part of today's room before any new trade is placed.

A short checklist

• Find the exact sentence in your firm's rules that defines the trading day and the daily limit.
• Note the server hour at which the day resets, in your own time zone.
• Check whether open positions count.
• Decide your own daily stop below the firm's limit, so a slipped stop does not finish the account.

Where a daily lock fits in

Our free MetaTrader 5 utility, Spectar Daily Loss Limiter, counts the day from the broker's server midnight and includes floating losses. Once today's loss reaches the figure you set, it stops trading for the rest of the day.

Free on the MQL5 Market: https://www.mql5.com/en/market/product/200369

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