Daily Loss Limit and Equity Lock
- Utilities
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Pitt Petruschke
Algo trader and EA developer from Germany. Founder of AlgoVerdict (algoverdict.com) – independent tests of Expert Advisors, brokers and signal platforms based on live accounts. Author of Dawnbreak, a session range breakout EA for MT5. My own EA park runs on real accounts; my signals are listed in - Version: 1.0
A daily loss limit only helps if it is enforced, also on the day you would rather ignore it. Daily Loss Limit enforces it: you set one line for the day, and when equity reaches it, Daily Loss Limit closes everything and keeps the account flat until the next daily reset.
Free, fully working, no time limit. No nag screens, no upgrade prompts inside the program. It never opens a trade on your account.
What it does
- Daily loss limit in money or in % of the day reference (default: 5 %). The day reference is the balance at the daily reset, or the higher of balance and equity at the reset.
- Daily reset at a time you set, in your broker's server time (default 00:00).
- Whole account: it runs on one chart and watches manual trades, the mobile app and every EA, on hedging and netting accounts.
- Close and lock: when equity reaches the line, pending orders are deleted first, then positions are closed, largest loser first. The account is then locked until the next daily reset. While locked, any new position or pending order is closed or deleted again (can be switched off).
- Optional daily profit target (money or %, off by default): when equity reaches it, everything is closed and the account is locked until the reset. "Stop for the day when I have made X."
- Warning level (default 70 % of the limit used): one alert and push message per day.
- Close queue: failed closes are retried with back-off; a closed market is waited for instead of spamming requests; a position above the symbol's maximum volume is closed in chunks; a daily request budget for enforcement.
- Survives restarts: the day reference and the lock are saved per account. After a restart while locked, anything still open is closed again. A late reset (EA attached during the day, terminal off at the reset) rebuilds the reference from the trade history, so losses since the reset are not forgiven. Deposits and withdrawals move the reference and do not count as profit or loss.
- Panel: status, equity, balance, day reference, today's P/L, money left before the line and % of the limit used, the profit target, a countdown to the reset, and a CLOSE ALL button (two clicks).
- Alerts: terminal popup, push to the MetaTrader mobile app, optional sound.
Quick start
- Switch on Algo Trading. Open one extra chart (any symbol) and attach Daily Loss Limit. Tick Allow Algo Trading.
- Set your daily loss limit and, if you want one, a daily profit target. Check the reset time against the clock in Market Watch.
- Keep the terminal running, ideally on a VPS. Use one Daily Loss Limit instance per account. A second copy on another chart of the same terminal shows "SECOND INSTANCE - display only" and takes over if the first one is removed (or stops responding for 30 s). Don't run it in two terminals on the same account.
What it is not
Daily Loss Limit is a daily guard. It is not a prop-firm rule monitor: it has no firm profiles, no max-drawdown lock, no trailing loss, no news or weekend rules, and its reset is in server time only. There is no unlock button: a lock ends at the reset, or when you set the rule that caused it to 0.
Need prop-firm rules with trailing max loss, news and weekend rules? See Prop Firm Guard Plimsoll in my products.
Honest limits
- The guard acts normally on the first tick or timer second after equity crosses the line (if the balance has just changed and the deal is not in the history yet, it waits up to 3 more seconds). Gaps and slippage can take equity below the line.
- It only works while the terminal runs with Algo Trading on and a connection to the broker. A VPS is recommended.
- The broker can reject or delay a close; the panel and alerts tell you when a position must be closed by hand.
- Credit is not a deposit: adding or removing credit moves equity and can reach the line or the target.
Risk warning: trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss. Daily Loss Limit reduces the risk of a large daily loss; it cannot remove it and does not guarantee any result.
Full setup guide, settings and FAQ: How to set a daily loss limit in MT5 (free tool)
From the same author: Dawnbreak – a session range breakout EA with a stop loss on every trade, no grid, no martingale. Its real-money account was freshly started on 5 Oct 2026 and runs as a public signal, so you can follow every trade live: mql5.com/en/signals/2395142
