In short. In MetaTrader 5 losses are limited on three levels: a stop loss on every trade, a risk limit per trade, and daily and account limits. The terminal handles the first on its own; it has no daily loss limit and no trading lock after a losing streak — for that you need a risk manager EA or strict discipline of your own.
Level 1. A stop loss on every trade
- Set the stop in the order window or later in the position properties — before the price moves against you. Step by step — «How to set stop loss and take profit in MT5».
- The stop loss is executed by the broker's server, so it works even when the terminal is closed. The trailing stop from the MT5 context menu works only while the terminal is running.
- On gaps and news a stop can fill worse than its price — account for that in your risk.
Level 2. Risk per trade
A stop limits the loss in pips, the size limits it in money. The rule is simple: first the risk amount (say 1% of the account), then the stop from the chart, then the size — use the lot size calculator. More in «How to calculate lot size» and «The 1% rule».
Level 3. Daily and account limits
The biggest losses come not from one trade but from a streak: after two or three losers you want to win it back. Limits after which no new trades open help:
- a daily loss limit — for example 3% of the balance at the start of the day;
- a maximum drawdown from the peak — the line at which trading stops;
- maximum trades per day and open positions;
- trading hours — no entries on news or at night.
MetaTrader 5 does not enforce such limits out of the box. You can keep them manually — log the day's result and close the terminal at the limit — but a manual rule breaks exactly when it matters most.
A risk manager for MT5 in Davinchu
In Davinchu the limits are set in the dashboard, in the «Risk and limits» block, and the T-Manager EA enforces them right in the terminal — from the account history, without waiting for the network:
- «Risk per trade, % (max)» — a panel entry without a stop loss or with risk above the limit will not open;
- «Daily stop-loss, %» — from the start-of-day balance, including the floating result of open positions; «Max drawdown, %» — from the equity peak; «Max trades per day», «Max open positions», trading hours;
- from 70% of a limit — a warning on the chart, at 70, 90 and 100% — notifications; at 100% new entries are closed: for the daily loss and trade count — until 00:00, for drawdown — also until 00:00 and after that until it falls below the limit. The EA shows the reason and the reset time on the chart;
- without a connection to the dashboard the EA keeps the last received limits.
T-Manager's limits apply to entries through its panel, and trades from the standard MetaTrader window or other EAs count towards the daily loss, drawdown, trade count and open positions. Trade through the panel — and the limit triggers exactly when it should. The risk manager is available from the Plus plan. More on the «MT5 risk manager» page.
Check that it worked
Once a week look at your worst daily loss and maximum drawdown and how many trades you opened after a losing streak. In the Davinchu trading journal a trade can be marked with the mistakes «Risk exceeded», «Entry without a stop», «Revenge trade», and the «Review» tab counts the «Cost of violations». If limits still break after losses, work through «Tilt, overtrading and revenge trading».