Money management

When opening a position you're taking a risk of losing money. The amount of risk you take is based on three factors: how well the EA chooses its' opening price, the maximum amount of draw-down and the position size (volume) in lots. Our money management (MM) modules manage volume.

Linear lot size

The Linear lot size money manager will adjust the lot size based on the available balance or equity. If there's a minimum or maximum lot size the broker has set for the symbol you're trading, the lot size will be at least the minimum and not more than the maximum per order.

For Expert Advisors (EAs) created from 29 April 2024, the lot size will be calculated based on a percentage of your balance/ equity, using this to determine the position size equal to the required margin. For example, if 1% of your account equity is $100 and opening 1 Lot of EURUSD requires $3000 margin, your lot size would be calculated as $3000 / $100 = 0.03 lot. Similarly, if 1 BTCUSD Lot requires $36,000 margin, your lot size would be 0.00272 lot. However, if your broker's minimum lot size for a symbol is 0.01, the EA will open at that size, even if it consumes a higher percentage of your margin, such as 3.6%.

You can determine the lot size corresponding to each percentage by adding the EA to a Demo chart and watch the Experts tab, which will indicate the lot size for each percentage.

• Balance/ equity: Select if the lot size should be based on the account balance or equity.
• Percentage: A setting of 1% will create a lot size based on $100 on a 10k Account. 20% will create a lot size based on $2000 on a 10k account, etc. What if you enter 0%? The lot size is never smaller than the minimum lot size or larger than the maximum lot size. This means that 0% may result in a 0.01 lot order.

Fixed lot size

The Fixed lot size money manager has a single setting for setting the amount of lots per trade. The amount of lots will most likely always be the same for each order, however if there's a minimum or maximum lot size the broker has set for the symbol you're trading, the lot size will be at least the minimum and not more than the maximum per order.

• Lot size: fixed lot size. What if you enter 0? The lot size is never smaller than the minimum lot size or larger than the maximum lot size. This means that 0 may result in a 0.01 lot order.

Martingale

The Martingale money manager will change the lot size by a configurable value after an order with a negative result. The lot size can multiply multiple times when multiple losses were taken in a row. This strategy is only useful for strategies with a high probability of winning a trade. Significant risk is taken when using this module. If there's a minimum or maximum lot size the broker has set for the symbol you're trading, the lot size will be at least the minimum and not more than the maximum per order.

• Lot size sequence: Enter a manual sequence of order lot sizes, seperated by a comma. For example, when the input sequence is '0.01, 0.03, 0.05' the first order's lot size will be 0.01, the next order 0.03 lot and the third order 0.05 lot. When using an additional operator, choose from '+' (add to previous lot size), '-' substract from previous lot size, '*' multiply previous lot size, '/' devide previous lot size or '%' as a percentage of your equity, using this amount of equity to equal the required margin. For example, when the input sequence is '0.01, *2' the first order's lot size will be 0.01, the next order will have the previous lot size times 2: 0.02 lot and the third order 0.04 lot, etc.
• Number of orders taken into consideration: when entering 1, only the last order is evaluated.
• Percentage lost: This setting represents the percentage of recent orders (determined by the "Number of orders taken into consideration" setting) that resulted in a loss.
  For example:
  • If you set "Number of orders taken into consideration" to 1 and this setting to 100%, it means that if the last order resulted in a loss, the multiplier will be applied to the next order.
  • If you set the first setting to 2 and this one to 100%, it means that if both of the last two orders resulted in a loss, the multiplier will be applied to the next order.
  • If you set the first setting to 2 and this one to 50%, it means that if either one or both of the last two orders resulted in a loss, the multiplier will be applied to the next order.
• Max steps after losses: after this number of steps, the order's volume won't be affected anymore by the Lot size sequence. This means that when this amount of steps (or number of losing orders) happen, the previous lot size may also be the lot size for the next order.
• Reset martingale after max steps: by enabling this setting you can now reset the lot size after you have reached a maximum number of steps (or losing orders).
• Include open orders: include open orders for volume calculation, not just closed orders.
• Split sequence for buy and sell orders: If enabled, the sequence will be split for buy and sell orders.
• Use current lot size for additional orders: Enable if the lot size for an additional order has to be calculated based on the real, currently newest opened order's lot size, instead of the calculated lot size.
  
  Example 1: imagine you have a Manual sequence of '0.01, +0.01, +0.01'. Normally the EA would open the first order with 0.01 lot, the second order with 0.02 lot and the third order with 0.03 lot. Now imagine you open the first order manually with 0.2 lot. If the setting is disabled, your second order will be (0.01 + 0.01) 0.02 lot. If the setting is enabled, your second order will be (0.2 + 0.01) 0.21 lot.
  Example 2: imagine you have a Manual sequence of '0.1%, *2'. If the setting is disabled, your first and second order will both be 0.01, because 0.1%, even after multiplied by 2 may still be 0.01, depending on account size. If the setting is enabled, your second order will be (0.01 (rounded) *2) = 0.02 lot.

Fixed risk

The fixed risk money manager will calculate the order's lot size based on the amount of money you want to risk per order. The money manager will only be able to do this if the Stop loss is known at the moment the order is opened. If the Stop loss is not known, it will fallback to the 'Fallback lot size' value.

• Risk amount type: Choose if you want to enter an amount of risk in Money, or a percentage of your Balance.
• Amount value: If you have chosen Money as the Risk amount type and you enter '100' as an Amount value, then you risk 100 base currency (Dollar/ Euro/ etc.) per trade maximum(*). If you have chosen 'Balance' and enter '2' as an Amount value, then you risk 2% of your balance per trade. So in this case, if you have an account balance of $1.000.-, then you risk $20 per trade maximum(*).
• Fallback lot size: Lot size when there is no SL known at the moment the order is opened.

Manual sequence

The Manual Sequence money manager will calculate the next order's lot size, based on a manual input sequence. For example, when the input sequence is '0.01, 0.01, 0.03' the first order's lot size will be 0.01, next order also 0.01 lot and the third order 0.03 lot. It's also possible to use the '+', '-', '*', '/' and '%' operators to give you more flexibility. For example, when entering the following manual sequence: '0.01, +0.01, *2', your first order will be 0.01 lot, your second order 0.02 (0.01 + 0.01) lot and your third order will be 0.04 lot (0.02 * 2). If the number of orders exceed the number of input parts, the last part will be repeated for each order. So in the above case, if your EA is allowed to open more than 3 orders, the fourth order will be 0.08, 0.16, etc. You can also choose to end your sequence with +0 to stop increasing the lot size.

• Lot size sequence: Enter a manual sequence of order lot sizes, seperated by a comma. When using an additional operator, choose from '+' (add to previous lot size), '-' substract from previous lot size, '*' multiply previous lot size, '/' devide previous lot size or '%' as a percentage of your equity, using this amount of equity to equal the required margin.
• Split sequence for buy and sell orders: If enabled, the sequence will be split for buy and sell orders.
• Use current lot size for additional orders: Enable if the lot size for an additional order has to be calculated based on the real, currently newest opened order's lot size, instead of the calculated lot size.
  
  Example 1: imagine you have a Manual sequence of '0.01, +0.01, +0.01'. Normally the EA would open the first order with 0.01 lot, the second order with 0.02 lot and the third order with 0.03 lot. Now imagine you open the first order manually with 0.2 lot. If the setting is disabled, your second order will be (0.01 + 0.01) 0.02 lot. If the setting is enabled, your second order will be (0.2 + 0.01) 0.21 lot.
  Example 2: imagine you have a Manual sequence of '0.1%, *2'. If the setting is disabled, your first and second order will both be 0.01, because 0.1%, even after multiplied by 2 may still be 0.01, depending on account size. If the setting is enabled, your second order will be (0.01 (rounded) *2) = 0.02 lot.