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.

The calculation of your lot size has changed for all EA's created from 29 April 2024, when using this module. All EA's created before this date are not affected.

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.

The calculation of your lot size has changed for all EA's created from 29 April 2024, when using this module. All EA's created before this date are not affected.

Martingale

The Martingale money manager will multiply 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.

For Expert Advisors (EAs) created from 29 April 2024, the initial lot size will be calculated based on a percentage of your 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.

• Equity percentage: The MM will adjust the lot size based on the available equity. 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 if that's the broker's minimum lot size for that symbol.
• Number of orders taken into consideration: when entering 1, only the last order is evaluated.
• Percentage lost: the percentage of orders (based on the "Number of orders taken into consideration" setting) that resulted in a loss.
  So if you entered 1 on the previous setting and 100 on this setting, it means that after 100% of the last 1 order with a negative result, it will start multiplying on the next order. If you enter 2 and 100 it means that after 100% of the last 2 orders (so: both) with a negative result, it will start multiplying on the next order. If you enter 2 and 50 it means that if one of the last 2 orders, or both, with a negative result, it will start multiplying on the next order.
• Multiplier: the amount the previous order volume is multiplied by. When entering 2 it will double the volume after a losing trade.
• Max number of steps: the number of times the order's volume can be multiplied. When no more orders are opened before the maximum number of steps is reached, it's highly likely the broker prevents you from opening a new (larger) order/ position.
• Reset martingale after max number of steps: by enabling this setting you can now reset the lot size after you have reached the maximum of steps.
• Multiply by raw lot size: when this setting is enabled the Multiplier will be applied before lot size rounding. An example: without this option a lot size of 0.0003 is first rounded to the minimum lot size, for example 0.01. After the lot size is rounded, the multiplier could (for example when the value of the Multiplier is 2) set the new lot size to 0.02. When enabling this setting, in our example 0.0003 will first be multiplied (times 2) to 0.0006 and finally be rounded to 0.01.
• Include open orders: include open orders for volume calculation, not just closed orders.

Fixed risk (New)

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.