Equity Guard – daily loss, max drawdown and profit target lock
Equity Guard is a risk-management Expert Advisor for MetaTrader 5. It does not open trades. It watches the account equity and acts when one of your limits is reached:
- Daily loss limit: a percentage of the day-start base and/or a fixed amount in the account currency (the stricter one is used).
- Maximum drawdown: a percentage from the initial balance (static) or from the highest equity (trailing).
- Daily profit target (optional): locks in the profit of the day.
Equity Guard panel on a EURUSD H4 chart (demo account, Algo Trading off)
When a limit is hit, the EA closes the open positions, deletes the pending orders, sends an alert (and a push notification if enabled) and keeps closing any new trades until the next trading day (daily limits) or until you reset the saved state (maximum drawdown).
Features
- Day-start base: balance, equity, or the higher of the two, as many prop firms use.
- The new trading day starts at any server hour.
- The state is kept in terminal global variables, so a terminal restart does not reset the day.
- When the EA starts during the day, the day-start balance is rebuilt from the deals closed today.
- Optional filters: one magic number, or the chart symbol only.
- Panel: status, equity, today’s result, remaining daily loss, distance to the drawdown floor and the next reset time.
- The panel warns when Algo Trading is off, because the EA cannot close trades then.
How to use
Attach the EA to one chart of the account (any symbol, any timeframe) and turn on Algo Trading. Set the limits to match your rules and test on a demo account first.
Inputs
| Input | Default | Meaning |
| Max daily loss, % of day-start base | 4.0 | 0 = off |
| Max daily loss, account currency | 0 | 0 = off |
| Max overall drawdown, % | 8.0 | 0 = off |
| Drawdown measured | From initial balance | or from the highest equity (trailing) |
| Initial balance | 0 | 0 = balance when the EA first starts |
| Daily profit target, % | 0 | 0 = off |
| Daily loss measured from | Higher of balance and equity | or balance, or equity |
| New day starts at server hour | 0 | 0-23 |
| Close open positions / Delete pending orders | true / true | action when a limit is hit |
| Keep closing new trades until reset | true | keeps the account flat while locked |
| Only this magic number | -1 | -1 = all trades |
| Only the chart symbol | false | |
| Pop-up alert / Push notification | true / false | |
| Panel settings | corner, offsets, font size, colours | |
| Reset saved state on start | false | set to true once to clear a lock, then back to false |
Notes
- An EA can only act while the terminal is running and connected. For 24/5 protection, run it on a VPS.
- Positions are closed at market and can slip in fast markets, so set the limits slightly tighter than your hard rule.
