ATAS X risk management: a daily loss limit and trading lock that holds

ATAS X is ATAS' newer platform. The platform changes; the reason accounts get blown does not. It is rarely the first loss of the day. It is the fourth trade after it, taken on tilt. This page explains how to set up risk management in ATAS X, and how RiskBrake adds a daily loss limit and trading lock to ATAS X that you cannot switch off in the moment.

General information on risk process, not a recommendation for any instrument, position size or trade.

Why a platform setting is not enough

Stop orders on every entry and sensible default quantities per instrument protect you against mistakes: the wrong click, the wrong size, the forgotten stop. Set them up in ATAS X, they matter. But a setting you can change is a setting you will change on a bad day. The person changing it at 3pm after four losses is not the person who set it on Sunday. Real risk management under tilt needs a limit that is decided when you are calm and enforced by something outside your own willpower. That is the whole idea behind a hard daily loss limit.

What RiskBrake does in ATAS X

In the normal ATAS, RiskBrake runs as a strategy on the chart. ATAS X has no strategies on the chart, so there RiskBrake runs as an indicator on the chart instead. For you as a trader the rules are the same:

1. The same rules, limits and locks as in ATAS: daily loss limit, max trades per day, cooldown after losses and the other rules you set in your dashboard.
2. New orders on a locked account are rejected before they reach the market; in Market Replay, RiskBrake closes a new position right away instead. When a limit is hit, that account cannot open new risk until the lock ends.
3. Closing always works. A lock never traps you in a position. Reducing or closing an open position is always possible.
4. Hot keys: The panic hot key locks you in both platforms; flattening by hot key in ATAS X is still being tested.
5. The guardian watches both platforms. If RiskBrake is missing from your charts in ATAS X, the guardian puts it back on a chart the next time you start ATAS X.

Two differences you should know

We would rather tell you than have you find out on a red day. First: in ATAS X, the order panel (Chart Trader) is not shut during a lock. You can still click in it, but new orders on a locked account are rejected. Second: when RiskBrake flattens a position in ATAS X, it uses the Close position function of ATAS X itself.

Setting it up

1. Create your account and start your 14-day free trial in the dashboard.
2. Close ATAS and ATAS X, then run the installer. One installer sets up both platforms, including the RiskBrake indicator for ATAS X.
3. The first time only: in ATAS X, open the indicators of a chart you keep open, pick RiskBrake and add it to that chart. From then on the guardian puts it back on a chart the next time you start ATAS X.
4. Set your limits in the dashboard while you are calm: a daily loss limit well inside your prop firm's drawdown, a cooldown after losing trades and a max-trades cap.

The full walkthrough, including the rules you should understand before your first session, is in the guide.

Which limits to set

The three rules with the most impact are the same on every platform. A daily loss limit in dollars, set clearly inside your prop firm's daily drawdown, so one tilt session is far less likely to end the account. A cooldown after losses, for example five minutes after one loss and fifteen after three, which breaks the window where revenge trades are born; a win should not reset the streak, because your emotional state does not reset either. And a max-trades-per-day cap that catches overtrading even on days the P&L still looks fine. More on the full setup in ATAS risk management: the complete setup.

Using ATAS and ATAS X side by side

Many traders keep the normal ATAS installed while they try ATAS X. That works: the installer sets up both, the guardian watches both, and your rules, limits and locks apply in both. Once RiskBrake has run in ATAS X, switching platforms does not end a lock.

What RiskBrake is not

RiskBrake is a self-discipline tool. It enforces limits you set yourself; it gives no trading signals and no advice, and it cannot make a trade profitable. What it does is take the decision about the next trade away from the version of you that should not be making it.