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LOSS RULE · AUTO FIRE

DAILY LOSS LIMIT
KILL SWITCH

Set your maximum daily loss once. TradeGuard monitors your F&O account every 5 seconds and fires the kill switch the moment your loss hits the limit — automatically, with no manual action required.

91%
of individual F&O traders in India incurred losses in FY2024-25 — SEBI Annual Report. Total retail losses exceeded ₹1 lakh crore. The primary cause: no enforced daily loss limit.

The single biggest reason retail F&O traders blow accounts is not lack of knowledge — it is the absence of a hard daily loss limit that actually gets enforced. Most traders know their limit. Almost none of them stop when they hit it.

TradeGuard's Daily Loss Limit rule solves this permanently. When your cumulative P&L for the day crosses your set limit, the kill switch fires on your Dhan (Upstox, Angel One & Zerodha coming soon) account automatically — blocking all further orders and squaring off open positions.

WHY DAILY LOSS
LIMITS MATTER

Every professional trading desk enforces daily loss limits at the account level. It is not optional. The moment a trader's P&L crosses the limit, their access is revoked for the day. This is a hard system constraint, not a suggestion.

Retail traders have the same emotional vulnerabilities as professionals but none of the system-level enforcement. A bad morning turns into a devastating day. A ₹5,000 loss becomes a ₹40,000 loss because the trader kept trying to recover. Overtrading after an initial loss is the leading cause of large single-day drawdowns among retail F&O traders.

The Revenge Trading Trap

When you lose ₹3,000 before 10 AM, the psychological pressure to "get it back" is overwhelming. You increase position size. You ignore your setup. You take trades you normally wouldn't. By 2 PM you're down ₹25,000. This is revenge trading — and it is virtually impossible to stop with willpower alone when you're in the middle of it.

Why Manual Stops Fail

You've told yourself "I'll stop at ₹5,000 loss" a hundred times. But when you're down ₹4,800, you think: "Just one more trade to recover." Then you're at ₹7,000. Then ₹12,000. Manual stops require you to make a rational decision while you're in the most emotionally compromised state of your trading day.

Real scenario — Nifty options trader, capital ₹2,00,000
Loss limit set: ₹5,000
9:30 AM — Sold Nifty CE  → loss ₹1,200
10:15 AM — BankNifty PE  → loss now ₹3,400
11:02 AM — Nifty straddle  → loss now ₹4,987
11:02 AM — KILL SWITCH FIRED (₹4,987 ≥ ₹5,000 limit)
Account locked. Positions squared off. Day ends at ₹4,987 loss — not ₹40,000.

HOW IT WORKS

1

Set your daily loss limit

Enter your maximum acceptable daily loss in rupees — e.g. ₹3,000, ₹5,000 or ₹10,000. Common guideline: 1–2% of total trading capital.

2

TradeGuard monitors every 5 seconds

Our server checks your real-time P&L via broker API every 5 seconds throughout market hours (9:15 AM–3:30 PM IST). Real-time WebSocket order feed also monitored.

3

Kill switch fires automatically

The moment your cumulative loss reaches your limit, TradeGuard fires the kill switch via your broker's API — twice, for reliability.

4

Positions squared off, account locked

All open F&O positions are squared off automatically. No new orders can be placed for the rest of the trading day.

5

Re-fires if you try to bypass

If you disable the kill switch from your broker app, TradeGuard detects it within 30 seconds and re-fires. Cannot be bypassed during market hours.

CALCULATING YOUR LIMIT

The professional standard is 1–2% of total trading capital per day. If your trading capital is ₹2,00,000, your daily loss limit should be ₹2,000–₹4,000. If you have ₹5,00,000 in capital, set ₹5,000–₹10,000 as your limit.

A ₹3,000 loss is completely recoverable in 2–3 good trading days. A ₹40,000 loss requires a 25% return on your remaining capital just to break even — and the emotional damage makes that recovery even harder. Small, capped losses compound into survivable trading careers. Large, uncapped losses end them.

Also consider: combine the daily loss limit with the Max Trades Per Day rule and the Time-Based Kill Switch for comprehensive protection across all types of risk.

SET YOUR LIMIT.
WE'LL ENFORCE IT.

4-day free trial. No credit card required. All 6 kill switch rules included. Currently works with Dhan — Upstox, Angel One & Zerodha coming soon.

₹599/month after trial · Cancel anytime

FAQ

TradeGuard tracks total P&L including both realised (closed positions) and unrealised (open positions). If your limit is ₹5,000 and open positions show ₹5,100 in losses, the kill switch fires — even if you haven't closed those positions yet.
TradeGuard sends a square-off command to your broker API, which closes all open F&O positions at market price. The kill switch also blocks any new orders for the rest of the trading day.
No. Once you start monitoring for the day, rules are locked until market close (3:30 PM IST). This is by design — changing your limit while in a loss defeats the purpose entirely. Rules can be updated for the next trading day after 3:30 PM.
TradeGuard's daily loss limit kill switch currently works with Dhan — Upstox, Angel One & Zerodha coming soon via their official APIs. Connect your broker once and monitoring starts automatically every trading day.