Set your daily loss limit once. TradeGuard monitors your F&O account every 5 seconds and fires a kill switch the instant your limit is breached — cancelling orders, squaring off positions, and blocking new trades automatically.
Every F&O trader knows they should have a daily loss limit. Most do — in their head. The problem is not setting the limit. The problem is that no human can enforce a rule on themselves under emotional pressure.
The moment you hit ₹10,000 in losses, your brain does not say "limit reached, stop." It says "one more trade to recover." This is not a discipline failure. This is biology. The emotional brain overpowers the rational brain exactly when you need the rational brain most.
A mental loss limit is not a limit. It is a suggestion. An automatic daily loss limit — enforced by software connected directly to your broker API — is a real limit.
An automatic daily loss limit connects to your broker account via the official API. It reads your live P&L — including both open positions and closed trades — every few seconds. The moment the total loss crosses the threshold you set, it takes immediate action without waiting for you to do anything.
Example: ₹5,000 max loss per day. You set this in TradeGuard when you start monitoring. It does not change unless you change it.
During market hours (9:15 AM – 3:30 PM IST), TradeGuard fetches your live P&L every 5 seconds from your broker's API. Both realised and unrealised losses are tracked.
When total daily loss ≥ your limit, TradeGuard immediately cancels all pending orders and exits all open F&O positions. The account is locked for new trades for the rest of the day.
The kill switch cannot be undone through the broker app while TradeGuard is active. This is the critical difference from a mental limit — the rule holds even when your emotions say otherwise.
| Feature | Mental Limit | Broker Alert | TradeGuard Auto Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fires without your action | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cannot be overridden emotionally | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Squares off open positions | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Cancels pending orders | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tracks unrealised P&L | ✗ | Partial | ✓ |
| Works while you're distracted | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
TradeGuard currently supports automatic daily loss limits on three Indian brokers — Dhan, Upstox, and Zerodha. Angel One and Groww are coming soon. Here is how enforcement works on each:
TradeGuard uses Dhan's Partner API to connect. When the daily loss limit fires, it uses the native segment-disable endpoint — the most reliable enforcement method available. Dhan fires the kill switch twice for maximum reliability.
TradeGuard connects via Upstox's OAuth2 API. When the limit fires, it cancels all pending orders, exits all open positions using the bulk exit endpoint, and disables the four trading segments. A re-square loop runs every 5 seconds until all positions are confirmed flat.
TradeGuard connects via Kite Connect v3. When the limit fires, it cancels pending orders and squares off all open positions. Because Zerodha does not expose a direct segment-disable API, the re-square loop runs every 5 seconds to prevent any bypass of open positions.
Important for Zerodha and Upstox users: Since these brokers have single-user API restrictions, TradeGuard uses a BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) model. You create a free developer app on the broker's portal, enter your API key and secret once in TradeGuard, and the automatic loss limit works from that point on. Setup takes under 5 minutes.
The right daily loss limit depends on your account size and your strategy's typical drawdown. A common approach used by professional traders:
Set your daily loss limit at 1–2% of your total trading capital. If your account is ₹5,00,000, your daily loss limit should be ₹5,000–₹10,000. This ensures no single bad day destroys more than a small fraction of your capital.
Your daily loss limit should not exceed what you can comfortably lose three days in a row without it affecting your ability to trade the next week. If three consecutive max-loss days would make you trade differently or feel desperate, your limit is too high.
Your daily loss limit should be less than or equal to your average winning day. If your good days average ₹8,000 in profit, your loss limit should not exceed ₹8,000. This ensures your win/loss ratio stays positive over time.
Use the TradeGuard daily loss limit calculator to find the right number for your account size and trading frequency.
Automatic daily loss limit active from your first monitoring session. Works with Dhan, Upstox, and Zerodha.