Personal daily loss limits

What it is

A personal daily loss limit is a rule you set yourself: lose a set amount (for example 2R or 2% of the account) or take a set number of losing trades in a row, and you stop for the day. Prop firms have their own daily limits; a personal one should sit well inside the firm's, so a bad day can't end the account.

It exists because decisions get worse after losses: tilt, revenge trading and oversizing all show up after a losing run.

How to spot it

• In your journal, check how your trades after two or three losses in a day perform compared with the rest.

How to use it

• Set the limit before the session and make it automatic: platform lockouts help.
• Keep a separate, smaller limit for news days or new strategies.

Common mistakes

• Setting the personal limit equal to the prop firm's.
• Breaking it 'just this once' to win back the day.

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