How to Set Automated Risk Limits in WeCore

Automated trading does exactly what you told it to, even when the market behaves differently than you expected. That is why risk limits are not an extra but a basic part of any automated setup. This guide explains, at a conceptual level, which limits you can set in WeCore, how to think about them, and how to test them before they meet real money.

Screen names may change, so the steps refer to areas of the app.

Why your own limits, not only the prop firm's

Prop firms have their own rules, such as a daily loss limit or a drawdown. If you are not familiar with them, read the explanation of daily loss limits.

The problem is that the firm's rules are a red line: cross it and the account usually fails. A personal limit is meant to stop you before that line. It leaves room for mistakes, slippage and sharp moves, which is why it is recommended to set it stricter than the firm's rule.

A hypothetical example: if the account's daily loss limit is $1,000, you might set a personal limit of $600 or $700. That difference is your margin.

Step 1: Open the risk screen for each account

Every connected account has its own set of risk rules. It is recommended to open the risk area right after connecting each account and save the settings, even if you keep cautious defaults for now.

There is also a practical reason: every new account starts in Simulation mode, and it cannot be switched to real trading until its risk rules have been saved at least once.

Step 2: What you can set

These are the main types of controls:

• Max daily loss - an amount in dollars. When the day's P&L reaches minus that amount, new entry signals are blocked.
• Max open positions - how many positions can be open at the same time.
• Max position size - the largest number of contracts in a single order. This is an important guard against a mistake in an alert or in code.
• Allowed symbols - a list of products you are allowed to trade. Matching is done on the product root, so a quarterly contract roll does not break the list.
• Auto-close when the limit is reached - an option that flattens all positions and cancels working orders on the account when today's realized loss reaches the limit.
• News protection - an option to move the stop to the entry price ahead of a high-impact economic event.

Some of the active protections (such as auto-close) depend on your plan. Check what is included for you in the risk area itself.

Step 3: Understand what each limit actually does

This is the part many people skip, and it matters:

• Blocking entries is not closing. Without auto-close, the daily loss limit only prevents new entries. An open trade keeps running until its stop, target or an exit signal.
• Auto-close counts open loss too. It adds today's realized loss and the unrealized loss of open positions; once together they reach the limit, open positions are closed and working orders cancelled. Your prop firm may measure its own limit differently, so keep a margin.
• Risk-reducing actions always pass. Exits, cancels, moving to breakeven and protecting a position are not blocked, even while a limit is active. A risk rule should never trap you in a trade.
• Daily loss is measured per account. If you have several accounts, each one has its own limit.

Step 4: Align the limits with the firm's rules

Before entering numbers, open the prop firm's official help center and read the current rules for your specific account. Rules change, and sometimes differ between account types at the same firm.

Questions worth answering:

1. Is the daily loss limit soft (locked for the day) or hard (account failure)?
2. Does it include unrealized loss?
3. When does a "trading day" start and end according to the firm?
4. What is the contract limit at the account's current stage?
5. How does the drawdown work, and how does it move with profit? Background is in the guide to drawdown types.

Then set personal limits that are stricter in each of these areas, especially position size and daily loss.

Step 5: Test the limits in simulation

In simulation mode all the rules keep running, but orders do not reach the broker. Each order is marked as a simulation, including a note of what would have been blocked had it been real.

Make use of that:

• Deliberately send an alert with a quantity above the allowed size and check that it is blocked.
• Try a symbol that is not on the allowed list.
• Follow a day where the simulated loss approaches the limit and check the behavior.

If the result does not match your expectation, it is far better to find out now. More on building layers of protection is in the risk management guide for algo traders.

Step 6: Review again after every change

Risk limits are not a one-time setting:

• Changed account size or moved to a new stage at the prop firm? Update the limits.
• Added a new strategy or product? Update the symbol list and check the size.
• The firm updated its rules? Re-align.

Key takeaways

• A personal limit should be stricter than the prop firm's rule, to leave a margin.
• Set and save risk rules for every account right after connecting. Without that there is no switch to real trading.
• Understand the difference between blocking entries and auto-close, and between realized and unrealized loss.
• Risk-reducing actions always pass.
• Test the limits in simulation, and update them after every change.

WeCore can enforce these limits automatically on every connected account. The careful way to start is to set them, keep the account in simulation mode, and watch them behave exactly as you planned before switching simulation off.