Stop-loss tools
Trailing Stop & Breakeven Planner
Test where a break-even move and a trailing stop would have put your stop on a price path, before you trust them with a live trade. Compare Classic, Step, ATR and Candle trailing bar by bar.
- Break even with lock offset
- 4 trailing modes
- Five paths or your own
Not a promise: a trailing stop protects profit on some paths and cuts good trades short on others. The paths here are illustrations, and past or simulated results do not predict future ones.
Gold buy, 0.10 lot, $5 stop loss. Price rises almost 3R, then falls back.
| Rule | Exit | Result | Money |
|---|
The path is a built-in illustration in units of R (your stop loss distance), not market data. The stop is checked against each bar’s low, then moved using that bar’s high and close, so it applies from the next bar. Fills are assumed at the stop price. Spread, slippage and swap are not included.
Same rules, five different paths
We ran every rule on every built-in path with the page defaults: break even at +1R with a 0.1R lock, trailing from +1R, classic distance 0.8R, step 0.5R, ATR multiple 2 and candle offset 0.1R. Each cell is the result in R. The best rule on each path is in gold.
Read it row by row. On the spike, every moving stop beats the fixed one, because the trade gave back its profit and then some. On the steady trend, most trails exit on a normal pullback and miss the rest of the move, so the fixed stop does better. On the choppy path, break even itself costs you: it is stopped at +0.1R on a pullback the fixed stop survives. No single rule wins everywhere. What you are really choosing is how much of a pullback you will tolerate.
| Price path | Fixed stop | Break-even only | Classic | Step | ATR | Candle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steady trend | +5.00R | +5.00R | +0.78R | +0.70R | +5.00R | +0.90R |
| Trend with a deep pullback | +5.60R | +5.60R | +2.59R | +2.20R | +1.91R | +1.13R |
| Spike, then reversal | −1.00R | +0.10R | +2.12R | +1.70R | +1.30R | +2.02R |
| Choppy range, late breakout | +3.50R | +0.10R | +0.55R | +0.20R | +0.10R | +0.56R |
| Slow grind, then a run | +6.00R | +6.00R | +6.00R | +6.00R | +6.00R | +0.70R |
Each path has 36 bars and ends at its last close if no stop is hit. Five hand-built paths are a demonstration, not a statistical sample.
Four ways to trail a stop
| Mode | The stop moves to | You set | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic | Best price so far, minus a fixed distance | Start, distance | A pullback bigger than the distance stops you out |
| Step | The same, but only in blocks of the step size | Start, distance, step | Fewer stop changes, but up to one step of profit is left unprotected |
| ATR | Best price so far, minus a multiple of average true range | Start, ATR multiple | Adapts to volatility, but ATR lags when the market turns |
| Candle | Just beyond the low (buy) or high (sell) of the latest candle | Start, offset | Small candles in a strong trend keep the stop close, so it can exit early |
In every mode the stop only ever moves in the profitable direction. This page models generic rules. The inputs of any particular tool, including ours, are named and defined differently.
Let the stop move without watching the screen
Trail Architect is our MT5 and MT4 utility for managing the stop loss of open positions. It moves the stop to break even once a trade reaches a trigger you set (in points or in account money, with an adjustable lock offset), then trails it in Classic, Step, ATR or Candle mode. It works on manual trades and on trades opened by other EAs.
You can limit it to the current symbol or all symbols, to a magic number or to manual trades, and to buys or sells. A Protected Profit panel shows your floating P/L and how much profit is locked in if every stop is hit. The stop is only ever tightened, and the broker’s stop level is respected.
Honest limits: it manages stops only. It does not open trades or give signals. Like any stop loss, it cannot promise a fill at your price in a gap or a fast market. Test it on a demo account first.
See Trail Architect for MT5MT4 versionThis is our own product, and we earn money if you buy it.
How the planner works
- R. One R is your initial stop loss distance. A price of
entry + direction × R × distanceis R units from entry, with direction +1 for a buy and −1 for a sell. - Money per R.
lots × contract × stop distance. For USDJPY we divide by the entry price to turn yen into dollars. - Break even. Once the best price reaches the trigger, the stop moves to entry plus the lock offset, which can cover spread and commission.
- Classic. After the start level, stop = best price − distance. Step. Same, but the best price is rounded down to whole steps above the start level.
- ATR. Stop = best price − multiple × ATR, with ATR the average of the last 14 true ranges. Candle. Stop = the latest bar’s low (buy) minus the offset.
- Tighten only. A new stop is used only if it is better than the current one and still below the current close, so it never loosens and is never on the wrong side of price.
Questions about trailing and break even
What is a break-even stop?
It is a stop loss moved to your entry price once the trade is in profit, so the trade can no longer lose its original risk. Most traders add a small lock offset so the exit still covers spread and commission.
Does a trailing stop guarantee profit?
No. It locks in whatever profit the stop has reached, but price can gap past it, and a stop can be hit by a normal pullback before the move continues. The table above shows paths where a fixed stop did better.
Which trailing mode is best?
It depends on the path, and nobody knows the path in advance. Classic is the simplest to reason about, ATR adapts to volatility, Candle follows structure and Step reduces how often the stop is modified. Test them on the market and timeframe you trade.
What does the lock offset do?
It puts the break-even stop a little in profit instead of exactly at entry. A stop at exact entry can close the trade for a small loss once spread and commission are paid.
Why start trailing only after some profit?
A trail that starts at entry is just a tight stop and tends to be hit by noise. Waiting for a profit level gives the trade room to breathe first.
Is the price path real market data?
No. The five paths are built into the page to show how each rule behaves. You can also type your own closes in R, for example from a chart you marked up.
Why would my broker give a different result?
This model moves the stop once per bar and fills exactly at the stop. A live platform can move stops on every tick, and real fills include spread and slippage. A broker stop level can also limit how close the stop can be placed.
Can I use it for a sell trade?
Yes. Switch to Sell trade and the path is mirrored, so favorable moves are price falling. The stop moves down and results are shown in the same R units.
Related calculators
This planner is for education and is not financial advice. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss. Read our risk disclaimer and methodology. More of our MetaTrader tools are on our MQL5 seller page, and we earn money if you buy them.