Guardrails are EdgeFlo's built-in discipline enforcement system. It watches your trading rules in real time and steps in before you break them, not after the damage is done.

💡 The key idea: Most traders know their rules. Guardrails make sure they actually follow them, even when emotions say otherwise.

What are Guardrails?

Guardrails are the accountability layer inside the EdgeFlo trading platform. You set your rules once in Settings, and EdgeFlo enforces them automatically every time you try to place a trade.

When a rule is breached, EdgeFlo will:

1. Gray out the trade button so you cannot execute
2. Show you exactly which rule has been violated
3. Give you the option to override, but only consciously and not by accident
4. Log the override in your trading journal so you can review it later

The 5 Guardrails

Each guardrail targets a different type of rule violation. You can configure all five in Settings → Trading Preferences.

How overrides work

Every guardrail can be overridden, but EdgeFlo makes sure that decision is deliberate and not emotional.

When you click the grayed-out trade button:

1. A pop-up shows you exactly which rule you are about to break
2. You must actively choose to override. There is no accidental bypass
3. If you do override, the violation is automatically logged in your trading journal
4. Your EdgeScore discipline component will reflect the breach

📓 Why logging matters: Reviewing your override history in the journal is one of the most powerful ways to identify patterns. You can spot the times of day, emotional states, or setups that trigger rule-breaking.

Where to configure Guardrails

1. Go to Settings → Trading Preferences
2. Set values for each guardrail. You can enable or disable individual rules
3. Changes apply immediately to your current session

Brad's recommended starting setup:

1. Max trades per day: 2 to 5 depending on your style
2. Max daily loss: 2% of account
3. Daily profit target: 5% of account
4. Trading window: London or NY session hours in your local timezone
5. News block: 15 to 30 minutes before and after high-impact events

Max Daily Loss Breach

Article type: Guardrail Violation · Alert message: "Max loss hit. Stop trading for today."

🔴 Max loss hit. Stop trading for today.

This message appears when your total losses for the day have reached or exceeded the Max Daily Loss limit you set in guardrails.

What triggered this?

Your total realised losses today have hit the dollar amount you set as your Max Daily Loss limit.

Example: Max daily loss set at $300. You lose $180 on trade 1 and $140 on trade 2. Total equals $320. guardrails fires.

The trade button is now grayed out. You cannot place new trades unless you consciously override.

Why this guardrail exists

A single bad session can undo a week of good trading. The Max Daily Loss guardrail exists to prevent emotional spirals from destroying your account.

What to do now

1. Stop. Close your charts.
2. Do not override unless you have a specific, rules-based reason to continue.
3. Go to Sanctuary if you feel emotional or frustrated.
4. Open your journal and log what happened today.
5. Review patterns that caused the losses.

Max Daily Profit Breach

Alert message: "Daily target hit. Lock it in and stop trading."

🟢 Daily target hit. Lock it in and stop trading.

This message appears when your total gains for the day have reached or exceeded the Max Daily Profit cap you set in guardrails.

Why this guardrail exists

Hitting your daily target is a win. Continuing to trade after you hit it is how traders give profits back.

What to do now

1. Stop. You have hit your goal for the day.
2. Close your charts and protect your gains.
3. Log the session in your journal.
4. Do not override during an active session.

Max Trades Per Day Violation

Alert message: "Daily trade limit exceeded. Step away and review."

🟣 Daily trade limit exceeded. Step away and review.

This message appears when you have reached your configured Max Trades Per Day limit.

Why this guardrail exists

Overtrading increases noise, emotion, and mistakes. Quality matters more than quantity.

What to do now

1. Step away from the screen.
2. Review your trades.
3. Assess setup quality and discipline.

Trading Window Violation

Alert message: "Trade placed outside your allowed hours."

🟡 Trade placed outside your allowed hours.

This message appears when you attempt to trade outside your configured trading hours. The 'Trade' button is greyed-out until the start of the trading window. 

Session Reference (UTC)

News Block Violation

Alert message: "Trade placed during a restricted news window."

🔵 Trade placed during a restricted news window.

Fires when you attempt to trade an instrument during a blocked window around a high-impact economic event affecting that instrument. The Trade button grays out automatically for the duration of the block, then lifts on its own once the window has passed. No manual reset is needed.

The block window is split into two parts, both configurable in Settings > Trading Preferences > News block:

• Before: how many minutes before the event trading is blocked (e.g. 15 minutes)
• After: how many minutes after the event trading remains blocked (e.g. 15 minutes)

Example: US Non-Farm Payrolls scheduled at 13:30 UTC. You configured a 15-minute pre-event block and 15-minute post-event block. Trading is blocked from 13:15 UTC to 13:45 UTC for any instrument on your watchlist affected by that release. At 13:45, the Trade button becomes active again automatically.

Examples of Level 1 Events

• Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP)
• FOMC decisions
• CPI releases
• GDP releases
• Major central bank announcements

Related questions

• Why is my trade button greyed out?
• Can I disable guardrails?
• Does floating P&L count toward limits?
• How does guardrails affect EdgeScore?
• Why was my trade blocked even though it looked valid?
• How do daily resets work?

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