Key takeaways
- Configure from the loss budget backwards: account ceiling first, then the session limit, then the size of one trade, basket or series.
- Risk settings decide how much you can lose. Entry and management settings decide how the automation behaves. Change the first kind with the most care.
- Strategy bots manage trades in R, multiples of the risk at the stop. A 2R target aims to win twice what the trade risks.
- A profit target is a stopping rule, not a forecast. Raising it does not create more opportunity.
- Change one setting at a time, and judge the change over weeks, not one session.
Contents
- Start from the loss budget, not the stake
- Settings every automation shares
- Understanding R
- Strategy bot settings
- Grid settings for IRONVAULT
- Copy automation settings
- Digit bot settings
- Which settings matter most
- Targets are stopping rules
- Changing settings while a bot runs
- A configuration workflow that holds up
- Questions
Start from the loss budget, not the stake
The most common configuration mistake is starting with the stake that looks attractive and then adjusting the limits until the start screen accepts it. Work the other way. Decide the most this automation may lose in one session, check that it fits inside your account exposure ceiling, and only then choose the size of one trade, basket or series that fits inside it.
Every DONKOFX start screen follows that order. It shows the risk of one trade or series, the session loss limit and the account exposure side by side, and the Start button stays disabled if the new run would not fit. Profiles fill in sensible values for you, and every value can be changed. This guide explains what each one does, so a custom setting is a decision rather than a guess.
Understanding R
Strategy bots describe targets and stops in R. One R is the amount a trade risks between its entry and its stop loss. If a trade risks $10, a 1.5R target aims to win $15 and a 2.5R target aims to win $25. Using R makes settings work the same way on any market and any account size, because the cash amounts scale with your risk rather than with price.
Strategy bots on DONKOFX require a primary target of at least 1R, so no strategy is set up to aim for less than it risks.
Strategy bot settings
CANDLE KING, TURTLE PROTOCOL and FAIRVALUE SNIPER share most of their settings. Each one waits for its own chart pattern, then manages the trade the same way.
- Market and timeframe: the instrument and the candle size it reads, from five-minute (M5) to one-hour (H1) candles.
- Maximum risk per trade: the most one trade can lose if its stop is hit. Position size is calculated from this and the stop distance.
- Primary target and take-profit ladder: the R levels where parts of the trade close, for example 1.5R, 2R and 2.5R.
- Breakeven after the first target: once the first target is reached, the remaining legs move their stop to the entry, with an optional buffer in pips to cover the spread.
- Trailing start and distance: from a chosen R level, the stop follows price at a set distance, also measured in R. 0 turns it off.
- Max trades per day, and stop for the day after a chosen number of losses.
- Minutes to wait after a trade closes before looking for the next setup.
- Sessions and trading window: restrict entries to the Asian, London or New York session, or to a range of UTC hours. Leaving sessions empty means 24 hours a day.
- Short-timeframe safety rules: on automatic, they apply to gold on M5 to M30 charts. The guide to trading sessions explains them.
- Deriv multiplier: on Deriv synthetics, the Multiplier contract used. Auto picks the lowest the market offers.
Grid settings for IRONVAULT
- Maximum basket risk: what one basket costs if every level fills and the basket stop is hit. The lot is sized so that this worst case fits.
- Direction: auto follows the trend filter; you can also force buy or sell.
- Trend timeframe and confirmation: the fast and slow moving averages that pick the side, and the higher timeframe that must agree.
- Grid spacing: ATR spacing follows how much the market is moving; fixed pips stay the same. For gold, 1 pip is 0.10.
- Grid levels, step, take profit per level and the basket stop buffer beyond the last level.
- Close the whole basket at a combined profit, or let each level keep its own target.
- Max baskets per day and session filter.
Copy automation settings
- Risk per trade: from 0.1% to 5% of the account per signal, split across the expert's targets.
- Max daily losses: new signals stop after this many losing signals in a day.
- Max positions: how many of the posted targets to open. 0 means every posted target.
- Breakeven after target: by default after the first target the fixed legs move to breakeven, and the stop then follows one target behind. A runner leg rides a wider trail.
- Lock the previous target after progress: when price gets a chosen share of the way to the next target, the stop locks the last completed one. The default is halfway.
- Wait for the entry zone: wait for price to return to the expert's entry instead of chasing it, for up to 30 minutes by default.
- Entry-chase guard: skip a signal if price has already run too far from the entry compared with its risk.
- Max hold time, minimum reward to risk, maximum concurrent trades and whether to follow the expert's edits.
- Close open trades when I stop the bot: off by default, so stopping does not close trades you might want to keep.
Digit bot settings
Before a digit bot starts, the full rounded recovery series is added up and compared with your session loss limit. If it does not fit, the bot will not start.
- Initial stake: from $0.35.
- Recovery multiplier: from 1, which is flat, to 3.5. On a 50% contract, 2.18 recovers a loss in one win.
- Losing stakes per series: from 1, which is flat, to 8.
- Duration: 1 to 5 ticks per contract.
- Entry trigger, cooldown after each loss and cooldown after a full series, in ticks.
- Paper wins before entry: watch a number of contracts without money before entering. It changes timing, not the odds.
- Contracts per session and Profit Lock, which ends the session as soon as it is in profit.
Which settings matter most
If you only have time to understand a few settings, make them the ones that decide the size of a loss: the account exposure ceiling, the session loss limit, risk per trade or basket, and for digit bots the multiplier and the number of losing stakes per series. These decide whether a bad day is an inconvenience or a serious setback.
Next come the brakes: max trades per day, stop after a number of losses and the daily loss cap on copy bots. They matter most on days you are not watching. Entry and management settings, such as timeframe, targets and trailing, shape behaviour and results, but a mistake there costs far less than a mistake in sizing.
Targets are stopping rules
A session profit target tells the automation when to stop because the session has gone well. It is not an expected return. Raising the target does not make the market offer more setups; it simply keeps the bot exposed for longer, which gives it more chances to give the gains back. Choose a target you would be happy to end the day on, and treat reaching it as a good reason to stop.
Changing settings while a bot runs
Some settings can be changed while a bot is running. On strategy bots you can adjust the risk per trade, the take-profit ladder, breakeven, trailing and the maximum trades per day. On IRONVAULT most grid settings can be changed, but the market and the trend timeframe are fixed while it runs, because changing them would orphan the open basket. To change those, stop the bot and start it again.
Before changing anything, ask whether you are reacting to one result or to a pattern over weeks. A setting changed after every loss never gets the chance to show whether it works.
A configuration workflow that holds up
- Set the account exposure ceiling once, for example 3% to 5% for several automations together.
- Choose a conservative profile on demo and read every setting it filled in.
- Set the session loss limit and confirm the start screen numbers.
- Run unchanged for at least two weeks and read the activity log.
- Change one setting, note why, and run again before changing another.
Education, not financial advice or a profit promise. Trading carries a risk of loss. Practise on demo, understand the full risk and keep control of every automation you start.
Questions
What is R in trading?
R is the amount a trade risks between its entry and its stop. A 2R target aims to win twice that amount, whatever the market or account size.
Why will my bot not start with my settings?
Usually because the trade, basket or recovery series does not fit inside your session loss limit or account exposure ceiling, or because a strategy target is smaller than its loss limit. The message names the numbers involved.
Can I change settings without stopping the bot?
Many, yes. Strategy risk, targets, breakeven, trailing and trade caps can be changed while running. IRONVAULT's market and trend timeframe need a restart.
Should I use a profile or custom settings?
Start with a profile, read what it set, and only customise once you understand why you want a different value.
Try the numbers yourself
Not sure which automation suits you?
Answer four quick questions and we will suggest where to start, with the reasons.