Money Management & Signal Guide
Understand each signal, calculate your position size, and manage your exposure before entering a trade.
Calculate Your Risk
Work out exactly how much to risk and what position size that means, before you place anything.
This calculator does the arithmetic only — it does not know your broker's exact contract size, spread, commission, or margin requirements. Confirm the final lot size in your own broker's platform before placing a trade.
Position Sizing: Worked Example
Illustrative example — hypothetical prices| Account equity | $1,000 |
| Risk percentage | 1% = $10 |
| XAUUSD entry | 2,350.00 |
| Stop-loss | 2,345.00 |
| Price distance to stop | $5.00 |
| Broker's contract size (example) | 100 oz / lot |
| Loss at stop, per 1.0 lot | $5 × 100 = $500 |
| Calculated size | $10 ÷ $500 = 0.02 lots |
This is before spread, commission, and slippage — your actual risk will typically be slightly higher than the calculated figure. Contract specifications vary by broker; always confirm your own broker's exact contract size before sizing a real position.
Understand Signal Statuses
A published signal is not the same as an order placed with your own broker — you decide whether and how to act on it.
Cancelled and Expired both stop a PENDING order before it ever fills — they never apply once a trade is Active.
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Pending | A signal has been published with an entry, stop, and target. This is NOT an order placed with your broker — it's a published idea waiting for price to reach the entry level. |
| Active | Price has reached the published entry level on our own feed. Whether YOUR broker filled you at the same exact price depends on your broker's own spread and execution — it is not guaranteed to match. |
| Target Hit | Price reached the published target on our feed. |
| Stop Loss Hit | Price reached the published stop level on our feed — a loss on this trade. |
| Breakeven Stop | Once a trade has moved a defined amount in your favour, the stop is moved to the entry price. This reduces further downside on our feed, but spread, commission, slippage, or a price gap can still result in a small loss on your own account even after this point. |
| Cancelled | A pending order was withdrawn before it ever filled — usually because the underlying setup it was based on is no longer valid. |
| Expired | A pending order was withdrawn because price moved to the target zone without ever coming back to fill the entry. |
How Setups Are Identified
Smart Money Concepts (SMC) and ICT are price-action frameworks for reading structure and liquidity on a chart — they describe a pattern of price behaviour, not a verified record of what any institution actually intended.
Structure: CHoCH / MSS vs. BOS
These are related but distinct ideas:
- CHoCH (Change of Character) / MSS (Market Structure Shift): the first break of structure AGAINST the prevailing short-term trend — a signal that trend may be changing, not a confirmation that it has.
- BOS (Break of Structure): a break of structure that continues WITH the existing trend, confirming it rather than challenging it.
A single swing break of either kind does not guarantee a trend reversal or continuation — it is one data point the engine weighs, not a certainty.
Order Block (OB)
The last opposing candle(s) before a strong directional move away from that area. Price often — but not always — returns to this zone before the broader move continues.
Fair Value Gap (FVG)
A three-candle pattern: when Candle 1's high (for a bullish gap) or low (for a bearish gap) does not overlap with Candle 3's low or high, the untouched space between them is the gap. Price frequently trades back into this gap before continuing — but a retest or a full fill is never guaranteed on any individual setup.
Liquidity
Clusters of stop-losses and pending orders typically sitting just beyond recent swing highs or lows. Price is often drawn toward these levels before reversing, though this is a tendency observed in price action, not a rule that holds on every occasion.
Multiple independent models
Goldbot runs several models at once, each watching for its own structural pattern — you'll see a name like SENTINEL, ECHO, PHANTOM, APEX, SCOUT, or TIDE on every signal, telling you which model found that particular setup. Most models trade in the direction of the currently active higher-timeframe structure; PHANTOM (built around H4 gap retests) and TIDE (built around Inside Bar + Fair Value Gap combinations) are the two exceptions permitted to trade independently of that direction. The exact internal rules behind each model — thresholds, confirmation ladders, and sizing logic — are part of Goldbot's own methodology and are not published.
What stays fixed, and what's confirmed
- Minimum risk-to-reward required before a signal is published: 1:2. A setup offering less than this is skipped entirely, not published with a lower ratio.
- Entry, stop, and target are fixed at publication and are not edited afterward. The one documented exception is the stop moving to breakeven once a trade has moved a defined distance in profit (see Signal Statuses above) — this is the only post-publication change made.
- When two entries exist for the same underlying directional idea at the same time, each is sized down so their combined risk does not exceed a single normal-sized trade.
Managing Open Trades & Combined Exposure
What matters is your TOTAL risk across every open position at once — not any single trade in isolation.
The math of recovering a drawdown
A loss requires a LARGER percentage gain to recover fully — this gap grows sharply as the drawdown deepens:
Red = account drawdown · Cyan = gain required just to return to the starting balance
Automatic risk reduction on stacked signals
If a new signal shares the same direction as one that's already open or pending, its own sizing is automatically reduced — so the combined exposure of both stays roughly in line with a single normal-sized trade, rather than doubling your risk. You'll see a note on that specific signal when this applies.
Practical guidelines
- Track the SUM of risk across all currently open/pending trades, not just the newest one.
- When a trade's stop moves to breakeven, its remaining realistic downside is reduced — but factor in spread/slippage rather than treating it as zero.
- Decide in advance how many trades you're willing to run at once, and stick to it even when a new signal looks attractive.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
This turns a planned, small loss into an unplanned, larger one. The stop marks where the setup is proven wrong.
A loss is a normal, expected outcome of any strategy. An extra, unplanned trade to "win it back" is how accounts take unnecessary damage.
Your total exposure is the sum of everything running at once — size with that total in mind.
Spread, slippage, and execution speed vary by broker — your own fill can differ from what's published here.
FAQs
Is 1–2% risk per trade right for me?
Not necessarily for everyone — it's a commonly cited starting point, not a universal rule. Your own appropriate risk depends on your account size, your total number of concurrent positions, your personal risk tolerance, and your broader financial situation. Consider your own circumstances, or speak with a qualified financial advisor.
Does "Active" mean my broker filled me at that price?
No. "Active" means our own price feed reached the published entry. Your broker's actual fill depends on their own spread and execution at that moment, and can differ from the published level.
Does a breakeven stop mean I truly cannot lose?
No. It means the stop has moved to the entry price on our feed, removing most of the planned downside. Spread, commission, slippage, or a price gap can still result in a small loss on your own account even after the stop reaches breakeven.
Is a 1:2 minimum risk-to-reward a guarantee of profit?
No. It means the REWARD being aimed for is at least twice the planned RISK on paper — it says nothing about the probability of actually reaching that reward. A strategy can have a favourable risk-to-reward ratio and still lose money if its win rate is too low.