Auto Risk Sizer — User Guide

Everything below is written for the current build. If something on your chart doesn't match, check your version in Settings ⚙️ → HELP ▾ → Version.

Contents

🚀 Quick Start 🧭 The Panel ⚖️ Risk & Sizing 🎯 Placing a Trade 🎛️ Managing a Trade ⌨️ Hotkeys 🔄 Sync & Auto Re-Start 📸 Screenshots & Logs 🎨 Appearance 🛠️ Settings Window 🛑 When It Refuses ‼️ Before You Go Live 💛 Support

🚀 Quick Start (60 seconds)

Add it to your chart like any other ATAS strategy. The panel opens in its own column beside the chart.
Press START. A red STOPPED bar sits across the top of the panel with a green START pill. Nothing can be traded until you press it. Pressing Play in the ATAS strategy list does the same.
Check the info box. Your position, P/L, account, balance, risk, cross-trade contract and tick value are all there.
Set your risk. Click the value in the orange RISK box and type an amount.
Click an order type (BUY LMT, SELL MKT, etc.), then click on the chart:
- LMT / STP: click the entry, then click the stop.
- MKT / BID-ASK: click where the stop goes.
Adjust by dragging the lines. Contracts and dollar risk update live.
Press SEND ORDER.

⚠️ Do this on a Sim/Demo account first. Test the hotkeys, the risk modes, the A/M auto-send switch and partial closes before a single dollar is on the line.

🧭 The Panel

Docked or Detached

Choose in Settings → 3. Display → UI Mode, or click the dock icon in the panel's header.

📌 Docked (opens this way every ATAS start)

The panel lives in its own column on the right of the chart.
Resize: hover the panel's left edge until the ↔ cursor appears, then drag left to make everything bigger or right to make it smaller.
Fold: the chevron slides the column down to a thin strip; click it again to bring the panel back.

🪟 Detached

The same panel floats in its own always-on-top window. Drag it anywhere, including over other charts.
Resize: drag the bottom-right grip to scale it.
Fold or minimise: the chevron folds it to its header; minimise sends it to the taskbar.
Hide / show: a HIDE / SHOW chip on the chart hides or shows the window. Hide it with live orders or positions and an orange warning stays on the chart.

Header

Control	What it does
/	Docked: slides the column to a thin strip and back. Detached: folds the panel to its header.
⚙️ Gear	Opens the Auto Risk Sizer settings window
/	Switches between Docked and Detached. The filled block shows where the panel is now: against the right edge when detached, centred when docked.
	Detached only: sends the window to the taskbar
STOPPED bar + START	Shown whenever the strategy isn't running

Info box

Most rows are clickable:

Open Pos: your current position size and direction.
Open P/L: click the label to flip between Open P/L and Today (realized). Click the value to mask it.
Account: click the label to switch trading account. Click the value to mask it for screen sharing.
Balance: click to mask it. Masking survives symbol changes and restarts. Hide the row completely with Show Account Balance.
RISK / QTY switch: chooses between sizing by risk and trading a fixed number of lots.
PRESETS: a quick-pick list of three sizes for the current mode.
RISK box:
- In RISK mode, click the label to pick Fixed Cash or % of Balance.
- Click the value to type a new amount, then press Enter.
Cross-Trade: shows the contract ATAS is actually routing to (e.g. MNQU6), or Off. Click it to pick a contract.
- A ! means the panel and ATAS are out of sync; trading is blocked until they match.
- You can't change it while you have an open trade.
Tick: the tick value being used for sizing, labelled:
- auto: from the built-in table.
- FEED: from your data feed (shown in orange, so double-check it).
- CHECK: the table and your feed disagree; the table value is used.
- UNKNOWN: no value is available; trading is blocked.

Buttons

BUY / SELL in four types: MKT, BID/ASK, LMT, STP. Click once to arm the type; click it again to disarm.
TP turns the take-profit on or off for that panel. The chip shows your Default RR, e.g. (2R).
SL turns the stop-loss on or off. This only works in QTY mode. In RISK mode the stop is mandatory, because the size is calculated from it.
BE moves your stop to break-even. The chip shows the tick offset when it's above 0.
CLOSE closes your whole net position on that instrument and account at market. It also cancels your resting orders.
CANCEL cancels pending entry orders and clears the planning lines off the chart.
25% 50% CUSTOM
- Click a chip to arm a partial close; it lights up and SEND ORDER sends it.
- Click the chip again, or press Esc, to cancel it.
- Double-click CUSTOM to type a percentage (only while no positions are active).
A / M switch (beside SEND ORDER): M = Manual, A = Auto (Quick Trades). Drag the knob to change it; a click won't flip it. See Placing a Trade.
SEND ORDER 3 the big one. It shows the size it will send, plus (MAX) when Max Lot Size is limiting the size.

⚖️ Risk & Sizing

Three risk modes (Settings → 1. Risk Parameters, or the RISK/QTY switch and RISK label on the panel):

Mode	Behaviour
Fixed Cash	Risk the same $/€ amount on every trade
Account Percentage	Re-reads your live balance each trade, so size scales with the account
Fixed Qty (Lots)	Trades exactly the number of lots you set. The stop is optional here.

In the risk modes, the size is worked back from the distance between your Entry and Stop, so a tighter stop means a bigger size automatically.

Presets: three quick-pick values per mode (Lots, $/€ and %), set in 1. Risk Parameters. Pick them from the PRESETS chip or with the Preset 1–3 hotkeys.

Safety nets 🛡️

Max Lot Size: a hard ceiling on the size the calculator can produce. It protects you from a stop placed one tick from the entry, and helps keep you within a prop firm's contract limit. 0 means no limit (the default).
Max Cash Size / Max Risk Percentage: ceilings on what you can type into the RISK box (the percentage is capped at 10%). Anything higher is refused with a warning.
High Risk Warning Threshold: a confirmation pops up if a trade would risk more than this % of your balance. Default 3%; set it to 0 to turn it off.
Unknown tick value: if the tool can't price a symbol, it blocks trading in every mode and asks you to report the symbol.
Account Currency: Auto by default. It only matters if your account currency differs from the contract's (e.g. trading Eurex from a USD account). The EUR/USD rate is then fetched online and cached for up to 12 hours. If no rate is available, % of Balance sizing won't place the trade.

🎯 Placing a Trade

Arm an order type on the panel. The planning lines appear straight away and follow your cursor.
Click to place:
- LMT / STP: the first click pins the entry, the second places the stop.
- MKT / BID-ASK: one click places the stop.
- QTY mode with SL off: the order is ready to send immediately.
Drag the lines to fine-tune. The labels show contracts, the dollar amount, and the RR on the TP line.
Press SEND ORDER. With Confirm Trade (Pop-up) on (the default), you're asked to confirm first.

Planning another trade: just arm another order type while you're in a position.

Auto-send options

Setting	What it does	Default
Quick Trades (Auto Send) the A on the A/M switch · 2. Trading	A trade planned on the panel is sent the moment it's complete, without pressing SEND ORDER. Resets to Manual every time ATAS starts. With Synchronize Panels on, switching it on one chart switches it on all of them.	Manual
Confirm Trade (Pop-up) 2. Trading	Turning it off sends entries, scale-outs and partial closes with no confirmation, from the panel or a hotkey. The high-risk warning still applies.	On
Hotkeys Place On Click 5. Hotkeys	For order types armed from a hotkey, the trade sends as soon as you place the stop.	Off

Check your size and direction before you click.

🎛️ Managing an Open Trade

Drag SL and TP lines at any time; the orders are modified live. Dragging a stop through the current price closes that trade at market.
Trade label buttons:
- SL / TP on the entry label drag out a new stop or target.
- X on a pending entry cancels it with its stop and target.
- X on a filled trade closes that position.
Adding to a position: filled trades on the same side share one entry line at your average price, just like ATAS's own position line. Each trade keeps its own stop and target.
BE moves your stop to break-even using the offset in settings (0 = exactly at entry).
Auto Break-Even [A]: enable it in 2. Trading and an [A] appears beside the stop line.
- Set it: drag it to a price, and the stop moves to break-even by itself once the market trades there.
- Hide or cancel: [H] hides or shows the trigger line, and X cancels it.
- When it runs: only while ATAS and the strategy are running. A symbol change, stopping the strategy, or restarting ATAS turns it off.
- Not a broker order: it doesn't rest at your broker.
Partial close: 25% / 50% / CUSTOM on the panel or by hotkey (arm, then SEND ORDER). Your remaining stop and target are resized for you. Sizes round down, so on a 1-lot position 25% and 50% do nothing.
Merging: drag one trade's SL or TP onto another's and they merge into a single line. Double-click a merged line to split it again. The confirmation is optional (2. Trading → Ask Before Combining SL/TP Lines).
OCO ∞: SL and TP are linked at the broker by default, so one filling cancels the other. Click ∞ to unlink them. Unlinked, a filled stop leaves the target working, which can put you in a reverse position.
Stopping the strategy cancels pending entries, but leaves your stops and targets working at the broker. They're picked up again when you press START, and a notice tells you exactly what was cancelled.

🚫 Don't mix in ATAS's own trading tools

If you place an order with ATAS's trading panel or DOM, or cancel or drag one of the tool's orders using ATAS's own order lines, control of that instrument passes to ATAS:

The panel greys out and shows ATAS PANEL TRADING ACTIVE.
Your existing stop and target keep working, but you manage them in ATAS.
The tool becomes usable again once the position is fully closed with nothing left working.
Removing the tool from a chart mid-trade also hands the trade to ATAS.

Only one chart manages an instrument at a time. Other charts running the tool on that instrument are greyed out while it holds a trade, and one chart can't hold NQ and MNQ together.

⌨️ Hotkeys

Disabled by default, and every key starts unassigned. Turn on Enable Hotkeys (5. Hotkeys) and the tool checks your ATAS hotkeys and tells you about any conflicts.

Group	Actions
Order entry	Place Order (= SEND ORDER), Buy / Sell Limit, Buy / Sell Market, Buy / Sell Stop, Buy Bid / Sell Ask
Trade management	Break-Even, Show/Hide TP Line, Close Position, Cancel Order
Partial closes	Partial Close 25%, 50%, Custom %
Presets	Preset 1, Preset 2, Preset 3

Each key supports Ctrl / Shift / Alt combinations. Hotkeys are shared across all charts and only work while the chart has focus.

Esc cancels whatever is pending: an armed order type, an armed partial, a new SL/TP drag or a prompt. With nothing pending, it hides the planning lines; arm an order type to bring them back.

🔄 Synchronize Panels & Auto Re-Start

Synchronize Panels (0. Settings): every panel shares one set of settings, so a change on one chart applies to all of them. Risk parameters, presets and the TP button stay per chart. Turning it on anywhere turns it on everywhere, and the other charts adopt the settings of the panel you turned it on from.
Auto Re-Start Auto Risk Sizer: ATAS stops the strategy whenever you change the chart symbol, account or cross-trade contract. With this on, it restarts itself. Stopping it manually is remembered.

📸 Screenshots & Logs

Settings → 6. Screenshots & Logs. Both are off by default and work independently. The Screenshots button in the settings header opens the screenshots folder. For a trade journal, use ATAS's own Trading Journal (ribbon → Tables → Trading Journal).

Setting	What it does
Automatic Screenshot of Trades	Takes a shot once the entry fills, after each partial (optional via Screenshot Partial Trades), and when the trade closes. Saved to Documents\ATAS\AutoRiskSizer\Screenshots, filed by account → month → day. Captures only the ATAS window, never the rest of your desktop.
Write Diagnostic Log	Only turn this on if you're chasing a bug and have been asked for a log. Writes to Documents\ATAS\AutoRiskSizer\Logs, keeps the last 7 files, and masks your account name and balance.

🎨 Appearance & Chart Lines

Theme: Dark or Light. This also re-colours the default lines.
3. Display: Panel Background Color, Show Helper Text (the orange guidance line), Show Price Levels on the line labels.
4. Chart Lines: Label Offset (px), Draw Lines Full Width, Line Thickness, plus colours for the entry, stop, target and Auto Break-Even lines.
7. Trading Panel: Shake When Strategy Not Started (detached), Edge Flash when stopped (docked), and Sound.

ATAS's own order and position lines are hidden automatically while the tool is running and managing a trade, and restored when it stops or is removed. If ATAS closes unexpectedly they may stay hidden, so check them before falling back on ATAS's own tools.

🛠️ The Settings Window

Click the ⚙️ in the panel header. It's the tool's own window, themed to match.

Search box: filters the settings list as you type.
Settings Font Size: sizes the whole window (5–20).
Apply / OK / Cancel: Cancel rolls back everything you changed since opening the window.
Reset (reads Reset ALL with Synchronize Panels on): returns every setting to its default, including hotkeys. Risk parameters are reset on this chart only.
Warning icon: appears in the header if your settings can't be saved to disk.
HELP ▾
- Send Bug Report: describe what happened and send it straight to us. The diagnostic log is attached by default if you have one (untick to leave it out), and you can add an image of up to 5 MB. This is by far the fastest way to get something fixed.
- How to Guide: opens this page.
- Legal ▸ Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, EULA, Refund Policy.
- Version: read it out when you're getting support.

🛑 When the Tool Refuses to Trade

These are deliberate. The panel greys out and the status line tells you why:

You see	What to do
Strategy not started	Press START. The buttons flash the prompt instead of acting.
ATAS trading is locked	Unlock trading on the chart (the padlock).
ATAS PANEL TRADING ACTIVE	ATAS has control of this instrument. Close the ATAS trade to use the tool again.
Greyed out, no message	Another chart running the tool holds a trade on this instrument.
Tick value unknown	The symbol isn't priced, so no size can be trusted. Report it and we'll add it.
No FX rate available	% of Balance sizing needs the EUR/USD rate. Switch to Fixed Cash.
Cross-trade out of sync	ATAS is routing somewhere that doesn't match the panel.
Qty is 0	Your risk is too small for the stop distance, or the tick value is wrong.

‼️ Before You Go Live

☐ Connect to a Simulated/Demo account first. Place trades, drag lines, hit BE, scale out, CLOSE, and try the A/M switch.

☐ Double-check your account and cross-trade contract before every session. Both are in the info box.

☐ Keep ATAS's Trading Panel or accounts tab visible while you're learning, so you can check P/L and positions independently.

☐ Don't use ATAS's trading panel, DOM or order lines on an instrument the tool is managing, because it hands control to ATAS.

☐ Check your hotkeys against your ATAS shortcuts before using them live.

💛 Support

Found a bug? Settings ⚙️ → HELP ▾ → Send Bug Report. It's the quickest route, and attaching the log makes a fix far more likely.

The Auto Risk Sizer is free. If it saves you time or money, Support this Project in the settings window keeps it going. 🙏