# Effective Trade Management & Autonomous EA Protection

Entering a good setup is only half the battle—how you manage your stop loss and partial profits after entry determines your long-term equity curve.

TM Pro gives you **two layers of trade management**:

1. **Autonomous EA Protection Rules** (configured before or after entry on the **Trade** tab) that execute **inside MetaTrader on every tick**, even if you close the TM Pro desktop app.
2. **1-Click Position Controls** on the **Positions** tab (`BE`, `Close ½`, `Close`, and two-click `Close all`).

![TM Pro Positions tab showing open positions with BE, Close half, and Close buttons](/img/tm-pro/live-2-positions-be.png)

Live MT5 Positions tab — Real-time floating P\&L plus instant 1-click Break-Even (BE), Close ½, and Close buttons.

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## Why "Runs in the EA" Is a Game-Changer[​](#why-runs-in-the-ea-is-a-game-changer "Direct link to Why \"Runs in the EA\" Is a Game-Changer")

Many external trade managers only monitor your trades while their desktop window is open. If your laptop goes to sleep or you close the app, your break-even or trailing stop never fires.

**TM Pro solves this at the architectural level:**

* Whenever you place a trade (or toggle a rule in the **Management (runs in the EA)** card), TM Pro sends a `set_protection` command to the `TMPro` Expert Advisor attached to your MetaTrader chart.
* The EA immediately saves your rules to disk inside MetaTrader (`MQL5\Files\TMPro\rules-<login>-<symbol>.tsv`) and evaluates them **on every incoming broker tick**.
* Even if you close the TM Pro desktop app—or if MetaTrader restarts—the EA reloads its saved rules automatically on startup and continues protecting your open trades.

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## The 3 Autonomous Protection Rules[​](#the-3-autonomous-protection-rules "Direct link to The 3 Autonomous Protection Rules")

Inside the **Management (runs in the EA)** card on the **Trade** tab, you can enable any combination of three rules:

| Protection Rule      | What It Does                                                                                       | How the EA Executes It                                                                                                                                                             |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **1. Break-even**    | Moves your Stop Loss to `Entry Price + Offset` once floating profit reaches your trigger distance. | When profit reaches `Trigger pips` (e.g., `15 pips`), the EA modifies your Stop Loss to `Entry + 1 pip` so a winning trade cannot turn into a loss.                                |
| **2. Trailing stop** | Ratchets your Stop Loss behind the highest favorable price reached by the trade.                   | Once the trade is in profit by at least `Trail pips` (e.g., `20 pips`), the EA keeps your Stop Loss `20 pips` behind the peak price—never widening it backward.                    |
| **3. Close 50%**     | Closes half of your position volume automatically at your first profit target.                     | When floating profit reaches `Trigger pips` (e.g., `25 pips`), the EA closes `50%` of the lots into realized cash and records a completion flag on disk so it never double-closes. |

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## The "Free-Ride Runner" Playbook (How Pros Combine All Three)[​](#the-free-ride-runner-playbook-how-pros-combine-all-three "Direct link to The \"Free-Ride Runner\" Playbook (How Pros Combine All Three)")

Want to bank consistent cash on normal moves while still catching huge 5R+ trend days? Use this three-part structure:

1. **Set `Close 50%` and `Break-even` to the same `1R` trigger** (for example, `20 pips` if your initial Stop Loss is `20 pips`):

   

   * The moment price moves `+20 pips` in your favor, the EA banks **half your position into realized profit** and simultaneously moves the **Stop Loss on the remaining half to Break-Even (`+1 pip`)**.
   * At this point, you have **locked-in profit in the bank** and **zero risk** on the remaining runner.

2. **Set `Trailing stop` slightly wider than `1.2x ATR`** (for example, `25 pips` behind):
   
   * Your remaining `50%` runner now trails behind the trend automatically, giving the market room to breathe on pullbacks while locking in more profit every time price makes a new high or low.

Let AI Quant Calibrate These Distances for You

Not sure whether `15 pips` or `30 pips` is right for today's volatility on Gold (`XAUUSD`) vs. Euro (`EURUSD`)? Click **Apply Setup** on the **[AI Quant Regime & Alpha Radar](/tm-pro/docs/ai-quant-radar.md)** card—it automatically sets Break-Even to `1.0x ATR` and Trailing Stop to `1.2x ATR` for the exact symbol and timeframe on your chart!

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## Manual Position Management (`Positions` Tab)[​](#manual-position-management-positions-tab "Direct link to manual-position-management-positions-tab")

Switch to the **Positions** tab at any time to manage individual open trades or pending orders:

* **`BE` Button**: Immediately moves that position's Stop Loss to its entry price (only clickable once the position is currently in profit so the broker accepts the stop).

* **`Close ½` Button**: Immediately closes `50%` of that position's current lot volume at market.

* **`Close` Button**: Immediately closes `100%` of that position at market.

* **Bulk Actions (`Break-even winners` & `Close all`)**:

  

  * **Break-even winners**: Moves every profitable position on the current symbol to break-even in one click (two-click confirm).
  * **Close all**: Closes every open position on the current account (requires two clicks: `Close all` → `Confirm: Close all`).