MacOS Risk & Reward Tool risk calculation issues for some instruments

RayzFX98

Dear ClickAlgo Support,

I purchased the MacOS Risk & Reward Tool from you guys a few months back. I have never been able to use the tool how it's intended when it comes to indices (like US30, S&P500, NAS100), as well as metals like gold. The tool works fine for currency pairs.

The issue I have when it comes to indices and metals is that unlike with currency pairs, the risk does not remain fixed with the correct intended calculation number following market movement and/or as you adjust the SL. The closest solution I have found for indices and commodities is that the risk seems to remain fixed for sells when it comes to the fixed cash balance option - but not for buys, even with this option. When it comes to the other options of % cash balance, etc., the issue occurs regardless of whether it is a buy or sell - this means the tool can't be used for indices or gold unless it's a sell and even then you are only limited to the fixed cash balance option.

Considering it is a tool I purchased, I would have hoped that the tool would work across ALL risk calculation methods (% cash balance, % equity balance, etc.) for stock indices and metals too just like it does with currency pairs. The % cash balance option is my desired selection and I would want to be able to use it as a selection not just for currency pairs, but also for indices (US30, S&P500, NAS100) and metals like gold.

Don't know if any assistance or clarification could be provided around this, but would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,

Raymond.

Mike

Hi Raymon,

Sorry to hear you're having issues with the tool. Could you please share a screenshot of your cBot parameters, or export them as a .cbotset file and upload it here? This will help us investigate the problem more effectively.

Maybe also share a single trade setup I could duplicate,

RayzFX98

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the response.

Find attached example parameters i'd have set for US30 in the following 4 images

In terms of a single trade setup you could duplicate. Try a 10 pip SL and 10 pip TP market order buy on US30 at 0.5% risk of starting balance.

It seems that at SLs this tight (like 10 pip for us30), the % risk varies - instead of remaining fixed at 0.5%, it goes to the high 0.5%s, 0.6% and even 0.7% risk - going higher the tighter the SL pips are. The issue occurs with SLs this tight - as when I use for example a 100 pip SL for us30, the risk % is fixed at 0.5% or very close to it as intended. For currency pairs, even with very tight SLs, the 0.5% risk would persist regardless of how tight the SL is - this isn't the case with indices like US30 or metals (like gold) when the SL is as tight as 10 pips for instance with US30.

Hope this helps in your assistance.

Mike

Hi Ray,

Thank you for your detailed explanation, it’s very helpful in understanding the issue.

We've reviewed your example, and the variation you're seeing in the risk percentage when using very tight stop losses on symbols like US30 is expected under current conditions with IC Markets, where the spread for this symbol is around 12 pips. This means that your stop loss and take profit levels are within or very close to the spread, which makes calculations unstable and execution unreliable.

The Risk & Reward Tool was designed primarily for advanced trade planning, not for short-term scalping strategies that involve extremely tight stop-losses or take-profits. With instruments like US30 or Gold, tight SLs (e.g. 10 pips or less) can exaggerate the effective spread and slippage impact, causing discrepancies in the calculated risk percentage, especially in volatile or low-liquidity periods.

For more consistent results with this tool, we recommend using more reasonable SL/TP distances that account for the instrument's average spread and volatility. In your case, testing with a minimum of 20–30 pips for US30 would help ensure the calculations align more closely with the actual risk settings.

Let me know if you'd like help configuring a template for your preferred setup.

RayzFX98

Hi Mike,

I appreciate your response and this clarification - this makes sense.

Just to clarify; it isn't IC markets that I am trading with - it is actually FTMO. I assume though that the point you made still stands even with FTMO.

Also, in the future do you think that there is potential for there to be any change or update that will happen with the tool so that even with small pip SLs for indices and gold (such as is the case with scalping), the tool will still calculate the risk % correctly despite the small SLs, or will that not be possible even in the future due to the spread issues you mention meaning it wouldn't be possible regardless?

Look forward to your response.

Thanks Mike,

Raymond.

algoman

Hi Ray, I will try to help you over the weekend. The same principle still applies here. Even though FTMO’s spread on US30 or Gold may be lower than IC Markets at certain times, the relative size of the spread compared to a very tight stop loss (e.g. 10 pips) will still have a significant impact on the accuracy of the calculated risk% %. This is simply because the calculation is based on the price distance between entry and stop loss, and if the spread is a significant fraction of that distance, the maths gets skewed.

Regarding future updates, the challenge isn't with the tool's logic itself but with the market mechanics. For minimal SL distances on high-volatility instruments, spread and slippage become dominant factors; no calculation can entirely “correct” this without making assumptions that might be misleading in live trading. The only way to get perfectly stable values in such cases would be to base the calculation on theoretical zero-spread pricing, but that would no longer reflect real-world execution risk.

In short, the tool will continue to work as designed for its primary purpose, medium to longer SL/TP trade planning, but scalping with ultra-tight stops on indices and metals will always produce some variation in the displayed risk %.

It's also worth noting that cTrader includes a built-in Risk & Reward tool, which uses the platform's own order and price data. If you haven't already, it might be helpful to compare the results from that tool with ClickAlgo when using very tight stop losses, as it will help confirm whether the variations you're seeing are due to market factors rather than the tool's calculations.

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