Treating it as a risk control
It engages only after the whole deposit has gone. Sizing up because the downside stops at zero trades a rare debt for a more frequent total loss.
Negative balance protection
also: NBP, negative balance policy, zero balance guarantee
Negative balance protection is a broker policy that resets a trading account to zero when losses take it below zero, so a client cannot lose more than the account holds. It follows the entity and account type, not the brand.
At a glance
- Term type
- Broker term
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Used in
- Broker selection · Risk management
In plain English
If a market jump makes your losses bigger than your balance, the broker absorbs the difference instead of sending you a bill. You can lose the account, but not more.
Why it matters
Stops, stop-outs and EA exits all need a price to trade at. A gap skips those prices; this policy decides whether you end with an empty account or a debt.
- It follows the legal entity on your client agreement. One brand can run entities that provide it and entities that do not.
- It has a public test case: when the Swiss National Bank removed its franc floor in January 2015, some retail accounts closed far below zero.
How brokers define it
- The broker resets a negative account balance to zero and writes off the shortfall.
- EU rules, the FCA in the UK and ASIC in Australia make it mandatory for retail CFD clients, per account. Elsewhere it depends on the client agreement.
- It acts after the close: positions still close at the gap price, and only the negative balance changes.
What differs between brokers
- Scope. Four of the six broker records here say retail accounts, XM states both all account types and retail accounts in its own terms, and one states no scope.
- Whether professional or high-leverage tiers exclude it.
- Per account or per client, and carve-outs for trading the broker calls abusive.
Impact on EA performance
- It caps the worst case of any expert advisor at the account balance; everything above zero stays at risk.
- No Strategy Tester report shows it at work, because the tester has no write-off to model.
- A low stop-out level leaves little equity between the forced close and zero, so the policy absorbs more of the slippage.
What to confirm before funding
- The entity named on your client agreement, and that its agreement states the policy.
- That it covers the account type you open, including any professional tier.
- The stop-out level, which MT5 returns through AccountInfoDouble(ACCOUNT_MARGIN_SO_SO).
Typical risks
- Reading the policy on a group website while the account sits with an entity that does not offer it.
Example
Illustrative figures: one EUR/USD position held over a weekend, with a stop that risks 12% of the account.
- Equity at Friday close
- $5,000
- 1.5 lots at $10 a pip per lot on a USD account ($15 a pip), stop 40 pips away: $600 at risk.
- Monday open
- 400 pips against
- No price traded in between, so neither stop nor stop-out could act.
- Position closed at
- the gap price
- Loss $6,000, which is $1,000 more than the account held.
- Balance after the policy
- $0
- Without it, the account shows −$1,000 owed to the broker.
The stop sat in the right place and never traded, because no price existed between Friday's close and Monday's open.
Calculation 1.5 lots × $10 × 400 pips = $6,000 · 5,000 − 6,000 = −1,000 → 0
Result The deposit goes either way; the debt does not
How it is used
Treat it as a floor under the worst case, not as part of the trading plan.
| Range | What it means |
|---|---|
| Mandatory under the regulator of your entity | An obligation, not a promise. |
| Stated in your entity's client agreement | A contractual commitment. Read the carve-outs. |
| Absent, or your account type excludes it | A gap can create a debt. Position size is the only limit left. |
- Size as if the stop-loss could be skipped completely, because in a gap it is.
- Cut exposure before events that gap, such as weekends and central bank decisions.
Common mistakes
Believing stop-losses make it unnecessary
A stop-loss asks for a trade at a price. In a gap that price never exists, so the order fills at the first price that does.
In depth
Negative balance protection on six broker records
Each broker in the table below is recorded on this policy as a field beside regulators and leverage. The values were last updated on 2026-06-22. Brokers change terms without notice, so check your own client agreement.
| Broker record | NBP field | Scope in page text | Headline leverage | Stop-out recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XM | true | All account types (also says retail accounts) | 1:1000 | — |
| Exness | true | Retail accounts | Unlimited (Pro / Raw / Zero) | 0% |
| HFM | true | Retail accounts | 1:2000 (Cent) / 1:1000 (Premium) | — |
| AXIORY | true | Retail accounts | 1:1000 (Nano) / 1:777 (Standard) / 1:500 (Tera) | — |
| FXGT | true | Retail accounts | 1:1000 | — |
| TitanFX | true | Not stated | 1:500 | — |
The field reads true on all six, so it filters nothing here. Four of the six limit it to retail accounts, XM states all account types in one place and retail accounts in another, and TitanFX gives no scope. Only one record states a stop-out level: Exness at 0%, beside unlimited leverage on three account types (below an equity threshold).
How far a forced close can slip before zero
MT5 triggers a stop-out when the margin level (equity ÷ margin × 100) falls to the broker’s stop-out percentage. The equity left at that moment is the only buffer before zero. For one EUR/USD position on a USD account at a given rate, that buffer in pips depends on the stop-out level and leverage, not on lot size.
| Leverage (EUR/USD at 1.1000) | Margin per lot | 50% stop-out | 20% stop-out | 0% stop-out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:500 | $220 | 11 pips | 4.4 pips | 0 pips |
| 1:1000 | $110 | 5.5 pips | 2.2 pips | 0 pips |
Margin = 100,000 × 1.1000 ÷ leverage; buffer = stop-out × margin ÷ $10 a pip. A forced close that slips further than the buffer ends below zero. At a 0% stop-out any slippage at all does, so the policy covers ordinary fast markets as well as weekend gaps. See slippage and margin call.
What an expert advisor can check before a gap
- Read the stop-out level from the login:
AccountInfoDouble(ACCOUNT_MARGIN_SO_SO), withAccountInfoInteger(ACCOUNT_MARGIN_SO_MODE)telling you whether it is a percentage or money. - Find Friday’s last trading session in the symbol’s Specification, or with
SymbolInfoSessionTrade(), and cut size before it. - Treat every stop-loss as skippable. A server-side stop fills at the first price after a gap, and a virtual stop inside the EA fills no better.
- Size the expert advisor so that the gap you plan for costs less than the balance.
Related terms and what to check next
The onboarding entity decides whether you have this policy at all; see restricted jurisdiction. Higher leverage shrinks the buffer above.
Frequently asked questions
- Do all brokers offer negative balance protection?
- No. The FCA, ASIC and EU regulators require it for retail CFD clients; elsewhere it depends on the client agreement. All six broker records here list it, but four of them limit it to retail accounts, so confirm it on the agreement you sign.
- Is it the same as segregated client funds?
- No. Segregation protects your money if the broker fails. This policy covers a gap that takes your account below zero at a healthy broker.
- Does negative balance protection cost extra?
- None of the six broker records here lists a fee. The cost sits in the terms: account types that exclude it and carve-outs for abusive trading.
- Does an EA need it?
- Any EA that holds through weekends or releases faces gaps, the one case where its stops cannot act. The policy bounds that case; it does not improve the strategy.