Grid Robots: The Hidden Risks

A grid robot places orders at regular intervals and closes them as price returns. While the market oscillates the scheme accumulates small profits reliably. We looked at what happens when it stops oscillating.

Simulation conditions

A grid step of 50 pips, a target of 50 pips per position, and no stop-losses — that is a fundamental part of the construction, not an omission. Positions are added against the move: the further price travels, the more open trades accumulate.

The simulation in numbers

• Maximum simultaneous open positions: median 24, highest 34
• Median maximum floating drawdown — 14592 pips in total
• Positions still open at the end of the sample on 12 of 12 pairs
• Every closed trade was profitable — the scheme has no stop-losses

The simulation was run over 518 daily bars for each of 12 pairs using the same code as the portal's other calculations. The data is open and the script is in the repository, so the run reproduces.

How many positions accumulate

In the median across pairs the robot reached 24 simultaneously open positions, and on individual pairs up to 34. Each requires margin, and it is the growth in position count rather than any single loss that drives an account to forced closure. The scheme has no built-in limit: the number grows for exactly as long as the move lasts.

The floating drawdown that never appears in the report

The median maximum floating drawdown was almost 15,000 pips across open positions. This is the key figure, because grid robot reports normally do not show it: every closed trade is profitable, the statistics look flawless, and the unrealised loss on hanging positions never enters them. A report with a 100% win rate is the typical portrait of a grid — until the moment of closure.

Stuck positions on all twelve pairs

By the end of the sample, open positions remained on all twelve pairs without exception. That means the grid completed its cycle in none of them: part of the capital stayed locked in losing positions that are not yet formally losses. There is profit on the closed trades, but it is not comparable to what is left hanging.

Where the risk actually hides

A grid changes the shape of risk, not its size: instead of frequent small losses you get a rare large one. That is convenient for reporting and dangerous for an account. The right question to ask of any grid robot is not its win rate but what floating drawdown it has withstood and how many positions it has held at once.

This material is educational and is not individual investment advice. Backtested results do not guarantee similar results in the future. Trading forex carries the risk of losing capital.