How Much Stop Loss for Intraday Trading? We Tested 0.5% to 2% on NSE

Design A used a target of 2 times the stop distance (2R), so the reward is always twice the risk and only the stop size changes. Design B had no fixed target: a trade ends at its stop, its opposite signal or the square-off. Everything else is identical across the stops.

The stop in percent is not the same as the risk in rupees. Decide how much of your account you can lose on one trade (many traders use 1%), then let the stop distance set the quantity: quantity = (capital x risk %) / (entry price - stop price). A tighter stop lets you buy more shares for the same rupee risk, which also means more turnover and more charges.

Try it with your own numbers:

Our tests used the house sizing (20% of the account per trade), not risk-based sizing: the engine's risk-per-trade sizing only works for strategies with their own built-in stop, not for these rule-based setups. See also the Position Size Calculator and the Risk Reward Calculator.

Each tab below holds the results for one kind of stop, for both entry styles and both target designs.

An ATR stop sits a multiple of the recent average range away from the entry, so it widens when the stock is moving a lot and tightens when it is quiet. We used ATR(14) on the same candle size as the entry.

Previous-day high/low breakout (15m): the best ATR stop was ATR x2 (-32.9%); the best fixed stop was Fixed 1.5% (-24.3%).

9/15 EMA crossover (5m): the best ATR stop was ATR x2 (-77.4%); the best fixed stop was Fixed 2% (-66.9%).

A signal-candle stop is placed at the low (for a buy) or high (for a sell) of the candle that gave the signal. It adapts to each setup but its distance varies from trade to trade.

Previous-day high/low breakout (15m): 2,796 trades, stop hit on 48%, result -₹45,781 (-45.8%).

9/15 EMA crossover (5m): 10,860 trades, stop hit on 58%, result -₹91,172 (-91.2%).

A trailing stop follows price in your favour and never moves back. Here it starts at the entry and trails by the same percent as the initial stop (0.5% or 1%).

Previous-day high/low breakout (15m): trailing 0.5% -46.0% against fixed 0.5% -41.4%; trailing 1% -29.7% against fixed 1% -27.9% (2R target).

9/15 EMA crossover (5m): trailing 0.5% -78.7% against fixed 0.5% -74.3%; trailing 1% -68.5% against fixed 1% -68.6% (2R target).

Every trade pays charges whether it wins or loses. A tight stop is hit more often, so more trades end as losses, and the charges are paid on all of them. The average losing trade in the table already includes its charges.

One real trade from the test shows what a tight stop can cost. The same entry, with the stop at 0.5%, was stopped out in the next candle; with the stop at 2%, the trade survived and ended the day in profit. This is one of 120 such trades in the year, picked as the one with the largest gain; it does not show how often a wider stop helps. On average the wider stops lost too.

A stop-loss order waits at a trigger price. An SL (stop-loss limit) order turns into a limit order when the trigger is hit, so if price jumps past your limit it may not fill. An SL-M (stop-loss market) order turns into a market order when triggered, so it fills, but at whatever price is available. Which order types you can use depends on your broker and the segment; check your broker's current rules.