Retail trading platforms are built for execution. Serious risk work usually needs a second layer that can inspect trades, normalize account history, and test assumptions outside the chart.
The first Penfjell research theme is a practical MT5 and Python stack:
- MT5 for order placement, historical account data, and strategy testing.
- Python for independent checks, portfolio aggregation, and simulations.
- A written risk policy that defines when exposure should be reduced before the platform forces the issue.
The goal is not to make trading more complicated. The goal is to make risk visible before it becomes emotional.
Initial Controls
Useful controls for independent traders often start with basic questions:
- What is the maximum open risk across all symbols?
- How quickly can margin usage accelerate under correlated moves?
- What happens if the next loss sequence is worse than the backtest?
- Which rules reduce position size before drawdown becomes unrecoverable?
Future posts will turn each question into reproducible examples.