> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.topstepx.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.topstepx.com/settings/risk-settings/contract-limits.md).
# Contract Limits
## What Are Contract Limits?
Contract Limits let you decide how many contracts your account is allowed to trade at one time per symbol. You can:
* Set Per-Symbol limits for more customized control
## How do Contract Limits work?
* The system checks your **open positions + working orders on each side of the market (buy/sell).**
* The Contract Limits applies independently per side (buy/sell)
* If placing a new order would exceed your set limit on either side, the system will reject the order.
* ProjectX bracket orders (Take Profit / Stop Loss) do not count toward your contract limit.
* The account’s maximum position size can never be exceeded
## How to Set Contract Limits
1. Go to Settings → Risk Settings page
2. Find Contract Limits section:
1. Symbol contract Limit
3. Enter your desired limit(s) per symbol
4. Save your settings - you're all set!
### Examples:
**Contract Limit:** 3 NQ contracts\
**Account size:** 50K (max position 5 minis / 50 micros)
* Trader places 2 NQ Buy Stops working (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 1 NQ Buy Market with TP/SL orders (Accepted)
* THEN trader attempts to place another NQ Buy Limit for 1 contract (Rejected = over 3 NQ buy side limit)
**Result:**
* Buy-side total = 2 Buy Stops + 1 Market Buy = 3 contracts
* Sell-side total = 0 contracts
***
**Contract Limit:** 3 NQ contracts and 3 ES Contracts\
**Account size:** 50K (max position 5 minis / 50 micros)
* Trader places 3 NQ Buy Stops working (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 1 NQ Buy Market with TP/SL orders (Rejected = max contract size NQ exceeded)
* THEN trader buys 3 ES Buy Stops (Accepted)
* THEN the 3 working ES Buy Stops are filled (Accepted)
* AND when the NQ market reaches the NQ Buy Stops prices, the order will be rejected and removed from working due to exceeding the maximum margin (i.e. max position size)
**Result:**
* NQ Buy-side total = 3 contracts
* ES Buy-side total = 3 contracts
**Note:** Since the trader had both 3 ES and 3 NQ working on the Buy side but the account’s max position size is 5, the first will be filled and accepted while the other would be rejected due to exceeding the account’s max position size.
***
**Symbol Contract Limit:** 3 NQ contracts and 3 ES contracts\
**Account Size:** 50K (max position 5 minis / 50 micros)
* Trader places 2 NQ Sell Limits working (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 2 ES Buy Stops working (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 2 ES Sell Limits working (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 1 ES Buy Market (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 1 NQ Market Sell with TP/SL orders (Accepted)
**Result:**
* ES Buy-side total = 3 contracts
* ES Sell-side total = 2 contracts
* NQ Sell-side total = 3 contracts
Total Open positions = 2 contracts
***
**Contract Limit:** 5 ES contracts and 6 NQ contracts\
**Account Size:** 100K (10 minis / 100 micros)
* Trader places 4 working ES Buy Stops (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 1 ES Buy Market with TP/SL orders (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 5 working ES Sell Limits (Accepted)
* THEN trader places 6 NQ Sell Market (Accepted)
* THEN trader attempts to Buy 1 ES Market (Rejected = over buy side 5 total limit)
* THEN Trader Sells 1 ES Market (Accepted, reducing buy side ES total to 4)
**Result:**
* Buy-side ES exposure = 5 contracts then reduced to 4 after the final sell market order:\
When trader enters 5 Sell Limits, they would get accepted (5 total sell side)
When trader enters Buy 1 Market - they would get rejected (exceeds
* When traders Sells 1 ES Market accepted since it reduces the open buy side total to 4 total ES since they were long 1 and had 4 working
* NQ Buy-side total = 6 NQ
* NQ Sell-side total = 0 NQ contracts
\
**Note:** If the market reached the trader’s working 5 ES sell limit (all at same price), the order would be rejected due to the account’s max position size of 10 contracts since they already have an open 6 NQ position.
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