Pick LockMyTrades if you trade TradingView, MT4, TradeLocker or more than one platform, or if you need open positions closed for you. Pick TiltGuard if you trade in a browser and want a one-time payment with no subscription. Pick EmotionLock if you trade MT5 and your actual failure mode is picking your phone back up after you told yourself you were done.
This comparison is published by EmotionLock, one of the three tools in it. That is a conflict of interest and you should read it with that in mind. What we can do about it is state the facts plainly, list our own limits before our strengths, and send you to a competitor where the competitor is genuinely the better fit. Two of the three verdicts on this page do exactly that.
The useful way to compare these is not by feature count. It is by which layer the tool sits on, because that determines what can still happen when you want to keep trading. There are three layers: the broker execution layer (the order itself), the browser, and the phone. A tool only protects the layer it sits on.
EmotionLock vs TiltGuard vs LockMyTrades: the full comparison
| EmotionLock | TiltGuard | LockMyTrades | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layer it acts on | Phone (iOS Screen Time API) | Browser (Chrome session) | Broker execution |
| Platforms | MT5 only, any MT5 broker | Anything you trade in Chrome | MT4, MT5, TradingView, TradeLocker, Upstox, Dhan |
| Prop firm integrations | None specific, works via the MT5 account | None, it never sees the account | FTMO, FundingPips, FundedNext, The5ers, HolaPrime, FXIFY |
| Sees your live account | Yes, live trade count and P&L via read-only investor password | No, only what it can observe in the browser | Yes, via broker and platform integration |
| Closes open positions | No, technically impossible on a read-only connection | No | Yes, including terminating revenge trades after consecutive losses |
| Blocks the order itself | No, it blocks the app you would place it from | No, it ends the browser session | Yes |
| Override in the moment | Hard on the phone, but the desktop terminal is untouched | No in-Chrome override, but another browser works | Hardest, the block sits at execution |
| Extras | Daily loss limit, daily trade count limit | Trade count, session duration and P&L limits, strong content hub | Trade caps, news embargo around events like NFP and FOMC |
| Price | Free 7 days, then €49,99 with the first month included | $97 one-time | Free tier, $29.99/mo, $69.99/mo |
| What breaks it | Android, MT4, TradingView, or opening the desktop terminal | Closing Chrome, a second browser, or your phone | An account or platform you never connected |
What happens the moment you want to override it?
This is the only axis that decides whether any of these are worth money. Every one of them works fine on a calm Tuesday. The question is what happens at 3pm on the day you are down and your hand is already moving. Ranked honestly, worst to best resistance:
- TiltGuard.Inside Chrome it holds, and it does not offer you a button to unlock, which is a real design choice and better than the tools that do. But it lives in one browser. Opening Edge, opening the broker's desktop app, or reaching for your phone all route around it in under thirty seconds, and none of those require you to uninstall anything or admit to yourself what you are doing.
- EmotionLock. On the phone the block is enforced by iOS at system level when your limit is hit, so there is no in-app override to argue with. The honest gap is that we do nothing about a desktop MT5 terminal. If your PC is sitting there logged in, you can walk to it. We are the right tool when the phone is where the relapse happens, which for a lot of traders it is, and the wrong tool when it is not.
- LockMyTrades. Strongest, because it sits at the layer the order has to pass through. Switching browsers or devices does not help you, since the block is on the connected account rather than the thing you are typing on. The realistic bypass is opening or funding an account you never connected, which is true of every tool in this category and of the ones we did not include.
None of these are a wall. A determined person can defeat all three. What they do is delete the fast, frictionless path, which is where nearly all of the damage happens, and buy you the minutes it takes for the state to pass. That is the argument for a real lockout over a reminder, and it is worth being clear-eyed that it is a friction argument, not a guarantee.
Who should pick which?
Pick LockMyTrades if you trade anything other than MT5, or you need positions closed
This is the widest-covering tool of the three by a distance. If you are on TradingView, MT4, TradeLocker, or you run a prop challenge alongside a personal account on a different platform, EmotionLock cannot help you and TiltGuard only helps in one browser. LockMyTrades also does two things neither of the others can: it can act on an open position, and its news embargo can lock you out around NFP and FOMC, which is a genuinely good feature for prop traders working under an enforced daily loss limit. The trade-offs are real too: the top tier at $69.99 per month is not cheap, and a broader integration surface means more to set up before it is doing anything. There is a free tier, so the cost of finding out is zero.
Pick TiltGuard if you trade in a browser and want to pay once
$97 one-time against a recurring subscription is a straightforward argument, and over two years it is the cheapest of the three. Because it operates on the browser rather than the account, it does not care who your broker is and there is no connection to configure. It is the right answer for a trader whose entire trading life happens in one Chrome window on one machine. Be clear about what you are buying: it does not connect to your broker, so its P&L awareness is limited to what it can observe in the browser, and it will not stop you on your phone. Our full EmotionLock vs TiltGuard breakdown goes deeper on that trade.
Pick EmotionLock if you trade MT5 and the phone is the problem
The specific case we are built for is narrow and we would rather say so: you trade MT5, you are on iPhone, and the pattern that costs you money is closing the laptop, telling yourself you are done, and then opening the app again on the sofa an hour later. We connect with the investor password, which is read-only at the MetaTrader protocol level so placing a trade is technically impossible from our side, read your live trade count and P&L, and block the trading apps on the phone when the limit you set while calm is hit. We do not close positions, we do not touch your desktop, we are not on Android yet, and we do not work outside MT5. If any of those matter to you, one of the other two is the better buy.
Do you need to pay for any of this?
Check these first, because for some traders the answer is genuinely no.
- Platform-native lockouts. NinjaTrader, Tradovate and ProjectX ship real, free, platform-side lockouts. If you trade futures on one of those, use it. It sits closer to your order than any third-party tool and costs nothing. Nobody selling a subscription will lead with this, but it is the correct first move.
- Apple Screen Time on its own. Free, and it blocks apps on a schedule. If your problem is time-bound (you should not be trading after 4pm, full stop), this may be all you need. The limitation is that it cannot see your trades, so it cannot react to a loss, and you hold the passcode, which is the flaw at exactly the moment it matters. The Screen Time comparison lays out when it is enough.
- MT5 expert advisors. DailyStop and similar EAs close positions at a loss threshold from inside the terminal, and some are free. They require your master password rather than a read-only one, run only while the terminal is open, and can be switched off in a few clicks by the person they are protecting. Worth it for the position-closing; unreliable as a lock.
If a free option covers your case, take it. None of these three tools, ours included, will make you a profitable trader, and none of them claim to be worth buying for their own sake. They are worth buying only if there is a specific gap between the rule you set and what you actually do.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best trading lockout tool?
There is no single best one, because the three main options act on different layers. LockMyTrades acts at the execution layer and covers MT4, MT5, TradingView and TradeLocker, so it suits traders on multiple platforms. TiltGuard locks the browser session for a one-time $97 and needs no broker connection. EmotionLock connects to an MT5 account read-only and blocks trading apps on the iPhone. Pick by the layer your own relapse happens on.
Is TiltGuard or LockMyTrades better?
They are not really competing on the same ground. TiltGuard is a Chrome extension at $97 one-time that locks your browser session, so it works with any broker you trade through a browser and never charges again. LockMyTrades sits at the execution layer with broker and platform integrations, so it can block the order itself and close positions, but it is a subscription at $29.99 or $69.99 per month above the free tier. If you trade in one browser and hate subscriptions, TiltGuard. If you trade across platforms or want the trade itself stopped, LockMyTrades.
Does EmotionLock work on Android or with MT4?
No to both, as of August 2026. EmotionLock is an iPhone app and it connects only to MetaTrader 5 accounts. Android is in development, and iOS was chosen first because the Screen Time API allows stronger system-level app blocking than the current Android equivalent. If you are on Android, or on MT4 or TradingView, LockMyTrades is the more sensible starting point.
Can you bypass these tools if you really want to?
All three can be worked around by a determined person, and any vendor who tells you otherwise is selling. TiltGuard is bypassed by opening a different browser or your phone. EmotionLock is bypassed by trading on a desktop terminal, since it blocks apps on the phone and does not touch your PC. LockMyTrades sits closest to the order itself, so bypassing it usually means using a platform or account you did not connect. The point of all three is to remove the fast, frictionless path, not to build a wall.
Do any of these tools close my open positions?
LockMyTrades can act on open trades, including terminating revenge trades after a run of consecutive losses, because it operates at the execution layer. TiltGuard and EmotionLock do not. EmotionLock connects with an MT5 investor password, which is read-only at the protocol level, so it can see the position but is technically incapable of closing it. If your specific failure mode is holding a losing position and averaging down, you want position-closing, and that points to LockMyTrades.
Is a free option enough instead of paying for any of these?
Sometimes, yes. If you trade NinjaTrader, Tradovate or ProjectX, the platform already has a real lockout built in and it costs nothing, so use that first. If your trading day is genuinely time-bound rather than loss-driven, Apple Screen Time on its own may be enough. The free options fall down when the limit needs to react to your live P&L, because none of them can see your account.
The summary
Match the tool to the layer where your discipline actually breaks, not to the longest feature list. Widest coverage and the only one that can close a position: LockMyTrades. Cheapest over time and simplest to run if you live in one browser: TiltGuard. MT5 on an iPhone, where the relapse is reaching for the app again: us. For the broader field, including the tools that only warn you rather than stop you, see the full round-up of apps to stop revenge trading. Whichever you choose, choose it now, while you are calm, because the version of you that needs it will not be in a position to install anything.