The lot cap is not the position you should trade
The working unit is 0.50% of $100K, which is $500. At $10 per pip on 0.10 lots, a 50-pip structural stop is exactly $500. A 70-pip stop at that same pip value needs about 0.07 lots to stay near $500. The published cap of 0.80 to 1.45 standard lots is far above that unit. At 0.80 lots the pip value is $80, so 50 pips equal $4,000 and 70 pips equal $5,600. At 1.45 lots the pip value is $145, so 50 pips equal $7,250.
$7,250 is under the static 8% floor of $8,000 and already through the $4,000 daily line. Trading the cap with a 50 to 70 pip stop does not protect the daily loss. It spends it. Open a Venasri account and save 0.10 lots as the $100K gold default, with 0.80 lots marked as a ceiling you do not use for a wide stop.
COMEX open versus the 1-Step $3,000 line
A wick through a 50-pip stop at 0.80 lots is a $4,000 event. On the 2-Step that is the whole day. On the 1-Step the daily allowance is $3,000, so the same wick is a breach with $1,000 to spare, and the trailing 5% maximum of $5,000 never becomes the binding rule. Instant trails at 3%, also $3,000 on $100K. The gold lot you used in Phase 1 of a 2-Step is illegal in size on those two books.
Put Equity Guard at $3,250 only on the 2-Step. That is 3.25% and it flattens before $4,000. For a 1-Step or Instant book the official daily or trail line is $3,000, so the guard has to sit inside that smaller number. Configure it on Equity Guard per login, not as one gold preset for every Maven product.
Funded stacking and the news wick
Two 0.10 gold lots with 50-pip stops are $1,000 of risk. Three are $1,500, which is the bottom of the funded 1.5% to 2.0% combined-ticket cap on one pair. You can be flat to the $4,000 daily rule and still be outside the funded idea rule. Do not treat a second gold entry as free because the first one is green. If both are open, add the stops.
Funded red-folder events carry a 2-minute to 5-minute window before and after the print. A COMEX spike during CPI still counts if the stop fills. Weekend holding is allowed on 1-Step, 2-Step, and 3-Step, and Sunday gold gaps hit the daily budget that was snapshotted at 00:00 from the higher of balance or equity. Cut the lot in half if you insist on holding through that gap.
A gold session that can survive the day
One position, 0.10 lots, 50 pips, $500. If the structure needs 70 pips, drop toward 0.07 lots so the dollar stays near $500. Take the partial before 00:00 when the float is larger than $1,000, because that float becomes tomorrow's higher base. Bot Control can enforce the single-position gold rule and the news pause without you clicking faster than the wick.
The Phase 1 target is still $8,000. At $500 a winner, you need the trade to pay, not a larger lot. Sixteen 1R gold winners reach the target. One 0.80 lot attempt can end the evaluation on the opening candle and waste the $379 fee. The cap is there so a platform maximum exists. Your size is the $500 math.
