Follower Guard: set it on the leader or follower?

You enable Follower Guard at the leader level for local accounts and at the follower level for their local accounts. This feature is designed to protect follower accounts by flattening them if they become out of sync with the leader's positions. If the leader closes a position and the follower does not, Follower Guard will force the follower to close after a few seconds.

Using the same follower account in multiple strategies: Follower Guard is configured per Replikanto tab, with each tab having its own leader account and instrument. You can safely enable the same follower account in multiple tabs (strategies) simultaneously, even if they trade different instruments. For example, you can have one tab trading SIL with Leader A and another tab trading NQ with Leader B, both using the same Apex follower account. Follower Guard tracks positions by tab and instrument, so there won't be any conflicts between the strategies. Starting with Replikanto 1.7.0.0, this also holds for Cancel the follower entry order if it is not filled: it only cancels orders that tab copied, on that tab's instrument. On earlier versions it could also cancel working orders from another tab or another instrument on the same account, so update to 1.7.0.0 if you share a follower account between tabs.

Follower Guard settings explained:

• Flatten the follower if it becomes out of sync: This is the core setting. When enabled, Replikanto automatically closes the follower's position when it detects a sync mismatch with the leader. Visual feedback: When a sync mismatch is detected, the follower row immediately turns yellow. At the same moment, the timer starts counting down in the background. If the mismatch is not resolved before the timer expires, Replikanto automatically flattens the follower. The "after X seconds" timer controls how long Replikanto waits before flattening. The default value (10 seconds) works well for most setups. Each execution the follower receives while it is out of sync restarts the countdown, so a follower that is still being filled in parts is not flattened while it catches up; starting with Replikanto 1.7.0.0, connection or account updates from unrelated brokers no longer restart it. When the time is up, Replikanto flattens the follower only if it is still out of sync and still has a position or a working order on the instrument. Important: Do not set this timer to 0. A value of 0 means Replikanto reacts instantly to any sync mismatch with no grace period. In practice (especially in sim), there is always a brief delay between when the leader fills and when the follower fills. With 0 seconds, Replikanto will detect that momentary gap and immediately flatten the follower, causing frequent false positives. Keep the default of 10 seconds as a starting point.
• Cancel the follower entry order if it is not filled: When enabled, Replikanto starts counting when the leader's entry order fills. If, after the specified number of seconds, the follower's entry order has still not received any fill, Replikanto cancels it, together with the exit orders (stop and target) this tab copied for that entry on the same instrument. A partially filled entry is not cancelled. If Disarm Followers is checked, the follower is also disarmed. Starting with Replikanto 1.7.0.0, it no longer touches another tab's or another instrument's orders on the same account. A value of 3 seconds works well for most setups; keep it shorter than the out-of-sync timer.
• Flatten the follower if it is in the opposite direction: If the follower ends up on the opposite side of the leader (e.g., the leader is long but the follower is short), Replikanto will flatten the follower. This is a more serious mismatch, so a shorter timer (e.g., 1 second) is recommended. Followers with a negative Ratio: if a follower uses a negative Ratio to trade the opposite side of the leader on purpose, Replikanto inverts that follower's direction before comparing it with the leader. A correctly mirrored inverse follower is therefore not treated as a mismatch and is not flattened, so you can keep this option on.
• Flatten follower if any submitted order is rejected / unable to submit order / changing order error / cancellation order error / unspecified error: These settings cover various order submission and modification errors. When enabled, Replikanto will flatten the follower if any of these errors occur, after the number of seconds specified in "Flatten follower in the event of an error after X seconds." A value of 3 seconds is a good starting point.
• Disarm Followers: This is optional, and it is checked by default. When enabled, a follower that a Follower Guard action acts on (for example, flattened because it stayed out of sync, or whose unfilled entry was cancelled) is also disarmed, and it stops receiving any new trades until you re-arm it. If you are monitoring the trades, this is not necessary. If the trades will run unattended, enabling this setting adds an extra layer of protection by preventing new positions from being opened on a follower that is already out of sync.
• E-mail to receive follower disarm alerts: When configured, Replikanto sends an email notification whenever a follower is disarmed. This lets you know when intervention may be needed, especially useful when running trades unattended. Prerequisite: NinjaTrader must be configured to send emails before this field has any effect. In NinjaTrader, go to Tools > Options > General and fill in the "Email log alert messages to" field. You also need to set up a mail account under Share Services in that same section. Once both are configured, disarm alerts will be sent automatically.