Prop trading rules explained: daily loss limit and max drawdown
A prop account is usually not lost on the market. It is lost on two numbers that most people read halfway: the daily loss limit and the maximum drawdown. Both are measured automatically, both close the account the moment they are crossed, and both differ from product to product.
This page explains what they mean and what they are on DayProp forex and prediction accounts. Every number below was checked on 21 September 2026 against two independent sources — our own catalogue file and the live plan configuration behind the checkout. Where those two sources disagree, the number is not here, and the last section says exactly which numbers those are and why.
1. The daily loss limit: how much one day may cost you
The daily loss limit is the largest loss the account may take inside one trading day. It is measured against the balance the day started with, and it resets when the day closes.
Worked example. A $10,000 account with a 4% daily limit. That is $400. If your balance drops more than $400 below where the day opened, the account is closed — even if the overall drawdown limit is nowhere near.
This is why the most expensive habit in this business is trying to win a loss back the same day. The daily limit exists precisely to stop that, and it does not care about your reasoning.
On DayProp forex accounts the daily limit is 4% on the two-step assessment, 5% on the one-step assessment and 5% on Instant funding. On the prediction account it is 3% — the tightest one we sell.
2. Maximum drawdown: static or trailing, and why the difference matters more than the number
The maximum drawdown is the floor under the account. Touch it and the account stops existing. There are two ways it can be calculated, and the difference is larger than a percentage point or two.
Static drawdown
Calculated from the starting balance, and it does not move. A $10,000 account with an 8% static drawdown has its floor at $9,200. If you trade well and reach $12,000, the floor is still $9,200 — the more you earn, the more room you have.
Trailing drawdown
Follows the highest point the account has reached, and climbs behind you. Same $10,000 account, 8% trailing: at the start the floor is $9,200. Once you reach $11,000, the floor moves to $10,120. It never moves back down — if you then fall to $10,000, the floor stays where it is.
This is the reason instant funding feels easier than it is. You skip the assessment, but the floor tightens every time you make a new high.
On DayProp, the two-step forex assessment uses a static drawdown; the one-step assessment, Instant funding and the prediction account use a trailing one. One honest note about how we know: the two-step assessment is the only one of them flagged as static in the plan configuration, and we are reading that configuration rather than quoting a sentence from a rulebook. The rulebook you sign at checkout is the binding version, and it is worth the four minutes it takes to read.
3. The profit target: what counts as passing
An assessment has a target; funded accounts do not.
- Two-step forex assessment: +10% in phase one, then +5% in phase two.
- One-step forex assessment: +10%, once.
- Prediction assessment: +10%.
- Instant funding: no target at all — there is no assessment to pass. You pay more at the start and trade a funded account from day one.
Targets are configured per account size, and one size may be set up differently from the rest. Check the contract for the size you are buying; we would rather tell you to look than round a number for you.
4. Leverage: the rule that decides how fast the other rules arrive
Leverage is not a rule you can break. It is the multiplier that determines how quickly you reach the two rules you can break.
| Account | Leverage |
|---|---|
| Forex, two-step assessment | 1:30 |
| Forex, one-step assessment | 1:20 |
| Forex, Instant funding | 1:50 |
Read that together with section 1. Instant funding gives you the widest leverage and a 5% daily limit; the one-step assessment gives you the narrowest leverage and the same 5%. The same position size is a different fraction of your daily limit on each of them.
The numbers in one table
| Account | Target | Daily loss limit | Max drawdown | Leverage | Your share of profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex, two steps | +10%, then +5% | 4% | 8%, static | 1:30 | 75% |
| Forex, one step | +10% | 5% | 6%, trailing | 1:20 | see below |
| Forex, Instant funding | none | 5% | 8%, trailing | 1:50 | 80% |
| Prediction account | +10% | 3% | 6%, trailing | — | see below |
Look at the combination, not at any single number. The two-step account has the tightest daily brake and the widest overall floor — that pairing is why it is the one we point beginners at. Instant funding has the widest leverage and a floor that tightens as you earn. Neither is generous or strict on its own; each is a trade-off, and the trade-off is the product.
What is deliberately not on this page
Four numbers a page like this would normally include are missing here, on purpose:
- The profit share on the one-step forex assessment. Our sources do not agree on it, so we do not publish it. It is shown on the checkout contract for that plan.
- Crypto account rules and profit share. Our catalogue and the live plan configuration disagree on the daily limit, the drawdown and the split for both crypto assessments. We have asked our platform partner which value is live. Until we have the answer in writing, we publish crypto prices and no crypto rules.
- Futures rules. Same reason, different product.
- Time limits and inactivity limits on forex accounts. We do not have them in writing. They are in the contract you see before paying.
Publishing a rule you cannot source is how a trader ends up blowing an account while trusting your website. A missing number is cheaper than a wrong one.
How to compare any prop firm on rules — eight questions
Most comparisons in this industry compare prices, which is the one thing that is easy to compare and the one thing that matters least. If you are weighing us against anyone else, these are the questions worth asking — of us, and of them:
- Is the maximum drawdown static or trailing? A wider trailing floor can be stricter than a narrower static one.
- What is the daily limit measured against — the balance at the day’s open, or your equity including open positions?
- Does the daily limit reset at a fixed hour, and in which time zone?
- Is there a consistency rule capping how much of your profit may come from a single day?
- Is there a minimum number of trading days before a payout?
- What is the leverage per instrument class, not just the headline number?
- How long does the assessment last, and how many days of inactivity close the account?
- Where is each of those answers written down? If a rule only exists in a marketing table and not in the contract, treat it as not existing.
Question eight is the one we hold ourselves to on this page. Every number above came from the plan configuration behind our own checkout, and the ones we could not verify twice are listed in the section above instead of being estimated.
Four habits that keep accounts alive
- Convert both limits into dollars before your first trade and write them down. Percentages are abstract; $400 is not.
- Set your personal daily stop at 50–60% of the daily limit. If the limit is $400, end the day at $200. The limit is a boundary, not a target.
- On a trailing drawdown, calculate from your highest balance, not from your starting one. That is what the system is looking at.
- If an account has no daily limit, impose one yourself. The absence of a rule is not permission.
Next
- What a prop account costs — every size, checked against the live checkout.
- Rules on the site — the short version, per product.
- Account sizes and prices — pick a size and see what it costs.
Not financial advice. Most traders lose. Accounts are simulated; payouts are real.