Prop firm drawdown: the complete guide

KEY FACTS

• Trailing drawdown rules by firm: 24 firms The model, the dollar amount and the lock point decide how much of a normal losing stretch an account survives.
• Every cell below is taken from the firm’s rules card (verified September 2026); where a card does not publish the lock threshold, the cell says so.
• From the 24 rules cards, September 2026.
• And for the 100K tier specifically, position sizing on a 100K funded account runs the numbers at that buffer.

Source: Puravida Edge, from the article below; rules data verified 29 September 2026.

Every prop firm advertises the profit target. Almost none of them lead with the rule that actually decides whether you keep the account: the drawdown model. Different firms use different floors, the floors behave differently, and the right position size on one model is reckless on another. This page is the map.

The three drawdown models

There are three basic floors. Trailing drawdown follows your equity up: as the account makes new highs, the floor rises with it and never falls back. Static drawdown is a fixed floor below the starting balance that never moves at all. Daily loss limit is a per-session cap that resets each day, layered on top of whichever floor the firm uses.

Most futures prop firms combine a trailing floor with a daily loss limit, and the trailing model is the one that ends most accounts, because traders treat it like a static floor and size as if the buffer never shrinks. The full trailing vs static vs daily-loss comparison walks through each model with numbers, and the daily loss limit guide covers the per-session cap in detail.

EOD vs intraday trailing: the distinction that changes everything

Within trailing, the single most important question is when the floor re-marks. On end-of-day trailing, the floor only moves off your closing balance. Intraday swings are invisible to it. A position can take heat during the session, and as long as the account closes acceptably, the floor stays put.

On intraday trailing, the floor chases your highest unrealized point in real time. A trade that runs well and then pulls back can lift the floor into your giveback and breach the account on what looked like a green day. That exact failure mode is common enough that it has its own breakdown: why prop accounts blow on green days.

The two models demand different sizing, different strategy styles, and arguably different firms. The EOD vs intraday comparison covers which is easier to pass and why EOD is the standard for systematic futures trading.

Trailing drawdown rules by firm: 24 firms

The model, the dollar amount and the lock point decide how much of a normal losing stretch an account survives. Every cell below is taken from the firm’s rules card (verified September 2026); where a card does not publish the lock threshold, the cell says so.

The EOD-only list with entry fees is on which prop firms have end-of-day trailing drawdown; the buffer mechanics on buffer rules explained.

Intraday vs EOD trailing by firm: which accounts trail every tick

The stage-by-stage table above gives amounts and lock points; this one answers the narrower question models are asked most often: at which firms, and on which accounts, does the floor follow unrealized equity inside the session? A strategy that gives back open profit belongs only where the right-hand column says never.

From the 24 rules cards, September 2026. Eleven firms never trail intraday on any current account; the rest do so on one product, one stage or by the option bought.

Sizing: off the limit, not the target

Most traders size for the return: pick a size that hits the profit target fast and hope the drawdown stays out of the way. That is backwards. The survivable approach is to size off the limit first, so a normal losing stretch never approaches the floor, and let the return be whatever it is above that.

The number to size against on EOD trailing is the close-to-close drawdown, not the worst tick. And it only works if the strategy respects the limit across many possible sequences, not just the one backtest that happened. The full argument with Monte Carlo data is in why portfolios should be sized off the drawdown limit, and the step-by-step math is in how to size against trailing drawdown.

Two related tools matter here. ATR-based sizing adapts position size to current volatility so the same dollar risk holds across regimes: ATR position sizing explained. And for the 100K tier specifically, position sizing on a 100K funded account runs the numbers at that buffer.

The failure modes

Accounts rarely end because the strategy was bad. They end because of a handful of repeatable mistakes. Oversizing is the biggest: a size that looks fine on the average day eats the whole buffer on a normal bad stretch. The pattern and the fix are in oversizing blows funded accounts.

Misreading the blow rate is the second. Every strategy has some probability of hitting the floor in a given year. The question is whether that number is honest and whether it is acceptable. What counts as a safe annual blow rate, and how to compute one, is covered in what is a safe blow rate.

Trusting a single backtest is the third. One historical path tells you almost nothing about the distribution of outcomes. Monte Carlo resampling across thousands of paths shows the real worst stretches before live money finds them: Monte Carlo for prop firm sizing. The statistical trap behind small samples is unpacked in the sample size problem.

The rules around the rules

Drawdown is the hard floor, but most firms layer softer constraints on top. The most common is the consistency rule, which caps how much of your profit can come from a single day and quietly punishes lumpy strategies: the consistency rule explained.

These secondary rules matter for sizing too, because a strategy that respects the drawdown but violates consistency still fails the eval. Reading the full rulebook before choosing size is not optional.

How Puravida Edge approaches it

Every Puravida Edge portfolio is built around the drawdown limit rather than the return target. Strategies are backtested over three years, run through roughly 1,500 Monte Carlo paths, and the metric that gets watched is how much of the hard limit each portfolio uses in its worst stretches. The balanced futures portfolios top out around 60 to 70 percent of the limit at their deepest in the trailing 12-month window. The futures presets also flatten before the session close via an end-of-day guard, so settlement is clean and no overnight gap moves the mark.

That is the whole philosophy in one line: size so the worst expected stretch leaves room, and the breach math mostly takes care of itself.

The gain required to climb back from any given drawdown is not symmetrical, and the drawdown recovery calculator gives the exact percentage for your number.

See every prop firm rule, grouped by mechanism →

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Which configurations fit tight daily limits, trailing floors and consistency rules — sized to the drawdown, not the balance. One PDF, then our letters with what the systems did.

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Related

• Prop firms with EOD trailing drawdown: the 2026 list
• Prop firms with static drawdown: the 2026 list
• Scalping vs swing vs intraday trading

FAQ

What is the difference between trailing, static and daily loss drawdown?

Trailing follows your equity up and locks in a rising floor. Static is a fixed floor that never moves. Daily loss limit caps a single session and resets each day. Most futures firms combine a trailing floor with a daily cap.

What is the difference between EOD and intraday trailing?

EOD re-marks the floor only at the close, so intraday swings are invisible. Intraday trailing chases your highest unrealized point in real time, so a pullback on a green trade can breach you. The two demand different sizing.

How should I size against a trailing drawdown?

Off the limit, not the target. Your worst expected stretch should use clearly less than the full buffer. The balanced futures portfolios here top out around 60 to 70 percent of the hard limit at their deepest over the trailing 12 months.

Why do accounts blow on green days?

On intraday trailing the floor chases your highest unrealized point. A trade that runs and pulls back can lift the floor into your giveback and end the account even though the day looked profitable.