Prop Firm Drawdown Calculator
Your firm's limits in cash and full stops — then stress-tested against the 170 real signals our FTMO bot is set up to trade, losers included.
At 0.5% and these signals' +0.49R average, a 10% target is about 42 alerts of expectancy — an average, not a schedule.
1000 runs against 2026-04-20 → 2026-10-16, each from a different start day, up to 5 alerts a day (the first to fire; book median 2). A run ends at the target, the floor or the daily limit.
Only the alerts our FTMO bot is set up to trade (its markets, timeframes and forex rule), under today’s rules. Simulated results — hypothetical performance has limitations; see the note below this tool.
All after fees. Only funded-account profit is split; what you make passing isn't yours.
Taken alerts averaged +0.82R; all 170 in the window, +0.49R.
What the replay counts
Book snapshot 2026-10-16, UTC days, every alert graded at the desk's entry, stop and target. The daily limit is tested on closed trades only — floating losses aren't in the book. Funded profit is withdrawn every 20 trading days (median funded run 35 days). Fills, spreads, missed alerts and nerves aren't in it. Past results don't guarantee the next window.
Alerts before June 2026 carry no stored score, so only the gates that don't need one could be applied to them — that stretch keeps losses today's rules would remove. The gates were also written while looking at this history, so some of their edge is hindsight.
Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown.
The three lines under a challenge
Nearly every prop firm challenge fails on arithmetic, not analysis. Three limits sit under your account, and any one of them can end it on its own:
- The daily loss limit. Usually 4 to 5% of your starting balance, measured from the start of the firm's trading day, and it resets tomorrow. Open trades count at most firms, so a position that is deep in the red can breach it before you ever close.
- The maximum loss. Usually 8 to 12%, measured from your starting balance. The floor never moves; it is the one line that follows you through the whole challenge.
- The trailing maximum. Some firms measure the maximum from your equity high instead, so the floor climbs as you make money and never comes back down. You can be up overall and still be one bad day from the floor. Our drawdown rules explainer walks through all three with worked examples.
That one line is the whole calculator. A 5% daily limit at 1% risk is five full stops; at 2% it is two and a half, which means two, because the third one ends your day. A 10% max loss at 1% is ten straight losses. Whether ten straight losses is a realistic number is the next question, and it is the one most calculators skip.
What a losing streak really looks like
Every signal our desk delivers is graded to its stop or target and published, winners and losers, so we can answer this with a record instead of a rule of thumb. Here is what the replay runs on, the real signals our FTMO bot is set up to trade from 2026-04-20 to 2026-10-16:
Read that first tile twice. Signals that win about 39.4% of the time still produced 20 losses in a row, and 3 separate streaks of ten or more. If losses were independent coin flips, a run that long would be close to impossible. They are not independent. Losses cluster, because the market that stops out one breakout is usually the same market that stops out the next three. Plan for the streak the record shows, not the one the coin-flip maths promises.
They still finished ahead, at +0.49R per alert, because the winners paid several times what the losers cost. That is the shape a challenge trader has to survive: long stretches of small losses, funded by occasional large wins. Sizing decides whether you are still in the game when the wins arrive. The full statistics, by session, timeframe and pair, are on the breakout statistics page.
How to set your risk for a challenge
- 1. Start from the max loss, not the target. Divide it by the longest losing streak you are willing to survive. Ten straight losses on a 10% max means 1% a trade, and that is the ceiling, not the plan.
- 2. Check the day. Multiply your risk by the most alerts you will take in a day. If a fully losing day lands past the daily limit, take fewer alerts or risk less. The calculator flags this for you.
- 3. Set your own stop for the day, inside the firm's. Slippage and gaps are not your friend at the limit. Two full stops down is a common place to close the platform, whatever the rules allow.
- 4. Size every trade from the stop. The position size calculator turns your risk percentage and the stop distance into lots. Every alert we send carries its entry, stop and target, so the sizing is arithmetic, not judgement.
- 5. Replay it. Run your numbers through the stress test above. If your rules would have been hit more than you can stomach over the last six months, change the rules now, while it is free.
The free prop-firm course goes deeper on all of it: the fine print, the drawdown maths, position sizing and what to do after the pass.
Questions
What is drawdown in a prop firm challenge?
Drawdown is how far your account has fallen from a reference point. Prop firms measure it two or three ways at once: a daily loss limit that resets every day, a maximum loss measured from your starting balance, and, at some firms, a trailing maximum that follows your equity high upward. Breach any one of them and the challenge is over, whatever the other numbers say.
How is the daily drawdown calculated?
Most firms take your balance or equity at the start of their trading day, then compare your equity to it through the day. A 5% daily limit on a $100,000 account is $5,000 of room. Floating losses on open trades usually count, so a position that is deep underwater can breach the limit before it ever closes. Firms differ on the reset time and on balance versus equity, so read your own rules; the calculator lets you set the numbers.
What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?
Static drawdown measures from your starting balance, so the floor never moves: a 10% max on $100,000 is a $90,000 floor for the whole challenge. Trailing drawdown measures from your highest equity, so the floor rises as you make money and never comes back down. That is why a trailing account can be breached while it is still up overall. The calculator supports both; pick the one your firm uses.
How much should I risk per trade in a prop firm challenge?
Small enough that a normal losing streak cannot end the challenge. The signals our FTMO bot is set up to trade produced 20 losses in a row over the last six months, and about 24% of losing streaks reached five. At 1% a trade, a 10% max loss survives ten straight losses; at 2%, five. Most challenge traders land between 0.25% and 1%, and the calculator shows exactly how many full stops each setting leaves you.
What happens when I hit the daily loss limit?
At most firms the account is closed or locked for the day the moment equity touches the limit, and at many it fails the challenge outright. The practical rule is to stop well before it: set your own hard stop for the day inside the firm's limit, so a slippage or a gap cannot take the decision away from you. The calculator's room-left-today figure is built for that.
Does this calculator say whether signals will pass my challenge?
No, and be wary of anything that does. The replay runs your own rules against the alerts our FTMO bot is set up to trade over the window shown and reports which came first — the profit target, the max-loss floor, or the daily limit — across a thousand simulated runs. Those are hypothetical results from one historical window, not a prediction and not a claim that our alerts will pass your challenge. Your fills, spreads, missed alerts and nerves are not in any of it.
We got receipts.
Every signal our desk fires, graded in R — winners and losers, no cherry-picking. One email, every Friday.
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Every Breakout Alerts signal carries a defined entry, stop and target, so each trade is sized before you take it, and every result is published, losers included. Fewer, better alerts. Free for 14 days.
Educational tool, not financial advice, and not affiliated with any prop firm. Firm rules vary and change; confirm yours before you rely on any number here. Book snapshot 2026-10-16; past results do not guarantee future results.