Trailing drawdown, explained
By Tyler Branstiter · Updated September 13, 2026 · Last reviewed September 13, 2026 · 4 min read
Almost every futures prop firm sets your maximum loss with a trailing drawdown (some call it a trailing threshold or a trailing max loss). It's the rule that ends most evaluations, and it's the one traders understand least — usually right up until it closes their account.
Here's how it actually works. (If prop firms are new to you, the beginner's guide covers the whole path first.)
A fixed drawdown vs a trailing one
A fixed (or "static") drawdown is simple: you have a floor, and it never moves. Start a $50,000 account with a $2,500 max loss and your account is dead if the balance ever touches $47,500 — whether that's on day one or after you've doubled the account.
A trailing drawdown moves the floor up as your account makes new highs. It never moves down. So the distance you're allowed to lose stays the same ($2,500 in this example), but it's measured from your account's peak, not its starting balance.
Take a $50,000 account with a $2,500 trailing drawdown. You run it up to $52,000. Your floor has trailed up with you — it's now $49,500 ($52,000 − $2,500), not $47,500. You've made $2,000 in profit and your actual room to lose is unchanged.
Intraday vs end-of-day trailing
This is the part that catches people. There are two ways a firm can define "new high," and they behave very differently. Many firms now let you pick one when you buy the account, and the choice matters more than the price difference.
End-of-day (EOD) trailing
The floor only trails based on your closing balance each day. Your equity can swing around all day — up $3,000, back to flat — and none of it counts. Only where you finish matters. EOD trailing is the more forgiving version. Firms often pair it with a daily loss limit so it isn't a free pass to gamble intraday.
Intraday trailing
The floor trails your highest equity point at any moment, including unrealized profit on an open position. If you're up $3,000 on an open trade and then it comes back, the floor already moved as if you'd banked that $3,000. Intraday accounts usually have no daily loss limit — the trailing threshold is doing that job — but it's an unforgiving version of it.
Worked example, intraday trailing, $50,000 account, $2,500 drawdown:
- You buy. The trade runs to +$2,400 unrealized. Peak equity = $52,400, so your floor trails to $49,900.
- It pulls back. You close for +$400. Balance = $50,400.
- Your floor is still $49,900. You now have $500 of room, not $2,500 — even though you're up $400 on the day.
One normal-sized losing trade from here ends the account.
When the trailing stops (the "lock")
Most firms freeze the trailing drawdown once your account is safely in profit, so a trader can't blow up an account that's clearly working. The exact trigger varies — commonly the floor stops moving once it reaches the starting balance (sometimes starting balance plus a small buffer like $100). After that it's effectively a fixed drawdown at that level.
Until you hit that point, assume the floor is still moving against you every time your equity makes a new high.
How the major firms do it
| Apex Trader Funding | Topstep | Lucid Trading | MyFundedFutures | TakeProfitTrader | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drawdown type (eval) | Trailing (end of day) | Trailing (end of day) | Trailing (end of day) | Trailing (intraday) | Trailing (end of day) |
| Drawdown type (funded) | Trailing (end of day) | Trailing (end of day) | Trailing (intraday) | Trailing (intraday) | Trailing (intraday) |
| Daily loss limit (eval) | $1,000 | None | None | None | $1,100 |
Lucid shown as LucidDaily specifically — it's the one product here where the drawdown type actually switches between phases (end-of-day during the evaluation, intraday once funded). Apex's Intraday Trail sibling drops the daily loss limit entirely instead of scaling it. Verified against each firm's own site as of Sep 13, 2026 (oldest of the firms shown).
- Apex — you choose EOD or Intraday Trail when you buy; only EOD carries a daily loss limit, and it scales with account size rather than being one flat number. Either way, the trailing threshold locks $100 above starting balance once you reach it.
- Topstep — the daily loss limit shown as "None" above is the default; it's actually an optional paid add-on you can select at checkout, not a rule baked into every account. The trailing limit locks permanently once it reaches your starting balance.
- Lucid — LucidDaily is the one product whose drawdown type genuinely changes between phases (see table). Its other three products (LucidPro, LucidFlex, LucidDirect) stay end-of-day trailing in both phases. → Lucid Trading rules, explained
- MyFundedFutures — depends on the plan: Rapid (shown above) is intraday trailing; Builder and Rapid EOD use end-of-day trailing instead.
- TakeProfitTrader — end-of-day during the evaluation, but switches to intraday trailing once you're funded — the opposite direction from most firms that offer a choice at all.
The table above is pulled live from the same rules data Tradervana uses, so it tracks each firm's current numbers — but always confirm the specifics for your account size and plan before you trade.
What to actually do about it
- Know which model your account uses. If it's intraday, your real risk isn't your stop — it's your peak unrealized equity on every trade.
- Watch distance-to-floor, not P&L. After a trade that spiked and came back, recompute your room before the next entry.
- Bank profit past the lock. Getting the account above the point where the trail freezes turns a moving target into a fixed one.