Static vs Trailing Drawdown Explained, Plus Daily Loss Limits

Every prop firm evaluation has a floor: the equity level at which the account closes. What differs is whether the floor stays where you started or follows your equity upward. 16 of the 30 firms with structured programme data in our dataset record which one they use as of 13 September 2026, and 14 describe it in prose only.

The floor that does not move

A static drawdown fixes the floor at a set distance below the starting balance and leaves it there. FTMO and The5ers both state a 10 percent static maximum loss on their pages ^{[3] [4]}, and FundedNext's Stellar 2-Step records a 10 percent static maximum loss in our dataset as of 13 September 2026. At $100K the floor sits at $90,000.

You start at $100,000 with a $90,000 floor. You run the account to $105,000, then give back $6,000 to $99,000. The account survives, because the floor never moved. The static floor asks one question only: is equity above $90,000?

The floor that follows you

A trailing drawdown moves the floor up as your equity rises and never moves it down. Apex sets a $3,000 trailing drawdown at $100K against a $6,000 target as of 13 September 2026. The floor starts at $97,000.

Run the same numbers. You take the account from $100,000 to $106,000, a $6,000 run. The floor has followed you to $103,000. You then lose $3,001. Equity is $102,999, below the floor, and the account closes with $2,999 of net profit still showing. A static $3,000 floor at $97,000 would have survived the same loss with $5,999 to spare.

Many firms stop the floor at the starting balance or after a set buffer of profit. Our dataset does not record where each firm stops it, so check the firm's page for that number before you trade; it changes what a funded account is worth.

End of day versus intraday

Two trailing variants treat open profit differently. An end-of-day trailing floor moves once a day, using the closing balance. An intraday trailing floor moves with peak equity during the session, including profit on trades you have not closed.

Apex offers both. Its product split of 1 March 2026 created separate end-of-day and intraday products ^[1], and the end-of-day variant carries a separate daily loss limit of $1,500 at $100K while the intraday variant has none. MFFU also offers both variants. Alpha Capital Group, Funded Trading Plus and SabioTrade record intraday trailing in our dataset. Lucid Trading, Hola Prime, Blue Guardian, Bulenox, E8 Markets, IQ Capital Rapid and TradeDay record end-of-day trailing.

Intraday trailing punishes open profit you do not bank. Start at $100,000 with a $3,000 intraday trailing floor at $97,000. A trade runs $2,500 in your favour and you hold. Peak equity is $102,500, so the floor moves to $99,500. The trade reverses and you exit flat at $100,000. You have banked nothing and your room has fallen from $3,000 to $500. Under an end-of-day floor the same session ends with the balance at $100,000, so the floor stays at $97,000 and your room stays at $3,000.

What our dataset shows

31 of 36 firms record a drawdown mode in structured form as of 5 November 2026. Counting a firm once for each mode it uses on at least one programme, 20 use end-of-day trailing, 10 intraday trailing, 19 static, 4 trailing to breakeven, 3 trailing with no stated basis and 2 balance-based. As of 13 September 2026, the 4 static firms were The5ers, Breakout, FundedNext and Moneta Funded, and 14 firms described the rule in prose only, FTMO, FundingPips and Topstep among them. Topstep brands its limit "The One Rule" and sets it at $3,000 at $100K, but its page does not state the mode in a form our screener can record.

That is a disclosure gap at the most important rule in the product: a trader comparing Topstep's $3,000 with Apex's $3,000 cannot tell from the pricing page whether the two floors behave the same way. Our screener stores the sentence behind every figure ^[2]; where none exists, the field stays empty rather than guessed.

Daily loss limits

A daily loss limit closes the day, or the account, when you lose a set amount in one session. Firms measure it against either the day's starting balance or the running equity, and the second version counts open losses. Our dataset does not record which basis a firm uses; the firm's page does.

Very few firms publish the limit as structured data. FTMO applies 5 percent on its 2-Step and 3 percent on its 1-Step. FundedNext's Stellar 2-Step applies 5 percent. The5ers applies 5 percent on High Stakes and 3 percent on Growth. Take Profit Trader confirmed on 6 September 2026 that it applies no daily loss limit on any tier ^[5]. Most firms publish the limit only in prose.

A daily limit changes how a trailing floor plays out. With Apex's end-of-day product at $100K, the $1,500 daily limit means you cannot lose the full $3,000 in one session; it takes two losing days at the limit to reach the floor from the start. The intraday variant has no daily limit, so one session can end the account. On FTMO's 2-Step the 5 percent daily limit is half the 10 percent maximum, so two full daily losses close that account too.

Which suits which style

Match the floor to how long you hold. A trailing floor, and an intraday one in particular, rewards taking profit off the table and punishes letting a winner run and come back. That fits a style that closes trades within the session and banks small gains. A static floor tolerates open drawdown on the way to a larger target, which fits a style that holds positions through noise and accepts giving back part of a run. Neither is safer in the abstract: Apex's $3,000 floor is 3 percent of the account and FTMO's is 10 percent, and the price of the extra room is a 10 percent profit target against Apex's 6 percent.

Do the arithmetic on your own typical winner before you pay. If your average winning trade shows $2,000 of open profit before you close it, an intraday trailing floor of $3,000 leaves you $1,000 of room after every good trade you hold too long.

What this means for you

Ask which floor you are buying before you compare prices. 5 of 36 firms in our dataset do not state the drawdown mode in a form we can record as of 5 November 2026, so the answer may be on the terms page and nowhere else.

Run the trailing example on your own numbers. A $6,000 run followed by a $3,001 loss closes an Apex $100K account at $2,999 of profit. If that sequence describes a normal week for you, a $3,000 trailing floor is the wrong product.

Treat a missing daily loss limit as a rule, not a gift. A single session can then reach the floor, on trailing products above all. Take Profit Trader states none; Apex's intraday variant has none; most firms tell you only in prose.

Data note

Figures marked "our dataset" come from the PropTraderCheck structured dataset, and each carries its own date. Figures as of 13 September 2026 come from that snapshot: 30 firms with structured programme data (of 37 tracked), 159 programme rows, 48 programmes. Figures as of 5 November 2026 come from that snapshot: 36 firms with structured programme data, 916 programme rows. Regulatory positions are stated as of the date given and change.