Static vs Trailing Drawdown, Explained
Static, EOD trailing, intraday trailing and trailing equity, with worked examples.
Last updated 19 Oct 2026The drawdown rule is the one that ends most prop firm evaluations. Firms use four main types: static, end-of-day trailing, intraday trailing and trailing equity. Two plans can share the same dollar amount and still give you very different room once you start winning. Below, each type is explained with numbers on a 50K or 100K account, then run through the same week of trades.
Why the drawdown type matters more than the size
Two accounts with the same $2,000 max loss can behave completely differently. On one the floor never moves; on another it follows every dollar of open profit. The type of drawdown decides how much room you really have on day five, after a few winning trades, and that is where most evaluations are passed or lost.
Static
Max loss sits at a fixed level, for example $90,000 on a 100K account with 10% max loss. It never moves, however much profit you make.
Static is the simplest rule to trade. If you make $4,000 in the first week, your balance is $104,000 and the floor is still $90,000, so you now have $14,000 of room. The catch is the start: firms that offer static drawdown on futures usually set it tighter, for example $1,000 on a 50K account instead of $2,000, so the first few trades have little margin for error.
EOD trailing
The threshold trails your highest end-of-day balance. Close the day at $52,000 on a 50K account with a $2,000 drawdown and your new floor is $50,000. Intraday swings don’t count.
Day by day on that 50K account: you start at $50,000 with the floor at $48,000. Day one closes at $50,800, so the floor moves to $48,800. Day two you are up $1,200 at lunch, give it back and close at $50,600: the floor stays at $48,800 because only the close counts, and $50,600 is below the previous high close. Day three closes at $51,500 and the floor moves to $49,500. During each day you can still lose down to the floor, and on many plans a separate daily loss limit stops you earlier.
Intraday trailing
The threshold follows your highest open equity tick by tick. A trade that runs up $900 and comes back to breakeven has cost you $900 of room.
Same 50K account, same $2,000, intraday trailing: you buy NQ and the trade runs up $900 before you get out at $300. Your equity peaked at $50,900, so the floor is now $48,900, even though you only banked $300. Do that three times in a day and you end the session $900 up, but the floor has risen $1,500, to $49,500: $1,400 of room left, where end-of-day trailing would still leave you $2,000. Intraday trailing punishes trades that run and come back, and it is the main reason good traders fail evaluations they could pass on other rules.
Trailing equity
Common at forex firms: the floor rises with your equity high and usually stops once it reaches the starting balance.
The difference from EOD trailing is what gets measured. Trailing equity includes open trades, so a position that is $3,000 in profit lifts the floor by $3,000 even before you close it. Some forex plans measure the daily loss on equity as well: if you start the day at $100,000 with a 5% daily limit, the account fails at $95,000 of equity, open losses included, even if you would have closed the trade in profit an hour later.
When trailing stops trailing
Most trailing drawdowns stop rising once the floor reaches your starting balance; some firms lock it slightly above. On a 50K account with a $2,000 EOD trailing drawdown, the floor starts at $48,000, follows your best closing balance up, and locks at $50,000 once you have closed a day at $52,000. From then on it behaves like a static drawdown.
That lock point is worth planning for. Until it is reached, every winning day tightens the rope; after it, profit is pure cushion. On a funded account, many traders aim to reach the lock before taking the first payout, because a payout lowers the balance but not the floor.
Daily loss limit vs max loss
Most plans combine a max loss with a daily loss limit. Breaking the max loss ends the account. Breaking the daily limit usually ends only the day: positions are closed and you trade again tomorrow. Some firms treat the daily limit as a hard breach that fails the account, so read which kind it is. Plans with no daily loss limit give you more freedom in one session and more ways to lose the whole account in one bad afternoon.
One week, three rules
Take the same five days on a 50K account with $2,000 of drawdown. Monday you close up $600. Tuesday a trade runs up $1,000 and you close flat. Wednesday you lose $900. Thursday you close up $1,100. Friday you lose $1,500.
- Static ($48,000 floor): the week ends at $49,300 with $1,300 of room left.
- EOD trailing: the floor rises to $48,600 after Monday and to $48,800 after Thursday’s close at $50,800. Friday ends at $49,300 with $500 of room left.
- Intraday trailing: Tuesday’s unrealised $1,600 peak lifts the floor to $49,600; Wednesday’s loss leaves you at $49,700, just $100 above it. Thursday has to start with a winner: the first $100 of drawdown ends the account.
Same trades, three outcomes. The rule you trade under changes the result as much as the trades do.
Which one suits your trading
Scalpers who bank small gains and rarely let a trade run far into profit usually cope with intraday trailing. Traders who hold for bigger moves, or scale into positions, give back open profit during the day and are better served by end-of-day trailing or static. If your winners often pull back before you close them, intraday trailing keeps eating your room.
- Most room: static.
- Fair for swing-style futures: EOD trailing.
- Least forgiving: intraday trailing.
How to protect the floor
- Size every trade so that the distance to the floor covers at least four or five full losses, not one.
- On intraday trailing, take partial profit early or use a tighter trailing stop, because every tick of open profit you give back costs room.
- On EOD trailing, the close is what moves the floor: a big winning day locks in a higher floor for tomorrow, so the next day starts tighter.
- Write down the floor at the start of each day. Platforms show it, but having the number in front of you stops the trade that would cross it.