Prop Firm Drawdown Calculator

Model a static, end-of-day trailing or intraday trailing maximum drawdown day by day — including the lock at the starting balance and a daily loss limit.

Last reviewed on October 4, 2026

Calculator

Starting balance ($)

Max drawdown ($)

e.g. 10% of $100K = 10000

Daily loss limit ($, optional)

Measured from the previous close. 0 = none.

Drawdown type Static (fixed floor at start − drawdown) Trailing, end-of-day (floor moves up after each closing high) Trailing, intraday (floor follows the highest equity reached, including open profit)

Stop trailing at a lock level

Many futures firms stop the trailing floor once it reaches the starting balance.

Lock level ($)

Usually the starting balance; some firms use start + $100.

Daily results — one day per line: close or close, high, low

High and low are the highest and lowest account equity during the day (including open trades). Leave them out for balance-only rules.

The calculator is a model, not a firm's official tracker. Firms differ on details — whether the floor is touched at "equal to" or "below", whether commissions count, when the trading day resets, and whether a payout resets the floor. For intraday trailing it assumes the worst case: that the day's high came before the day's low. Always check the firm's own rulebook.

How each drawdown type is calculated

Static (fixed) drawdown

Floor = starting balance − maximum drawdown, and it never moves. A $100,000 account with a 10% static maximum loss is breached if equity ever reaches $90,000, no matter how much profit came first. This is the usual model for two-phase forex/CFD challenges.

End-of-day trailing drawdown

After each trading day, the firm takes the highest closing balance so far and sets the floor that far below it. During the day the floor does not move, so open profit that disappears before the close does not raise it. Many futures evaluations use this model.

Intraday (real-time) trailing drawdown

The floor follows the highest equity the account reaches at any moment, including unrealised profit on open trades. If a trade runs $1,500 into profit and then comes back to break-even, the floor has still risen by $1,500. This is the strictest version and the one that most often surprises new traders.

When the trailing stops: the lock

Most trailing futures rules stop trailing once the floor reaches a set level — commonly the starting balance (for example, a $50,000 account with a $2,000 trailing limit stops trailing once the balance has reached $52,000, leaving the floor fixed at $50,000). From then on it behaves like a static floor. Some firms lock at the starting balance plus a small amount, and some funded-account rules reset the floor after a payout.

Daily loss limit

A separate cap on how much can be lost in one trading day, measured from a daily reference point — the prior day's close, the day's starting balance, or the day's starting equity, depending on the firm. The calculator measures it from the previous close. Breaching it usually ends the day (futures) or the account (most forex/CFD challenges).

Worked example

The default inputs model a $50,000 account with a $2,000 end-of-day trailing drawdown that locks at $50,000 and a $1,000 daily loss limit. Day 2 closes at $52,400, so the floor rises to $50,400 — capped at the $50,000 lock. On day 5 equity dips to $50,600, still above the $50,000 floor, and no day loses $1,000 from the prior close, so the account survives. Switch the type to intraday and run it again: the day-2 high of $52,900 also only lifts the floor to the $50,000 lock, but untick the lock and the floor follows the $52,900 peak up to $50,900 — and day 5's $50,600 low becomes a breach.