Prop Firm Drawdown Calculator
Track how much further a funded account can fall before breaching its daily loss limit or maximum drawdown.
A funded-account evaluation is won by not breaching rules, not by making money quickly. Two rules do most of the damage, and a prop firm drawdown calculator exists to keep both in view: a daily loss limit that resets each session, and a maximum drawdown that does not.
Formula: headroom = balance - the higher of the daily and maximum drawdown floors
Your figures
The evaluation or funded account's nominal size.
Your balance or equity right now.
Static stays fixed; trailing follows your peak; trailing-then-locking stops at the starting balance.
As a percentage of account size. The default is the shape a challenge commonly takes rather than any firm's rule — replace it with the figure in your own account agreement.
As a percentage of account size. As above, a common shape rather than any firm's rule.
Optional — the daily limit is measured from this, not from account size.
Required for both trailing types, which measure the floor from the peak. Ignored by a static drawdown.
Optional — checks whether this specific trade fits inside the remaining capacity.
Results
Headroom remaining
US$5,000.00
5.00% of the current balance
- Breaches at a balance of
- US$95,000.00
- Daily loss limit
- US$5,000.00
- Daily headroom remaining
- US$5,000.00
- Maximum drawdown floor
- US$90,000.00
- Headroom to the maximum drawdown
- US$10,000.00
- Which rule binds first
- Daily loss limit
What this means
The account can fall a further US$5,000.00 before breaching, and it is the daily loss limit that binds first. Tomorrow the daily allowance resets, but the maximum drawdown floor does not.
- Rules differ between firms and between account types. This models the parameters you entered, not any particular firm's terms.
- Many firms measure the daily limit on equity including open positions, not just closed balance, so an open loss can breach it before you close.
Headroom remaining: US$5,000.00
The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Continue with these figures
About the Prop Firm Drawdown calculation
The number worth knowing at any moment is not your profit but your headroom — how much further the account can fall before one of those limits is hit, and which of the two will be hit first. That changes as the account moves, and it changes differently depending on whether the firm uses a static or a trailing drawdown.
It works as a daily drawdown calculator and a maximum drawdown tracker at once, estimating both floors and reporting which one binds. The rule parameters are inputs rather than assumptions, because funded account drawdown terms differ between firms and between account types at the same firm.
Prop Firm Drawdown formula
daily loss limit = account size × daily loss % ÷ 100
daily breach at = start-of-day balance − daily loss limit
drawdown allowance = account size × max drawdown % ÷ 100
static floor = account size − drawdown allowance
trailing floor = peak balance − drawdown allowance
trailing-then-lock = the trailing floor, but it stops at the account size
headroom = current balance − whichever floor is higher- static
- The floor is fixed below the starting balance and never moves, so profit is permanent breathing room.
- trailing
- The floor follows your highest balance, so profit drags it up behind you and never stops doing so. It trails at a fixed distance — the cash allowance the account size buys — rather than at a percentage of wherever the peak has reached.
- drawdown allowance
- The cash the account may lose from its reference point. It is a percentage of the account size and is fixed the moment the account is opened, so it does not grow as the balance does.
- trailing-then-lock
- Trails until it reaches the starting balance, then stops. Common on futures evaluations.
The daily limit is measured from the balance at the start of the day, not from the account size. That is why a losing day following a winning day still gets the full daily allowance — and why a mid-day figure is only meaningful if you know where the day opened.
The difference between static and trailing drawdown is the single most consequential rule detail on any evaluation. Under a static rule, $5,000 of profit gives you $5,000 of extra room permanently. Under a pure trailing rule it gives you none at all — the floor rises point for point with the peak, so the allowance is spent on the way back down from wherever the account got to.
The allowance itself is a cash amount, and this is the detail that most often gets stated wrongly. On a $100,000 account with a 10% maximum drawdown the allowance is $10,000, fixed. Once the peak reaches $110,000 the floor is $100,000, not the $99,000 that taking 10% off the peak would give: the percentage is of the account size, which does not move, and not of the peak, which does. Firms that instead trail a percentage of peak equity exist, and the limitations below say so, because this calculator cannot know which kind of rule your agreement carries.
Which limit binds first flips during a challenge. Early on, with the account near its starting balance, the daily limit is usually tighter. After a drawdown the maximum becomes the binding one, and it does not reset overnight.
Prop Firm Drawdown: a worked example
A $100,000 account with a 5% daily loss limit and a 10% static maximum drawdown, currently at $92,000 after a drawdown, with the day having opened at $92,000.
- Daily loss limit100,000 × 5% = $5,000
- Daily breach level92,000 − 5,000 = $87,000
- Daily headroom$5,000
- Static drawdown floor100,000 × 0.90 = $90,000
- Headroom to the floor92,000 − 90,000 = $2,000
- Binding constraintMaximum drawdown
Only $2,000 of room remains, even though the daily allowance is $5,000. The maximum drawdown binds, and unlike the daily limit it will not reset tomorrow.
How to use the Prop Firm Drawdown calculator
- Enter your account size and current balance.
- Select the drawdown type your firm uses. This matters more than any other input — check the account agreement rather than guessing.
- Enter the daily loss limit and maximum drawdown as percentages of account size.
- Add the balance at the start of today if you have traded already; the daily limit is measured from it.
- Add your highest balance reached if the drawdown is a trailing type. It is required for both trailing types rather than optional, because the floor is measured from the peak and there is no safe way to guess it — assuming the current balance is the peak reports more headroom than the rule allows, which is the one direction this must never err in.
- Watch the binding constraint, not just the headroom figure. Which rule is closest determines what you can do next.
Limitations of the Prop Firm Drawdown calculator
Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.
- The max drawdown a prop firm applies differs between firms and between account types, as does the daily limit. This models the parameters you enter, not any particular firm's terms.
- Many firms measure the daily limit on equity including open positions, so an open loss can breach it before you close anything.
- Some firms reset the daily limit at a specific server time rather than at midnight in your timezone, which can catch out positions held across the boundary.
- Commissions and swap are deducted from the balance and count towards a breach, but are not modelled here.
- Does not account for firms that use a percentage of equity rather than balance, or that exclude unrealised profit from the peak.
Frequently asked questions about Prop Firm Drawdown
What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?
A static floor sits a fixed amount below your starting balance and never moves, so every dollar of profit is permanent breathing room. A trailing floor sits that same fixed amount below your highest balance instead, so profit pulls the floor up with it and you never gain lasting room. The distance is the same in both cases — the account size times the drawdown percentage — and only the point it hangs from differs. The same nominal 10% limit is far more restrictive when it trails.
Does the daily loss limit reset overnight?
Yes, at whatever time the firm defines as the start of its trading day. The maximum drawdown does not reset — it is cumulative for the life of the account, which is why it becomes the binding constraint after any significant drawdown.
Is the limit measured on balance or on equity?
It depends on the firm, and it matters a great deal. Firms measuring equity include open positions, so a position sitting in a large unrealised loss can breach the limit before you close it. Firms measuring closed balance do not. Check which applies to your account.
What does 'trailing then locking' mean?
The floor trails your peak until it reaches your starting balance, then stops. In practice that means once you are up by the drawdown amount, the worst case becomes breaking even rather than losing. It is common on futures evaluations and is considerably more forgiving than a pure trailing rule.
Can I use this as an FTMO drawdown calculator?
Yes, provided you enter the rules from your own account agreement. This is not affiliated with FTMO or any other firm, and no firm's rule set is stored here — the figures the fields open with are the shape an evaluation commonly takes, chosen so the page shows something on arrival, and they are labelled as such. Type in the daily loss limit, the maximum drawdown and the drawdown type your programme actually uses, since those terms differ by firm and are revised from time to time.
My headroom shows as negative. What now?
On the figures entered the account is at or below a limit. Breaches are normally enforced automatically and immediately, so check the account status with the firm directly rather than relying on this calculation.
Last reviewed . See our methodology and editorial policy.
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