Prop Firm Drawdown Calculator
Prop firm accounts fail on breached limits, not on losing trades. Enter your account size, the daily and overall limits and your current balance to see exactly how much room is left on each — and which one binds first.
Static versus trailing
This is the distinction that ends most funded accounts, and it is worth being precise about.
Static drawdown is measured from the starting balance and never moves. On a $100,000 account with a 10% limit, the floor is $90,000 permanently. Profits are yours and the floor stays where it was.
Trailing drawdown follows your highest balance. Run the same account to $104,000 and the floor rises to $94,000 — you can now lose only $10,000 from the peak, not from the start. Trailing rules can fail an account that is still up on the month, which is exactly the outcome traders find hardest to anticipate.
The default above shows it: a $100,000 account at $102,000 with a $104,000 high-water mark has $8,000 of overall room under trailing, versus $12,000 under static. Switch the dropdown and watch the number move.
Which limit binds first
The result names it. Early in an account the daily limit usually binds, because overall room is wide. After a bad week the overall limit takes over. Knowing which one is closer tells you what actually constrains today's position size — and it is frequently not the one traders are watching.
Size from the limit, not from the account
This is the single most useful habit for funded accounts. If $8,000 of room is left and you want to survive at least ten losing trades, the maximum risk per trade is $800 — regardless of what the account "size" says and regardless of the firm's stated maximum position size. Put that figure into the position size calculator as your risk budget rather than a percentage of nominal account size.
Rules that vary by firm
- Unrealised P&L. Many firms count open trade drawdown against the daily limit. An intraday spike against you can breach the rule before you close.
- Reset time. Daily limits reset at a specific hour in a specific timezone, often 5pm ET, not at your local midnight.
- What "balance" means. Some firms measure equity, some balance, and the difference matters when positions are open.
- Consistency rules. Separate from drawdown, some firms cap the share of total profit any single day may contribute.
These are not standardised. Read your own agreement — the calculator models the two common drawdown shapes, not any particular firm's full rule set.
The evaluation is a track record problem
Prop firm challenges test whether you can produce a specified result under specified constraints. That is the same thing a trading partner or a firm assessing you wants to know, and passing an evaluation only proves it to the one firm that watched. A public, timestamped record of what you committed to before each outcome proves it to everyone else — which is what kappi is for.
Why the limits are set where they are
Because the base rate for leveraged retail speculation is published, at least in one market. When ESMA restricted CFDs to retail investors in March 2018, national analyses found 74–89% of retail accounts lost money, with average losses of €1,600 to €29,000.[1] A drawdown limit is a firm pricing that distribution.
The number is the easy part
Everything above is arithmetic, and anyone opening this page gets the same answer. What no calculator can settle is whether you took the trade on these terms, or are describing — afterwards — the version of it that worked out.
That is what a trade recorder is for: the trade committed before it resolves, timestamped and sealed on the spot, on a Merkle-anchored log a stranger can check without kappi's cooperation. The plan you typed here stops being a plan you remember having. $15/month, no free tier.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?
Static is measured from the starting balance and never moves. Trailing follows your highest balance, so profits raise the floor and the account can be failed while still up on the month.
How do I calculate my remaining prop firm drawdown?
Subtract the drawdown floor from your current balance. For static, the floor is the starting balance minus the limit; for trailing, it is the high-water mark minus the limit.
Does unrealised profit and loss count toward the daily limit?
At many firms, yes. An open position moving against you intraday can breach the daily rule before you close it. Check your agreement.
How should I size positions on a funded account?
From the room remaining, not the nominal account size. If $8,000 of drawdown room is left and you want to survive ten losses, risk no more than $800 per trade.