What is daily drawdown in a prop firm?

How is daily drawdown calculated?

Most firms fix a floor at the start of the trading day and measure your equity against it. FTMO takes "the account balance recorded at 00:00 CE(S)T of the current day" and subtracts the daily amount: 3% of the starting capital on its 1-Step account and 5% on its 2-Step. In FTMO's own example for a $100,000 2-Step account, a balance of $102,000 at midnight sets that day's limit at $102,000 − $5,000 = $97,000, and equity must stay above it all day. FundedNext sets the amount as "Initial Balance × Daily Loss Limit Percentage" instead, and profit made during the day adds to it: on its example, "make a $2,000 profit by noon, your new loss limit for that day becomes $7,000".

When does the daily drawdown reset?

At the firm's own midnight, which is rarely yours. FTMO resets at 00:00 Central European time; FundedNext at 00:00 server time, which is GMT+3 in summer and GMT+2 in winter; Alpha Capital at 00:00 GMT+3; and Topstep's trading day runs from 5 PM to 3:10 PM Central Time. A trade held across the reset carries its open loss into the new day, where it counts against the new day's limit.

Do open trades count toward the daily drawdown?

Yes, at every firm we checked. FTMO measures its limits on equity, "Balance + Open Positions P/L ± Swaps – Commissions"; Alpha Capital says "breaches are always applied based on open trades (unrealised losses)"; FundedNext counts losses "either through closed or open trades". A position can break the limit before a single trade has closed.

Daily drawdown rules by firm

From each firm's own rules pages, read in September 2026, for a $100,000 account.

Topstep is the exception on what happens next: its optional daily limit stops you trading for the rest of the day, and in its words "Triggering it is not a rule violation". At the others the daily limit is one of the rules the account must not break.

Daily drawdown vs max drawdown

An "end-of-day" drawdown is not a daily limit. It is a trailing maximum loss that is updated once a day from the day's closing balance: FTMO's 1-Step limit trails "the highest account balance achieved at 00:00 CE(S)T of any preceding trading day", and Topstep's maximum loss "rises as your end-of-day balance grows". See trailing drawdown and maximum drawdown.

How many losing trades fit inside a daily limit?

Divide the limit by the risk per trade, then leave room for slippage and for any trade still open. Full losses that fit inside the limit without reaching it:

Gold makes the limit tighter than the arithmetic suggests. In our data, one gold down day in ten moved $122.41 an ounce or more from close to close, which on a single standard lot is more than twice a 5% limit on $100,000; the working is on the funded account page.

Does MetaTrader 5 track daily drawdown?

Not for you. The firm measures its daily limit on its own servers, against its own clock, and MetaTrader 5 shows your balance and equity but not the firm's limit. To stop before the firm does, set a daily loss limit in your EA or a risk-manager tool below the firm's, and check the firm's own account metrics during the day.