---
title: "Buffer - Meaning & GFN's Figure - Get Funded Now"
description: "The distance between current equity and the nearest breach level. It is the only figure that tells you how much risk is available right now, and it…"
url: "https://getfundednow.com/glossary/buffer"
language: "en"
last_modified: "2026-09-22"
publisher: "Get Funded Now (getfundednow.com)"
translations:
  es: "https://getfundednow.com/es/glossary/buffer"
  pt-BR: "https://getfundednow.com/pt-br/glossary/buffer"
  fr: "https://getfundednow.com/fr/glossary/buffer"
  it: "https://getfundednow.com/it/glossary/buffer"
  de: "https://getfundednow.com/de/glossary/buffer"
disclosure: "All trading at Get Funded Now is simulated. 'Funded' means a simulated or virtual account; GFN is not a broker and does not hold client funds."
---

Drawdown and risk limits

# Buffer

The distance between current equity and the nearest breach level. It is the only figure that tells you how much risk is available right now, and it shrinks with commission and floating losses as well as with realised ones.

Also called: Cushion · Room

GFN’s figure

A fresh $100,000 GFN 2 Step account opens with two buffers: $5,000 to the daily loss limit and $8,000 to the drawdown floor. Instant opens with $3,000 and $5,000.

- **Instant Opening buffers on $100,000**: $3,000 daily, $5,000 overall
- **1 Step Opening buffers on $100,000**: $5,000 daily, $8,000 overall
- **2 Step Opening buffers on $100,000**: $5,000 daily, $8,000 overall

On Instant, a withdrawal also has to leave a 3% minimum withdrawal buffer in the account.

In detail

## Buffer, explained

There are always at least two buffers: one to the daily loss limit and one to the maximum drawdown floor. The smaller of the two is the one that binds, and on a fresh account it is usually the daily one.

Deliberately leaving a buffer rather than sizing up to the limit is the difference between a rule you can trade inside and a rule you meet head-on. A position sized to the exact limit breaches on the first tick of slippage.

[The rule in full →](https://getfundednow.com/rules/max-drawdown) · [Rules handbook](https://getfundednow.com/rules) · [More drawdown and risk limits](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/category/drawdown)

Related

## Terms that come with it

Most rules only make sense next to the ones they interact with. These are the entries this one depends on.

- [Drawdown floor](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/drawdown-floor) - The account level at which a maximum drawdown breach is recorded. It is the starting balance minus the drawdown allowance, expressed as a dollar figure rather than a percentage, and it is the single number to trade against.
- [Daily loss limit](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/daily-loss-limit) - The most an account may lose in one trading day before it breaches. Calculated as a percentage of the previous day's closing level, it resets at a fixed time each day and is the rule that ends most evaluations.
- [Maximum drawdown](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/maximum-drawdown) - The total loss an account may take before it is failed. Expressed as a percentage of the starting balance, it sets a floor: touch it and the account breaches, whatever the account has made up to that point.
- [Minimum withdrawal](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/minimum-withdrawal) - The smallest amount a firm will process, or the profit an account must hold before any withdrawal is permitted. The second form is a buffer that has to stay in the account rather than a transaction floor.
- [Position size](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/position-size) - How many lots a trade is placed in. It is calculated from the dollar amount being risked and the stop distance, not chosen first - which is the reverse of how most traders approach it.

Also governed by [/rules/max-drawdown](https://getfundednow.com/rules/max-drawdown)

[Balance-based drawdown](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/balance-based-drawdown) · [Hard breach](https://getfundednow.com/glossary/hard-breach)

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Source: https://getfundednow.com/glossary/buffer
Facts about Get Funded Now in one file: https://getfundednow.com/llms.txt