Drawdown and risk limits
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.
Also called: Breach level · Stop-out level
GFN’s figure
On a $100,000 GFN account the floor starts at $92,000 on the 2 Step and stays there, $92,000 on the 1 Step before the add-on, and $95,000 on Instant before it trails.
- InstantOpening floor on $100,000
- $95,000, then trails up
- 1 StepOpening floor on $100,000
- $92,000 standard, $90,000 with the add-on
- 2 StepFloor on $100,000
- $92,000, fixed
In detail
Drawdown floor,explained
Percentages are what firms publish; the floor is what you actually need. Converting the rule into one dollar figure removes the arithmetic from the moment you are least able to do it, which is mid-trade with a position running against you.
Whether the floor moves is the whole question. A fixed floor is set once. A trailing floor recalculates every time the account makes a new high, so the number has to be re-read rather than remembered.
Related
Terms thatcome with it
Most rules only make sense next to the ones they interact with. These are the entries this one depends on.
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.
Non-trailing drawdown
A maximum drawdown calculated once against the starting balance and then left alone. The breach level is the same number on your first day and after months of profit, so the cushion grows with every dollar you make.
Trailing drawdown
A maximum drawdown whose floor follows the account upward as it makes new highs. The distance between your peak and the breach level stays constant, so every new high moves the stop-out level with it.
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.
Hard breach
A violation serious enough to fail or terminate the account immediately. Exceeding the daily loss limit or the maximum drawdown is the usual cause, and a later recovery in the market does not reverse it.
Also governed by /rules/max-drawdown
Ready when you are
Your capital stays yours.The risk is ours.
One evaluation fee, no time limits and up to 90% of simulated profits. Pick an account size and your credentials arrive by email within minutes.
No subscriptions or hidden fees
Payouts every 14 days
$400,000 max total allocation