Drawdown and risk limits
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.
Also called: Relative drawdown · Moving drawdown
GFN’s figure
GFN's Instant programme uses a 5% trailing maximum drawdown. The 1 Step drawdown is relative during the evaluation and locks once the floor reaches your starting balance. The 2 Step does not trail at all.
- InstantDrawdown type
- 5% trailing, on equity
- 1 StepDrawdown type
- Relative during the evaluation, then locked at the starting balance
- 2 StepDrawdown type
- 8% fixed - never trails
In detail
Trailing drawdown,explained
A trailing floor rewards a steady account and punishes a volatile one. Run a good week and the breach level rises behind you, locking in what you made; give some back and you are closer to the floor than the same drawdown on a fixed account would leave you.
The detail that decides how harsh it is: whether the floor trails forever, or stops once it reaches your starting balance. A floor that locks at break-even eventually stops tightening. One that trails indefinitely never does.
Worked example
A $100,000 Instant account starts with its floor at $95,000. Run the account to $106,000 and the floor has trailed to $101,000 - the gain is protected, but the room below you has not grown.
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.
High-water mark
The highest level an account has ever reached. On a trailing drawdown it is the reference point the floor is measured down from, so every new high permanently moves the breach level upward.
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.
Equity-based drawdown
A drawdown measured against live account equity, which includes the unrealised profit and loss of every open position. The breach level can be touched while a trade is still running, before anything is closed.
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