Rules and risk
The consistency rule:what it is and how to pass it.
A consistency rule caps how much of your total profit can come from a single trading day. If your best day is too large a share, you have not passed yet, even above the target. At GFN, Instant and 1 Step have no consistency rule; the 2 Step caps any single day at 35% of total profit.
What is a consistency rule?
A limit on how concentrated your profit can be. The firm divides your best day's profit by your total profit, and if that share is above its threshold, the evaluation is not complete - even when the balance is already past the target.
The purpose is to separate a repeatable strategy from one position that happened to work. A trader who makes the whole target in one session has shown that one session went well. A trader whose profit is spread across days has shown more. The rule does fail accounts that are technically in profit, which is exactly why it has to be read before buying rather than discovered afterward.
The threshold, and the stage of the account it applies to, are set by each firm's own terms. The only version that matters is the one attached to the account you buy.
How is the consistency rule calculated?
| Question | Formula |
|---|---|
| Am I inside the rule? | Best day's profit ÷ total profit ≤ the limit |
| How much total profit do I need? | Best day's profit ÷ the limit |
| What is the most one day can make toward a target? | Target × the limit |
At GFN's 35%, that gives a quick lookup: whatever your best day is, total profit has to reach it divided by 0.35.
| Best day | Total profit needed |
|---|---|
| $1,000 | $2,857 |
| $1,400 | $4,000 |
| $2,000 | $5,714 |
| $3,000 | $8,571 |
| $5,000 | $14,286 |
Losing days matter too. They reduce total profit, which raises the best day's share. The ratio improves by adding profit on other days, not by giving back profit on the best one.
A worked example
The phase 1 target is 8%, or $4,000. Here is a run that reaches it and is still not finished.
- Day 1
- +$1,900
- Day 2
- +$800
- Day 3
- +$700
- Day 4
- +$600
- Total profit
- $4,000
Target reached.
- Best day as a share of total
- 47.5%
$1,900 ÷ $4,000. Above the 35% limit, so the phase is not complete.
- Total profit needed
- $5,429
$1,900 ÷ 0.35. About $1,429 more, made on days smaller than $1,900.
Had the plan been to keep every day under $1,400 - 35% of the $4,000 target - the same $4,000 would have passed on the day it was reached. Throughout, the $2,500 daily loss limit and the $4,000 max drawdown, fixed at $46,000, still apply. The dashboard calculation is the official one.
Does GFN have a consistency rule?
On one program of three. Anyone telling you GFN has no consistency rule is describing Instant and 1 Step, not the 2 Step.
| Program | Consistency rule | Other rules that shape how you trade |
|---|---|---|
| Instant | None | 3% daily loss limit, 5% trailing drawdown, withdrawals capped at 2% per cycle |
| 1 Step | None | One 10% target, no minimum trading days |
| 2 Step | 35% max in one day | At least 3 trading days with 0.5% profit, two phases |
How do you trade with a consistency rule?
- Set a daily ceiling from the target. Target × 35% is the most one day can contribute. On a $50,000 phase 1, that is $1,400.
- Know your best day at all times. It is the number that sets how much total profit you need, and it only ever goes up.
- Treat an outsized day as extra work, not a head start. A day far above your ceiling raises the total you need.
- Do not try to fix the ratio by losing. A loss lowers total profit and makes the share worse.
- Size positions so an ordinary day cannot become an outlier. A position large enough to make the target in one trade is large enough to break the rule, or the daily loss limit.
Should you choose a prop firm without a consistency rule?
Only if the program without one suits you in every other way. At GFN, the two programs with no consistency rule pay for it elsewhere: the 1 Step costs more than the 2 Step at every size both sell, and Instant has a lower share and a capped withdrawal. The 2 Step is the cheapest way in and includes a free retake, and the consistency rule is part of what that price buys.
If your strategy naturally produces a few large days and many flat ones, a consistency rule will work against you and a program without one is the better fit. If your profit is already spread across the week, the rule costs you very little.
Questions
Sources
This guide relies on no external sources. Every GFN figure in it is generated from the same published pricing and rules data the checkout uses.