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Risk and performance

Intraday trailing drawdown:a floor that follows open profit.

An intraday trailing drawdown is a loss limit that follows the account's highest equity in real time, including unrealised profit on open trades. Each new equity high lifts the floor, and it never moves down. An end-of-day trailing drawdown instead updates only from the balance at the day's close, so open profit given back intraday does not raise it.

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How an intraday trailing drawdown works

Drawdown is the fall from a running peak. A trailing drawdown turns that into a limit: the floor sits a fixed amount below the highest value the account has reached, and moves up whenever a new high is made.

Intraday means the peak is taken from equity at every moment, not from the closing balance. If a trade is up $2,000 at its best and closes up $500, the floor has already moved up by the full $2,000 peak - the $1,500 given back came out of your room.

Intraday vs end-of-day vs static

Three common designs, compared on what moves the floor.

How the three designs set the floor
DesignWhat sets the peakEffect of open profit given back
Intraday trailingHighest equity at any moment, open profit includedReduces the room permanently
End-of-day trailingHighest closing balanceNo effect unless kept at the close
Static (non-trailing)Fixed from the starting balanceNo effect

Firms differ in which design they use and whether the trail stops at some level. Read the rule for the account you trade.

Which GFN programmes trail, and how

GFN's trailing drawdown follows new equity highs. On Instant the floor starts 5% below the starting balance and trails from there. On 1 Step it trails by 8% until equity reaches $108,000 on a $100,000 account, after which it stays fixed at the starting balance. The 2 Step drawdown does not trail. Full detail is on the trailing drawdown rule.

Step by step

How to identify it

To know where your floor is at any moment, track the peak, not the balance.

  1. Find out whether the account's limit is intraday trailing, end-of-day trailing or static, and whether it stops trailing at some level.
  2. Note the highest equity reached, including open profit at its best.
  3. Subtract the drawdown allowance from that peak to get the current floor.
  4. Compare current equity to that floor, not the starting balance, before opening another trade.

Worked example

The concept,walked through

A trailing floor on a $100,000 Instant account

An illustrative sequence using Instant's 5% trailing drawdown. The trades are described, not real.

  1. 1. StartEquity is $100,000. The floor is $95,000, $5,000 below.
  2. 2. Open profit peaksA trade takes equity to $103,000 at its best. The floor moves up to $98,000.
  3. 3. Profit given backThe trade is closed at breakeven, back at $100,000. The floor stays at $98,000.

The account is where it started, but the room to the floor has fallen from $5,000 to $2,000. The peak, not the close, set the limit.

Common mistakes

Where tradersgo wrong

Measuring room from the starting balance

On a trailing account the floor may be well above where it began.

Letting large open profits reverse

Under intraday trailing, a winner that round-trips still tightens the limit.

Confusing it with the daily loss limit

The trailing drawdown is a separate, overall limit; both apply at once.

Limitations

What it cannottell you

No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.

  • Knowing how the floor moves does not change the odds of any trade; it only tells you how much room is left.
  • Designs vary between firms and programmes, so an explanation of the concept is no substitute for the account's own rule.

In an evaluation

Using it on asimulated account

On GFN accounts that trail, the trailing drawdown and the daily loss limit - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step - apply at the same time, and whichever is closer binds first.

The drawdown calculator shows where the floor sits for a given account and peak.

Trading rule

What is trailing drawdown?

GFN's trailing rule and where it stops trailing.

Trading rule

What is static, non-trailing drawdown?

The 2 Step's fixed floor, for comparison.

Trading rule

What is the daily loss limit?

The separate daily ceiling - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step.

Questions

Asked aboutthis concept

Yes. The peak is taken from equity, which includes unrealised profit on open trades, so the floor rises as soon as open profit makes a new high.

No. It only moves up with new peaks. Some designs stop trailing at a set level and stay fixed from then on.

Keep learning

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Sources

What this pagerelied on

  1. Drawdown (economics) - Wikipedia. Retrieved 23 September 2026. Drawdown as the decline from a running peak, the basis of every trailing limit.

Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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