More funded accounts die to trailing drawdown than to any other rule. You have a great day, bank a few thousand in open profit, give some back before the close, and the account liquidates even though you finished green. If that story sounds familiar, you are not looking for a better strategy. You are looking for a firm whose drawdown model does not punish you for it.
This guide explains the three drawdown models in plain terms, names the firms that avoid intraday trailing, and clears up the myths that trip traders up. Rules change often, so treat every number here as a starting point and confirm the current figures on each firm's own rules page before you buy.
The three drawdown models
- Intraday (real-time) trailing. The loss floor follows your peak equity tick by tick, including unrealized profit. A spike you give back the same session can breach you even if you close in profit. This is the model that catches most traders out.
- End-of-day (EOD) trailing. The floor only recalculates on your closed end-of-day balance. Intraday dips that recover before the session close are ignored. Much easier to live with.
- Static (fixed) drawdown. The floor is set once from your initial balance and never moves, up or down. You always know your exact stop-out. This is the most forgiving model, because your profits become a real buffer instead of dragging the limit up behind you.
One detail matters more than the label: many trailing accounts lock once the floor reaches your starting balance. After that point your original capital is protected and every dollar of profit is pure cushion. A trailing account that locks at initial behaves like a static one the moment you are in profit, which is why it pays to read past the headline.
Forex and CFD firms that use static drawdown
Most forex and CFD firms use a fixed max loss measured from your initial balance on their standard evaluations. Trailing is usually reserved for instant-funding products. Examples worth checking:
- FTMO (2-Step). The maximum loss is 10% of the initial account size and does not trail. The 1-Step product, by contrast, uses an end-of-day trailing limit that locks at the initial balance.
- The5ers (High Stakes). A 10% absolute max loss from the initial balance across both phases, with a separate daily limit.
- FundingPips and FundedNext. Their standard 1-Step and 2-Step accounts use a static balance-based max loss. Only the instant or zero-style accounts trail.
The pattern is the same everywhere: the evaluation product is often static, while the instant-funding version trails. Never judge a firm by one plan.
Futures firms that avoid intraday trailing
Pure static drawdown is rare in futures, but several firms use end-of-day trailing that locks at your starting balance, which is far kinder than intraday trailing:
- Topstep. The Maximum Loss Limit trails your end-of-day balance only, then locks permanently once it reaches your starting balance.
- Tradeify. Every plan uses end-of-day trailing that locks once you are about $100 above your starting balance.
- MyFundedFutures. Its Core and Pro plans use end-of-day trailing. The Rapid plan uses intraday, so read the plan, not the brand.
- Apex Trader Funding. Since its March 2026 rebuild, Apex sells both an end-of-day and an intraday account, so you can choose the EOD version.
Three myths to avoid
- No trailing does not mean no max loss. Every firm here still has a hard floor. Static simply means the floor does not move up. You can still blow the account by hitting the fixed number.
- EOD is not static. An end-of-day floor still ratchets up on new closing highs until it locks. It is more forgiving than intraday, not fixed.
- EOD does not mean no intraday risk. Topstep, Tradeify, Apex and the rest still check your live equity in real time. What is end of day is when the floor moves, not when it is enforced. Touch the current floor intraday and you are liquidated.
What to check before you buy
Ask four questions of the specific plan you are buying: is the drawdown static, EOD, or intraday? Does it lock at the initial balance? Does it count unrealized profit? Is there a separate daily loss limit on top? The answers decide how the account will feel far more than the profit split does.
Whichever model you pick, the trap is the same: you cannot manage a drawdown line you cannot see. A live prop firm dashboard that tracks your trailing or static drawdown in real time, across every account, with an alert before you reach the floor, turns an invisible rule into a number you can trade around. That is exactly what DeckLive is built to do.