Trailing drawdown explained: intraday vs end of day vs static

A trailing drawdown is a loss floor that rises with your account’s high-water mark and never moves down. Intraday trailing follows the highest equity the account has reached, open profit included. End-of-day trailing moves once a day, from the highest closing balance so far. Static never moves. On the Apex, Tradeify, TradeDay, My Funded Futures and Elite EOD plans covered below, the existing floor is enforced throughout the session, not only at the close.

Two terms matter throughout. Your balance counts closed trades. Your equity, which firms may call net liquidation value, also includes the unrealized P&L on open positions.

Below, one set of trades runs through each type, followed by the lock rules for seven firms, as written on their own pages in November 2026. When you compare accounts, check the drawdown type, the lock level and the payout rules, because all three change where your floor sits.

What is a trailing drawdown?

It’s a threshold set a fixed distance below the account’s high-water mark. The distance stays the same while the floor follows that mark up. When equity falls, the floor stays where it is. Touching the threshold can breach the account under the firm’s rules.

Firms use different words for the same parts, and the terms vary from one firm to the next:

• The allowance: the dollar distance, usually called max drawdown or trailing max drawdown.
• The level: the account value that triggers a breach, called the floor, limit, threshold or minimum account balance.
• The high-water mark: on intraday, the highest equity since the account began. On EOD, the highest closing balance so far.
• The stop: lock or freeze.

Max loss limit (MLL) can mean either the allowance or the level, depending on the page, so check which one a firm means. When Lucid says the MLL locks and TradeDay says the limit freezes, they’re describing the same event.

Is a trailing drawdown the same as a daily loss limit?

No. A trailing drawdown runs for the life of the account. A daily loss limit is a separate rule for one session, and what it does varies by firm. Tradeify says reaching it pauses trading for the session rather than failing the account, and My Funded Futures describes a soft pause on its Builder plan. On Elite Trader Funding’s EOD plan, an open trade that takes the balance through the daily loss limit fails the account.

Intraday vs end-of-day vs static drawdown

Here’s one 50K account with a $2,000 drawdown, trading the same three days under each type.

Example figures, not from any one firm. The EOD floor changes only after the day closes, which is why it still reads $48,000 at Day 1’s peak. Day 3’s dip fails the intraday account because its floor rose to $49,000 on an open profit that wasn’t kept. The same dip leaves the other two accounts open, with the EOD account $500 from its floor.

An open profit can raise an intraday floor even if you give that profit back. An EOD floor moves only when you set a higher closing balance.

Intraday trailing drawdown

The high-water mark is the highest equity reached since the account began. It carries across sessions until the firm’s lock rule stops it. TradeDay’s drawdown article shows that carry-over on a $100,000 account with a $3,000 limit. Equity peaks at $101,000 on day 1, so the limit rises from $97,000 to $98,000. The day closes flat, and a $1,000 loss on day 2 leaves the balance at $99,000 with the limit still at $98,000. That trader is down $1,000 but has only $1,000 of room left, not $2,000.

Apex’s intraday article shows the same effect within one trade on a 50K: open profit takes equity to $50,900, the floor moves from $48,000 to $48,900 at once, and it stays there when the trade closes at $50,300.

End-of-day trailing drawdown

The floor updates once a day, after the close, from the highest closing balance so far. A lower close leaves it alone. Apex’s EOD article uses a 50K with a $2,000 drawdown: closes of $50,800, $51,600, $50,900 and $52,000 put the floor at $48,800, $49,600, still $49,600, then $50,000. Firms set the cut-off differently. Apex recalculates at 4:59:59 PM ET, and TradeDay takes the balance at the 16:00 CT close.

Static drawdown

The floor is fixed when the account is created, and it never follows new profits upward. Elite Trader Funding’s static plan example starts at $50,000 with a $2,000 max loss, and the floor stays at $48,000 however much profit you make.

Headroom can grow on trailing accounts too: an EOD account gains it during a session before its floor updates, and equity recovering below an existing high-water mark gains it without moving the floor. What sets static apart is that new highs never pull the floor up behind them.

Elite’s static drawdown page lists a smaller max drawdown and contract limits among the downsides, and says trailing plans often come with slightly cheaper entry pricing or larger headline account sizes. Static may suit a trader who wants a fixed number to work against.

Where the trailing stops: the lock

Many trailing floors stop moving at some point, and from then on they behave like a static floor. A common locked level is $100 above the starting balance, though what triggers the lock differs by product and stage. Take Profit Trader and TradeDay stop the floor at the starting balance instead.

From each firm’s own help centre or site at the time of writing (November 2026). Two rows are worked out from the firm’s rule: TradeDay’s limit freezes at the starting balance on a $2,000 drawdown, and MFFU Rapid EOD starts at $0 with a $2,000 drawdown that locks at $100.

Larger accounts differ by plan. Tradeify’s 100K triggers are $103,600 on Growth, $104,100 on Lightning, $103,100 on Select Flex and $102,600 on Select Daily. LucidFlex 100K locks at $100,100 once a closing balance exceeds $103,100.

Accounts that don’t lock

Apex’s Tradovate evaluations trail indefinitely, on both EOD and intraday, while its Rithmic and WealthCharts evaluations stop at the profit-target balance. Tradeify says its drawdown lock applies only to sim funded accounts, so a Growth, Select or Lightning evaluation keeps trailing. Elite’s EOD article describes a lock for its sim-funded stage and none for the evaluation. If you’re in an evaluation, don’t assume a lock exists until your firm’s page says so.

Payouts can lock it early

Some firms lock on the request and others wait for approval.

• Tradeify: sim funded accounts lock on a payout request as well as at the trigger balance.
• LucidFlex: once you request a payout, the MLL moves to the locked level.
• LucidDaily live: a live payout request locks the limit at $100, even before profit reaches the starting drawdown.
• My Funded Futures Pro: the MLL keeps trailing each new EOD high until the first approved payout, then locks at the starting balance plus $100.

Accounts that start at $0

Some accounts start at a zero balance with the floor below zero. My Funded Futures’ Rapid EOD 50K sim funded account starts at $0 and keeps the limit $2,000 away until it reaches $100, where it locks. LucidDaily live accounts also start at $0 and lock at $100, and Take Profit Trader’s PRO+ starts at $0 and stops at $0.

How firms on Tradovate apply trailing drawdown

Apex, Take Profit Trader, Tradeify, Lucid Trading, TradeDay and Elite Trader Funding all appear on Tradovate’s list of firms offering Tradovate Prop. My Funded Futures appears under “coming soon” on that page, though its help centre has Tradovate login instructions, so check which platforms your plan offers.

From each firm’s own help centre or site at the time of writing (November 2026).

Apex Trader Funding

Apex sells both EOD and intraday product lines, with intraday drawdowns of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000 from 25K to 150K. Its EOD and intraday articles both carry the platform split above, so your platform decides whether an evaluation floor ever stops.

Take Profit Trader

Each stage uses a different method, so the floor behaves differently once you pass the Test. The Test uses EOD, PRO trails intraday, and PRO+ uses EOD from $0. We cover all three in our full Take Profit Trader rules.

Tradeify

Growth, Select and Lightning use EOD trailing, enforced in real time on net liquidation value. Those rules don’t extend to every Tradeify product: Level Up V2 uses a static drawdown and runs on Tradovate.

My Funded Futures

The plan name decides the method. Pro uses EOD in both evaluation and sim funded, the standard Rapid plan trails intraday at the sim funded stage, and Rapid EOD trails from the close. Its EOD article says open equity losses count.

Lucid Trading

LucidFlex uses EOD. LucidDaily changes by stage. Evaluations may be EOD or intraday, depending on what you chose at checkout. LucidDaily funded accounts, which are sim funded, use intraday whatever you chose. LucidDaily live accounts use EOD. So a trader who picks EOD for the evaluation moves to an intraday floor when sim funded, then back to EOD when live.

TradeDay

Its plans come in intraday and EOD versions, with $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $4,500 drawdowns from 25K to 150K. The funded stage can differ from the evaluation: all Quick Pay funded sim accounts use an intraday drawdown, even if the evaluation was EOD, while Fast Pass funded sim accounts stay on EOD.

Elite Trader Funding

The EOD plan adds a daily loss limit set from the prior day’s close. In the sim-funded account, that limit goes away when the drawdown locks.

Common trailing drawdown mistakes

1. “EOD drawdown is only checked at the end of the day.” The floor updates after the close, but the existing floor applies all session.
2. “Every trailing drawdown stops at the starting balance.” TPT PRO’s and TradeDay’s do. Apex PAs, Tradeify sim funded, LucidFlex and Elite sim-funded accounts stop $100 above it. Apex Tradovate evaluations and Tradeify evaluations don’t stop at all.
3. “An intraday trailing drawdown resets each day.” It doesn’t. Apex says it “does not reset daily”. You may be thinking of a daily loss limit.
4. “Closing a winner at a smaller profit gives the room back.” On intraday trailing, the floor stays where the equity peak put it.
5. “Static drawdown is always the safer choice.” Elite lists a smaller max drawdown and contract limits among its downsides.
6. “Locked means the account can’t fail.” Reaching the locked threshold can still fail the account. My Funded Futures’ Rapid EOD article says: “If your balance goes below $100 → the account is breached.”

How to track your trailing drawdown on Tradovate

In Tradovate

Open the Accounts module and use Select Columns. The column names come from the firms’ own articles: Tradeify points to “Dis Drawdown Net Liq”, and TPT points to “Drawdown Auto Liq Level” (the floor) and “Dist Drawdown” (the distance). If you chart in TradingView, see how to connect Tradovate to TradingView.

The floor and your remaining headroom update differently

Three separate things can make a number look stale:

• The floor changes according to the account’s rules. Tradeify’s EOD floor updates once a day, which is expected behaviour rather than a delay.
• Your distance to the floor changes with equity, so it can move all session while the floor stays put.
• Reporting delays are a different matter. TPT’s dashboard balance updates around 8 to 9 PM EST, and LucidFlex says its dashboard objectives update within 5 to 30 minutes of your last closed trade.

What to write down each day

A short daily note is enough to know where you stand:

• High-water mark: the highest closing balance on EOD, the highest equity since the account began on intraday.
• Current floor, and your distance to it.
• Distance to the lock level, if your account has one.
• Any payout request or approval that locked it.

Where TickProof fits

TickProof is a free journal that syncs prop firm accounts on Tradovate through a read-only connection made on Tradovate’s own sign-in page. Nothing is typed or uploaded, and it never places orders. It doesn’t sync Rithmic accounts.

For a Tradovate account assigned to a supported firm product, it shows drawdown headroom and the drawdown threshold, with the rule version, its source and the date it was checked. It tells EOD and intraday drawdown apart. The firm sections above describe the firms’ own rules. They aren’t a list of what TickProof covers, and not every plan in this post has a matching TickProof product.

It’s rule tracking, not enforcement, so it doesn’t prevent a breach. Figures update from closed trades. On intraday accounts, headroom is an estimate until the threshold locks, and it can overstate the room you have, because TickProof can’t reconstruct every unrealized profit peak. You can enter the firm’s threshold to calibrate it. Check the firm’s own figure before you rely on it.

Free covers three active accounts with no card needed, and Power is $24 a month or $240 a year. The TickProof FAQ has more on the connection, and our look at trade journals for prop firm traders compares the options.

Before you choose an account

Read the firm’s current page for your exact plan and stage, and find three things: the drawdown type at each stage, the lock level and what triggers it, and what a payout request does to the floor. Firms change these rules often, so recheck them before you buy.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between intraday and end-of-day trailing drawdown?

Intraday trailing raises the floor in real time as equity reaches a new high, so a floor raised by an open profit stays up even if that profit is given back. End-of-day trailing moves the floor after the close, from the highest closing balance so far. Apex, Tradeify and TradeDay still enforce an existing EOD floor during the session.

Can you go below an EOD drawdown during the day?

No, not on the EOD plans covered here. End of day describes when the floor updates, not when it applies. Apex, Tradeify, TradeDay, My Funded Futures and Elite Trader Funding's EOD plan all say an open loss that reaches the existing floor during the session can fail the account. Tradeify says recovering before the close does not undo it.

Does an intraday trailing drawdown reset every day?

No. It follows the highest equity the account has reached and carries across sessions until any lock applies. In TradeDay's example, a floor raised to 98,000 dollars on day one is still there on day two after a losing day. A daily loss limit is a separate rule.

When does a trailing drawdown stop trailing?

It depends on the product and stage. Many accounts lock at the starting balance plus 100 dollars, but the trigger differs. LucidFlex needs a closing balance above its trigger, My Funded Futures Pro an approved payout, and Elite's EOD sim-funded account realized profit. Take Profit Trader PRO and TradeDay stop at the starting balance. Apex Tradovate evaluations never stop trailing.

What is a static drawdown?

A static drawdown is a fixed floor that never follows new profits upward. On Elite Trader Funding's 50K static plan with a 2,000 dollar limit, the floor stays at 48,000 dollars however much profit you make. Elite lists a smaller max drawdown and contract limits among the downsides.