Best Prop Firms for Static Drawdown

How static drawdown works

A static drawdown sets the maximum loss as a fixed floor below the starting balance, and the floor never moves. On a $100,000 account with a 10% static limit, the floor is $90,000 for the life of the account, however much profit you make. A trailing drawdown works differently: the floor follows your highest balance or equity upwards, so the room below you stays the same size instead of growing with profit. The firms listed above have at least one program with a static maximum loss, and the list changes as firms rewrite their rules.

A worked example

Take a made up $100,000 example account with a 10% maximum loss, measured two ways: static, and trailing on the closing balance with no lock. The figures are an illustration, not any firm's plan.

After the same run of trades, the static account has twice the room of the trailing one. On a static account profit becomes a cushion, while on a trailing account it only raises the floor, which is why a trader who starts well and then has a losing week has far more room under a static limit. The same feature cuts the other way: nothing in a static rule stops a trader giving back every dollar of profit before the floor comes into play.

Who this suits

Static drawdown suits swing traders who let winners run and accept open losses along the way, traders whose results start slowly and build, and traders who want a fixed number to plan around. It also suits traders who have lost accounts to a trailing limit after a strong start. It suits traders less well if they rely on the account rules to protect profit already made, since the static floor does nothing to stop it being given back.

The trade offs

Static limits give more room once an account is in profit, so firms often balance them elsewhere. Programs with a static maximum loss may have a smaller percentage limit, a tighter daily loss limit, a higher fee or a lower profit split than the firm's trailing programs. On futures programs, a static option may come with a smaller dollar limit than the trailing version of the same account. Some programs are static in the evaluation and trailing once funded, or the reverse, and a daily loss limit can still reset from each day's balance or equity even when the maximum loss is static.

How firms differ

Firms differ on whether the static floor is measured against balance or equity, and on whether open losses count towards it in real time. Some offer a static limit only on certain formats, often two step programs, while others offer it across the range. Some trailing models stop trailing at a lock level and behave like a static limit from then on; they are not static from the start and leave less room early on. Daily loss limits, which sit alongside the static maximum, also vary in how they are calculated.

What to check before you buy

• Static at every stage. Confirm the maximum loss is static in the evaluation and on the funded account.
• Balance or equity. Check whether open losses count against the floor as they happen.
• The daily limit. Find out how it is calculated and whether it resets from the starting balance or the previous day.
• The size of the limit. Compare the dollar floor with the same firm's trailing programs.
• The price of the option. Check any difference in fee or profit split for the static version.

How to compare the firms listed

Compare the floor in dollars for the account size you would buy, then check that it stays static once funded. A smaller static limit can still leave more room than a larger trailing one after a few profitable weeks, so compare the drawdown on the path you expect to trade rather than on the first day. Then compare the daily loss limit, the fee and the payout terms. The drawdown calculator models static and trailing limits side by side, each firm's profile lists its rules, and the comparison table filters firms by platform and country.

Understanding trailing vs static drawdown covers the models in depth, and daily loss limit vs maximum drawdown explains how the two limits interact. Firms whose limit trails only at the close are listed under end of day drawdown, and end of day drawdown explained covers how that model locks.