Prop firm drawdown calculator

key_takeaways

Key takeaways

• A static max loss floor is fixed once; a trailing floor follows your highest equity upward.
• Your room is the distance from current equity down to a floor, and the smaller room binds.
• The gain that repairs a drawdown is larger than the loss, because it is earned on a smaller balance.

Enter the limits from your own rulebook, choose a static or trailing floor, and see the binding floor, your remaining buffer and how many full-risk losses fit. It measures the distance to a floor, not the odds of reaching it; for the odds, use the risk of ruin calculator.

How to use the drawdown calculator

• Starting capital is the balance your account began with. In many designs, percent limits are measured on it.
• Current equity is balance plus open profit or loss. If your rulebook counts floating losses, equity is the number that matters.
• Equity at start of day is the value at your daily reset. The daily floor is built from it.
• Peak so far is the highest value your rulebook counts. In an end-of-day design that is the highest closing balance; in an intraday design it is the highest equity reached during the day. Pick the type under “Peak counted as”. The peak sets the trailing floor and the recovery figures.
• Daily and max loss limits are percentages from your own rules. The example values are invented. Leave one empty if your rules have no such limit.
• Risk per trade turns the buffer into a count of losing trades.

The status light uses that count. Green means more than two full-risk losses still fit. Amber means one or two fit. Red means the next full-risk loss reaches the limit, or you are already at it. Without a risk per trade the light stays grey.

To log these numbers every day, use the Excel template in the calculator. The tracker repeats the same floors with a row for each day, so you can follow how the trailing floor, your room and your drawdown change from day to day.

Key metrics reference

Drawdown formula

Both limits work the same way: a loss amount sets a floor, and your room is the distance from current equity down to that floor. The smaller room binds.

daily amount    = daily % x base            (base: starting capital or start-of-day equity)
daily floor     = start-of-day equity - daily amount
daily room      = current equity - daily floor

max amount      = max loss % x starting capital
static floor    = starting capital - max amount
trailing floor  = peak equity - max amount
capped floor    = smaller of (trailing floor, starting capital)    (if the cap is on)
max room        = current equity - max-loss floor

binding room    = smaller of (daily room, max room)
risk $          = risk % x current equity
losses that fit = round up (binding room / risk $) - 1

drawdown %      = (peak - current equity) / peak x 100
recovery gain % = (peak - current equity) / current equity x 100   = dd / (1 - dd)

Worked example

Static vs trailing drawdown: what changes?

A static max loss floor is fixed once: starting capital minus the limit. A trailing floor follows your highest equity upward, so every new high pulls the floor up with it. It never moves down when equity falls. That is why the same loss limit leaves less room after a good run in trailing mode.

What does it mean when the floor stops at starting capital?

In some designs, the trailing floor rises only until it meets the starting capital and then stays there. Tick the box in the calculator to apply that. The floor becomes the smaller of the trailing value and the starting capital, which gives you more room than an uncapped trail once you are well above the start.

End-of-day vs intraday trailing drawdown

Trailing floors differ in when the peak is counted. An end-of-day floor only sees the closing value, so it moves at most once per day. An intraday floor reacts to equity during the day, open trades included: a trade that runs up and comes back can raise the floor even if it closes flat. Which version applies, and whether the floor stops at starting capital, is written in your own rulebook.

How much do you need to recover after a drawdown?

A loss and the gain that repairs it are not the same size, because the gain is earned on a smaller balance. If d is your drawdown as a share of the peak, the gain you need is d ÷ (1 − d). Enter a peak and the calculator shows both figures. The table in the worked example shows how fast the needed gain grows as the drawdown deepens.

How is the daily loss limit measured?

Rulebooks differ in how they set the base, the reset and the loss type. The base can be the starting capital or the equity or balance at the start of the day. The reset can sit at midnight in one time zone or at a different hour. And floating losses may or may not count. This calculator lets you pick the base for a percent limit and uses the equity you type in, so it follows your rules only as far as your inputs do. When several rules apply, check the wording in your own terms first.

Limits of this calculator

• It reads one snapshot. It does not track intraday highs or lows, so it cannot see a peak you did not enter.
• The loss count assumes every loss costs the same dollar amount as today’s planned risk. Slippage, fees and gaps can make a real loss larger.
• It contains no rulebook data. Every limit comes from you, and the exact wording of your own rules decides.
• It measures distance, not probability. For the odds of reaching a floor, use the risk of ruin calculator.

Prop firm drawdown calculator FAQ

How do I work out how much I can still lose today?

Subtract your daily floor from your current equity. The floor is your equity at the start of the day minus the daily loss amount. Then do the same for the overall limit and take the smaller of the two. That smaller number is the buffer that matters right now.

What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?

A static floor stays where it was set from the starting capital. A trailing floor rises with your highest equity and does not fall back. Trailing leaves less room than static after a winning stretch, so enter the peak that your own rulebook counts.

Does trailing drawdown reset daily?

Usually not. In most designs a trailing floor only moves up when a new peak is counted and never moves back down. What resets at the daily reset is the daily loss limit. An end-of-day design updates the trailing floor once per day from the closing value; an intraday design updates it whenever equity sets a new high. Check how your own rulebook describes it.

Which is better, static or trailing drawdown?

Neither is better in general. A static floor gives a fixed amount of room once it is set. A trailing floor follows your peak, so unless it is capped your room never grows beyond the max amount, however far you are up. What matters is which one your rulebook uses, so that you plan with the right floor.

What is the formula for calculating drawdown?

Drawdown from peak, in percent, is (peak − current equity) ÷ peak × 100. A prop firm limit turns a loss amount into a floor: the equity level where the limit is reached. The calculator shows both: the room to each floor and your drawdown from the peak you enter.

Why is a deep drawdown harder to recover from than a shallow drawdown?

Because the gain is earned on a smaller base. After losing a share d of your equity, you need a gain of d ÷ (1 − d) to get back to the peak. The deeper the loss, the faster that gain grows, so a deep drawdown needs a much larger percentage gain than the loss itself.

What does “floor stops at starting capital” mean?

In some designs the trailing floor follows your peak only until it reaches the starting capital, then stays there. After that, further new highs no longer raise it. The checkbox in the calculator applies that cap.

Is the daily loss limit measured from balance or equity?

It depends on the rulebook. The base can be the balance at the start of the day, the equity at that moment, or the higher of the two, and floating losses may count too. Type in the value your rules use as your start-of-day figure.

Why does the calculator show only the smaller buffer as the main number?

You are stopped by whichever limit you reach first. The larger buffer does not protect you once the smaller one is gone, so the binding limit is the one to watch. Both rooms stay visible below it.

Does open profit or loss count in the result?

Only if you include it. The calculator uses the equity number you enter. If your rulebook counts floating results, enter balance plus open profit and loss. If it only counts closed trades, enter the closed balance.

How exact is the count of losses that still fit?

It is an estimate. It divides the room by today’s dollar risk and rounds, so it assumes every loss costs exactly the planned amount. Real losses can be larger, and a smaller equity after each loss also shrinks a percent-based risk.