You’re up $900 on the day. NQ is running your way, you’ve got 2 MNQ contracts working, and everything looks clean. The trade pulls back $600 before pushing to a new high. You close out, net $1,100 on the day.
Sounds fine, right?
Depending on which prop firm you’re with, that $600 intraday pullback might have just ended your account. Not because you blew up. Not because you broke any obvious rule. But because of how your firm calculates drawdown.
This is the thing most traders don’t figure out until it’s too late. The drawdown amount matters, sure. But the drawdown type is what actually determines whether you keep your account or start over. And right now, across the futures prop firm space, there are 3 distinct types in play, and they behave completely differently.
What “Drawdown” Actually Means Here
Quick clarification before getting into the types, because “drawdown” means something slightly different in prop trading than it does in general finance.
In prop trading, drawdown refers to the maximum loss limit your account can absorb before it gets closed. Every firm sets this. Cross it, and you’re done, evaluation failed, funded account gone, whatever stage you’re in.
The confusion comes from the fact that different firms measure when and how that limit is calculated. That’s where the three types come in.
Type 1: Intraday Trailing Drawdown
This is the most aggressive type, and it’s the one responsible for more account failures than any other rule in futures prop trading.
Here’s how it works: the drawdown floor trails your account’s highest unrealized balance in real time, including open trades. Every tick of profit moves the floor up. And it never comes back down.
Concrete example using Apex’s $50K account:
Your starting balance is $50,000. The trailing drawdown is $2,500, so your floor starts at $47,500.
Day 1: You enter an ES trade. The trade runs to $600 profit, so your peak unrealized balance is $50,600. The floor immediately trails up to $48,100 ($50,600 minus $2,500). The trade then pulls back and you close it at $100 profit. Your account balance is now $50,100.
But your floor is sitting at $48,100. Not because of where you closed, because of where you peaked. That intraday high of $50,600 locked in a new floor, even though you gave most of it back.
That’s the trap. You’re profitable for the day. You didn’t violate anything obvious. But your floor has moved closer to your current balance, and you probably didn’t notice.
Now imagine this plays out over a week of trading where you take several trades that run up and pull back before you close them. Each peak ratchets the floor higher. By day 5, you might have a $51,200 account but a floor sitting at $50,400. One rough morning and you’re done.
This is why Apex evaluations, which use intraday trailing drawdown, have such a high failure rate, and it’s not because the traders are bad. It’s because this rule punishes normal trading behavior. Winners pull back. That’s just how markets work.
Who uses intraday trailing: Apex Trader Funding (in evaluations), several smaller firms. Apex does have one exception, the 100K Static account, which uses a fixed drawdown of $625 that never moves. But that’s the outlier, not the standard.
One thing that softens the blow at Apex: once your trailing threshold reaches the initial balance plus $100 (in funded accounts), the trailing stops. So on a $50K PA, once you’ve cleared $52,600, the floor locks at $50,100 and stays there. That’s your “safety net.” Getting there quickly is the whole game at Apex.
Type 2: End-of-Day (EOD) Trailing Drawdown
EOD trailing works the same way as intraday trailing in one sense: the floor moves up as you profit and never moves down. The critical difference is when the floor updates. With EOD, the firm only checks your peak balance at the close of the trading day, not tick-by-tick during open trades.
Which means intraday pullbacks don’t count.
Same scenario, different outcome:
You enter that NQ trade. It runs to $600 unrealized profit, pulls back to $100, and you close it there. Under EOD rules, your drawdown floor doesn’t care that you peaked at $600 during the day. It only looks at what your balance was at market close, $50,100. The floor updates from that figure.
You traded, you managed it fine, you ended up profitable. Your floor moved a small amount. That’s it.
Topstep uses EOD trailing. Their Maximum Loss Limit, which starts at $2,000 below your account balance on a 50K account, trails your highest end-of-day balance upward. Intraday volatility doesn’t trigger it. Temporary pullbacks during a trade don’t trigger it. Only where you actually finish the day matters.
There’s also a lock mechanism on Topstep’s funded accounts: once your EOD balance reaches a certain point (on a 50K funded account, that’s $52,100), the floor locks permanently at $50,100. From that point forward, your trailing drawdown essentially converts into a static drawdown. That’s a genuinely meaningful milestone, the point where an intraday disaster can no longer end your account outright.
TakeProfitTrader also uses EOD trailing, with the same mechanic: floor trails your highest end-of-day balance until the floor reaches your original starting balance, then stops trailing.
EOD is more forgiving than intraday trailing for most trading styles because it lets you actually trade without micromanaging your peak intraday balance. Swing traders, news traders, and anyone who takes trades that naturally breathe, they can do that without the floor chasing them in real time.
Type 3: Static Drawdown
Static is the simplest of the three. The floor is set when you start, it never moves up, and it never moves down. You start a $25K account with a $1,500 static drawdown, your floor is $23,500 from day one until the account ends. You can grow your account to $30,000 and your floor is still $23,500.
This is how professional trading desks typically work. You get a risk limit, you’re expected not to breach it, and the firm doesn’t ratchet the pressure up as you succeed.
For prop trading purposes, static drawdown is the most trader-friendly rule by a significant margin. It lets you genuinely let winners run, take drawdowns across multiple sessions without watching your floor creep upward, and trade without the psychological weight of protecting your peak balance from moving against you.
Apex’s 100K Static account is the well-known example in futures prop trading. The drawdown is fixed at $625 below $99,375. You can run that account to $110K and your floor never moves. The trade-off is a smaller max contract limit and a lower profit target, but for certain trading styles, that’s a worthwhile exchange.
Some smaller firms have built their whole offering around static drawdowns precisely because they know this is what traders actually want.
Which Type Actually Matters For Your Trading Style
Here’s the practical breakdown:
Scalpers and day traders who take tight, clean setups can survive intraday trailing if their risk management is disciplined. If you’re entering with defined stops and not letting trades run wild, the floor won’t ratchet as aggressively. Still stressful, but workable.
Traders who let winners run, trail stops, or trade volatile sessions (open, news releases, London close) should avoid intraday trailing. These styles naturally produce large intraday swings that can trigger the floor even on winning days.
Swing traders who hold overnight: EOD or static only, full stop. Intraday trailing will end overnight holds the moment a position goes through normal adverse movement during Asian or London sessions.
Beginners and anyone still developing consistency: EOD or static gives more breathing room to make mistakes without getting punished for normal market behavior.
A Real Scenario Where The Type Changes Everything
Trader is up $1,400 on the day at 11:30 AM EST. They’re in 3 MNQ contracts on a $50K account, trade is running hot. Market rips another $600 their direction, they’re now showing $2,000 unrealized. Then a news headline drops and the trade snaps back $1,800. Trader is shaken, closes out at $200 profit.
Under intraday trailing (Apex evaluation): The floor moved up to reflect the $2,000 unrealized peak. Even though the trader ended the day with $200 net positive, the drawdown floor shifted significantly during that spike and snap. If their cushion was thin, that spike-and-reversal could have hit the floor during those few seconds at the high.
Under EOD trailing (Topstep): None of that intraday movement counts. What matters is where the account closes at end of day. The trader closed positive. Floor updates a small amount. Account intact.
Under static (Apex 100K Static): The floor never moved at all. The trader closed positive. Nothing changed except the balance went up slightly.
Same trade. Three completely different outcomes depending on drawdown type.
Quick Reference
| Drawdown Type | Floor Updates | When It Checks | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intraday Trailing | Every tick, based on unrealized peak | Continuously during trading hours | Disciplined scalpers with tight stops |
| EOD Trailing | Based on end-of-day balance | Once, at market close | Most day traders, news traders |
| Static | Never moves | N/A | Swing traders, runners, volatile strategies |
Bottom Line on Drawdown Types
Most traders spend time comparing profit targets and activation fees, which makes sense. But the drawdown type can override everything else. A firm with a $3,000 trailing drawdown on EOD rules is meaningfully easier to trade than a firm with a $3,500 trailing drawdown using intraday rules, even though the intraday one looks more generous on paper.
Before you pay for any evaluation, figure out which type that firm uses. It’s usually in their FAQ or help docs. If it’s not clearly disclosed, that’s worth noting.
For a full breakdown of how specific firms compare on drawdown type alongside rules, pricing, and payout speed, check out the PropFirmHero futures prop firm comparison.