Max loss: fixed or trailing

Max loss is judged on equity: your balance plus the profit or loss of your open trades. It is checked on every price, so an open loss counts the moment it happens.

Equity at the line ends the account, not only below it. On a $10,000 account with a fixed 5% max loss, the floor is $9,500, and equity of exactly $9,500 ends it.

A fixed floor never moves. In the challenge editor it is called Static. It sits at the account size minus the max loss.

Example: $25,000 with a fixed 8%. The floor is $23,000, for the whole step.

A trailing floor rises as your account grows, and stays the max loss below your high. It never moves down. There are two kinds.

Trailing, end of day

The floor moves once a day, at 00:00 UTC. It rises to your balance at that moment minus the max loss, if that is higher than before. Only your balance counts: open profit at 00:00 doesn't move it.

Example: $10,000 with a 5% trailing floor, so $500. The floor starts at $9,500.

• You end Monday with a balance of $10,300. At 00:00 UTC the floor rises to $9,800.
• On Tuesday your equity reaches $10,600 in open profit, and you close at $10,200. At 00:00 the floor stays at $9,800, because $10,200 is under your best end-of-day balance.

Trailing, live

The floor moves the moment your equity reaches a new high, open profit included.

Example: $10,000 with a 5% trailing floor. A trade takes your equity to $10,400, so the floor is now $9,900, even if the trade then comes back.

On a live trailing floor, open profit you give back has still raised the floor. A take profit, or a stop loss you move up as the trade grows, keeps more of that gain on your balance.

A trailing floor can have Lock at starting balance. The floor rises until it reaches the account's starting size, then stops there. Only a trailing floor can have it.

Example: $10,000 with a 5% trailing floor, locked. Once your high reaches $10,500, the floor is $10,000 and rises no further.

At every new step and after every claim, the account starts again at the full size, and the floor starts again from there. A trailing floor goes back to the size minus the max loss.

When equity reaches the floor, the account ends. Every open position closes at the live price, and every pending order is cancelled. A position on a closed market closes at its last price. Rewards paid before are yours. See What ends an account.

To stay clear of it, keep an eye on your floor: the account warns you when you get close. Sizing each trade so its stop loss closes it well before the line is the simplest protection.