The profit target
Commonly 8 to 10 percent of the account, sometimes across two stages with a smaller target in the second. There is usually no time limit any more, which matters more than people notice: without a deadline the correct approach is small, consistent risk over many trades, and the only thing forcing haste is impatience.
The daily loss limit
Usually 5 percent, and this is the rule that ends most accounts. Read carefully how your firm measures it — some from the balance at the start of the day, some from the highest equity reached during the day. Under the second version, being up 3 percent and giving it back plus 2 can breach a 5 percent limit while your balance is only 2 percent down. People fail on that arithmetic without ever understanding what happened.
The maximum drawdown
Usually 10 percent, measured either from the starting balance (static) or from the highest balance the account has reached (trailing). A trailing drawdown moves up behind you as you profit and never moves back down, so an account up 6 percent may only have 4 percent of room left below its peak. Knowing which kind you have is not a detail; it changes the size you can trade.
The rules that are easy to break by accident
Consistency rules that cap how much of your total profit may come from one day. Bans on holding through the weekend or through high-impact news. Minimum trading days. None of these are hidden — they are in the terms, and they are broken by people who never read them and by people who read them once before the account got interesting.
Why the arithmetic decides it
A 10 percent target with a 5 percent daily limit and a 10 percent total limit is a straightforward problem: risk small enough that a normal losing run cannot touch either limit. At 0.5 percent per trade, ten losses in a row costs 5 percent — survivable. At 2 percent per trade, three bad days end it. The people who fail challenges mostly fail this calculation, not the market.
In short
| Profit target | Typically 8–10% |
|---|---|
| Daily loss | Typically 5% — check how it is measured |
| Maximum drawdown | Typically 10%, static or trailing |
| Trailing drawdown | Follows your peak up, never back down |
| Deciding factor | Risk per trade, set against those limits |
Common questions
What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?
Static measures from the starting balance and never moves. Trailing follows your highest balance upward, so profit reduces the room beneath you. Trailing is stricter and needs smaller size.
Why did I breach the daily limit when my balance was fine?
Almost certainly because your firm measures the daily loss from the highest equity of the day rather than the opening balance. Giving back an intraday profit counts against you.
Is there a time limit?
Most firms have dropped it. If yours has one, it argues for smaller risk and more trades, not larger ones — a deadline met by increasing size is a deadline that ends the account.
Trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high level of risk. Most retail accounts lose money. Nothing on this page is financial advice or a recommendation to trade.