How the prop firm challenge calculator works
A prop firm challenge is a paid evaluation with three hard rules running at once: a profit target you must reach, a maximum daily loss you can't cross in one day, and a maximum drawdownthat ends the account entirely. This calculator takes your account size and current balance, applies your firm's rule set, and answers the only questions that matter mid-challenge: how far to the target, and how much can I lose before I'm out.
The buffer gauge on the right is the part most trackers miss. It plots your equity between two lines — the target above and the drawdown floor below. The colored fill is your survival cushion. The amber band is where a full daily-loss day would drop you. When the fill shrinks toward the floor, you're not trading anymore, you're surviving.
What each rule actually means
Profit target
The profit you must make to pass a phase, as a percent of the starting balance. Two-phase challenges are the industry standard: 10% in Phase 1, then 5% in Phase 2. One-step challenges ask for a single target, usually around 10%, but pair it with tighter loss rules.
Maximum daily loss
The most you can lose in a single trading day, measured from your start-of-day balance. FTMO's standard challenge sets this at 5%; its 1-step is tighter at 3%. Hit it once and the account is gone, regardless of how well the rest of the challenge went.
Maximum drawdown: static vs trailing
The floor your equity can never cross. A static floor is set once from your starting balance and never moves. A trailing floor rises as your balance makes new highs — so a good day can lift the exact line that fails you. Trailing rules demand you protect profit as carefully as capital. Switch the toggle above to see how much the floor shifts.
Minimum trading days
Most firms require a handful of active trading days (FTMO: 4) so you can't pass on one lucky spike. It rarely fails disciplined traders, but it stops you from rushing a marginal edge.
Why most traders fail — and it isn't strategy
The only large public dataset, roughly 300,000 evaluations, found about 14% passed and only around 7% ever got a payout. Read the rules again and you'll see why: the daily-loss and drawdown limits don't punish bad analysis. They punish tilt— the revenge trade after a loss, the position sized for the account you wish you had, the stop you moved “just this once.”
That's a discipline problem, and a P&L chart can't show it to you. It's the exact gap Tradeventure was built to close: make your discipline visible before the account is gone, not after.