The daily loss limit: what it stops, and what it doesn't
A daily loss limit caps how much you can lose in one trading session. At most futures prop firms today it's a soft limit: hit it and your positions close and you're done until the next session, but the account survives. The loss still counts against your trailing drawdown, so a few limit days in a row can end the account anyway.
Soft limits are the norm now
Among the firms we track, the daily loss limit pauses rather than fails:
- Apex End of Day accounts: hit it and Apex closes your positions and locks the account until the 6 PM ET reset. The account keeps going.
- MyFundedFutures Builder: a "soft pause" for the rest of the session.
- Alpha Futures Zero: the Daily Loss Guard pauses you until the next session.
- Tradeify Growth: pauses trading for the day.
- Topstep: optional. If you add one at checkout, hitting it stops you for the trading day.
Some accounts don't have one at all: Apex Intraday evals, Tradeify Select evals and Topstep Combines without the add-on.
Why a soft limit still hurts
The daily loss limit and the trailing drawdown are separate rules, and the loss counts against both. On an Apex 50K End of Day eval the daily limit is $1,000 and the drawdown is $2,000. Two limit days in a row, and you're at the floor.
| Day | Result | Balance | Floor | Room |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $50,000 | $48,000 | $2,000 | |
| 1 | -$1,000 (limit) | $49,000 | $48,000 | $1,000 |
| 2 | -$1,000 (limit) | $48,000 | $48,000 | $0 |
A pause on day one is a gift: it stops the revenge trade. But it's only a gift if day two starts smaller.
How to use it instead of fighting it
Set your own daily stop well inside the firm's. If the firm's limit is $1,000, a personal stop at $500 means you can have a bad day and still have half your drawdown left. The firm's limit becomes the backstop you never touch.
Practice it
The simulator applies Apex's real-time daily loss limit, including open trades, and locks the rest of the day the same way Apex does. Try a week with a personal stop at half the limit and watch what it does to your distance from the floor.
Questions people actually ask
Do open trades count toward the daily loss limit?
At Apex, yes: the limit is checked in real time including open positions. Check your firm's rule page, but assume an open loss counts until you're told otherwise.
When does the daily loss limit reset?
At the start of the next trading session. For CME futures firms that's usually around 6 PM New York time, when the new session opens.
Blow it here, not on a paid eval
Run the same rules on your own trades in the simulator. Free, no card, and a blown account costs you nothing but pride.
Start practicing