Career and Funded Trading
Most people fail an evaluation for a reason the rules told them in advance. The profit target, the daily loss limit and the maximum drawdown are not three independent hurdles — together they define a required risk profile, and trading your normal style into that profile is usually the mistake.
Translate the rules into a risk budget
Take a typical specification: 8 per cent profit target, 5 per cent daily loss limit, 10 per cent maximum drawdown, no time limit. That is not a challenge to make money quickly. It is an instruction to produce a modest return with a drawdown ceiling half the size of the target.
| Rule | What it constrains | Correct response |
|---|---|---|
| Profit target | How long you must survive | Estimate trades needed at your expectancy; plan for that many |
| Daily loss limit | Concentration within a session | Cap daily risk at roughly one third of the limit |
| Max drawdown | Total variance tolerated | Size so a normal losing run uses under half of it |
| Consistency rule | Reliance on one lucky trade | Take partial profits; avoid outsized single days |
The arithmetic most candidates skip
At 0.5 per cent risk per trade with an expectancy of 0.2R, the expected gain per trade is 0.1 per cent. An 8 per cent target therefore needs roughly 80 trades of positive expectation — with variance around it. Anyone trying to pass in nine trades is not trading their edge, they are buying a lottery ticket with a fee attached.
The daily loss limit is the real killer
Maximum drawdown ends the account slowly and visibly. The daily limit ends it in twenty minutes, usually after two losses and one attempt to make them back. Set a personal daily stop at a third of the published limit and close the platform when you hit it. The rule you impose on yourself is the one that keeps you inside the rule they impose on you.
After you pass
- Read the payout terms with the same care as the evaluation terms: split, minimum period, withdrawal cadence, and what happens to the account after a payout.
- Check whether the drawdown resets to your starting balance or trails your equity high. Trailing drawdown changes optimal behaviour completely.
- Understand the scaling plan and what triggers a reduction, not only an increase.
- Assume the funded account is a client relationship, not a job, and diversify across firms if it becomes a meaningful part of your income.
The evaluation is not testing whether you can make eight per cent. It is testing whether you can make eight per cent without ever risking ten.
Written by Adrian Vestberg — former interbank FX dealer, now running a two-person discretionary desk.