EXIT CODE← home

// the rules, in plain english

Prop firm challenge rules explained

Every prop firm dresses up the same handful of rules in its own words. Once you can see the four that matter, every challenge looks the same, and you know exactly which line to watch. Here they are in plain English, with the ones that actually end accounts flagged.

The four rules every challenge has

1. Profit target. The amount you must make to pass, usually a percentage of the account. This is the one traders focus on, and the least likely to fail you.
2. Daily loss limit. The most you can lose in a single day, measured from your balance (or equity) at the day's start. Breach it and the account is gone, regardless of profit. This one ends more challenges than any other.
3. Maximum drawdown. The hard floor: the most the account can fall from its starting point (or its peak, if the drawdown trails). Hit it and it is over.
4. Minimum trading days. A number of separate days you must trade, to stop a single lucky session passing you. Rarely the thing that fails people, but easy to forget.

Two more show up often: a consistency rule (no single day can be too large a share of your profit) and news or weekend restrictions on some account types. Always confirm the exact numbers against your own firm's live objectives, because they change.

A worked example: FTMO

To make it concrete, FTMO's current numbers (last verified 17 July 2026, always confirm against their live objectives): the 2-Step runs a 5% daily loss limit, a 10% maximum loss, a 10% profit target on Step 1 and 5% on Step 2, and a 4-day minimum. The 1-Step runs a tighter 3% daily loss with a 10% trailing drawdown. Our FTMO rules page breaks each down.

See how close one trade puts you to the lineFree breach calculator for FTMO and other cTrader firms · no signupOpen the calculator

Which rules actually end challenges

Notice that the profit target, the rule everyone fixates on, is almost never what fails people. It is the daily loss limit and the maximum drawdown, because those are the ones you breach in a bad emotional moment, not a bad strategy. Passing a challenge is far more about not breaching those two than about hitting the target faster.

Where EXIT CODE fits

EXIT CODE loads your firm's exact limits and checks every trade against them before it is placed, on your own cTrader or MetaTrader 5 account. It shows your live distance to the daily and drawdown lines, and locks the session before a breach rather than after. It is not a strategy and promises nothing about passing. It removes the rule-breaks that end challenges.

Run your next trade through the gatesAll 8 gates free · no card · desktop, with a cTrader or MetaTrader 5 brokerStart free