Data verified with source and date
Guides

Daily loss: hard or soft

Almost every firm has a daily loss limit. The difference that matters isn't the percentage — it's what happens when you touch it.

A soft rule closes your positions and locks you out until the next session. Annoying, but you're alive. A hard rule fails the account on the spot — and in most cases that spot is measured against equity including open trades, not against what you've actually closed.

It's the rule that breaks the most accounts by accident, because traders assume it's a pause and find out it was a termination.

Data verified through 2026-07-23

What happens when you hit it?

20 firms counted
Hard · account lost12 · 60%
Soft · pauses the day6 · 30%
Mixed or not stated2 · 10%

"Mixed" isn't a tie: these are firms whose answer depends on the product or program. In those cases only the number for the plan you're actually buying counts — it's on each firm's page.

Firm by firm

What each firm says, with the link to its own page and the date we read it. If a rule changes, it changes here.

FirmVerified ruleVerifiedSource
Alpha Capital GroupA hard daily limit of 3–5% by program, set from balance (or the greater of balance/equity) at 00:00 GMT+3 and breached on live equity — touching it closes the account.2026-07-21 Source
Apex Trader FundingSoft daily limit of $500–$2,000 by size that pauses your session without failing the account; intraday evaluations have no daily loss limit at all.2026-07-21 Source
BulenoxOnly Option 2 (EOD) carries a daily limit, from $400 to $4,500 by size, and it is soft: it suspends the rest of the day without failing the account.2026-07-21 Source
E8 MarketsA hard daily limit (fixed dollars off initial balance) of 3% on One and 2.5% on Pro that permanently closes the account on an equity or balance touch; Signature only has a soft 2% pause in the Performance stage.2026-07-21 Source
Earn2TradeA hard daily loss limit including open P&L and commissions — touching it for an instant, even without closing the position, fails the evaluation. In the Gauntlet Mini it runs $1,100 (GAU50) to $4,400 (GAU200); the Trader Career Path starts lower (e.g. $550 on the $25K).2026-07-23 Source
Elite Trader FundingOnly the EOD plans ($1,100–$2,200) and Diamond Hands ($1,500) carry a daily limit, and it is hard: touching it, open losses included, fails the account unless you buy the TradeShield add-on.2026-07-21 Source
FTMOHard daily limit of 5% (2-Step) or 3% (1-Step) of initial capital, recalculated at CET midnight and applied to equity — touching it for an instant fails the account.2026-07-21 Source
Funded Trading PlusA 4% daily limit (6% on Instant) whose basis is in documented conflict between the prior day's closed balance and the higher of balance or equity, plus a hard 3% per-symbol daily limit on Classic.2026-07-21 Source
FundedNextHard daily limit of 3–5% of initial balance by model (Instant has none), with swaps counted in the calculation — exceeding it breaches the account.2026-07-21 Source
FundingPipsHard daily limit of 3–5% by model on the higher of opening balance or equity — an equity touch closes the account instantly, even with the trade still open.2026-07-21 Source
FXIFYA 3–5% daily limit by program based on the previous day's balance; the standard Instant account's is in documented conflict between 'none' and '8%'.2026-07-21 Source
Instant FundingA hard daily limit of 2–5% by program on the higher of balance or equity at 17:00 EST, plus an extra hard rule: losing more than 50% of the day's allowance on a single trade idea also breaches.2026-07-21 Source
Lucid TradingSoft daily limit that restricts you until the next session without failing the account. On LucidPro it is $1,200 (50K) to $2,700 (150K), 25K none, fixed until the initial trail is cleared. LucidDirect funded accounts instead use a scaling DLL set at 60% of the peak end-of-day BALANCE ($1,200 to $3,000 by size).2026-07-23 Source
Maven TradingA hard daily limit of 2–4% by program on the higher of equity or balance at 00:00 UTC; only the BNPL evaluation has no daily limit.2026-07-21 Source
MyFundedFuturesNo daily loss limit on Rapid, Pro, or Builder 25k; only the Builder 50k has a $1,000 soft-pause limit that halts trading without failing the account.2026-07-21 Source
Take Profit TraderThere is no daily loss limit in the Test or PRO (removed January 2025); only PRO+ Development remediation accounts carry a soft $500–$2,000 limit.2026-07-21 Source
The5ersA hard 5% daily limit on High Stakes measured against the higher of the previous midnight's balance or equity — hitting it terminates the account.2026-07-21 Source
TopstepSoft daily limit of $1,000–$3,000 by size, optional in the Combine and XFA (automatic only in the Live account), which pauses the session without disqualifying the account.2026-07-21 Source
TradeDayNo daily loss limit was found anywhere on the firm's pages — the only loss mechanism is the trailing drawdown — but the absence is not explicitly confirmed.2026-07-21 Source
TradeifySoft daily limit of $600 to $3,000 by size (Select Flex has none) that pauses the session without failing the account. At 6% profit the limit is RAISED to a higher fixed amount on current accounts; it is fully removed only on legacy pre-Sep-2025 accounts.2026-07-23 Source

Frequent questions

Does the daily loss limit count open trades?

At most firms, yes: it's measured against real-time equity, so a position floating red can break the limit even if you meant to close it green. Each firm page states the exact detail and which balance the day is measured from.

What time does the day reset?

There is no standard. Across the firms we've verified we see 5:00 PM CT, 6:00 PM ET, 00:00 UTC, 00:00 CE(S)T and 00:00 server time. It's a boring detail that breaks accounts: a trade held across two "days" can land in the wrong one.

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