Free tool — Clarity, not certainty.

How many losses in a row can your account survive?

Most prop accounts don’t die from one bad entry — they die from a survivable loss turning into an unsurvivable day. This calculator shows what a losing streak actually costs when every loss automatically shrinks the next position (geometric, asymmetric sizing). Bodyguard, not a crystal ball.

How to use this calculator

Copy four numbers from your prop firm’s rules: account size, daily loss limit, and your current trailing-drawdown cushion (distance from equity to the trailing floor). Then set your own per-trade stop in points for the instrument you trade.
Read the big number: it’s how many losing trades in a row your rules survive before 80 % of your usable daily budget is gone — the point where a disciplined day ends. A “+” means the streak converges: the limit is approached, not hit.
Read the table: one row = one consecutive losing trade (not a calendar day). Because every loss shrinks the next position, “Risk on this trade” falls row by row while “Total loss so far” flattens.

Unsure what a field means? Every term is explained in one sentence in the glossary inside the calculator.

Your account & sizing rules

Show the math

Account size$Your prop account's nominal size — the basis when the daily limit is a percentage.

Daily loss limitThe most your firm lets you lose per day — straight from its rules.

Trailing / max-DD buffer$Dollar distance between your equity and the trailing-drawdown floor — your total remaining cushion.Safety buffer%Share of the daily limit you refuse to touch. Raise it and a bad fill can't turn a planned day into a breach.Daily-budget fraction%How much of the remaining daily budget one trade may risk. Lower = smaller trades, longer survivable streaks.Trailing fraction%How much of the trailing cushion counts as one trade's cap — the tighter of the two limits sizes the trade.

Instrument & execution

Instrument presetPer-trade stopptsYour stop distance in points — how far price may go against you before you're out.Slippage surchargeptsExtra points on top of the stop, because fast markets fill worse than your stop price.$ per point / contract$What one point of movement is worth per contract (e.g. NQ $20, MNQ $2).Round-turn cost$Commission + spread per contract, in and out — paid on every trade, win or lose.

Glossary — every term in one sentence

Daily Loss Limit: The most your prop firm lets you lose in a single day before the account is breached — from your firm's rules, in $ or % of account size.
Trailing / Max-DD Buffer: The dollar distance between your current equity and the account's trailing-drawdown floor — the total cushion you have left before the account is gone.
Safety Buffer: The share of your daily loss limit you deliberately refuse to touch (default 20 %). The calculator plans with only the rest — so one worse-than-expected fill doesn't turn a planned day into a breach.
Daily-Budget Fraction: How much of your remaining daily budget you put at risk on one single trade. Lower = smaller positions, but more consecutive losses survivable.
Trailing Fraction: How much of your remaining trailing-drawdown cushion counts as the cap for a single trade. Each trade risks a fraction of whichever is tighter: daily budget or this cap. Lower = more conservative, but slower position growth.
Per-Trade Stop: Your stop distance in points for one trade — how far price can go against you before you're out.
Slippage Surcharge: Extra points added on top of your stop, because stop orders in fast markets fill worse than the stop price. The calculator always books this worst case, not the friendly case.
Round-Turn Cost: Commission plus spread for one contract, in and out, in $. Real money that leaves your account on every trade — win or lose.
Geometric Shrink Factor: The multiplier applied to your next risk after every loss. Because it's below 1, a losing streak shrinks toward your limit instead of walking straight into it.
Hard Stop: The point where this calculator ends the trading day: 80 % of the effective daily budget is spent. Stopping before the firm's limit is the difference between a bad day and a dead account.
Effective Daily Budget: Your firm's daily loss limit minus your own safety buffer — the amount the sizing actually works with.

Consecutive losses before you hit 80 % of your daily budget

Under this sizing, three losses in a row cost ~$325 (10.8 % of your trailing buffer). Your limit is a boundary you converge toward, not a wall you hit.

Geometric shrink factor per loss: 0.9625 · effective daily budget $2,400 · hard stop at $1,920

Sizing warning: from trade 1, the risk budget no longer funds a single contract (worst case ≈ $444 per contract). The instrument is too large for this budget — a micro contract keeps the math executable.

Each row is one losing trade in a row — not a calendar day. The streak ends when 80 % of the effective daily budget is spent.

Loss #	Remaining daily budget	Trailing limit share	Risk on this trade	Total loss so far
1	$2,400	$450	112.50	$113
2	$2,288	$433	108.28	$221
3	$2,179	$417	104.22	$325
4	$2,075	$401	100.31	$425
5	$1,975	$386	96.55	$522
6	$1,878	$372	92.93	$615
7	$1,785	$358	89.45	$704
8	$1,696	$344	86.09	$790
9	$1,610	$331	82.86	$873
10	$1,527	$319	79.76	$953
11	$1,447	$307	76.76	$1,030
12	$1,370	$296	73.89	$1,104
13	$1,296	$284	71.12	$1,175
14	$1,225	$274	68.45	$1,243
15	$1,157	$264	65.88	$1,309
16	$1,091	$254	63.41	$1,372
17	$1,028	$244	61.03	$1,433
18	$967	$235	58.74	$1,492
19	$908	$226	56.54	$1,549
20	$851	$218	54.42	$1,603
21	$797	$210	52.38	$1,656
22	$744	$202	50.42	$1,706
23	$694	$194	48.53	$1,755
24	$645	$187	46.71	$1,801
25	$599	$180	44.95	$1,846
26	$554	$173	43.27	$1,889
27	$511	$167	41.65	$1,931

Illustrative / educational — simplified risk model, not the full engine, not investment advice. Outputs are loss and risk figures only; the model illustrates how geometric sizing bounds a losing streak. It does not prevent losses.

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