Prop firm risk calculator
Enter your account, the firm's loss limits and your risk per trade. See how many losses you can take today and in total, and the lot size for your next gold trade.
| Risk per trade | Losses left today | Losses left in total |
|---|
Assumes a static maximum loss and a balance-based daily limit, both measured from the account size. Firms differ: check your firm's current rules. Educational tool, not financial advice.
The prop risk maths
The lot size uses the same formula as our gold lot size calculator: risk ÷ (stop distance × contract size), rounded down.
$100,000 challenge, 1% risk
- Daily limit 5% = $5,000; maximum loss 10% = floor at $90,000
- Two losses closed today: −$2,000; one open trade risking $1,000
- Room today: 5,000 − 2,000 − 1,000 = $2,000 → 1 more full loss. A second would touch the limit, which most firms treat as a breach.
- Next trade with a $23 stop: 1,000 ÷ (23 × 100) = 0.43 lots
Rules of thumb for gold challenges
- Stop for the day well before the firm's limit, not at it.
- Count open risk, not just closed losses.
- Gold can move $30 or more in minutes around US jobs data: see gold news times in IST.
- Compare firms' rules on our prop firm comparison.
How many losing trades can I take in a prop firm challenge?
Divide the room left before a limit by your risk per trade. On a $100,000 account with a 5% daily limit and 1% risk, five full losses reach the daily limit, so four is the practical ceiling. Open trades use up room too.
Is the daily loss limit based on balance or equity?
It depends on the firm. Many set the day's floor from the balance at the daily reset; others use the higher of balance and equity, so open profit at the reset raises the floor. This calculator assumes the simpler balance-based rule. Check your firm's current rules.
What risk per trade is safe on a prop account?
Many traders use 0.5–1%. At 1% a 7-trade losing streak costs about 7%, inside a typical 10% maximum loss; at 2% the same streak costs about 13%. See daily drawdown in prop firms.
Does open risk count toward the daily limit?
At most firms, yes: floating losses count the moment they appear. Enter the total risk of your open trades so the calculator can take it off today's room.
Why does the calculator round the lot size down?
Rounding down keeps each loss at or below the risk you chose. Rounding up would risk more than planned on every trade, which is exactly what breaches accounts.