Why 1% risk is often too much on a prop challenge
Personal-account sizing rules break under daily loss caps. Here’s a safer fraction for evaluations — and how to calculate it.
The classic advice is “risk 1% per trade.” On a funded personal account with no daily cap, that can be reasonable. On many prop evaluations, it is how people fail in three trades.
If the firm allows a 5% daily loss from a $50k start, that is $2,500 for the whole day. Three full 1% stops ($500 each) already burn most of the budget — before fees, slippage, or a revenge trade.
Size to the daily rule, not Twitter
A safer default while you are in an evaluation:
- Risk 0.25%–0.5% of starting balance per trade
- Cap yourself at 2–3 full-risk trades per day
- Leave a buffer so you never spend the last 20% of the daily limit
That is boring on purpose. Boring keeps you in the challenge.
Do the math every time
Do not “guess” contracts from the last session.
- Pick a fixed risk percent for the week.
- Measure stop distance.
- Convert with the position size calculator.
Then check that one stop still fits inside remaining daily room using the prop firm drawdown calculator.
After you pass
You can revisit larger fractions once the rules change. Until then, treat 1% as a ceiling you rarely touch — not a target.
TradeKeel is built to keep that risk percent honest: same account, same rules, same journal after the close.