Updated 29 September 2026
What the consistency rule checks
A consistency rule stops one big day from carrying your whole result. The firm takes your most profitable day in the period and compares it with your total profit. If that one day is too large a share, the payout waits. In some challenges the profit target moves up instead.
Consistency % = Best day profit ÷ Total profit × 100
Say you made $1,000 this cycle and your best day was $450. That's 45%. Under a 40% rule you're over, and under a 50% rule you pass. Your trading is exactly the same in both cases. Only the firm's number changed.
It's a different rule from the 80% margin rule, which looks at how much margin your open trades use. Many funded accounts have both.
How to use the calculator
- Choose what your firm compares your best day with. For payouts, most firms use Total profit. Pick Profit target if your challenge raises the target when one day is too big.
- Set the limit from your firm's rules, or tap one of the common values from 15% to 50%.
- Enter each trading day's net profit or loss, with losing days as a minus. You can paste a whole column from Excel or your trading journal. If you only know your best day and your total, switch to Best day and total.
- Read the result. PASS means your best day is inside the limit. FAIL means it isn't yet, and the calculator tells you how much more profit you need and how big your next day can be.
The formulas behind the result
Payout rule
Pass if Best day ÷ Total profit ≤ Limit
Total profit needed = Best day ÷ Limit
With a $600 best day and a 40% limit, you need at least 600 ÷ 0.40 = $1,500 of total profit. If you're at $1,100 now, that's $400 more, spread over days that each stay under $600.
Biggest day you can have next
Most you can make on your next day = Limit × Total profit ÷ (1 − Limit)
With $2,000 of profit and a 40% rule, your next day can make up to 0.40 × 2,000 ÷ 0.60 = $1,333.33. At that point the new best day is exactly 40% of the new total of $3,333.33. Stop a little before it, because some firms count exactly the limit as a fail.
Challenge target version
Target you need = the larger of your original target and Best day ÷ Limit
On a $50,000 challenge with a 6% target ($3,000) and a 40% rule, any single day can make up to $1,200. A $1,500 day moves the target to 1,500 ÷ 0.40 = $3,750. You haven't failed. You just have $750 more to make.
Winning days only
A few firms add up only your profitable days and leave losing days out of the total. FTMO's 1-Step rule works this way, with a 50% limit. Losing days then don't push your score up. Tick the box for it in the calculator.
Total profit you need for a payout
Find your best day on the left and your firm's limit along the top. The number is the least total profit that keeps you inside the rule.
| Best day | 15% | 20% | 25% | 30% | 35% | 40% | 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $250 | $1,667 | $1,250 | $1,000 | $834 | $715 | $625 | $500 |
| $500 | $3,334 | $2,500 | $2,000 | $1,667 | $1,429 | $1,250 | $1,000 |
| $1,000 | $6,667 | $5,000 | $4,000 | $3,334 | $2,858 | $2,500 | $2,000 |
| $2,000 | $13,334 | $10,000 | $8,000 | $6,667 | $5,715 | $5,000 | $4,000 |
| $5,000 | $33,334 | $25,000 | $20,000 | $16,667 | $14,286 | $12,500 | $10,000 |
The lower the limit, the more your best day costs you. A $500 day needs $1,000 of total profit under a 50% rule, but $3,334 under a 15% rule.
Worked example: 8 trading days and a 30% rule
| Day | Result | Total so far |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | +$210 | $210 |
| Day 2 | −$90 | $120 |
| Day 3 | +$640 | $760 |
| Day 4 | +$150 | $910 |
| Day 5 | −$40 | $870 |
| Day 6 | +$260 | $1,130 |
| Day 7 | +$180 | $1,310 |
| Day 8 | +$120 | $1,430 |
Total profit is $1,430 and the best day is day 3 at $640. That's 640 ÷ 1,430 = 44.8%, well over 30%, so the payout waits.
The total needed is 640 ÷ 0.30 = $2,133.33, which means $703.33 more. Here's the part people miss: no single day can fix it. A day big enough to add $703.33 would be bigger than $640 and become the new best day. The most one day could make and still pass is 0.30 × 1,430 ÷ 0.70 = $612.86, and that isn't enough on its own.
So the answer is a few normal days. The other winning days here average $184, so about four more of them get this account to a payout. If the firm counted winning days only, the total would be $1,560 and the score 41.0%, still over the limit.
Mistakes that keep payouts on hold
- Doubling your size after a good start, so one day ends up far bigger than the rest.
- Holding a big trade through a news release that makes a week's profit in an hour.
- Forgetting that losing days lower your total profit, which pushes your score up.
- Trying to spread one big winner over several days with partial closes or hedges. E8 Markets, for one, says it may count the whole position's profit on a single day.
- Assuming the count starts again after a payout. Many firms reset it, but not all of them.
- Trading to fix the score. Forcing extra trades to make up the difference is how a held payout turns into a daily loss breach.
Want the full picture, including why firms use this rule and which firms have it? Read the guide: Prop firm consistency rule explained.