1. Keeping the challenge lot size after passing
If your funded account has lower leverage than the challenge, say 1:30 instead of 1:100, the same lot size uses more than three times the margin and can break a margin rule on the first trade. Many firms also give less leverage on gold and indices than on currency pairs. Fix: recalculate your usual sizes the day you get funded. How leverage affects margin shows why.
2. Forgetting that open losses count
At many firms the daily loss limit is measured on equity, so a trade that's $400 in the red counts as $400 lost even if it later recovers. Fix: treat your floating loss as real when you decide whether to hold, add or take another trade.
3. Not knowing when the trading day resets
Daily limits reset at the firm's server time, not yours. FTMO, for example, starts each trading day at 00:00 CE(S)T. A loss at 11pm and another at 1am might fall on the same trading day or on two different ones. Fix: find your firm's reset time and write it down in your local time.
4. Trading without a stop loss
A position with no stop has no maximum loss. I learned this on my own $15,000 account: a 0.10 lot gold trade with no stop closed $410 down, and the account breached the firm's daily loss limit. Fix: put the stop in with the order, every time. The full story, and the rule I follow since, is in capital preservation in trading.
5. One oversized day
Some programs have a consistency rule on payouts: your best day can't be more than a set share of your total profit. One big day can hold up a payout for weeks. Fix: keep your size steady and check with the consistency rule calculator before you ask for a payout.
6. Stacking trades that are the same bet
Long EURUSD, long GBPUSD and short USDCHF are three trades but mostly one bet against the dollar. If it goes wrong, all three lose together, and together they use three times the margin. Fix: count correlated trades as one position when you add up your risk.
7. Adding to a losing trade
Averaging down feels like improving your entry. In practice it makes a losing position bigger exactly when it's proving you wrong, and it's how a normal loss turns into a breached account. Fix: if you want to scale in, only add to a trade that's in profit, with the total risk still inside your limit.
8. Ignoring the margin rule
Some firms cap how much margin your open trades may use, for example 80%. You can break it while the account is in profit. Fix: check margin usage before every new trade. How to calculate margin usage takes two minutes to learn.
9. Revenge trading after a loss
A loss, then a bigger trade to win it back, then another. It's one of the most common ways to hit a daily limit. Fix: set a rule such as stopping for the day after two losses, and follow it. Self-control in trading has practical ways to do it.
10. Not reading the payout and trading rules
News trading limits, weekend holding, minimum trading days, copy trading and hedging between accounts: each firm has its own list, and it's different for each program. Fix: read the full rules for your exact account type before your first trade, and again whenever the firm announces changes.
A 30-second check before every trade
- Where is my stop, and what do I lose if it's hit?
- Is that inside my risk per trade and my remaining daily loss room, counting open losses?
- What will my margin usage be with this trade added?
- Is this the same bet as a trade I already have open?
- Is there high-impact news inside my firm's restricted window?
If any answer is "I don't know", that's the trade to skip.
The pattern behind all ten
Almost every mistake here comes down to size: too big for the leverage, the daily limit, the margin rule or the consistency rule. Fix your risk per trade, let the stop set the lot size, and check the rules before you click. Our guide on how to pass a prop firm challenge covers the rest of the process.