Risk management | Phoenix Labs Help Center

Question 1

What is a trailing end-of-day drawdown and how is it calculated?

Accepted Answer

Your account has a floor. With a trailing end-of-day drawdown , that floor is your highest end-of-day balance minus the drawdown amount. The floor is recomputed once a day, at the daily close: if the day closed at a new high, the floor moves up by the same amount. It never moves down, and it never moves during the day. 1 Start at $25,000 with a $2,000 drawdown: the floor is $23,000. 2 Close a day at $25,800: the floor becomes $23,800. 3 Lose $1,200 the next day and close at $24,600: the floor stays at $23,800. It only ever rises. 4 Your equity , open positions included, is compared with the floor every few seconds. The moment it is below the floor, positions are closed and the evaluation is over. A floating loss counts; you do not get to the close. Because the floor only moves at the close, a new high made during the day does not raise it until that day ends. Plan the day from the floor you woke up with. On a funded account with a trailing drawdown, the floor never rises above your starting balance. It trails up until it reaches the balance you started with, then stops there for the life of the account: once you are in profit overall, the drawdown can only ever close you if your eq

Question 2

What is a static drawdown?

Accepted Answer

A static drawdown floor is fixed at your starting balance minus the drawdown amount, and it never moves. Profit you make is room you keep: with a $25,000 account and a $1,250 static drawdown, the floor is $23,750 whether your balance is $25,100 or $28,000. The check is the same as on a trailing account: your equity, open positions included, is compared with the floor every few seconds, and falling below it closes the account. A static floor is easier to live with once you are ahead. The trade-off is that the amount of room you start with is usually smaller than on a trailing account, because the room never shrinks. Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown uses a static drawdown of $1,250.

Question 3

What does a daily loss limit do?

Accepted Answer

A daily loss limit is measured from your balance at the start of the trading session. If your equity falls by that amount during the session, every position is closed immediately and trading is paused until the next session opens. It does not fail your account. The evaluation continues the next day. The total drawdown is still enforced at the same time, so a large enough single loss can still end the account through the drawdown floor. Blueprint 25K offers a daily loss limit only if you choose one when you build the account. Incentive $10K Pay-on-Pass and Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown have no daily limit at all.

Question 4

When exactly do I pass?

Accepted Answer

An evaluation is passed the moment two things are both true: your closed balance has reached your starting balance plus the profit goal, and you have traded at least the minimum number of trading days. Open profit does not count; the goal is measured on realised balance. When that happens the account is frozen at once: trading stops, the pass is recorded, and the funded process begins. You cannot trade the evaluation past its goal, and there is nothing you need to click. Pass conditions by experiment Blueprint 25K $1,500 goal · 1 minimum trading days Incentive $10K Pay-on-Pass $600 goal · 2 minimum trading days Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown $2,000 goal · 2 minimum trading days

Question 5

What exactly ends an evaluation?

Accepted Answer

Your equity, open positions included, falling below the drawdown floor, at any moment of the session. Holding a position past the daily close or over the weekend, on an account where holding is not allowed. The rule tables state this for every experiment. Not trading for 90 days. Trading with a prohibited strategy, such as account rolling or martingale across accounts. See "Which trading strategies are prohibited?" Nothing else does. There is no consistency rule on any Labs evaluation, no minimum number of trades, and no time limit other than the inactivity clock. When an evaluation ends, your dashboard states the exact reason, including the numbers, on the account card.

Question 6

Which trading strategies are prohibited?

Accepted Answer

Phoenix Labs accounts are built for traders who manage risk, not for repeated attempts at one outcome. Prohibited Account rolling or account stacking. Buying, resetting or rotating through accounts one after another, each one risked in full on the same kind of bet, until one of them hits. Holding several accounts is allowed. Using them as repeated attempts at one outcome is not. Martingale or loss recovery across accounts. After an account is stopped out, re-entering the same trade on another account, or trading bigger on the next account to win back what the last one lost. This covers your Labs accounts, your other Phoenix accounts and accounts at other firms. Hedging. Holding opposing positions at the same time, on two Phoenix accounts or across two firms, so that one side always wins. Hedging forfeits the account and can exclude you from every Phoenix service. Trading an account that is not yours , or letting anyone else trade yours. Exploiting fills. Trading on differences between the fills your account reports and exchange time and sales data. How trades are judged Passes and payouts are reviewed against the trades themselves: how long each position was held, its size, how siz

Question 7

Is there a consistency rule?

Accepted Answer

Only where the rule table says so. Consistency by experiment Blueprint 25K None on the evaluation · None once funded Incentive $10K Pay-on-Pass None on the evaluation · None once funded Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown None on the evaluation · None once funded Instant 10K No evaluation · 20% on payouts (best session since your last payout) On an Instant account it never closes the account: it only decides when a payout opens. See "What is the consistency rule on an Instant account?" under Payouts.

Question 8

What are the inactivity rules?

Accepted Answer

The two clocks Evaluation accounts 90 days without a trade Funded accounts 7 days without a trade These apply to every Labs account without exception. An evaluation that goes 90 days without a trade is closed; a funded account that goes 7 days without a trade is closed. Each clock restarts with every trade you place.

Question 9

Can I hold positions overnight or over the weekend?

Accepted Answer

Each experiment states this in its rule table under "Overnight holding" and "Weekend holding". Where holding is not allowed, every position must be flat before the daily close and before the weekend, or the account fails. Current experiments Instant 10K Not allowed overnight · Not allowed over the weekend Blueprint 25K Not allowed overnight · Not allowed over the weekend Incentive $10K Pay-on-Pass Not allowed overnight · Not allowed over the weekend Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown Not allowed overnight · Not allowed over the weekend

Question 10

How many contracts can I trade?

Accepted Answer

Every account has a position-size ceiling, stated as minis with the micro equivalent. It scales with the account balance you bought. Position limits Instant 10K 8 micros (no minis) Blueprint 25K 1 (10 micros) Incentive $10K Pay-on-Pass 1 (11 micros) Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown 2 (20 micros)

Question 11

What is the minimum number of trading days?

Accepted Answer

The number of separate trading sessions you must trade before the evaluation can be passed. It stops an account being passed in a single session. Minimum trading days Blueprint 25K 1 Incentive $10K Pay-on-Pass 2 Bedrock $25K Static Drawdown 2