Consistency Rule
What the 15% consistency rule is, how it is calculated, why it exists, and how to manage your trading to avoid triggering it.
What It Means
The 15% consistency rule states that on your funded account, no single trading day's profit can exceed 15% of your total net profit for a payout period (typically 14 calendar days). If your best trading day accounts for more than 15% of the period's total profit, your payout request may be recalculated or deferred until additional trading days bring the ratio back into compliance.
How It Is Calculated
At the end of each payout period, the firm calculates your total net profit for the period. Then your best single day's profit is divided by the total net profit. If the result exceeds 15%, the consistency rule has been triggered. The formula is: Best Day Profit ÷ Total Period Profit ≤ 15%.
Worked Example
If your total profit for a payout period is $1,000, your best day must not exceed $150 (15% of $1,000). If your best day was $300, that is 30% — you would need additional trading days with smaller profits or losses to bring the best-day ratio down below 15% before a payout can be processed.
Why It Exists
The consistency rule exists to prevent one-luck-trade payouts. The firm wants to reward traders who generate steady, repeatable profits through proper risk management and position sizing — not traders who hit one large trade and immediately request a payout. It ensures that funded account profits reflect genuine trading skill rather than a single favourable market move.
Consistent vs Inconsistent Patterns
Over 14 days you generate $1,400 total profit spread evenly: Day 1: $100, Day 2: $90, Day 3: $110, Day 4: $95, Day 5: $105, Day 6: $85, Day 7: $115, Day 8: $100, Day 9: $80, Day 10: $120, Day 11: $95, Day 12: $105, Day 13: $100, Day 14: $100. Best day is $120 / $1,400 = 8.6%.
This pattern is well under the 15% threshold and would be approved without issue.
Over 14 days you generate $2,000 total profit but $600 of that came from a single day where you caught a major move. Best day is $600 / $2,000 = 30%.
The consistency rule is triggered. You would need to trade more days to reduce the best-day ratio below 15%.
You have a losing day of -$200 within a $1,000 profit period. This reduces your total net profit and may require careful tracking since your best day percentage could rise if losses eat into the total.
Losses within a period can actually increase the percentage that your best day represents, so track carefully.
How Position Sizing Affects Consistency
Position size is the most direct tool you have for managing the consistency rule. If you trade the same size consistently, your daily profits will naturally fall within a predictable range, making it easy to stay under the 15% threshold. Inconsistent position sizing — going very small on some days and very large on others — is the fastest way to trigger the rule. The solution is simple: use a fixed percentage risk per trade (e.g., 0.3% of account per trade) every single day.
Common Mistakes
- Increasing position size on days you feel more confident — this creates spike days that trigger the rule
- Not tracking daily profit/loss during the payout period — you should know your running total at all times
- Having one large winning day and then stopping trading — the rule requires that the large day is diluted by other trading days
- Confusing the consistency rule with the daily drawdown limit — they are separate rules with separate calculations