[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1049},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-funded-account":3,"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-funded-account-related":244},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":228,"date":229,"description":230,"draft":231,"extension":232,"meta":233,"navigation":231,"path":234,"related":235,"seo":240,"stem":241,"term":242,"updated":229,"__hash__":243},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-funded-account.md","What Is a Funded Account in Trading?",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":220},"minimark",[9,19,24,36,39,50,62,68,71,75,83,86,90,102,117,128,132,135,162,175,181,185,213],[10,11,12,13,18],"p",{},"A funded account is a trading account whose capital belongs to a firm — in the retail market, a ",[14,15,17],"a",{"href":16},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-prop-firm","prop firm"," — rather than to the trader using it, operated under written risk rules and a profit split. The trader holds a mandate, not ownership: no right to withdraw the capital, no discretion to exceed the limits, and no account once a limit is broken. Everything else follows from that.",[20,21,23],"h2",{"id":22},"how-it-works","How it works",[10,25,26,27,31,32,35],{},"There are normally two phases governed by the same rulebook. The ",[28,29,30],"strong",{},"evaluation"," is a paid attempt on a simulated account of a stated size, ending when the profit target is reached, a risk limit is breached, or a time window expires. The ",[28,33,34],{},"funded"," phase begins after a pass. The rules do not relax — usually they are identical or tighter — but realised profit is now split, typically in the trader's favour, and paid on a defined cycle.",[10,37,38],{},"Two families of rule decide the outcome, and they fail in different ways.",[40,41,46],"pre",{"className":42,"code":44,"language":45},[43],"language-text","Loss limits       daily floor, reset each session\n                  total floor, static or trailing, never reset\nConsistency rule  largest day's profit \u002F total profit \u003C= cap\n","text",[47,48,44],"code",{"__ignoreMap":49},"",[10,51,52,53,56,57,61],{},"The ",[28,54,55],{},"loss limits"," are hard stops. A trailing total floor moves up with every new equity peak — it ratchets in one direction only — so a good week leaves less room than the week before it, and an account can be closed while still showing a profit. The daily floor is the tighter of the two and is tested every session; it has its own entry, the ",[14,58,60],{"href":59},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-daily-drawdown-limit","daily drawdown limit",".",[10,63,52,64,67],{},[28,65,66],{},"consistency rule"," is discussed less and removes more traders than most expect. It caps how much of total profit may come from one day or trade, on the reasoning that a single outsized position is not repeatable. A candidate can hit the target, break no loss limit, and still fail because 60% of the gain arrived in one afternoon.",[10,69,70],{},"Around these sit smaller conditions: a minimum number of trading days, rules on holding through scheduled news or over the weekend, scaling plans that raise the allocation after consecutive payouts. All are contract terms and vary.",[20,72,74],{"id":73},"why-it-matters","Why it matters",[10,76,77,78,82],{},"A funded account converts risk management from a preference into a pass\u002Ffail test. On your own account a 15% ",[14,79,81],{"href":80},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown","drawdown"," is unpleasant and recoverable. On a funded account with a 10% floor the same path is terminal: the recovery never happens, because there is no account left to recover in.",[10,84,85],{},"Which is why the figures a firm cares about are rarely the ones a results page leads with. Return is the headline; the depth and the daily shape of the decline decide whether the mandate survives.",[20,87,89],{"id":88},"what-the-data-shows","What the data shows",[10,91,92,93,96,97,101],{},"Across the public accounts on ShowMyTrades with trading history, ",[28,94,95],{},"38.2%"," have at some point been ",[14,98,100],{"href":99},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-maximum-drawdown","more than 20% below their peak",". Measured against 20% — looser than almost any retail rulebook — close to four in ten would already have failed, and these were trading with no rulebook at all, where nothing forced a position closed. These figures describe accounts published here, not traders in general.",[10,103,104,108,109,112,113,116],{},[14,105,107],{"href":106},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-recovery-factor","The returns those risks bought",": median time-weighted return ",[28,110,111],{},"+3.2%",", with ",[28,114,115],{},"63.0%"," of accounts positive. The constraint, not the return, is what most candidates run into first.",[10,118,119,122,123,127],{},[28,120,121],{},"37"," accounts here are ",[14,124,126],{"href":125},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-unlisted-account","unlisted"," — published at their own link but kept out of every listing, which is the setting a candidate uses to send a record to a firm without putting it on the site.",[20,129,131],{"id":130},"where-you-see-it-on-showmytrades","Where you see it on ShowMyTrades",[10,133,134],{},"There is no funded-account module here and no integration with any programme. What the account page provides is the measurement.",[10,136,52,137,140,141,144,145,148,149,153,154,157,158,161],{},[28,138,139],{},"Account Stats"," panel shows ",[28,142,143],{},"Drawdown",", computed on equity so floating losses on open positions are included, next to ",[28,146,147],{},"DD on Balance",", computed on closed trades only. That pair matters here more than anywhere: rulebooks generally measure on equity, so a strategy that holds losers open reads well on ",[14,150,152],{"href":151},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown-on-balance","drawdown on balance"," and fails on the first figure. The same panel carries ",[28,155,156],{},"Avg Daily %"," and ",[28,159,160],{},"Avg Monthly %",", the baselines a consistency rule measures a standout day against.",[10,163,52,164,166,167,170,171,174],{},[28,165,143],{}," view in the charts panel plots, day by day, how far equity sat below the running peak balance — the shape a total or trailing floor reads. For the consistency question, the ",[28,168,169],{},"Monthly Returns"," table shows whether gain is spread or concentrated, and its ",[28,172,173],{},"Calendar"," view resolves that to individual days.",[10,176,177,178,180],{},"Visibility is set per account: published, private, or ",[28,179,126],{}," — reachable by direct link and excluded from listings. Owners can also hide individual modules, so a page missing a section is a choice rather than an absence of data.",[20,182,184],{"id":183},"common-misunderstandings","Common misunderstandings",[186,187,188,195,201,207],"ul",{},[189,190,191,194],"li",{},[28,192,193],{},"\"Once funded, the money is mine.\""," It is the firm's throughout. Only the paid-out share of realised profit becomes yours.",[189,196,197,200],{},[28,198,199],{},"\"The funded phase is easier than the evaluation.\""," The limits are usually the same or tighter. What changes is that failing now costs an income stream rather than a fee.",[189,202,203,206],{},[28,204,205],{},"\"I only need to avoid the daily limit.\""," The total floor ends most accounts, and a trailing one tightens as you win.",[189,208,209,212],{},[28,210,211],{},"\"A big winning day is progress.\""," Under a consistency rule it can be the reason a payout is refused.",[10,214,215,216,61],{},"For how these limits behave over a full account history: ",[14,217,219],{"href":218},"\u002Fguides\u002Fmaximum-drawdown-explained","maximum drawdown explained",{"title":49,"searchDepth":221,"depth":221,"links":222},2,[223,224,225,226,227],{"id":22,"depth":221,"text":23},{"id":73,"depth":221,"text":74},{"id":88,"depth":221,"text":89},{"id":130,"depth":221,"text":131},{"id":183,"depth":221,"text":184},"Brokers","2026-08-19T00:00:00.000Z","A funded account is capital owned by a firm and traded under a rulebook. Evaluation versus funded phase, the rules that end accounts, and real drawdown data.",true,"md",{},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-funded-account",[236,237,238,239],"what-is-a-prop-firm","what-is-drawdown","what-is-drawdown-on-balance","what-is-an-unlisted-account",{"title":5,"description":230},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-funded-account","Funded Account","PK9Bug0k0UWhLwdsDy5-ftt0_ePtaAWrUqi7ezUXdjw",[245,447,633,835],{"id":246,"title":247,"body":248,"category":228,"date":229,"description":436,"draft":231,"extension":232,"meta":437,"navigation":231,"path":16,"related":438,"seo":443,"stem":444,"term":445,"updated":229,"__hash__":446},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-prop-firm.md","What Is a Prop Firm in Trading?",{"type":7,"value":249,"toc":429},[250,253,255,262,265,271,277,280,283,285,293,296,298,323,326,342,344,347,357,373,394,396,422],[10,251,252],{},"A proprietary trading firm — a prop firm — puts its own capital at risk through traders rather than managing money for outside clients. The trader supplies the decisions and receives a share of the profit; the firm supplies the capital and writes the rules that cap its loss. In the retail form that has grown since the 2010s, access comes through a paid evaluation rather than through employment.",[20,254,23],{"id":22},[10,256,257,258,261],{},"The retail model has two stages. A candidate pays a fee to attempt an evaluation on a simulated account of a stated size, reaching a profit target without breaking a risk rule. Passing leads to a ",[14,259,260],{"href":234},"funded account"," under the same rulebook, where realised profit is split between trader and firm.",[10,263,264],{},"Three limits do almost all of the failing, and only one of them is the target.",[40,266,269],{"className":267,"code":268,"language":45},[43],"Daily loss limit     = day's opening balance (or equity) x daily %\nStatic total limit   = initial balance x total %\nTrailing total limit = high-water mark x total %\n",[47,270,268],{"__ignoreMap":49},[10,272,52,273,276],{},[14,274,275],{"href":59},"daily loss limit"," resets each session, so it constrains a single day's damage. The total limit is a floor under the account's whole life. Whether that floor is static or trailing changes the rule entirely: a trailing floor rises with every new equity peak, so profits tighten the constraint instead of loosening it, and a trader can be removed while still up on the account.",[10,278,279],{},"Secondary conditions usually include a minimum number of trading days, restrictions around scheduled news, limits on holding through the weekend, and a consistency rule capping how much of total profit may come from one day or trade. Profit splits commonly favour the trader; the figure, the payout cycle and any scaling plan are contract terms.",[10,281,282],{},"A prop firm is not a broker. The account belongs to the firm, the trader has no title to the capital, and most retail programmes simulate a broker feed rather than routing to the market. Which firms are sound, and how a programme is regulated, is not something a glossary can settle: read the contract and check the entity behind it.",[20,284,74],{"id":73},[10,286,287,288,292],{},"The rulebook inverts what most traders optimise for. On a personal account a deep drawdown is survivable if the strategy recovers. Under a prop rulebook, touching the limit ends the account regardless of what would have happened next: path beats outcome, which puts ",[14,289,291],{"href":290},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-position-sizing","position sizing"," and daily loss discipline ahead of entry quality.",[10,294,295],{},"The fee changes the incentive too: a candidate who has paid for an attempt is under pressure to reach a target inside a window, and that pressure produces oversized positions.",[20,297,89],{"id":88},[10,299,300,301,303,304,307,308,311,312,315,316,318,319,322],{},"The drawdown distribution across accounts published on ShowMyTrades shows how binding these limits are. Median deepest ",[14,302,81],{"href":80}," is ",[28,305,306],{},"9.7%",". Only ",[28,309,310],{},"38.5%"," of accounts have stayed under 5% ",[14,313,314],{"href":99},"peak-to-trough"," for their entire life, ",[28,317,95],{}," have gone past 20%, and ",[28,320,321],{},"17.6%"," past 50%. These figures describe the public accounts here with trading history, not traders in general.",[10,324,325],{},"Put plainly: at least 38.2% of these accounts would have breached any total loss limit set at 20% or tighter, and almost every retail rulebook is tighter than 20%. They were trading with no rulebook at all, where a deep drawdown is an inconvenience rather than a termination.",[10,327,328,329,332,333,336,337,341],{},"Running several accounts at once is normal here: ",[28,330,331],{},"699"," users have more than one account connected and ",[28,334,335],{},"429"," trade across more than one broker. ",[14,338,340],{"href":339},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftracking-multiple-accounts-portfolio","Keeping an evaluation, a funded account and a personal account side by side"," is the ordinary case.",[20,343,131],{"id":130},[10,345,346],{},"ShowMyTrades does not run prop-firm programmes and has no module that tracks evaluation rules. What it provides is the evidence a candidate needs in order to document performance.",[10,348,52,349,140,351,353,354,356],{},[28,350,139],{},[28,352,143],{},", measured on equity so floating losses on open positions count, next to ",[28,355,147],{},", measured on closed trades only. Most rulebooks measure on equity, so the first is the figure that maps to a limit.",[10,358,52,359,361,362,366,367,369,370,372],{},[28,360,143],{}," view in the charts panel plots, for each day, how far equity sat below the account's running peak balance. That is the shape a ",[363,364,365],"em",{},"total"," or trailing limit reads, not a daily one — for day-level detail, the ",[28,368,173],{}," view of the ",[28,371,169],{}," table shows each individual day's result, and Monthly Returns is also where a consistency rule becomes checkable.",[10,374,375,376,157,382,385,386,389,390,393],{},"The header carries what a firm can check independently: the ",[14,377,379],{"href":378},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-verified-track-record",[28,380,381],{},"Track Record",[28,383,384],{},"Trading Privileges"," badges, green when granted, alongside ",[28,387,388],{},"Real Account"," or ",[28,391,392],{},"Demo Account"," and the account's autotrading share.",[20,395,184],{"id":183},[186,397,398,404,410,416],{},[189,399,400,403],{},[28,401,402],{},"\"Passing an evaluation means the capital is mine.\""," It never is. It remains the firm's, under the same rules, and the account can be closed for a rule breach at any point.",[189,405,406,409],{},[28,407,408],{},"\"A trailing drawdown works like a normal drawdown.\""," It does not. It follows equity upward, so a profitable week can leave less room than the week before it.",[189,411,412,415],{},[28,413,414],{},"\"The profit target is the hard part.\""," The loss limits are. Targets are usually reachable; the limits remove candidates who would have reached them.",[189,417,418,421],{},[28,419,420],{},"\"Simulated capital means simulated results.\""," The decisions and the risk discipline are real, and so is a record of them. Only the fills are not.",[10,423,424,425,61],{},"For how a record like this is read by someone who did not produce it: ",[14,426,428],{"href":427},"\u002Fguides\u002Fverified-vs-unverified-track-records","verified vs unverified track records",{"title":49,"searchDepth":221,"depth":221,"links":430},[431,432,433,434,435],{"id":22,"depth":221,"text":23},{"id":73,"depth":221,"text":74},{"id":88,"depth":221,"text":89},{"id":130,"depth":221,"text":131},{"id":183,"depth":221,"text":184},"A prop firm puts its own capital at risk through traders under a rulebook. How evaluations, profit splits and loss limits work, and what real drawdowns show.",{},[439,440,441,442],"what-is-a-funded-account","what-is-a-daily-drawdown-limit","what-is-position-sizing","what-is-a-track-record",{"title":247,"description":436},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-prop-firm","Prop Firm","PzDE4KdbNDkjttAPE6kUyqbcj4czhI_BPUQrAJsKcTg",{"id":448,"title":449,"body":450,"category":622,"date":229,"description":623,"draft":231,"extension":232,"meta":624,"navigation":231,"path":125,"related":625,"seo":629,"stem":630,"term":631,"updated":229,"__hash__":632},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-unlisted-account.md","What Is an Unlisted Account? Link-Only Records",{"type":7,"value":451,"toc":615},[452,455,457,464,471,491,494,506,508,520,531,534,536,543,545,567,577,579,608],[10,453,454],{},"An unlisted account is a published ShowMyTrades account that has been removed from every listing on the platform: the page renders in full for anyone holding the URL, but nothing on the site points to it. It sits between private, where nobody but the owner can load the page at all, and published, where the page is both readable and discoverable.",[20,456,23],{"id":22},[10,458,459,460,463],{},"Unlisted is not a separate kind of page, and not a separate value in the visibility field. Internally the account stays ",[47,461,462],{},"published"," and carries a boolean link-only flag, which is why the page, the statistics, the widgets, the followers and the slug all behave exactly as they did before the switch — no public endpoint had to change to support it. Only listings change.",[10,465,466,467,470],{},"Three public listings filter unlisted entities out, each by the same ",[47,468,469],{},"unlisted = false"," condition on its query:",[186,472,473,479,485],{},[189,474,475,478],{},[28,476,477],{},"Your public trader profile",", which is the same endpoint that fills the \"other accounts by this trader\" suggestions at the foot of every account page.",[189,480,481,484],{},[28,482,483],{},"The Explore feed",", and the community counters that sit on it.",[189,486,487,490],{},[28,488,489],{},"The public account search"," used by the Widget Builder, so nobody can find the account by name or ID and embed it.",[10,492,493],{},"Two more places exclude them by choice rather than by listing logic: the referral page will not offer an unlisted account as the link you share publicly, and the AI analysis job filters them out, so no new analysis is generated. Analyses produced before the switch stay on the page.",[10,495,496,497,501,502,61],{},"Everything else is untouched. The account page loads for anyone with the address, the widget endpoints serve it, the ",[14,498,500],{"href":499},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-trading-widget","widgets"," you already embedded keep rendering, and a custom slug change still leaves a 301 redirect behind. The same option and the same semantics apply to ",[14,503,505],{"href":504},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-trading-portfolio","portfolios",[20,507,74],{"id":73},[10,509,510,511,514,515,519],{},"Because \"show one person\" and \"publish to the world\" are different requests, and most platforms only offer the second. An unlisted page is the version you send to ",[14,512,513],{"href":16},"a prop firm"," reviewing your application, to an investor doing due diligence, or to one client of the twenty you track — without that account joining your public profile, ",[14,516,518],{"href":517},"\u002Fguides\u002Ffinding-real-trading-accounts","appearing in the community feed",", or turning up in a widget somebody else builds.",[10,521,522,523,526,527,530],{},"Be precise about what it does not do. It is ",[28,524,525],{},"not"," private: anyone holding the link sees the whole page, trades included. It carries no ",[47,528,529],{},"noindex"," tag and stays in the sitemap, which is a deliberate decision rather than an oversight — an unlisted page that Google indexes is an accepted outcome. Followers who followed the account before the switch keep seeing it under Following, because they already have the link. Platform counters keep counting it as published. And the owner does not see their own unlisted accounts on their own public profile; they are managed from the private dashboard.",[10,532,533],{},"If a page must not be readable by a stranger who guesses or is forwarded the URL, the correct setting is private, not unlisted.",[20,535,89],{"id":88},[10,537,538,539,542],{},"Of the 10,000+ accounts published on ShowMyTrades, ",[28,540,541],{},"37 are unlisted"," (August 2026). It is a deliberately narrow tool used by a small number of owners, and the shape of that usage matches the design: people who track many accounts and want to hand out one of them.",[20,544,131],{"id":130},[10,546,547,548,551,552,555,556,157,559,562,563,566],{},"In ",[28,549,550],{},"Account Settings → General → Visibility"," the dropdown holds exactly three entries, each prefixed with a small icon: ",[28,553,554],{},"Private - Only you can view",", ",[28,557,558],{},"Published - Visible to others",[28,560,561],{},"Unlisted - Only via direct link",". On the dashboard page for that account an amber ",[28,564,565],{},"Unlisted"," badge sits next to the copy-link and open-page buttons. In the dashboard Accounts and Portfolios tables it is a third state in the Status column, in amber, with a matching entry in the Status filter. The admin panel's Visibility column distinguishes it too, though its filter does not yet offer it as a choice.",[10,568,569,570,157,573,576],{},"One behaviour worth knowing: the bulk ",[28,571,572],{},"Publish",[28,574,575],{},"Hide"," actions in those tables always clear the flag. Publishing something is meant to make it genuinely public, and hiding it is not meant to leave a link-only flag armed for the next time it is published.",[20,578,184],{"id":183},[186,580,581,587,596,602],{},[189,582,583,586],{},[28,584,585],{},"\"Unlisted means private with a link.\""," It means published, minus discovery. The page is fully public to anyone who has the address.",[189,588,589,592,593,595],{},[28,590,591],{},"\"Search engines will not find it.\""," They can. There is no ",[47,594,529],{},", and the page stays in the sitemap.",[189,597,598,601],{},[28,599,600],{},"\"Making an account unlisted breaks my embeds.\""," It does not. Widgets serve published accounts, and unlisted accounts are published. Setting the account to private is what breaks them.",[189,603,604,607],{},[28,605,606],{},"\"Nobody can see it any more.\""," Existing followers still can, and so can anyone the link was forwarded to.",[10,609,610,611,61],{},"For how visibility, slugs and the public profile fit together, see ",[14,612,614],{"href":613},"\u002Fguides\u002Fpublic-profile-and-custom-slugs","the public profile and custom slugs guide",{"title":49,"searchDepth":221,"depth":221,"links":616},[617,618,619,620,621],{"id":22,"depth":221,"text":23},{"id":73,"depth":221,"text":74},{"id":88,"depth":221,"text":89},{"id":130,"depth":221,"text":131},{"id":183,"depth":221,"text":184},"Verification","Unlisted is a third visibility state: the account page works for anyone holding the link, but it is absent from Explore, search and your public profile.",{},[626,627,628,236],"what-is-a-trading-widget","what-is-a-verified-track-record","what-is-a-trading-portfolio",{"title":449,"description":623},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-unlisted-account","Unlisted Account","FVRTTzXCzFmko9mbcQK10j8smAzQsA1wr0gslNmswe0",{"id":634,"title":635,"body":636,"category":824,"date":229,"description":825,"draft":826,"extension":232,"meta":827,"navigation":231,"path":80,"related":828,"seo":832,"stem":833,"term":143,"updated":229,"__hash__":834},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown.md","What Is Drawdown? Definition, Formula and Real Numbers",{"type":7,"value":637,"toc":817},[638,641,643,646,652,655,658,691,693,696,703,708,711,721,723,728,741,744,746,763,778,780,810],[10,639,640],{},"Drawdown is the decline in an account's value from a previous peak down to a subsequent low, expressed as a percentage of that peak. It measures how far the account fell from its own best point, not how much it lost on any single trade. Because it accumulates, a 20% drawdown can be built out of forty small losses just as easily as out of one disaster.",[20,642,23],{"id":22},[10,644,645],{},"Every account carries a running high-water mark: the highest value it has ever reached. Drawdown is the distance below that mark at any given moment.",[40,647,650],{"className":648,"code":649,"language":45},[43],"Drawdown % = (Peak value − Current value) \u002F Peak value × 100\n",[47,651,649],{"__ignoreMap":49},[10,653,654],{},"The mark only moves up. When a new high is printed, the high-water mark resets to it and drawdown returns to zero. Until then, every day below the peak is a day in drawdown, whether the account is falling or grinding sideways.",[10,656,657],{},"Three distinctions decide what the number actually means:",[186,659,660,670,676],{},[189,661,662,665,666,669],{},[28,663,664],{},"Relative vs absolute."," Relative drawdown is the percentage above. Absolute drawdown, as MetaTrader reports it, is the fall below the ",[363,667,668],{},"initial deposit"," in currency — a completely different figure that can read 0% on an account currently 40% below its peak.",[189,671,672,675],{},[28,673,674],{},"Equity vs balance."," Equity drawdown counts floating losses on open positions. Balance drawdown counts only closed trades, so a loss that is never realised never appears in it.",[189,677,678,681,682,685,686,690],{},[28,679,680],{},"Current vs maximum."," Current drawdown is where the account sits today. The historical worst is ",[14,683,684],{"href":99},"maximum drawdown",", and it is the figure most ",[14,687,689],{"href":688},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-track-record","track records"," quote.",[20,692,74],{"id":73},[10,694,695],{},"Drawdown is the constraint that decides whether a strategy is investable, because losses and gains do not compound symmetrically. A 20% fall needs a 25% gain to get back to even. A 50% fall needs 100%.",[10,697,698],{},[699,700],"img",{"alt":701,"src":702},"A 10% loss needs an 11.1% gain to undo it, 25% needs 33.3%, 50% needs 100%, 70% needs 233%","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Frecovery-asymmetry.svg",[10,704,705],{},[363,706,707],{},"Past 50%, the recovery is a bigger job than the loss that caused it.",[10,709,710],{},"It is also the number that removes people from the market. Almost nobody quits during a fast, violent fall — the emotion there is hope. They quit in month nine of a flat recovery. Depth is only half of it; duration is the other half, and it is invisible on a returns chart.",[10,712,713,714,157,716,720],{},"And drawdown is the direct output of ",[14,715,291],{"href":290},[14,717,719],{"href":718},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-stop-loss","stop-loss"," discipline, far more than of entry quality. Two traders with identical signals and different lot sizes produce identical win rates and completely different survivability.",[20,722,89],{"id":88},[10,724,725,726,61],{},"The figures below describe accounts published on ShowMyTrades. They are not a survey of traders in general. Across the published accounts that have trading history (August 2026), drawn from 15,436,464 synchronised trades, the median deepest drawdown ever reached is ",[28,727,306],{},[10,729,730,731,303,735,737,738,740],{},"Set that against what the same accounts earned. The median ",[14,732,734],{"href":733},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-time-weighted-return","time-weighted return",[28,736,111],{},", and ",[28,739,115],{}," of them are positive over time. The middle account here therefore gave up roughly three times its eventual return in peak-to-trough decline along the way: the risk absorbed is larger than the result, and larger by a multiple rather than a margin.",[10,742,743],{},"That ratio, not the raw depth, is what makes a drawdown figure readable. A published claim of large gains beside a two- or three-percent drawdown is not impossible, but it sits at the outer edge of this distribution, and the rest of the account page is where an edge case has to be justified.",[20,745,131],{"id":130},[10,747,748,749,751,752,754,755,757,758,762],{},"On every published account page, the ",[28,750,139],{}," panel carries two figures on consecutive rows, immediately below ",[28,753,160],{},": ",[28,756,143],{},", measured on equity so floating losses on open positions are included, and ",[28,759,760],{},[14,761,147],{"href":151},", measured on closed results only. Both are historical maxima rather than today's reading, and both come from the broker feed rather than from the account owner.",[10,764,765,766,768,769,772,773,777],{},"The charts module has a ",[28,767,143],{}," view that plots daily drawdown as bars over the life of the account. That is where the ",[363,770,771],{},"duration"," of a decline becomes readable instead of inferred, which no single headline percentage can convey. The ",[14,774,776],{"href":775},"\u002Ftools\u002Fdrawdown-calculator","drawdown calculator"," runs the recovery arithmetic on your own balance.",[20,779,184],{"id":183},[186,781,782,788,794,804],{},[189,783,784,787],{},[28,785,786],{},"\"Drawdown is my biggest losing trade.\""," It is not. It is a cumulative peak-to-trough path that can contain hundreds of trades, including winners.",[189,789,790,793],{},[28,791,792],{},"\"My drawdown went back to zero after I recovered.\""," Current drawdown did. Maximum drawdown never falls, by design — it stops a good quarter from erasing a bad one.",[189,795,796,799,800,61],{},[28,797,798],{},"\"Low drawdown means low risk.\""," On a young account it usually means untested. The median published account here has 171 closed trades; below a few hundred, ",[14,801,803],{"href":802},"\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-much-history-a-track-record-needs","a small drawdown is a sample size, not a risk profile",[189,805,806,809],{},[28,807,808],{},"\"Balance drawdown is the real one.\""," It is the flattering one. Grid and averaging-down systems keep balance drawdown small precisely by refusing to close losers.",[10,811,812,813,61],{},"For how drawdown reads alongside every other number on an account page, see ",[14,814,816],{"href":815},"\u002Fguides\u002Freading-a-trading-account-dashboard","how to read a trading account dashboard",{"title":49,"searchDepth":221,"depth":221,"links":818},[819,820,821,822,823],{"id":22,"depth":221,"text":23},{"id":73,"depth":221,"text":74},{"id":88,"depth":221,"text":89},{"id":130,"depth":221,"text":131},{"id":183,"depth":221,"text":184},"Metrics","Drawdown is the peak-to-trough fall in an account's value, in percent. Here is the formula, why it is cumulative, and what thousands of real trading accounts show.",false,{},[829,441,830,831],"what-is-maximum-drawdown","what-is-a-stop-loss","what-is-a-profit-factor",{"title":635,"description":825},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown","DMQq_wxULyvtTewFH3EendlyxckASOfp4LLweDXbTKY",{"id":836,"title":837,"body":838,"category":1040,"date":229,"description":1041,"draft":231,"extension":232,"meta":1042,"navigation":231,"path":151,"related":1043,"seo":1046,"stem":1047,"term":147,"updated":229,"__hash__":1048},"glossary\u002F5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown-on-balance.md","What Is Drawdown on Balance? DD on Balance",{"type":7,"value":839,"toc":1033},[840,856,858,861,867,870,873,876,902,904,907,913,918,931,933,954,969,971,987,1000,1002,1028],[10,841,842,843,846,847,850,851,853,854,61],{},"Drawdown on balance is the deepest peak-to-trough fall an account's ",[28,844,845],{},"closed"," balance has ever taken, ignoring the unrealised profit and loss of open positions. It counts a loss only once realised, which makes it the more forgiving of the two drawdown figures on a ",[14,848,849],{"href":688},"track record",". On ShowMyTrades it is published as ",[28,852,147],{},", always beside the equity-based ",[28,855,143],{},[20,857,23],{"id":22},[10,859,860],{},"Both are worst-ever readings against the same high-water mark, drawn on balance. What differs is the value compared against it, and how often:",[40,862,865],{"className":863,"code":864,"language":45},[43],"Peak = high-water mark of closed balance, rescaled by every cash flow\n\nDD on Balance % = worst of (Balance − Peak) \u002F Peak × 100              at every trade\nDrawdown %      = worst of (min(Balance, Equity) − Peak) \u002F Peak × 100  once a day\n                  where Equity = Balance + floating P&L on open positions\n",[47,866,864],{"__ignoreMap":49},[10,868,869],{},"The balance rolls forward from the account's own history, every closed trade entering net of its commission and swap. The peak ratchets upward on trading gains and never falls on its own. Both are historical worsts, not today's position, so neither ever improves.",[10,871,872],{},"Cash flows are handled deliberately: a deposit or withdrawal scales the peak by exactly the factor it scales the balance, so money moving in or out neither creates a drawdown nor repairs one. Both are floored at −100%, so a balance driven below zero by a stop-out reads as a total loss.",[10,874,875],{},"Because the two share a peak, the pair reads as one measurement:",[186,877,878,884,890,896],{},[189,879,880,883],{},[28,881,882],{},"The two are close."," Positions are closed near where they went wrong. Little is being carried.",[189,885,886,889],{},[28,887,888],{},"Equity drawdown is far larger."," Losers are being held open. The account reports its losses late, and the balance figure is describing bookkeeping rather than risk.",[189,891,892,895],{},[28,893,894],{},"The two are identical."," Either no floating loss ever coincided with a high-water moment, or no floating history exists for that stretch.",[189,897,898,901],{},[28,899,900],{},"Balance drawdown is the larger one."," Usually the sampling gap: balance is checked at every trade, equity only on daily closing values, so a hole opened and refilled inside one day shows in the first and not the second.",[20,903,74],{"id":73},[10,905,906],{},"The gap between them is the clearest single tell for a system that never closes a loser. Grid, martingale and averaging-down strategies produce a smooth balance curve by construction: a position that is never closed never touches the balance. Their equity tells a different story, and it is the equity story that ends the account.",[10,908,909],{},[699,910],{"alt":911,"src":912},"A smooth balance line beside an equity line pulled below it by open positions held at a loss","\u002Fimages\u002Farticles\u002Fequity-vs-balance.svg",[10,914,915],{},[363,916,917],{},"The gap between the two lines is the loss the balance figure has not been told about yet.",[10,919,920,921,925,926,930],{},"That is not interpretation. Margin is calculated on equity, so ",[14,922,924],{"href":923},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-margin-level","margin level"," and any ",[14,927,929],{"href":928},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-a-margin-call","margin call"," follow the equity line and ignore the balance line entirely. A record showing solid gains against a 3% balance drawdown next to a 45% equity drawdown is not a low-risk system: it was 45% underwater and had not admitted it. Where the two converge, that convergence is evidence in its own right — losses were taken when they occurred.",[20,932,89],{"id":88},[10,934,935,936,939,940,303,942,944,945,947,948,950,951,953],{},"The figures below describe accounts published on ShowMyTrades, not traders in general. Across the ",[28,937,938],{},"published accounts with trading history"," (August 2026), the median deepest ",[14,941,81],{"href":80},[28,943,306],{},". The tails are wide: ",[28,946,310],{}," of accounts have never been more than 5% below their peak, while ",[28,949,95],{}," have been more than 20% underwater and ",[28,952,321],{}," more than 50%.",[10,955,956,957,960,961,157,965,968],{},"That first group is where the pair earns its keep: a record under 5% is either tight risk control or a floating loss not yet realised, and the two look identical on a balance chart. Most of this population is automated — the median account runs ",[28,958,959],{},"99%"," of its trades through an ",[14,962,964],{"href":963},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fwhat-is-an-expert-advisor","automated system",[28,966,967],{},"53.9%"," are more than 90% automated — and a robot holding a loser neither tires nor loses its nerve.",[20,970,131],{"id":130},[10,972,973,975,976,978,979,981,982,986],{},[28,974,147],{}," sits directly under ",[28,977,143],{}," in the ",[28,980,139],{}," panel, on every published account page and in the ",[14,983,985],{"href":984},"\u002Fguides\u002Ftrading-widgets-and-embeds","Complete Dashboard widget",". Those two rows are the panel's whole risk block, set off by a rule with no heading above them. The value comes from our statistics service, computed over the account's synchronised history rather than entered by anyone, and printed without its minus sign.",[10,988,989,990,993,994,996,997,999],{},"Two other places on the page complete the picture. The ",[28,991,992],{},"Equity"," row shows equity as a percentage of balance — under 100% means open positions are underwater right now, and that shortfall is exactly what DD on Balance excludes. In the charts viewer, the ",[28,995,143],{}," view plots daily drawdown as bars over the account's life, making the ",[363,998,771],{}," of a decline visible rather than inferred.",[20,1001,184],{"id":183},[186,1003,1004,1010,1016,1022],{},[189,1005,1006,1009],{},[28,1007,1008],{},"\"The lower number is the real risk.\""," The lower number is usually DD on Balance, and it is the optimistic one by construction.",[189,1011,1012,1015],{},[28,1013,1014],{},"\"It excludes trading costs.\""," It does not. Every closed trade enters the balance with its commission and swap already applied.",[189,1017,1018,1021],{},[28,1019,1020],{},"\"A withdrawal shows up as a drawdown.\""," It does not. A cash movement scales the high-water mark by the same factor as the balance. Deposits cannot mend a drawdown either.",[189,1023,1024,1027],{},[28,1025,1026],{},"\"Both numbers see the same detail.\""," The equity figure is sampled once a day, so a fall and full recovery inside one session leaves no trace in it.",[10,1029,1030,1031,61],{},"For the full method, including why depth and duration are separate questions, see ",[14,1032,219],{"href":218},{"title":49,"searchDepth":221,"depth":221,"links":1034},[1035,1036,1037,1038,1039],{"id":22,"depth":221,"text":23},{"id":73,"depth":221,"text":74},{"id":88,"depth":221,"text":89},{"id":130,"depth":221,"text":131},{"id":183,"depth":221,"text":184},"Risk","DD on Balance is the deepest peak-to-trough fall in closed results only. How to read it against equity drawdown, and what published accounts show.",{},[237,829,1044,1045],"what-is-margin-level","what-is-absolute-gain",{"title":837,"description":1041},"5.glossary\u002Fwhat-is-drawdown-on-balance","YNssKoit9sr03-dJpxHlpf4_3O1G9oJAiUxBNeg6S-M",1787415688736]