How to pass a prop firm challenge: 8 rules that work

Most challenges are lost by breaking rules, not by bad strategy. Get risk right and the target comes.

1. Know your rules

Before trade one, write down: target, daily limit, max loss, drawdown type, reset time, banned styles. Our program pages have them.

0.5–1% per trade. At 1% you can lose a few in a row and still be miles from the limits.

Lost half your daily limit? Done for the day. Easiest way to never hit it.

Usually there's no time limit. Going big to finish fast is how people fail. See no time limit firms.

If news trading is restricted, check the calendar every morning and stay out around big releases. More in our news trading guide.

If there's a consistency rule, keep days even so one big day doesn't delay payout.

Same strategy you'd use with your own money. Not the time to experiment.

Look at your trades every week. Did you follow the plan? Small fixes add up.

How many people pass?

Firms rarely say. Most estimates are well under 1 in 5.

Max leverage?

No. Leverage doesn't change your loss limits. It just gets you there faster.