The three evaluation rules, in detail
Every funded program is the same three constraints under different branding. Each of the three carries its own page, because each one is a wall a real attempt has to clear. The full five-test method is on the method page.
What the rules are really testing
A prop firm is not trying to find the trader who makes the most; it is trying to find the trader who will not blow up its capital. That is why the rules cluster around risk, not return. The profit target proves you can make money; the drawdown cap and the consistency rule prove you can do it without the kind of variance that ends accounts. Read the rules that way and the right method is obvious: trade small, trade consistently, and let conviction — not emotion — decide when to press. The table below sorts the common approaches on the two tests that decide most attempts.
| Approach | Respects the cap? | Even daily curve? | Why it sits there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenge / martingale | No | No | Each loss is chased with a bigger position; the cap is breached fast. |
| All-in on one idea | No | Rarely | Target or bust on one position; a single day decides the run. |
| Copy-a-room follower | Rarely | Sometimes | No sizing logic of one's own; inherits the room's risk. |
| Gut-feel discretionary | Sometimes | No | Discipline holds on calm days, slips under pressure. |
| Fixed-risk indicator system | Often | Sometimes | Respects the cap but conviction is unmeasured, so sizing is flat. |
| Graded, drawdown-aware plan | Yes | Yes | Fixed risk per call + A-D grade to size by + timestamped levels. |
The bottom row is the only approach that fills both columns, which is the case this site makes for a graded, drawdown-aware method — not that it is clever, but that it is built to survive the exact conditions an evaluation imposes. The three rules below each take one wall apart in full.
Why these two columns decide most attempts
Of the constraints, two do almost all the failing. Respects the cap is the one that cannot be recovered from: breach the maximum drawdown and the evaluation is simply over, whatever the target says. Even daily curve is the one that quietly disqualifies an otherwise-good run: many programs will not pass a result where one day produced too large a share of the profit, so a trader who made the target in a single heroic session can still fail. An approach that clears both has shown the firm exactly what it is looking for — controlled risk and repeatable behaviour. The remaining tests — graded conviction, survivable sizing, a rule-locked plan — are the machinery that produces those two outcomes, which is why they support the verdict rather than overturn it.
The three walls with their own page
Respecting the maximum drawdown
The wall that fails most attempts, and the fixed-risk maths that clears it.
Satisfying the consistency rule
Why gains have to arrive evenly, and how fixed sizing produces an even curve.
Conviction grades you can size by
How an A-to-D grade turns into a position-size dial instead of a feeling.
The remaining two tests — fixed risk per call and a rule-locked plan — are covered on the method page and put to work in the playbook, because they are habits rather than firm rules.