Consistency rules explained: three kinds, worked examples

Before you compare percentages, settle four things:

1. 1What counts as the best day? At FTMO, the day with the highest profit from closed trades, settled at 00:00 CE(S)T^[1]. At Topstep, a day's value in the Trading Combine locks at 3:10 PM Central Time^[6].
2. 2What is it compared with? Total profit including losing days, only the profitable days, the profit target, or the sum of all daily results.
3. 3When does it apply? During the evaluation, for payouts, or only when the account is scaled up. E8 Markets, for instance, has no consistency rule in the E8 One challenge, but a best-day rule for payouts on the Performance account^[4].
4. 4What happens if you are over the limit? Usually it is not a rule breach: you keep trading, the target rises, or the payout waits. At Alpha Capital Group, by contrast, trading days padded with tiny positions do not count towards the first payout on the bi-weekly payout method^[8].

Watch for "at most" versus "below" as well: at Tradeify exactly 20.00% meets a 20% rule^[2], Take Profit Trader asks for "below 50%"^[7], and Topstep calls its 55% a hard line with no rounding^[6].

The basic formula: best day divided by total profit. If the result is above the limit, you are short of total profit, up to the best day divided by the limit. At Tradeify, a best day of USD 1,000 under a 20% rule calls for USD 5,000 of total profit^[2].

The catch is in the denominator. For accounts from orders created on or after 12 October 2026, the best day in the FTMO Challenge 1-Step may be at most 50%^[11] of total profit, and losing days count. Accounts from older orders keep the Best Day Rule, which adds up only the profitable days^[1].

Worked example with FTMO's own figures

FTMO's rules page uses four days, and the account size does not matter: +6,000, −2,000, +4,000, +2,000 (in USD)^[1].

• Consistency rule, 1-Step: total profit 10,000, best day 6,000, so 60% instead of at most 50%. If it stays your best day, you need at least 12,000 of total profit^[1].
• Legacy Best Day Rule: only the profitable days count: 6,000 + 4,000 + 2,000 = 12,000. The best day is exactly 50%, so the rule is met (our own calculation from FTMO's definition)^[1].
• FTMO Instant Account: for a payout, the best day here may be at most 30%^[12] of total profit. With the same days, FTMO says you would need at least 20,000^[1].

Same days, same limit in the first two cases, yet one is met and one is not: the losing day in the denominator makes the difference. The account is never lost here; FTMO does not treat going over as a rule breach. You keep trading until the best day is half or less^[1].

Losing days push the share up

Every losing day lowers total profit and so drives the share up. Tradeify shows the arithmetic: best day USD 1,000, total profit USD 1,500, which is 66.7%. A losing day of USD 300 cuts total profit to USD 1,200, and the share rises to 83.3%^[2]. The only way back is profitable days that stay smaller than your best day so far.

A variant: every day as an absolute amount

City Traders Imperium divides the largest day, profit or loss, by the sum of all daily results ignoring the sign. There it only matters for scaling up the account, and the mark is 20%. In the firm's own example, seven days with a largest day of 4,000 add up to 21,000, which gives 19.05%. Under the formula CTI says most other firms use, it would be 80%^[5].

Here the limit is tied to the profit target: limit times target is your daily budget. Go over it and the evaluation is not lost, but the target rises to the best day divided by the limit. Topstep words it like this for the Trading Combine: your best day must be at most 55%^[16] of your profit target, or the target increases. The calculation is still best day divided by total profit; the target is only where it starts^[6]. The difference from the first kind is the consequence: the target moves.

Worked example: Topstep, 50K account

The profit target is USD 3,000, and the recommended best day is below USD 1,650^[6].

• Your best day brings USD 1,800. New target: 1,800 ÷ 0.55 = USD 3,273^[6].
• The next day brings USD 2,200. That is the new best day, and the target rises to USD 4,000^[6].
• Losing days do not reset the best day. If your total profit falls to USD 1,000 after the 1,800 day, the target stays at USD 3,273^[6]. You are then USD 2,273 short, and no day may bring more than USD 1,800 (our own calculation).
• Adding more on the same day does not help: while the session is open, every extra dollar of profit adds to the best day. The rest has to come on a different trading day^[6].

Take Profit Trader: best day times two

At Take Profit Trader the best day must be below 50%^[17] of net profit. If it is not, the test account is not failed, but the profit goal rises to more than twice the best day. The firm's own example: a 50,000 account, target USD 3,000, days of +2,000, +600 and +500. The best day is 2,000 of 3,100, about 65%, and the new goal is above USD 4,000^[7].

Alpha Futures gives a daily budget too: on the 50K Standard account with a USD 3,000 target, the evaluation limit is 50%, and the recommended largest day is USD 1,500 or less^[3].

The third kind ignores profit and looks at how you trade. Alpha Capital Group does not call it a consistency rule, but the effect is similar: on the bi-weekly payout method for Alpha Pro and Alpha Three, you need at least 5 trading days with the same strategy before your first request, and minimal lots used just to fill those days are not allowed^[8]. The page gives no percentage and no formula for it, so you cannot work the rule out in advance.

Example from Alpha Capital Group

The firm describes the case itself: if you usually trade 20 lots, you cannot fill the days with 0.02 lots. Cutting down to 5 lots does count, provided the trade duration is similar to your past trades^[8]. The small position would be a thousandth of the usual one (our own calculation). Padding trading days with tiny positions risks having them not count under this rule.

To size positions from risk and stop rather than by feel, use the position size calculator.

The percentage limits come from PropCrab's firm records. Each of those rows links to the firm's own page and the date the record was confirmed. We re-read the wording on the firms' pages on the day this guide was published.

• Read the formula, not just the percentage. The same 50% limit can be met or missed depending on whether losing days count. The FTMO example above shows it^[1].
• If the formula is missing, ask. The 50K Rapid plan table at MyFundedFutures says only "Consistency 50% (Eval Only)", without the calculation^[10]. Get it explained in writing before you buy.
• Evaluation, payout or scaling? On MyFundedFutures' Rapid plan the rule applies only in the evaluation^[10], at City Traders Imperium only when the account is scaled up^[5].
• Does it restart after a payout? On FTMO's Instant Account and at Alpha Futures the count restarts after a payout or a request^[1][3]. On Topstep's "Consistency" payout path, the new window only opens on the trading day after the request^[6].
• Consistency as a purchase option. LucidFlex asks for at most 40% in the evaluation, or at most 50% with an add-on you choose at checkout^[9].
• Rules change. FTMO switched the formula for new 1-Step orders on 12 October 2026^[1]. Which version applies to which purchase date is shown on FTMO's firm profile.

A consistency rule never makes your profit target smaller; it can only make it bigger or push the payout back. Count it in when you compare challenges, for example with the challenge cost calculator.