Intraday vs end-of-day trailing drawdown

Same firm, same account size, opposite behavior. Misjudging which one you have is the single most common way funded accounts breach while the trader is green. Here is the difference.

Intraday trailing

The floor follows your highest unrealized equity, tick by tick. Spike $3,000 in profit on an open trade and the floor jumps by $3,000 — even if you never close it and give it all back. Apex Intraday, Topstep and Take Profit Trader funded accounts work this way. It punishes round-trips: a big unrealized high you don't bank still raises the bar you have to stay above.

End-of-day trailing

The floor only recalculates at the session close, on your closed balance. Intraday spikes do not move it. Apex End-of-Day, Tradeify and Alpha Futures use this. It is far more forgiving of round-trips, because only what you actually keep at the close counts.

Why it matters — an example

On a 50K Apex Intraday account ($2,500 drawdown, floor starting at $47,500): run up to $3,000 unrealized, and your floor climbs toward $50,500. Hand that profit back to flat and you are suddenly only a small move from a breach — on a day you never closed red. On the End-of-Day version, that same intraday spike would not have moved the floor at all.

Risk-tracking tool, not financial advice, not affiliated with any prop firm. Verify rules against your firm's current terms.