Vest Markets drawdown rules are the simple kind: a static floor, set once, that never trails. Evaluations carry 6% of capital. Instant accounts carry a floor equal to your payment. What that means in dollars, and the one daily rule that can still end you, is the whole content of this page.
Equity below the floor at any moment, intraday included, closes the account immediately and permanently (docs.vestmarkets.com loss limits, checked 2026-10-15).
$300, $600 and $1,500 static floors on the three evaluation tiers. Your fee is the floor on instant accounts. The only moving part is the optional daily loss limit on evaluations, which resets at 20:00 ET.
Key Takeaways
- Static means the floor is computed from starting capital and never moves: profits never raise it, losses never lower it further.
- Evaluation floors: $4,700 on the $5K, $9,400 on the $10K, $23,500 on the $25K. Instant floors: $490, $4,800, $9,600, $24,000.
- The daily loss limit, if you bought one on a 1-Step, floors your day at 97% or 96% of a reset balance captured at 20:00 ET, excluding unrealized PnL.
- Breaching either floor is immediate permanent closure. No warnings, no grace period, no reset included (docs.vestmarkets.com, checked 2026-10-15).
The Static Floors, in Real Dollars
| Account | Starting capital | Max drawdown | Equity floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver evaluation | $5,000 | $300 (6%) | $4,700 |
| Gold evaluation | $10,000 | $600 (6%) | $9,400 |
| Platinum evaluation | $25,000 | $1,500 (6%) | $23,500 |
| Instant $500 | $500 | $10 (2%) | $490 |
| Instant $5K | $5,000 | $200 (4%) | $4,800 |
| Instant $10K | $10,000 | $400 (4%) | $9,600 |
| Instant $25K | $25,000 | $1,000 (4%) | $24,000 |
Make $1,000 on a Gold evaluation and your floor is still $9,400. That is the entire argument against trailing drawdowns, where a strong start drags your stop-hunting line up behind you until a normal pullback kills a profitable account. If that has never happened to you, the FTMO drawdown explainer shows what it looks like in dollars.
The instant account floors have one more quirk worth noticing. Because the floor equals your payment, the effective rate differs by size: 2% on the $500 account, 4% everywhere else. The small account is structurally the tightest, which is exactly right for its job as a test bed.
| Mechanic | Vest (static) | Trailing drawdown firms |
|---|---|---|
| Where the floor sits | Fixed at start, forever | Rises as your balance peaks |
| Do profits raise it | Never | Usually, to a percent below peak |
| Practical effect | A good start buys breathing room | A good start spends your room |
The Daily Loss Limit and the 20:00 ET Reset
If you selected a daily loss limit on a 1-Step evaluation, the account captures a reset balance at 20:00 ET: account balance plus reserved collateral, excluding unrealized PnL. Your daily floor is 97% of that balance at a 3% limit, or 96% at 4%, adjusted dollar for dollar by non-trading transfers.
Platinum evaluation, 4% DLL, reset balance $25,000. Your daily floor is $24,000. You go long and the position runs $1,100 against you unrealized.
Equity now reads $23,900, which is below the floor, and the account closes immediately even though your balance-based math said you had room. Unrealized PnL counts against the floor it is excluded from setting. Size every position so the worst realistic adverse move cannot reach the floor.
Instant accounts carry no daily loss limit at all, and neither does the "no daily loss limit" configuration on 1-Step. On those, the static floor is the only line in the sand, checked continuously against equity.
Claims interact with the floor in your favor, for what it is worth. Claiming profit moves money out of the funded account, which returns your equity toward the starting balance and restores most of your room above the floor. On a claim-anytime firm that is a real risk tool, not just a payday, and it is the reason I would claim early here rather than banking profit inside the account.
Sizing for the Floor
The right way to pick an account size is backwards from your risk. Take your normal risk per trade, multiply by your worst realistic losing streak, add a buffer, and buy the tier where that number fits inside the drawdown with room to spare. A trader risking $100 a position with a five-loss streak in the story needs more than $500 of room, which rules out three of the seven accounts.
Two sizing rules earn their keep on this rulebook. First, on accounts with a daily loss limit, your per-trade risk should fit inside the daily floor after a gap against you, not just inside the max drawdown. Second, on instant accounts, remember the fee already paid is part of the cushion story: a $25,000 instant account with $600 of realized profit claimed out is back to $25,000 equity and a $24,000 floor, so the claim restored your room rather than reducing it.
Run your own numbers in the drawdown calculator before buying, not after the first red day. The account types and their prices are laid out in the Vest Markets review, and the full rule context is in the rules breakdown.
Choose Your Account Size With the Discount
Sources: docs.vestmarkets.com loss limits, claiming profit, read 2026-10-15.
