The entire Vest Markets rulebook fits in one paragraph, which is either the best or the most alarming thing about the firm depending on how you like your rulebooks. Every funded account carries a static max drawdown. Most evaluation accounts also carry an optional daily loss limit. Nothing else is defined as a risk rule (docs.vestmarkets.com loss limits, checked 2026-10-15).
No consistency rule. No minimum trading days. No time limit. No news restriction written into the docs I read. The rules that exist are few, published, and enforced without a sense of humor, so this page is the whole rulebook and the whole warning label.
One rule on instant accounts, two on most evaluations, all static, all published. Breach closes the account immediately and permanently. The list below is complete as of 2026-10-15.
Key Takeaways
- Max drawdown applies to every account: 6% static on evaluations, a floor equal to your payment on instant accounts. It never trails.
- The daily loss limit exists only if you bought one on a 1-Step evaluation: 3% or 4% of a reset balance that refreshes at 20:00 ET.
- Breaching either floor closes the account immediately and permanently. No warning, no grace period, no reset included.
- Third-party reviewers document a 10-live-account cap per trader and a no-hedging restriction on funded accounts (roya-trading and propfirms.net, October 2026); those two items are not in the docs pages I read, so verify at purchase.
Rule One: The Static Max Drawdown
The floor is set once when the account is created and calculated from your starting capital, not your current balance. Profits never raise it and losses never lower it further. Equity below the floor at any moment, intraday included, closes the account.
| 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 to $25K | $5,000-$25,000 | 4% (= your fee) | $4,800-$24,000 |
Static floors are the anti-trailing argument, and if you have ever lost a profitable account to a floor that climbed up behind you, the difference needs no selling. The dollar-level contrast with trailing rules is in the drawdown breakdown.
Rule Two: The Optional Daily Loss Limit
Only evaluation accounts can carry one, only if you selected 3% or 4% at purchase, and it continues unchanged once you go live. Instant accounts never carry one. The mechanics are the part traders skip and the part that closes accounts.
At 20:00 ET the account takes a reset balance: account balance plus reserved collateral, excluding unrealized PnL. Your daily floor is 97% of that balance at a 3% limit, 96% at 4%. Non-trading transfers adjust the floor dollar for dollar.
The mismatch is the trap. Current equity includes unrealized PnL, the floor does not. An open position marked $700 down can breach a floor computed from a balance that has not marked it yet. Breach means immediate permanent closure, so the docs mean it.
The Rules That Do Not Exist
Rulebooks are defined as much by their absences, and Vest's absences are the selling point. There is no consistency rule, so one heroic day cannot fail you. There is no minimum trading days requirement, so a funded account can sit idle or trade once a month. There is no time limit on evaluations, so the exam waits for your setup.
There is also no news-trading restriction written into the risk-rule docs I read on 2026-10-15, which matters if your edge lives around scheduled releases. Two exceptions to the short list come from third parties rather than the docs: reviewers report a 10-live-account cap per trader and a no-hedging restriction on funded accounts (roya-trading, propfirms.net, October 2026). Confirm both at checkout before you plan around them.
The conduct fine print still applies like anywhere: identity checks per the purchase disclosure, and the standard list of manipulative practices every platform prohibits. Fewer rules is not no rules.
What This Rulebook Rewards
A short rulebook rewards traders with genuine edges and punishes traders looking for loopholes, because the one rule that exists is absolute. Size so your worst normal losing streak leaves room above the floor, model the daily reset before you buy a DLL, and the tiny rulebook becomes your best feature instead of your last mistake.
The absences also change what due diligence means here. With no consistency rule and no time limit to police, the questions that matter shift entirely to counterparty trust and payout behavior, which is why the legitimacy breakdown exists as its own page.
Everything here, including the pricing behind each account type, is cross-checked in the Vest Markets review. The evaluation configurations that carry the DLL are priced in the evaluation breakdown.
See the Rulebook in Action, Discount Applied
Sources: docs.vestmarkets.com loss limits, instant accounts page, read 2026-10-15.
