An end-of-day trailing drawdown moves once per session, from the closed balance. An intraday one follows open equity tick by tick. The two rules produce the same limit on a quiet day and very different limits on a day with a runner that comes back. This article assumes you know what a trailing drawdown is; if not, start with what is a trailing drawdown. Here the question is narrower: on the same trades, when does one version fail and the other not, and which StarTrading account has which.
What is the only difference between the two?
The definition of a new high. At StarTrading the trailing limit is the Max Loss Limit; it starts a fixed distance below the starting balance, $3,000 on a 100K, and rises whenever the account makes a new high until it locks at the starting balance plus $100.
- End of day reads the account once, after the close. The high is the highest closed balance. Nothing that happens inside the session moves it.
- Intraday reads the account continuously. The high is the highest equity ever reached, open positions included. A peak that lasts two seconds counts.
Everything else is identical: the amount, the lock, what happens when it is hit. The difference is entirely about open profit that does not become closed profit.
Which StarTrading accounts use which?
| Account | Evaluation | Funded |
|---|---|---|
| Cycle | end of day | end of day |
| Clear | end of day | end of day |
| Stream | intraday, or end of day as a paid option | intraday |
| Direct | no evaluation | end of day |
Funded Stream accounts are the only funded accounts with an intraday trail, and it is part of the deal that gives them daily payouts with no cap per request. A Stream evaluation trails intraday by default; the end-of-day option is chosen at checkout and carries a surcharge. Once the Stream account is funded the trail is intraday whatever the evaluation option was.
A worked day, both ways
Take a funded 100K Stream account. After a good first week the highest close is $101,500, so both versions of the limit start the day at $98,500: the $3,000 distance from the highest value. Assume the Daily Loss Limit was kept on at checkout: $1,800. The same three trades, in ES, with the limit recomputed after each event:
| Event | Equity | Intraday limit | End-of-day limit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Session open | $101,500 | $98,500 | $98,500 | room $3,000 both |
| Trade 1 peaks at +$1,400 open | $102,900 | $99,900 | $98,500 | intraday limit moved |
| Trade 1 closes at −$400 | $101,100 | $99,900 | $98,500 | room $1,200 vs $2,600 |
| Trade 2 closes at −$700 | $100,400 | $99,900 | $98,500 | room $500 vs $1,900 |
| Trade 3 reaches −$600 open | $99,800 | $99,900 | $98,500 | intraday: failed |
| Close (end-of-day version) | $99,800 | $98,500 | end of day: room $1,300 |
The day lost $1,700, under the $1,800 Daily Loss Limit, so the daily limit never triggered. On the end-of-day version the account closes with $1,300 of room and trades tomorrow. On the intraday version it was failed in the middle of the third trade, and the reason is the first trade: a runner that went to +$1,400 and closed at −$400 raised the limit by $1,400 without adding a dollar to the balance. The second and third trades were ordinary losses; they became fatal only because the room had already been spent by a peak.
Why does the runner matter more than the loss?
Because under an intraday trail, open profit is a liability the moment it exists. Every dollar of peak equity moves the floor up by a dollar, and the floor never comes back down. A trader on an end-of-day account can let a trade run to its target and accept that it may return to break-even; the account is only measured at the close. A trader on an intraday account is measured at the peak. This changes the correct behaviour in three ways:
- Scale out. Booking part of the runner turns some of the peak into closed balance, which is what the end-of-day version would have counted anyway.
- Recompute the room after every trade, not every morning. The room on the intraday account in the table went from $3,000 to $1,200 during one trade that closed at a small loss.
- Size from the intraday room. After trade 1, a 10% rule allows $120 of risk, not $300. Trade 2 in the example risked $700; on an intraday account that was already too large.
When does the choice matter on a Stream evaluation?
A Stream evaluation with the intraday option is harder to pass than the same evaluation with end of day, for the reasons above, and cheaper. The end-of-day option removes the peak problem during the evaluation only; the funded Stream account is intraday regardless. A trader who buys end of day for the evaluation and then trades the funded account with the same habits will meet the peak problem on the account that pays. The one-phase evaluation article has the planning arithmetic; the price of each option is shown live on the pricing page.
Which version should you trade?
The one that matches how you exit. Fixed targets and partial exits suit an intraday trail; letting winners run suits an end-of-day trail. If you do not know how you exit, an end-of-day account, Cycle, Clear or Direct, gives you the time to find out without a peak deciding for you. Evaluation and funded accounts are simulated until the Live stage, and futures trading carries a substantial risk of loss; the comparison page shows the drawdown mode of all sixteen products side by side.
Sources
- CME Group, E-mini S&P 500 contract specifications: tick size and value used to express the worked day in ES ticks.
- CME Group, Micro E-mini S&P 500 contract specifications: the one-tenth multiplier behind the sizing notes.
Simulated accounts until Live. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.