The position limit caps the contracts an account may hold open at once: 2 minis on a 25K, 4 on a 50K, 6 on a 100K, 10 on a 150K, with micros counting one tenth and every product added together. It is the same on all four account types. It is also the number most often mistaken for a sizing recommendation. This article explains what the limit does, why it exists, and how to build a scaling plan from the Max Loss Limit instead, with examples on the smallest and the largest size.
What is the limit on each size?
| Size | Max minis | Max micros | Max Loss Limit (Cycle, Clear, Stream) | Max Loss Limit (Direct) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25K | 2 | 20 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| 50K | 4 | 40 | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| 100K | 6 | 60 | $3,000 | $3,500 |
| 150K | 10 | 100 | $4,500 | $5,000 |
The scaling rule page is the reference. The limit counts mini-equivalents across all products: 3 NQ plus 30 MES is 6 minis, the whole 100K limit. An order that would take the account over is rejected by the platform; nothing else happens.
Put the last two columns next to the first and the problem shows itself. At the cap, a 10-tick stop in ES costs $125 per contract: $250 on a 25K, a quarter of the $1,000 Max Loss Limit; $1,250 on a 150K, a quarter of $5,000 on a Direct. On every size, one full-cap trade with an ordinary stop risks about a quarter of the drawdown. Four such losses end the account. The cap was never meant to be traded on day one.
Why does the limit exist?
Three reasons, none of them about you personally.
- It removes the single bet. Without a cap, an evaluation could be passed by one all-in position that either hits the target or fails the account. The firm learns nothing from that outcome, and neither does the trader.
- It keeps simulated fills honest. A simulated account is matched against real market data. Ten contracts in ES fill like ten contracts; a hundred would fill like a hundred in reality and like ten in simulation, which is a result nobody could pay.
- It matches the Live stage. A Live account starts with a drawdown of $4,500 for a 150K origin. Size that would be reckless against that drawdown is reckless against the simulated one too; the cap keeps the two stages comparable.
How do you size from the Max Loss Limit instead?
Contracts = (room × risk share) ÷ (stop in ticks × tick value). The room is the distance from your balance to the Max Loss Limit, recomputed every morning; the risk share is a fraction you choose, 10% in the examples below; the stop is what the market needs, not what the account can afford. The sizing article applies this on a 50K; here are the two ends of the range.
25K, the smallest account
Room on day one: $1,000. At 10%, $100 of risk per trade. A 10-tick stop in MES costs $12.50 per contract, so 8 MES, which is 0.8 of a mini against a cap of 2. The same stop in ES would cost $125 on one contract, over budget: on a fresh 25K, ES is not a sizing option at all, and the cap is irrelevant for weeks. A Clear 25K adds a $600 daily limit, which the 8-MES plan reaches only after six full stops.
150K Direct, the largest account
Room on day one: $5,000. At 10%, $500 per trade: 4 ES with a 10-tick stop, against a cap of 10. The cap becomes reachable only as the cushion grows, and because the Max Loss Limit locks at the starting balance plus $100, the cushion only starts growing after the lock:
| Highest close | Max Loss Limit | Room | 10% risk | ES at a 10-tick stop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $150,000 | $145,000 | $5,000 | $500 | 4 |
| $155,100 | $150,100, locked | $5,000 | $500 | 4 |
| $157,600 | $150,100 | $7,500 | $750 | 6 |
| $162,600 | $150,100 | $12,500 | $1,250 | 10, the cap |
While the limit trails, the room is constant at $5,000 whatever the profit: a new high moves the limit up by the same amount. Only after the lock does profit become room. On this plan the cap is reached with a cushion of $12,500, which is more than the $9,000 first-cycle goal of a Direct 150K. A payout takes part of that cushion out of the account, so size steps back down after each one; that is the plan working, not a setback.
What else scales once funded?
Not the position limit, which is fixed for the life of the account. On funded Cycle and Direct accounts, the Daily Loss Limit does: once the balance is above the initial trail balance, $3,000 on a Direct 150K becomes 60% of the highest end-of-day profit and ratchets upward. A larger daily limit is not a reason to trade larger; it is a wider net under the same plan. On Direct the 20% consistency rule also argues against stepping up on a strong day: a single outsized day delays the payout until five days of that size exist.
A scaling plan in one paragraph
Start at the size the room allows with the stop the market needs, in micros if that is what the arithmetic says. Recompute the room every morning and after any payout. Step up only when the room has grown, by the formula, never because a day went well. Treat the cap as the edge of the map. Evaluation and funded accounts are simulated until the Live stage, and futures trading carries a substantial risk of loss; the limits of all four sizes, and the price of each, are on the pricing page.
Sources
- CME Group, E-mini S&P 500 contract specifications: the $12.50 tick used in every ES example.
- CME Group, Micro E-mini S&P 500 contract specifications: the one-tenth multiplier behind the micro column.
Simulated accounts until Live. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.