# Max Loss Limit: how trailing drawdown works

> The Max Loss Limit is the only rule that fails a StarTrading account. It starts $1,000 to $4,500 below your starting balance depending on size ($5,000 on a 150K Direct), trails your end-of-day profit until it reaches the starting balance plus $100, then locks there for good. Funded Stream accounts are the exception: their limit trails intraday.

Source: https://startrading.io/rules/max-loss-limit · Updated 2026-09-08

## What is the Max Loss Limit?

The Max Loss Limit, often shortened to MLL, is a trailing drawdown. It is the lowest end-of-day balance your account may reach before it is failed. It follows your profit up, never down, and stops at your starting balance plus $100.

Every StarTrading account has one. Cycle, Clear and Stream share the same amount for a given size: the type changes what happens around it (daily limits, consistency, buffer), not the limit itself. [Direct](https://startrading.io/accounts/direct) runs a wider limit on the 100K and 150K sizes, $3,500 and $5,000, because it is funded from the first trade.

Initial Max Loss Limit per account type and size

| Account type | 25K | 50K | 100K | 150K |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Cycle](https://startrading.io/accounts/cycle) | −$1,000 | −$2,000 | −$3,000 | −$4,500 |
| [Clear](https://startrading.io/accounts/clear) | −$1,000 | −$2,000 | −$3,000 | −$4,500 |
| [Stream](https://startrading.io/accounts/stream) | −$1,000 | −$2,000 | −$3,000 | −$4,500 |
| [Direct](https://startrading.io/accounts/direct) | −$1,000 | −$2,000 | −$3,500 | −$5,000 |

## How does the Max Loss Limit trail?

At the end of each trading day we look at your closed balance. If it is a new high, the limit moves up by the same amount. If the day was a loss, the limit stays where it was. Open positions during the session do not move it on end-of-day accounts.

100K Cycle, first three days

-   Day 1: you close at +$750. Balance $100,750, limit moves from $97,000 to $97,750.
-   Day 2: you close at −$1,200. Balance $99,550, limit stays at $97,750.
-   Day 3: you close at +$2,900. Balance $102,450, limit moves to $100,100 and locks: $102,450 − $3,000 would be $99,450, but the limit never goes above the starting balance + $100.

## When does the Max Loss Limit lock?

When it reaches the starting balance plus $100. On a 100K account that is $100,100. After that point the limit is a fixed floor. You can be up $20,000 and give back $19,900 without failing; the account fails only if equity closes under $100,100.

This is why the first days matter most: the limit is closest to your balance before you have built a cushion.

## Which accounts trail intraday?

Funded Stream accounts. Their limit follows your open equity in real time, including unrealised profit. A Stream evaluation bought with the intraday option also trails intraday; with the end-of-day option it trails like every other evaluation.

Intraday trailing means an open winner that reverses can move the limit against you within the session. Traders who scale out of winners or use fixed targets are less exposed to this than traders who let positions run.

## What happens when the limit is hit?

The account is failed and closed. Open positions are flattened. You can buy a reset for the same account at the reset price, which restarts it at the starting balance with a fresh limit. On funded accounts, the trailing history restarts as well.

## Common mistakes

-   Reading the limit as intraday on an end-of-day account and cutting winners too early. Only the close counts.
-   Forgetting that the limit follows closed profit, so a large win followed by a give-back the next day leaves less room than expected.
-   On funded Stream accounts, holding a large open winner through a reversal: the intraday limit has already moved up.
-   Confusing the Max Loss Limit with the Daily Loss Limit. Only the first fails the account; the second pauses it.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does the Max Loss Limit trail intraday?

Not on Cycle, Clear or Direct accounts, and not during any evaluation except a Stream evaluation bought with the intraday option. It moves once a day, after the close, based on your closed profit. Funded Stream accounts are the exception: their limit follows your open equity during the session.

### When does the Max Loss Limit stop moving?

When it reaches your starting balance plus $100. From then on it is a fixed floor: a $100,000 account can never fail below $100,100 of equity once the limit has locked, whatever profit you make after.

### Is the Max Loss Limit different on a Live account?

A Live account starts at $0 with a starting drawdown equal to the original limit of your size. Once your Live profit equals that drawdown, the limit locks at $100 below your peak, so your own capital is never at risk.