trailing drawdown survival coach

The problem

Trailing drawdown rules in prop firm or margin accounts create a moving target for survival. Traders often blow accounts by sizing based on their total balance instead of the shrinking distance between current equity and the rising liquidation threshold.

What it does

• Calculates real-time survival distance relative to the account high-water mark.
• Determines maximum risk per trade by comparing equity-based caps against threshold-proximity constraints.
• Enforces profit-buffer rules to prevent "give-back" after reaching new equity peaks.
• Sets daily loss caps that scale down automatically as the account approaches its drawdown limit.
• Provides a structured override protocol for halving risk when more than 50% of allowed drawdown is consumed.

Why this beats prompting it yourself

Manual calculation of trailing thresholds is prone to error during active trading sessions. This skill implements a strict mathematical hierarchy where the most conservative risk limit always wins, preventing the emotional bias that leads to over-leveraging in drawdowns.

Use cases

• Managing prop firm evaluation accounts with tight trailing drawdown limits.
• Calculating position sizes for volatile instruments where stop-distance varies wildly.
• Implementing "survival mode" parameters for accounts that have lost 50% of their drawdown cushion.
• Determining how much of a newly earned profit buffer can be safely risked on follow-up trades.

Known limitations

Does not execute trades directly via API. Requires manual input of current equity and peak equity values to generate risk parameters.