Consistency Rule
A consistency rule is a prop firm requirement stipulating that no single trading day's profit may exceed a defined percentage — most commonly 30%, 40%, or 50% — of the trader's total cumulative profit during the evaluation or funded account period, with the account blocked from passing or making payouts until the ratio falls within the required threshold.
The most common consistency thresholds are 30%, 40%, and 50% — a 30% consistency rule means no single trading day's profit may exceed 30% of the total cumulative profit. A trader who passes the evaluation on a single 8% day with no other meaningful trading days will be blocked from passing until subsequent balanced days bring the ratio under the threshold.
This page covers the mechanic; it is not trading advice.
Prop firm rules vary between firms and change frequently. Always verify specific rules directly with your firm before making any decision.
Why consistency catches profitable traders by surprise
A cap on how much of your total profit can come from any single day. It prevents passing the challenge on one lucky trade, and catches many traders by surprise after they've already hit the profit target. The trader sees the target reached but the evaluation will not pass — additional balanced trading days are required to dilute the single-day share.
The rule is a structural defence against martingale strategies and single-trade home runs. A trader running a 5x risk multiplier on one trade to hit the profit target produces a profit distribution that the firm reads as unsustainable — and the firm declines to fund that trader. The consistency rule converts the evaluation from a single-target test into a multi-day demonstration.
Reaching the target without breaching consistency
Account: $10,000. Profit target: 10% = $1,000. Consistency rule: 30%.
Maximum single-day profit allowed at evaluation close: $1,000 × 30% = $300. A trader who closes Day 1 with $400 profit and reaches the $1,000 target on Day 2 with $600 of additional profit has produced 40% of total profit on Day 2 — the consistency rule blocks the pass until the Day 2 share falls below 30%.
To bring Day 2 share to 30% the trader must continue trading on additional days to raise the cumulative profit. If Day 2 holds at $600 and the trader needs Day 2 ≤ 30% of total, then total profit must reach $600 ÷ 0.30 = $2,000. The trader continues trading until cumulative profit is at least $2,000, at which point Day 2's $600 is exactly 30%.
Related terms
Common questions
Does the consistency rule apply only at evaluation close or continuously?
It applies at evaluation close (to determine whether the pass criteria are met) and at each payout request on a funded account (to determine whether the payout can be released). The rule does not cause an in-progress failure — a trader can have a 60% single day mid-evaluation and continue trading. The check happens when the trader requests progression or payout.
Are all winning days counted, or only the largest single day?
Only the largest single day is checked against the rule, but every winning day contributes to the cumulative total against which the largest day is measured. A trader with one $600 day and four $100 days has cumulative profit of $1,000, with the largest day at 60% — failing a 30% rule. Spreading the same $1,000 across ten $100 days produces a largest-day share of 10% and passes any standard consistency rule.