How the engine works
Prop firm mode
The Prop firm tab "optionally enforces a prop firm's rules during evaluation — drawdown, contract cap, and daily limits — so the strategies you keep can actually pass the account." A strategy that merely beats the market is not the same as one that survives a funded-account evaluation; this mode bakes the account's rules into the search itself.
Picking a firm and account
- Firm — pick a prop firm from the catalog, or leave "No prop-firm enforcement." The catalog ships with 15 firms, including Apex Trader Funding, Topstep / TopstepX, MyFundedFutures, Bulenox, Take Profit Trader, Lucid Trading, PropShopTrader, Earn2Trade, Funded Futures Network, Tradeify, The Trading Pit, 4PropTrader, Halcyon Funded, TradeDay, and DayTraders.com.
- Account — the account size/tier (e.g.
$50,000); this sets the drawdown amount and contract limits enforced. - An Enforced constraints banner summarizes exactly what will be applied: drawdown type and amount, max contracts, daily loss cap, profit target, minimum trading days, end-of-day flatten, and the firm's automation policy.
Rules change often. Each catalog entry records its source and a rules-as-of date — treat it as a snapshot and verify against the firm's current terms before buying an evaluation.
What is enforced
-
Trailing drawdown, in the flavor the firm actually uses:
Type Floor behavior Static Fixed at account size − drawdown amount; never moves. End of day Ratchets up at each day's close (realized end-of-day equity). Intraday realized Ratchets on each new closed-trade equity high. Intraday unrealized Ratchets on the per-bar unrealized high-water mark (Apex-style). -
Profit target (what passes the evaluation), minimum trading days, consistency cap (max share of profit from a single day), and max contracts.
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Automation policy — firms that prohibit fully-automated execution are flagged so you know before you build around one.
A firm's trailing drawdown also tightens the max-drawdown quality gate when it's stricter than your configured cap.
Enforcement modes
| Mode | Effect |
|---|---|
| Graduated penalty | Docks fitness as a candidate nears the limits; near-misses survive but rank lower. Good for exploring how close the unconstrained optimum is to compliance. |
| Hard filter | Any breach rejects the candidate outright — only compliant strategies surface. Use this when you will actually trade the account. |
Reading the results
On the strategy detail screen, prop-firm evaluation is reported alongside validation: which rule failed (if any), the worst trailing-drawdown excursion, and the projected evaluation outcome. The firm verdict is its own signal — it complements, never replaces, the validation verdict.