Static Drawdown at Elite Trader Funding

The Elite Trader Funding Static Drawdown plan sets a fixed dollar floor below your starting balance on the day you open the account, and that floor never moves for the life of the evaluation. No trailing, no ratcheting, no adjustment on intraday equity highs or end-of-day closes. The floor you start with is the floor you keep. As of May 2026, the Static plan is available at $25K, $50K, $100K, and $150K account sizes, with maximum drawdown amounts that range from $1,000 at the small end to a strikingly tight $625 at the $100K level.

The Static plan occupies a structurally distinct role inside ETF's lineup. The 1-Step trailing drawdown ratchets upward with every unrealized equity high. The EOD drawdown trails the highest end-of-day close. Static does neither. For the right trading style, a floor that cannot be moved against you by a temporary price spike is a genuine structural advantage. For the wrong trading style, a $625 max drawdown on a $100,000 account is a trap that resets the clock the moment one trade runs against you.

PTV research is based on ETF's published help center, safety-net requirements documentation, and plan-specific articles. Paul has not personally tested an ETF Static account. All numbers below are sourced from the verified fact sheet and confirmed via ETF's help center cross-reference.

How the Static plan structurally differs from trailing variants

The Static drawdown never trails, never re-locks, and cannot be ratcheted upward by price action. That distinction separates it from every other drawdown style in the ETF catalog and shapes every tactical decision a Static trader makes.

On ETF's 1-Step plan, the trailing drawdown follows the highest unrealized equity during the session in real time. A $50K 1-Step account with a $2,000 max drawdown that spikes to $51,000 unrealized instantly ratchets its minimum balance from $48,000 to $49,000, even if the position then returns to flat and closes at break-even. Every unrealized tick upward tightens the floor. The Static plan has no equivalent mechanic. The floor is fixed at account open and cannot be pushed higher by any market movement, any unrealized gain, or any intraday equity spike.

On the EOD plan, the trailing mechanism is gentler than 1-Step but still present. The drawdown only adjusts at the end-of-day session close, not on each intraday tick. A profitable day that closes above the previous floor ratchets the EOD floor higher at the close. The Static floor ignores day closes entirely.

The practical consequence is that a Static trader's only drawdown-related risk is absolute loss from starting balance, not loss from a temporary unrealized high. A trader who reaches $99,500 on a $100K Static account and then gives back $125 is at the absolute floor ($99,375), not at a ratcheted floor that was set by an earlier unrealized spike. This is the core structural appeal of Static.

The trade-off is the dollar size of the buffer. Because the floor never ratchets upward, ETF prices the Static drawdown amounts much tighter than the trailing equivalents, particularly at the larger account sizes. The $100K 1-Step has a $3,000 buffer. The $100K Static has a $625 buffer. The floor that cannot be taken away is also the floor that leaves almost no room for normal trading variance.

Static drawdown amounts by account size

As of May 2026, the Static plan at Elite Trader Funding uses the following maximum drawdown amounts and minimum balances, sourced from ETF's safety-net requirements documentation:

The $100K and $150K entries warrant a pause. At $100,000 starting balance, the maximum loss before account failure is $625. That is 0.625% of account size. At $150,000, the $1,250 maximum loss equals 0.833% of account size. These are not rounding errors. ETF intentionally scales Static drawdown amounts this way because the defining value of a static floor is its permanence, not its size.

For comparison, the 1-Step $100K carries a $3,000 trailing drawdown (3% of account size), the EOD $100K carries a $3,500 trailing drawdown (3.5% of account size), and the Diamond Hands $100K also carries a $3,500 trailing drawdown. The Static $100K's $625 is less than one-fifth the trailing equivalent.

The minimum balance figures include a small positive offset above the raw math because ETF credits your account with the amount originally paid for the evaluation when you activate your Elite Sim-Funded status. That credit does not count toward ATD requirements but gives a slight cushion above the absolute floor from day one. For a complete account-by-account breakdown, see the account types overview and the Static account plan article.

Why Static $100K and $150K are the strictest in the industry

A $625 maximum drawdown on a $100,000 futures account is 0.625%. For context, one ES micro contract (MES) with a 5-point stop loses $25. One full ES mini with a 5-point stop loses $250. Two standard ES mini trades with 2-point stops each lose $200 combined. Lose three such trades in sequence and you have consumed nearly the entire floor on the $100K Static account.

ETF's own rules overview acknowledges the Static plan's tight $100K buffer directly. The complete ETF rules guide flags the $625 figure as the hardest constraint in the catalog, calling it a structural feature of the never-moving floor rather than an oversight. ETF's intent is clear: the Static plan is not a high-flexibility account at the larger sizes. It is a precision instrument for traders who already know their exact risk per trade and never deviate.

To stress-test the math further: with a $625 max drawdown on a $100K account, a trader running NQ minis (each point worth $20) has room for roughly 3 points of total loss across all positions before the account fails, assuming no wins. A single NQ mini with a 3-point stop leaves zero margin for a second trade if the first stops out at full loss. The $150K at $1,250 is marginally more generous, but the math is still unforgiving by any standard in the prop firm industry.

PTV research found no other mainstream futures prop firm currently offering a $100K account with a drawdown floor smaller than $1,000. Most trailing models at the $100K level start at $2,500 to $3,500. ETF's Static $100K at $625 is, based on available market data as of May 2026, the tightest published drawdown floor on a $100,000 futures account across the firms PTV tracks.

The reason to choose the $100K Static despite that constraint is not volume flexibility. It is the guarantee that a strong profitable session cannot ratchet the floor so high that a normal pullback kills the account. Static traders accept a smaller initial buffer to eliminate the trailing risk entirely.

How Static interacts with the daily loss limit

The Static plan at Elite Trader Funding includes a daily loss limit during the evaluation phase. This is the sharpest mechanical difference between Static and 1-Step: the 1-Step plan has no daily loss limit at all. For a full breakdown of how the daily loss limit operates across ETF's plan lineup, see the daily loss limit article.

As of May 2026, the Static daily loss limit is calculated from the prior day's closing balance, not from the starting balance. The daily limit applies intraday to open positions, not just closed trades. If your account balance, including unrealized losses on any open positions, dips below the daily loss limit at any point during the session, the evaluation fails immediately. There is no recovery period, no warning, and no ability to close the position to avoid the breach. The breach triggers at the low tick.

This hard-breach mechanic interacts tightly with the already narrow dollar buffer on the $100K and $150K Static accounts. On a $100K Static account, the max drawdown from starting balance is $625 total. The daily loss limit is an additional, separate constraint calculated from the prior close. A trader who had a losing day that pulled the closing balance down to $99,600 has already consumed $400 of the $625 total floor, and the new day's loss limit calculates from $99,600. The overlapping constraints (static floor from starting balance + daily limit from prior close) can create scenarios where both limits are binding simultaneously.

The TradeShield add-on exists as an optional purchase that prevents instant account failure when the daily loss limit is breached, giving the trader a recovery session instead. Price details for TradeShield are not published in ETF's help center and are only available at checkout, but the mechanic is verified. For Static traders specifically, TradeShield is worth evaluating given the tight daily-loss interaction with the already minimal $625 floor.

The daily loss limit is removed once the safety net threshold is crossed in the Elite Sim-Funded phase. After the safety net is hit, the only remaining constraint on the Static account is the fixed minimum balance, which was already static to begin with.

Static in the Elite Sim-Funded phase (post safety net)

Elite Trader Funding's Static plan continues into the Elite Sim-Funded phase once the evaluation profit target is reached. The structural rules that govern the sim-funded phase are the same across all ETF plans, but two mechanics are particularly relevant for Static accounts: the safety net transition and the 23% ATD consistency rule.

The safety net threshold on the Static plan is starting balance plus max drawdown plus $100. On the $100K Static account, that is $100,000 + $625 + $100 = $100,725 in realized balance. On the $150K Static, it is $150,000 + $1,250 + $100 = $151,350. These are the realized profit totals that lock the floor permanently and remove the daily loss limit. For the full safety net mechanics, worked examples, and how the threshold interacts with unrealized gains, see the safety net article.

Once the safety net is crossed, the Static account behaves as a fixed-floor account with no daily loss limit and no trailing drawdown adjustment. The minimum balance from starting balance remains in place forever. The practical effect is that a funded Static trader post-safety-net has the simplest risk framework in ETF's catalog: one floor, no daily limit, no trailing component.

The 23% ATD consistency rule applies fully in the sim-funded phase. As of May 2026, each day qualifies as an Active Trading Day only when realized profit is at least $100 (for the $100K Static, which is a smaller account by the ATD threshold rule) or $200 (for the $25K and $50K Static sizes), AND that day's profit is at least 23% of the best ATD P&L on record. For the mechanics of the ATD rule and how it governs payout cycles, see the consistency rule article.

Payout cycles on the Static plan require 8 ATDs for cycle 1 and 10 ATDs for cycles 2 through 4. Payouts are processed twice weekly, on Mondays and Wednesdays. The lifetime sim payout cap is $25,000 across all Elite Sim accounts, which is the gateway to the Live Elite real-capital program. The path to Live Elite qualification and what it means for Static-account traders is covered in the Live Elite article.

Strategy implications for Static traders

The $625 and $1,250 drawdown floors on the $100K and $150K Static accounts dictate a specific tactical approach that most prop-firm traders are not accustomed to. The math is unforgiving and the strategy must match the structure.

Position sizing is the first constraint. With a $625 total floor on a $100K account, a trader who loses three ES micro trades at 5-point stops each ($25 each = $75 total loss) has consumed 12% of the entire available buffer. Standard momentum-trading position sizes that are appropriate for a $3,000 trailing-drawdown account will blow a Static $100K account in a single session if they produce a losing streak. Sizing must begin at minimum viable position (one micro per trade for most ES or NQ setups) and scale up only from a position of accumulated realized profit, not from unrealized cushion.

Stop placement is the second constraint. Static traders cannot afford "give the trade room to breathe" stop logic. Wide stops that absorb noise before finding direction are structurally incompatible with a $625 total buffer. Every stop must be defined, tight, and placed at a structural level where being wrong means the trade setup is genuinely invalidated. Stop losses set for emotional comfort rather than technical invalidation will burn through the Static floor within a week.

Win rate matters more than reward-to-risk ratio for Static accounts. A trader who wins 70% of trades at a 1:1 ratio builds the account without risk of floor breach across a losing streak. A trader who wins 40% at a 2:1 ratio produces the same theoretical expectancy but faces longer losing streaks that can breach the $625 floor before the winners arrive. Static is structurally a high-win-rate environment. Traders who rely on a few large winners to offset many small losers will find the floor too tight to survive the losers.

Avoiding unrealized drawdown is the third discipline. Because the Static floor never ratchets, a Static trader does not need to manage the "trailing-floor trap" that 1-Step traders face. But unrealized losses still count against the daily loss limit, which means a trade sitting deep in the red intraday (even if it might recover) can trigger a hard breach before the position is closed. Static traders should use firm stop losses that execute as the daily limit is approached, not widen stops hoping for reversal.

When Static is the right plan choice

Elite Trader Funding's Static plan is the right evaluation choice in specific circumstances, and the wrong choice in others. The floor that never moves is a genuine structural benefit for certain traders.

The Static plan works for defined-risk traders whose approach is entirely rules-based. If every trade has a predefined stop and position size, and the stop is always respected, the static floor functions as intended. The trader can never be surprised by a ratcheted trailing floor because there is no trailing component. The maximum possible loss is known before the first trade.

Scalpers who operate with tight, fast stops on high-probability setups benefit structurally from the Static floor. A scalper taking 10 trades per session with 2-tick stops on MES has total risk of $20 per trade, or $200 across 10 full-stop-out trades. That risk profile is sustainable against a $625 floor in a way it would not be if the floor had been ratcheted by an early winning session.

Traders who are specifically allergic to the 1-Step trailing-floor mechanic are another natural Static audience. The most common frustration with 1-Step plans across all firms is the trailing floor that rises with unrealized equity and then forces a loss if the position retraces. Static traders never face that scenario. The floor cannot be moved against you.

The Static plan is wrong for traders who need room to breathe, who run multi-session drawdowns as part of their normal strategy, who trade large position sizes relative to account size, or who rely on wide stops. Any of those profiles will breach a $625 or $1,250 floor quickly. For those trading approaches, the 1-Step plan or EOD plan at comparable account sizes provide meaningfully more dollar buffer, with the trade-off of trailing mechanics that can ratchet against you.

For a side-by-side plan comparison across all six ETF account types, including drawdown amounts, pricing, and structural trade-offs, see the account types overview.

The bottom line

Elite Trader Funding's Static Drawdown plan is the right choice for a specific, narrow category of trader: defined-risk, high-win-rate, tight-stop, small-position operators who want the structural guarantee that no intraday equity spike will ever move the floor against them. For those traders, the never-moving Static floor is a genuine advantage worth the dramatically reduced dollar buffer.

For everyone else, the $625 maximum drawdown on a $100K account and the $1,250 maximum drawdown on a $150K account are structural deal-breakers. The 1-Step plan at $100K provides nearly five times the dollar buffer ($3,000 vs $625) at a lower monthly subscription price ($247 vs however the Static is priced at that size), and the EOD plan provides over five times the buffer ($3,500) for traders who want the gentler trailing mechanic. Choose Static only when the floor-permanence benefit outweighs the buffer-size cost, and only when your trading approach can genuinely operate within a sub-1% buffer from starting balance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the static drawdown at Elite Trader Funding?

Elite Trader Funding's static drawdown is a fixed dollar floor set below your account's starting balance that never moves. Unlike the 1-Step trailing drawdown, which follows unrealized equity highs, or the EOD drawdown, which ratchets at end-of-day closes, the Static floor stays permanently in place from the moment you open the account. As of May 2026, the Static max drawdown is $1,000 on a $25K account, $2,000 on a $50K account, $625 on a $100K account, and $1,250 on a $150K account.

Why is the ETF $100K Static drawdown only $625?

Elite Trader Funding's $100K Static account uses a $625 maximum drawdown because the Static plan is designed around a permanently fixed floor, not a proportional trailing cushion. The minimum balance is $99,375 on a $100,000 starting balance. ETF prices the Static plan at a different drawdown scale than its trailing plans, the $100K 1-Step, for comparison, carries a $3,000 trailing drawdown. The $625 Static floor is the trade-off for a floor that cannot be ratcheted upward by intraday equity spikes.

Does ETF's Static plan have a daily loss limit?

Yes. Elite Trader Funding's Static plan includes a daily loss limit during the evaluation phase, calculated from the prior day's closing balance. Open position losses count intraday, if your balance dips below the daily loss limit at any point during the session, the evaluation fails immediately as a hard breach. The 1-Step plan, by contrast, has no daily loss limit at all. The daily loss limit on the Static plan is removed once the safety net threshold is reached in the Elite Sim-Funded phase.

How does the safety net work on ETF's Static plan?

Elite Trader Funding's safety net on the Static plan requires you to earn realized profits equal to your maximum drawdown plus $100. On a $100K Static account with a $625 max drawdown, the safety net threshold is $100,725 in realized balance ($100,000 + $625 + $100). Once you cross that threshold, the static floor is permanently locked and the daily loss limit is removed. The floor was already static, so this mechanic primarily removes the daily loss limit rather than changing drawdown behavior.

What is the minimum balance on ETF's Static accounts?

As of May 2026, the minimum balances on Elite Trader Funding's Static accounts are: $24,100 on a $25K account ($1,000 max drawdown), $48,100 on a $50K account ($2,000 max drawdown), $99,375 on a $100K account ($625 max drawdown), and $148,750 on a $150K account ($1,250 max drawdown). These floors are fixed at account open and never change.

How does ETF Static compare to ETF trailing drawdown?

Elite Trader Funding's Static drawdown and its 1-Step trailing drawdown are structurally opposite. The 1-Step trailing floor follows your highest unrealized equity during the session, every time your balance hits a new high, the floor rises with it. The Static floor never moves. The 1-Step $100K carries a $3,000 trailing max drawdown; the Static $100K carries only $625. Static gives you a floor that cannot be ratcheted against you by unrealized swings, but the dollar buffer is dramatically smaller, particularly at the $100K and $150K sizes.

Can I hold positions overnight on ETF's Static plan?

No. Elite Trader Funding's Static plan requires all positions to close at least one minute before market close. Overnight and over-weekend holds are not permitted on Static accounts. If you need overnight flexibility at ETF, only Diamond Hands and Direct to Funded accounts permit overnight holds, which is the defining structural feature of those two products.

What does the 23% ATD consistency rule mean for Static accounts?

The 23% Active Trading Day rule applies to Elite Trader Funding's Static plan in the Elite Sim-Funded phase. A day qualifies as an ATD only when you book at least $100 in realized profit (for the $100K Static) or $200 (for other sizes) AND that day's profit is at least 23% of your best ATD P&L to date. This rule controls payout pacing and means one large winning day raises every subsequent ATD bar permanently. On a Static account where position sizes need to stay small to protect the tight floor, the 23% rule is easier to manage when daily profits stay consistent rather than lumpy.

Is ETF Static available at $250K?

No. As of May 2026, Elite Trader Funding's Static plan is only available at $25K, $50K, $100K, and $150K account sizes. ETF does not offer a $250K Static account, the $250K size is available only on the 1-Step plan.

Who is ETF's Static plan best suited for?

Elite Trader Funding's Static plan suits defined-risk traders who size small and always know their maximum loss per position, scalpers who can operate comfortably within a tight dollar buffer without large unrealized swings, and traders who specifically want a floor that cannot be ratcheted upward by intraday equity spikes. The Static plan is wrong for traders who run wide stops, who carry large unrealized positions, or who need room to withstand multi-day drawdown sequences, those traders are better served by the 1-Step or EOD plans.