NQ Trailing Drawdown Calculator

Type in a sequence of trades — in points × contracts or raw dollars — and see how your trailing drawdown line moves. Good for sanity-checking how close your prop firm account really is to breaching.

Starting balance ($)

Drawdown buffer ($)

Apex 50k = $2,500. Topstep 50k = $2,000. Tradeify 50k = $2,500.

Drawdown type

Freeze threshold ($)

For TopStep-style: floor stops moving once balance hits this level.

Instrument

NQ — one point = $20 per contract.

Trade P&L format

Points mode converts to $ using the selected instrument. Dollars mode takes raw P&L.

Trade sequence

Enter each trade in NQ points and the contract count you were in. Positive points for wins, negative for losses.

#	Trade P&L	Balance	Peak	Floor	Cushion	Status

How trailing drawdown works on futures

Trailing drawdown follows your highest account equity. When your balance makes a new high — including intraday unrealized highs on Apex and Tradeify — the floor (your minimum allowed balance) moves up to maintain the buffer distance. Once set, the floor never retreats. A 25-point NQ runner that closes flat permanently locks in $500 of cushion per contract you were holding.

End-of-day drawdown (some TopStep plans) only updates the floor at session close, so intraday spikes don't permanently move the floor. Softer on scalpers who routinely take +30 then close +5. Frozen drawdown stops moving the floor once your equity crosses a preset threshold — typically balance + buffer — after which the original drawdown becomes fixed.

Why this matters on NQ

NQ at $20 per point punishes "let it run" trading on trailing-drawdown firms. Two traders can both end a week at +$2,000 realized. One never ran unrealized above +10 points and has full buffer intact. The other spiked to +50 points three times mid-session before closing +10 — and has now locked in $800 per contract of cushion permanently. Same headline P&L, radically different account survival odds.

NQ examples to try

Conservative scalper: +8, +12, -6, +10, -4, +6, +8 points on 1 NQ contract. $680 net. Cushion healthy across all trailing modes.
Runner that locks cushion: +45, -10, +5, -8, -5, -5, -10 points on 1 NQ. $240 net, but the +45 ran the floor up 45 points on trailing firms — one more 5-point loss breaches.
Micro starter on Apex 25k: same points on 5 MNQ instead of 1 NQ. Same % risk profile, 1/2 the dollar exposure — buys you runway while you learn.

FAQ

Which prop firms use trailing drawdown on NQ?

Apex, Tradeify, and TakeProfitTrader use trailing on funded accounts, calculated on unrealized intraday equity. TopStep uses a trailing variant that freezes once equity hits balance + buffer. FTMO (non-futures) uses fixed drawdown.

Does the floor move on unrealized NQ P&L?

On Apex and Tradeify, yes — intraday unrealized highs count. That's why scalpers who run NQ up +30 then close +5 can end a day "profitable" while having eaten $500 per contract of cushion they can't recover. Model it here by entering the peak points, not just the realized points.

How do I avoid locking in cushion on NQ?

Take profit at your pre-defined point target. Don't let winners drift into equity highs without a plan. On trailing-drawdown firms, closing a +25-point NQ winner at +15 and leaving 10 points on the table is often correct — the alternative is inflating your floor by $200 per contract.

What's the difference between NQ and MNQ for drawdown?

Same point movement, 1/10th the dollar impact. A 20-point NQ move is $400 per contract; the same move on MNQ is $40. If a full-size NQ stop would breach your drawdown in one trade, trade MNQ until you've built cushion.

Can I model multi-contract trades?

Yes. In Points × Contracts mode, each row takes a contract count. Enter "25" points and "2" contracts to model a +50-point blended NQ result ($1,000 on NQ, $100 on MNQ). Switch instruments mid-sequence if you scale up or down — the calculator re-applies the current instrument's $/point to all rows.