How to Journal a Prop Firm Evaluation (Rules Checklist)

To journal a prop firm evaluation, log every trade with its risk in R and a rules check, and also track the account's own limits each day: how far you are from the daily loss limit, where the trailing drawdown floor sits, and how your best day compares with your total profit if there's a consistency rule. Write the firm's rules down once, check them before each session, and review any breach the same day. Rules vary by firm and change often, so always work from your firm's current rulebook.

#Why an evaluation needs a different kind of journal

In a personal account, you answer to your own rules. In an evaluation you answer to two sets: yours and the firm's. A great week can fail an account if one day breaks a limit, so the questions change:

• Not just "did I make money?" but "how close did I come to the floor?"
• Not just "was this a good trade?" but "was it allowed?"

Your journal needs to answer both.

#The prop firm rules to write down before you start

Copy these from your firm's rules page, in your own words, with the date you checked them. This guide describes rule types in general; your firm's details are what count.

#Profit target

The profit you need to pass. Note whether it's measured on closed trades only.

#Daily loss limit

The most you can lose in one day. Find out:

• Does it count closed trades only, or open losses too?
• When does the day reset? Many futures firms tie the trading day to US hours, so from the UK it may reset in the evening.
• What happens if you hit it? Depending on the firm, it may fail the account or only end your day.

#Maximum loss and trailing drawdown

The floor your balance must never touch. It can be:

• Static: fixed below your starting balance.
• End-of-day trailing: moves up only at the close, based on your closing balance.
• Intraday trailing: moves up in real time as your balance makes new highs, which on some accounts includes open profit.

On many accounts the floor stops trailing once it reaches a set level. Note where that is.

A worked example (figures for illustration only). A $50,000 account has a $2,000 trailing drawdown, so the floor starts at $48,000.

	End-of-day trailing	Intraday trailing
Day 1 closes at $50,800	Floor moves to $48,800	Floor moves to at least $48,800
Day 2 peaks at $51,500 during the session	Floor stays at $48,800	Floor moves to $49,500
Day 2 closes at $50,600	Floor stays $48,800, buffer $1,800	Floor stays $49,500, buffer $1,100

Same trades, very different room to work with. This is why your journal should record the floor each day, not just your balance. For more worked examples, including when the floor locks, see trailing drawdown explained.

#Consistency rule

Some firms cap how much of your profit can come from one day. If the limit were 40% and your best day made $1,200, you'd need at least $3,000 total profit ($1,200 ÷ 0.40) to meet it. Track your best day and your running total.

#Other rules worth noting

• Minimum number of trading days
• Maximum contracts, and any scaling plan that changes it as you profit
• News trading restrictions
• A time you must be flat by, and whether you can hold over the weekend
• Which instruments are allowed
• Rules on copy trading, automation and where you can trade from

#A pre-session checklist

Before you place a trade, fill this in. It takes two minutes.

1. Daily loss limit today: in money, and in R at your usual size.
2. Drawdown floor: where it is, and your distance to it.
3. Contracts allowed: under the firm's rules and any scaling plan.
4. News: any scheduled releases you're not allowed to trade, or choose not to.
5. Flat-by time: when you must be out, in UK time if you trade from the UK.
6. Your own limits: many traders set a personal daily stop inside the firm's limit. If you have one, write it down.
7. Setups you'll take: only the ones in your plan.

Expressing limits in R helps. If 1R is $250 and the daily loss limit is $1,000, you can take four full losses before the day is over. (See how to calculate R multiple.)

#What to record for each trade

On top of the usual entry, stop, exit, setup and notes:

• Balance after the trade
• Distance left to the daily loss limit and to the floor
• Rules check: your setup's rules, plus "within firm rules: yes or no"
• How you felt, especially if you're close to a limit or a target

Trades taken near a limit or near the target are where evaluations are often lost, so tag them.

#Track the account, not just the trades

At the end of each session, add one line per account:

Date	Closing balance	Highest balance	Floor	Best day so far	Total profit	Best day %	Days traded
27 Oct	$50,800	$50,800	$48,800	$800	$800	100%	1
28 Oct	$50,600	$51,500	$48,800	$800	$600	133%	2

Use whichever "highest balance" your firm's drawdown follows: closing, or intraday. A best day above 100% of total profit simply means you've given some back since; it matters only if your firm has a consistency rule.

Marble keeps evaluation, funded and live accounts side by side, so each account's trades stay separate. Topstep accounts can sync on their own with a TopstepX API key; for firms on Tradovate or Rithmic, you import the platform's export. See the guides for TopstepX and Tradovate.

#How to review a rule breach

Do this the same day, while it's fresh. Near misses count too.

1. Write the facts. Times, trades, balance and limits, in order.
2. Name the rule and by how much it was broken.
3. Look at what came before. A losing streak, a news release, a target almost reached, a feeling you noted.
4. Decide what kind of gap it was. Didn't know the rule (a knowledge gap), knew it but didn't track it (a process gap), or knew and tracked it but traded anyway (a discipline gap).
5. Pick one change that closes that gap, such as adding the floor to your pre-session checklist.
6. Read what the firm sent you. Whether it's a hard breach or a soft one depends on the firm and the rule.

Then carry the change into your weekly review and check whether it held.

#Evaluation and funded: keep them apart

Journal each account separately. Over time, compare the two: do you take more trades, bigger size or different setups when you're chasing a target than when you're protecting a funded account? Grading each trade on the rules you kept, not on the P&L, makes that comparison fair. Running several accounts at once? See tracking multiple prop firm accounts.

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Marble grades every trade on the rules you kept and keeps each evaluation and funded account in its own lane. See how it works.

Marble isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any prop firm. Always check your firm's current rules.

Marble is a trading journal. Nothing here is financial advice.