Guide 03 / Payouts
Consistency rules and payout thresholds
A consistency rule limits how much of your total profit can come from a single day. It is usually written as a percentage cap, but in practice it sets a minimum total profit you need before the best day stops being too large a share. This guide computes that number and the gap to it, then lists what the number does not tell you.
What a best-day cap measures
One common form, used here as a hypothetical:
Rule
Rearranged for the threshold
Gap
Firms define "total profit", "day" and the cap differently, and some use other formulas entirely. Read your rule text before relying on this form.
Worked example: the threshold (hypothetical)
| Step | What you compute | Arithmetic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Best realized day | $1,000 |
| 2 | Cap | 30% |
| 3 | Exact threshold | $1,000 / 0.30 = $3,333.333... |
| 4 | In whole centsRound up: $3,333.33 leaves the ratio just above 30% | $3,333.34 |
Rounding direction matters here in the opposite way to position sizing. A threshold you must reach rounds up to the next cent: $1,000 / $3,333.33 is about 30.00003%, which is technically over a strict 30% cap.
Worked example: the gap (hypothetical)
The account started at $100,000 and the closed, realized balance is now $102,500.
| Step | What you compute | Arithmetic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Current profitUse realized balance | $102,500 - $100,000 = $2,500 |
| 2 | Exact gap | $3,333.333... - $2,500 = $833.333... |
| 3 | Gap in cents | at least $833.34 |
Use realized figures
When the best day moves
The threshold is tied to the best day, so a large day raises the bar. If a later day realizes $1,500 and becomes the new best day, the threshold becomes $1,500 / 0.30 = $5,000. Profit that day helps the total, but the target moved further than the total did.
Losing days work against you twice in ratio terms: they reduce net total profit while the best day stays the same, so the best-day share rises. Some firms also reset or recompute these figures per payout cycle, which changes which days count. Check how your firm defines the window.
Pacing arithmetic and its limits
Dividing a gap by a number of days gives an arithmetic average, nothing more. Spreading the $833.34 gap over 5 days is about $166.67 per day. That is not an instruction, a target, or an expected return. Markets do not deliver averages.
A useful guardrail: if each future day stays at or below the prior best day, the best day does not move and the threshold stays fixed. That puts a lower bound on how many days the arithmetic needs.
Minimum days under the guardrail
| Step | What you compute | Arithmetic |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GapHypothetical, rounded up to cents | $4,833.34 |
| 2 | Prior best day | $1,000 |
| 3 | Minimum days | ceiling(4.833...) = 5 |
| 4 | Requested daysNot enough under the guardrail | 2 |
| 5 | Average over 5 days | $4,833.34 / 5 = about $966.67 |
Squeezing that gap into 2 days would need about $2,416.67 per day, which would exceed the $1,000 best day and raise the threshold. Five days at about $966.67 is the arithmetic minimum, not a safe or achievable plan by default, and nothing here guarantees any result.
Edge cases
- Cap of 0%: treat the rule as disabled. The calculator does not apply a threshold when the cap is zero.
- Best day of $0: there is no threshold to compute, but that only means no profitable day exists. It is not evidence that the account is ready for payout.
- Cap of 100%: total profit must still be at least the best day. Losing days can reduce total profit below that day, even with a 100% cap.
- Current profit already above the threshold: the gap is zero, and the next large day can reopen it.
Threshold is not eligibility
Meeting the consistency threshold is one arithmetic condition. Payout eligibility typically depends on more, such as:
- Minimum number of trading days or profitable days in the cycle.
- Positions closed, and profit realized, before the request.
- Identity verification and account agreements completed.
- Fees, profit split and minimum withdrawal amounts.
- Restrictions around news events, holding periods or prohibited strategies.
- No breach of daily loss, drawdown or other risk rules at any point.
Only the firm's current written rules and its own review determine whether a payout is approved.
What to enter in the calculator
Account size
100000
Current equity
102500 (realized balance)
Consistency cap
30 (%)
Highest trading day
1000
Spread across
5 (days)
Expected gap
about $833.34
Run your own numbers
Enter your verified specifications in the calculator and check the arithmetic.