The Ordane Journal · Rules and mechanics
Static vs Trailing Drawdown: The Rule That Decides Payouts
Most traders read the challenge price and the profit split first. The number that actually decides whether you ever get paid sits lower on the page: the drawdown rule. Two accounts can advertise the same 10 percent target and the same split, and one will pay a disciplined trader while the other quietly closes the account on a winning week.
The difference is whether the drawdown is static or trailing. This article explains both in plain terms, and shows why the choice is a payout question, not a technicality.
What drawdown really measures
Drawdown is the loss limit on your account. Cross it and the account is done. Prop firms set it as a percentage, but the real question is which balance the percentage is measured against, and whether that reference point moves. Static and trailing answer that question in opposite ways.
Static drawdown: a fixed floor
A static drawdown is measured from your starting balance and it does not move. If the account starts at a simulated 100,000 and the static maximum drawdown is 5 percent, your floor is 95,000 for the life of the account. Bank a good week and climb to 108,000, and the floor still sits at 95,000. Your cushion grows as you profit.
You can read a static floor once and know exactly where it sits tomorrow. That is the point of it.
Trailing drawdown: a floor that follows you up
A trailing drawdown is measured from your highest balance, and it climbs as your balance climbs. Start at 100,000 with a 5 percent trailing limit and the floor begins at 95,000. Push the balance to 108,000 and the floor trails up to 102,600. A normal pullback from that peak, the kind every strategy has, can now break a rule you were nowhere near an hour earlier.
Some trailing rules stop moving once you lock a set profit. Many do not. The wording is in the rulebook, and the wording is the account.
| Static 5% | Trailing 5% | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor at start (100,000) | 95,000 | 95,000 |
| Floor after peak of 108,000 | 95,000 (unchanged) | 102,600 (moved up) |
| Room for a normal pullback | Wide | Narrow |
| Breaks on taking-profit-then-giving-back | No | Often |
Why this decides whether you get paid
A payout only happens if the account survives to the payout. A trailing floor punishes the exact behavior that produces payouts: taking profit, then giving a little back before the next move. Traders who did nothing reckless still lose accounts to a floor that crept up behind them.
The sector already gave a hard lesson on the cost of unclear rules. An estimated 80 to 100 prop trading firms shut down in 2024, and in the largest enforcement action of the era the CFTC charged the operator of My Forex Funds with fraud in August 2023. In both cases the terms mattered more than the marketing.
Where Ordane stands
Ordane uses a static maximum drawdown of 5 percent of the starting simulated balance, fixed under Rulebook v1.0. The floor you read on day one is the floor on day ninety. It does not trail your equity, and the rule that governs your account is the version you bought, published and numbered, not changed after the fact.
That is a clear-rules position, not a promise. You do not have to trust it. You can read the clause, note the version, and hold us to it.
How to check any firm in one minute
Open the rulebook and find the drawdown section. Ask three questions. Is the drawdown static or trailing? If it trails, does it lock at a defined profit, and where? Is the rule versioned, so it cannot change after you pay? If a firm cannot answer these in writing, that is your answer.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between static and trailing drawdown?
Static drawdown is measured from your starting balance and never moves. Trailing drawdown is measured from your highest balance and rises as your balance rises, so a normal pullback from a peak can break it.
Why does the drawdown type decide whether you get paid?
A payout only happens if the account survives to it. A trailing floor punishes taking profit and then giving a little back, the exact behavior that produces payouts, so disciplined traders still lose accounts to a floor that crept up behind them.
What drawdown does Ordane use?
A static maximum drawdown of 5 percent of the starting simulated balance, fixed under Rulebook v1.0. It does not trail equity, and the version you buy governs your account for its life.
Sources
- Finance Magnates Intelligence, on an estimated 80 to 100 prop firms closing in 2024. financemagnates.com Retrieved 2026-07-20.
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on charging the operator of My Forex Funds, August 2023. cftc.gov, Press Release 8771-23 Retrieved 2026-07-20.
- Ordane Rulebook v1.0, drawdown clause. ordanemarkets.com/rulebook.html Retrieved 2026-07-24.