Guidelines
We trade fair — and expect fairness in return.
Your strategy must reflect real-market behavior and honest execution. Any attempt to manipulate, exploit, or abuse the system breaks our core law and ends the relationship.
Beyond this core principle, IQ Capital maintains a concise set of quantitative limits that act as guard‑rails for every trader. Respect them and you stay in the game; ignore them and the account closes fast.
Below are all quantitative limits your strategy must comply with, each briefly explained and illustrated with a practical example.
Minimum Days (Min Days)
Why? Prevents you from passing through a single lucky day and ensures performance over multiple sessions.
How? Each account size has a minimum number of 2 active trading calendar days. Only after that can you officially pass the goal.
Goal (Profit Target)
Why? Shows that you can generate profits sustainably with the given risk. How? You must hit the specified profit target—either as a percentage (e.g. 8 %) or absolute amount (e.g. $8 000 on a 100 k account)—without violating other rules.
Max Drawdown Trailing EoD
Why? Protects against large, creeping losses. How? After each New‑York close, a trailing line is drawn 5 % below your previous day’s highest equity. If your end‑of‑day equity falls below that line, the account is terminated. The line only moves upward, never down.
Consistency Rule
Why? A healthy equity curve grows steadily. By limiting the weight of any single “lucky punch,” the rule pushes you to size positions sensibly, avoid emotional over‑gearing and demonstrate repeatability.
Core principle
Your single best winning day must never exceed for example 30 % of your cumulative net profit. If it does, the system automatically raises your profit target so that the ratio drops back to ≤ 30 %. Nothing breaks—you simply have to keep trading until enough additional profit dilutes that outlier.
Quick example:
Best day = $258 → New target = 258 ÷ 0.30 = $860.Keep adding profit until you hit $860, then you can withdraw/pass.
Max Daily Drawdown (Max Daily DD)
Why? Caps the daily loss before it gets out of hand. How? If your combined realized plus floating P&L turns negative by more than the preset limit (account‑specific) on a single day, the rule is broken.
Leverage
Why? Prevents over‑leveraging and keeps the risk profile realistic. How? Notional exposure is capped at 5× your account balance. With 100 k equity you may therefore hold up to 500 k notional size at any one time.
Max Trade Risk
Why? Ensures no single position can blow up your account.
How?
Evaluation: Risk per trade must stay ≤ 1 % of the account’s starting balance. Breach = Soft — offending position is auto‑closed, account remains active.Funding: Risk per trade must stay ≤ 0.5 % of the account’s starting balance. Breach = Soft.Instant Funding Accounts: Risk per trade must stay ≤ 0.5 % of the account. Breach = Soft.
Breach Logic & Consequences
Why? Clear, predictable penalties encourage disciplined risk management.
Soft Breach means the position is liquidated immediately and further trading can resume once exposure is back within limits. Hard Breach means the program ends and any outstanding fees or payouts are forfeited.
