What is Prop Trading
How does IQ Capital work
The Founder Story
Testimonials
RulesGuidelines
General Rules
The First Law of Trading at IQ Capital
We trade fair — and we expect the same in return.
Your strategy must reflect real-market behavior and honest execution. Any attempt to manipulate, exploit, or abuse the system violates this core rule 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.
Trading Limits & Key Rules
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 requires a minimum of 2 active trading days. Only after completing them can you officially pass the challenge.
Goal (Profit Target)
hy? Shows that you can generate profits sustainably with the given risk.
How? You must reach the set profit target — either as a percentage (e.g., 8%) or an absolute figure (e.g., $8,000 on a $100K account) — while staying within all other rules.
Max Drawdown (Trailing EoD)
Why? Protects against large, creeping losses.
How? At each New York close, a trailing line is set 5% below your previous day’s highest equity. If your end-of-day equity falls below that line, the account closes. 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 and demonstrate repeatability.
Core principle
Your best winning day cannot exceed 30% of your total net profit. If it does, the system automatically adjusts your profit target until the ratio is back at or below 30%.
Quick example:
Best day = $258 → New target = 258 ÷ 0.30 = $860.
Keep adding profit until you hit $860, then you can withdraw/pass.
If exceeded, the system automatically raises your profit target until the ratio is back in line. Nothing breaks — you simply have to keep trading until additional profit dilutes the outlier.
Max Position Loss
Why? Ensures no single position can blow up your account.
How?
Challenge: Risk per trade ≤ 1 % of starting balance. Breach = Soft (violating position auto-closed, account remains active).- Funding (incl. Instant Funding): Risk per trade ≤ 0.5 %. First 2 breaches = Soft, on the 3rd breach = Hard (account ends).
Leverage
Why?
Prevents over-leveraging and keeps the risk profile realistic.
How?
Maximum Leverage by Asset Class
- FX: up to 50×
- Indices & Commodities: up to 25×
- Crypto: up to 3× (5× for BTC, ETH, and SOL)
Example (with $100K equity):
- FX: up to $5,000,000 notional
- Indices/Commodities: up to $2,500,000
- BTC/ETH/SOL: up to $500,000
- Other crypto: up to $300,000
Payout Structure & Profit Split
Why?
Rewards should scale with discipline — payouts exist to celebrate consistent performance, not one-off luck.
How?
Traders can request payouts according to the following structure:
• For accounts up to $50 000, the maximum payout per request is 2 500 USDT.
• For accounts above $50 000, the maximum per request is 5 000 USDT.
• Each payout may include up to 50 % of total profits;
the remaining balance stays in the account so you can keep trading and compounding growth.
Profit share:
• The first $10 000 of profit belongs 100 % to the trader.
• After that, all additional profits are shared 80 / 20 (in favor of the trader).
Example:
If your payout is $5 000 after exceeding $10 k total profit, you’ll receive $4 000 (80 %) while $1 000 remains with IQ Capital.
This structure ensures every trader keeps meaningful capital in play and grows sustainably rather than cashing out too early.
Max Trade Risk
Why? Ensures no single position can blow up your account.
How?
Evaluation & Funding Accounts: Risk per trade must stay ≤ 1 % of the account’s starting balance. Breach = Hard — account closes instantly with no refund.
Instant Funding Accounts: Risk per trade must stay ≤ 0.5 % of the account. Breach = Soft — offending position is auto‑closed, account remains active.
Breach Logic & Consequences
Why? Clear, predictable penalties encourage disciplined risk management.
Soft Breach = Position is liquidated immediately, trading can resume once exposure is back within limits.
Hard Breach = Account ends, any outstanding fees or payouts are forfeited.
1% Rule per Market (Trade) (Challenge: 1% • Funding: 0.5%)
Why?
This rule protects your account from hidden overexposure. Many traders open multiple positions within the same market without realizing that the risk stacks.
The 1% rule ensures your exposure per market stays strictly limited — no matter how many entries you take.
How?
All positions in the same market count as one single trade.
If you trade BTC/USDT, all BTC positions are combined into one overall position.
Your maximum risk per market:
• Challenge: 1% of your account balance
• Funding & Instant Funding: 0.5% of your account balance
Example (Challenge):
Account = $50,000 → 1% risk = $500
One position, three scales, or ten scalps — your total BTC risk may never exceed $500.
Example (Funding):
Account = $100,000 → 0.5% risk = $500
All BTC positions combined may carry a maximum risk of $500.
What counts as a market?
BTC/USDT = one market
ETH/USDT = one market
Each asset pair = its own market.
What happens if you break the rule?
Violation = Soft Breach
Your position is automatically closed, your account remains active, and you can continue trading immediately.
(In Funding, the third violation becomes a Hard Breach.)
Core Logic
• Prevents excessive concentration in a single asset
• Avoids hidden overleveraging through multiple parallel orders
• Enforces clean professional risk management
• Reflects realistic market behavior — the same standards we use when managing real capital
