Been There, Blown That

I’ve blown more prop firm accounts than I want to admit. Not because I didn’t know how to trade—but because I didn’t know how to trade inside their rules.

At first, I blamed the firms. The drawdown rules. The challenge structure. The market. But after a while, I had to admit: it was me—my overtrading, my lack of structure, my ego pretending it had risk under control.

This article isn’t a “just follow your plan” lecture. It’s a straight-up breakdown of why most traders blow accounts—and how I finally stopped the cycle.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

1. Why your drawdown understanding, not your setup, is probably the problem
2. The real warning signs that show up before your account dies
3. How I structure my sessions, mindset, and firms to stay funded consistently

The Truth About Why You’re Failing (It’s Not the Firm)

It’s easy to blame the firm when things go sideways. But the reality is, most blown accounts happen because the trader didn’t respect the structure—not because the firm was “unfair.”

You knew the rules. You still broke them.

I did too. I thought I was being disciplined just because I used a stop loss. I thought I was "managing risk" because I journaled once a week. But the moment I got into a little drawdown, all that structure went out the window. That’s not discipline. That’s theater.

Until you take full ownership of how you operate under pressure, nothing changes.

Daily Structure > Strategy Switching

Most traders blow accounts not because their strategy stopped working, but because they had no structure to begin with.

When I finally got consistent, it wasn’t because I found the "perfect entry." It’s because I built a process I actually stuck to:

• I trade ES and NQ only
• Only during the US session (9:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET)
• One to two trades max per account, per day
• No trades during high-impact news (I use this calendar)

By removing decision fatigue, I gave myself space to trade well. If you’re waking up and winging it every day, you’re not trading—you’re gambling with structure as an afterthought.

Your Risk Management Is Lying to You

Just because you set a stop loss doesn’t mean you’re managing risk. Most traders blow up not because they didn’t use a stop—but because they sized the trade completely wrong for the account structure.

If you’ve got a $2,000 trailing drawdown and you’re risking $400 per trade, you get five chances before you’re done. But even worse—if your trade floats $300 in profit and reverses, and you’re trading under intraday drawdown rules? You might break the trailing limit even on a green trade.

Risk management in prop trading isn’t about textbook R:R. It’s about staying in the game.

Trading Inside Drawdown Rules: Where Most Traders Fail

Prop firms aren’t retail brokers. They don’t care if your setup has a 70% win rate. They care if you stay inside their structure—and drawdown rules are where most traders break it.

The second I truly understood the difference between intraday and end-of-day drawdown, things changed. I stopped letting winners turn into disqualifications. I started tracking my trailing stop buffer manually. I stopped scaling up just because I had one good week.

If you don’t know your drawdown math to the dollar, you’re playing with fire.

Read more here: Intraday vs End-of-Day Drawdown

Stop Changing Strategies Mid-Challenge

You passed the eval with a clean setup. Then you hit one red day and suddenly you’re on YouTube watching volume profile videos. Why?

Because you’re uncomfortable with uncertainty. Because you’re addicted to tweaking instead of refining. But all this does is destroy your consistency.

In prop trading, the traders who win aren’t the ones with the most advanced strategy. They’re the ones who can run the same simple setup under pressure without breaking routine.

If it worked to pass the challenge, it’s good enough to get paid. Stick to it.

Journaling Isn’t Optional If You Want to Improve

I avoided journaling because I thought it was a waste of time. But every pattern that used to sabotage me—late-day overtrading, sizing up after a win, chasing early entries—only became obvious once I wrote them down.

Now I log every session:

• Setup taken
• Reason for entry
• Emotional state
• What I could’ve done better

It takes five minutes, max. And it’s probably added six figures to my bottom line by stopping me from repeating the same mistakes.

Full breakdown here: Why Journaling Is Essential

7. Red Flags Before You Blow the Account

No one "suddenly" blows an account. The red flags always show up first.

• Trading outside your planned hours
• Increasing size because "you’re due"
• Skipping reviews
• Trading emotionally after a loss

These are the cracks in the foundation. When I see them now, I stop. I reset. Because one undisciplined day can wipe out two weeks of progress.

esetting Your Psychology: Funded ≠ Finished

Passing the challenge doesn’t mean you’ve made it. It just means you get to start. Most traders blow the funded account faster than the evaluation because they start trading to "impress."

I treat every funded account like it’s still in eval mode:

• Same size
• Same rules
• Same boring structure

Detach from the payout. Focus on execution. That’s how you get paid more than once.

My Current Setup That Keeps Me Funded

Right now I’m trading multiple accounts across firms that actually fit my style:

• Tradeify
• TakeProfitTrader
• Alpha Capital
• MyFundedFutures
• FundedFuturesFamily
• Breakout for crypto side plays

No Apex. No hype. Just firms that make sense for what I do.

I trade the same setup, the same hours, across multiple accounts with small size. It’s not exciting. But it’s consistent. And that’s the whole point.

Final Thoughts

If you’re stuck in the blowup cycle, stop looking for a new setup. Fix your process. Trade inside the rules. And most importantly, manage yourself.

That’s how you stop blowing accounts.That’s how you get paid.And that’s how you stay funded in 2025.