The consistency rule is the rule traders complain about most and understand least. It does not close accounts, it does not move your drawdown, and it does not care whether you win or lose. All it does is ask one question at a single moment: on the day you pass, or the day you ask for a payout, was too much of your profit made in one session? If the answer is yes, you wait. This guide explains the formula, gives you a calculator table, shows exactly where the rule applies on our plans, and ends with the simplest way to make it irrelevant.
The formula
A 40% consistency rule says: no single trading day may account for more than 40% of your total profit at the moment the rule is checked.
Written as a formula:
best day ÷ total profit ≤ 0.40
Rearranged into the version you actually need:
total profit required = best day ÷ 0.40 = best day × 2.5
So a $1,000 best day means you need at least $2,500 of total profit before that day is within the limit. A $2,000 best day needs $5,000. The rule does not shrink your best day; it raises the bar for everything else.
Two details matter. First, "day" means closed profit for a trading day, not a single trade. Three winners of $400 on the same day are a $1,200 day. Second, the rule is checked at a moment, not continuously. Being over 40% on a Tuesday is not a problem. Being over 40% on the day you request a payout is a wait.
The calculator table
Find your best day in the left column. The middle column is the total profit you need before that day is within a 40% rule. The right column is what that means on a $50K Bold evaluation with a $3,000 target.
| Best single day | Total profit needed (40%) | On a $50K Bold evaluation ($3,000 target) |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | $1,250 | Within the rule at the target; no delay |
| $800 | $2,000 | Within the rule at the target; no delay |
| $1,000 | $2,500 | Within the rule at the target; no delay |
| $1,200 | $3,000 | Exactly at the limit at the target; passes |
| $1,500 | $3,750 | Need $750 more than the target before the pass |
| $2,000 | $5,000 | Need $2,000 more than the target |
| $3,000 | $7,500 | Need $4,500 more than the target |
The break-even point on a $3,000 target is a $1,200 day. Anything under that and the rule never touches you. Anything over it, and the extra profit you made is not lost, but the pass is pushed back until the rest of your trading catches up.
Where the rule applies at Bold Funded
We use the consistency rule in four places and nowhere else. Every one of them is printed on the plan card.
| Plan | Evaluation | Funded |
|---|---|---|
| Forex Two-Step | None | None |
| Forex One-Step | None | None |
| Forex Instant | — (no evaluation) | 40% at payout |
| Futures Bold | 40% at pass | None |
| Futures Bolt | None | 40% at payout |
| Futures Instant | — (no evaluation) | 40% at payout |
The logic behind the placement is worth knowing, because it tells you what the rule is for. On the Bold evaluation we apply it once, at the pass, so that a single lucky session on a $3,000 target does not become a funded account. Once you are funded on Bold, it is gone; you have shown consistency and we do not need to keep asking. On Bolt the evaluation has no rule at all (you can pass in a day if you can), and the check moves to the funded account at payout time, where it stops a one-day spike from being withdrawn before the account has proved it can repeat. The Instant accounts skip evaluation entirely, so the payout check is the only place a rule can sit. The forex Two-Step and One-Step plans have no consistency rule in either phase. One side effect worth knowing: there is no minimum number of trading days on the Bold evaluation, but the rule spreads a pass over at least three profitable days in practice, because two days can cover at most 80% of the target; see minimum trading days at a prop firm. At payout time the rule interacts with the split and buffer, worked through in prop firm profit split explained.
A worked week
Here is a $50K Bold evaluation, day by day. The target is $3,000, so the best-day cap at the pass is $1,200.
| Day | Closed P&L | Running total | Best day | Best ÷ total | Status at that moment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | +$700 | $700 | $700 | 100% | Over 40% (irrelevant; not at target) |
| Tue | +$1,500 | $2,200 | $1,500 | 68% | Over 40% |
| Wed | −$400 | $1,800 | $1,500 | 83% | Over 40% |
| Thu | +$900 | $2,700 | $1,500 | 56% | Over 40% |
| Fri | +$600 | $3,300 | $1,500 | 45% | Target hit, but 45% > 40%: not yet |
| Mon | +$500 | $3,800 | $1,500 | 39% | Within 40%: passes |
The trader reached the $3,000 target on Friday with $3,300. The pass came the following Monday at $3,800, because Tuesday's $1,500 needed $3,750 of total profit to sit inside 40%. One extra day. Nothing was lost, nothing was reset; the account simply had to show that Tuesday was not the whole story.
Notice what would have avoided the delay entirely: stopping on Tuesday at $1,200. The trader would have finished the week at $3,000 with a best day of $1,200, exactly 40%, and passed on Friday.
Why firms use it, honestly
The consistency rule exists because evaluations are cheap relative to funded accounts. A trader who buys a $50K evaluation, puts on maximum size on day one, and gets lucky has passed nothing; they have bought a lottery ticket that paid out. Without a consistency rule, a firm is funding that trader on the strength of one session, and the funded account usually ends the same way the evaluation started: with maximum size and, this time, the wrong direction.
The rule is a cheap filter for that behaviour. It does not require anyone to review your trades and it does not judge your strategy. It just asks that the pass, or the payout, rest on more than one day.
The honest criticism is that some firms set it at 25% or 30%, apply it continuously, or use it to fail accounts outright. At that point it stops being a filter and becomes a trap. We chose 40%, apply it only at the pass or the payout, and never use it to fail anyone. It delays; it does not end.
How to make the rule irrelevant
You do not need to think about the consistency rule at all if you do one thing: cap your day at 40% of the target, or 40% of the profit you intend to withdraw.
- $50K Bold evaluation, $3,000 target: stop the day at +$1,200.
- $25K Bold, $1,500 target: stop at +$600.
- $100K Bold, $6,000 target: stop at +$2,400.
- Funded Bolt, planning a $2,500 payout: keep every day under +$1,000 across the payout period.
In risk terms, if you risk 10% of your drawdown per trade (the default in our $50K risk plan), that is $200 on a $50K Bold, so a $1,200 day is 6R. Very few honest strategies produce more than 6R in a day without the trader having sized up. The cap is not costing you a normal day; it is stopping an abnormal one.
If you do blow past the cap, do not panic and do not try to "spread it out" by opening trades you would not otherwise take. Just keep trading the plan. Every ordinary day you add lowers the best-day percentage, and the maths from the calculator table tells you exactly how far you have to go.
Three mistakes we see with this rule
- Reading "40%" as a daily profit limit. It is not. You can make any amount on any day; the rule only changes when the pass or payout is granted.
- Assuming a losing day resets the calculation. It does not. The best day stays the best day; losses reduce the total, which makes the percentage worse, not better.
- Trading an evaluation that has a consistency rule with a swing style that produces one large day a week. If your strategy naturally clusters profit into single sessions, choose a plan without the rule: Two-Step, One-Step, or Bolt's evaluation.
The rule for every plan, with whether it applies in evaluation or funded, is printed on the plan card and collected in every Bold Funded rule explained. If you know your best-day cap before you start, the consistency rule is a line you will read once and never think about again.
The rule, and whether it applies in evaluation or funded, is printed on every plan card. No PDF to dig through.
See which plans have a consistency ruleFrequently asked questions
What is the consistency rule at a prop firm?
A limit on how much of your total profit can come from a single trading day. With a 40% rule, your best day may not exceed 40% of your total profit at the moment you pass or request a payout. It stops one outsized day from carrying the account.
How do you calculate the consistency rule?
Divide your best day's profit by 0.4 (for a 40% rule). The result is the total profit you need before that day is within the limit. A $1,000 best day needs $2,500 of total profit.
Does Bold Funded have a consistency rule?
Only in specific places: 40% during the Bold futures evaluation, and 40% on funded Bolt, Forex Instant and Futures Instant accounts. Two-Step, One-Step and funded Bold accounts have no consistency rule.
Do you fail the evaluation if you break the consistency rule?
No. At Bold Funded the consistency rule never fails an account. It delays the pass or the payout until your total profit has grown enough that the best day is within 40%.
#Consistency rule#Evaluation rules#Futures#Payouts#Risk management
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