Prop trading glossary

Activation Fee

What it costs to switch on the funded account once you pass: nothing. The one-time evaluation fee is the only charge.

Allocation ceiling

The most one trader may hold across all accounts, on both lines together: $1.5M on WhitePips.

Bundle discount

A discount on an order of more than one account, applied to the whole order rather than to the extra accounts only: 10% off at two, 15% at three, 20% at four and 25% at five, the most one order can hold.

Challenge reset

A Challenge Reset is the voluntary reset of an evaluation account: a brand-new account of the same plan and size, bought at today’s price with 20% off (or more with a discount code you enter), whenever the account has no open positions, in profit or in loss. Nothing carries over. Only a reset that a first warning requires is free, and that one keeps the warning. Funded accounts have a separate paid reset, available only while less than 10% of the Max Loss has been used.

Commission

The fee the platform charges for each trade, per lot and round turn (opening and closing counted together). It is part of the trade's result, so it counts toward your profit target and your loss limits like any other cost.

Consistency Rule

A cap on how much of your total profit may come from a single day: none in the One Step evaluation, 40% on the One Step funded account, 20% on Instant.

Contract Limit Breach

What going over the position cap costs: the first time is a warning, the second puts the account under review.

Contract month

Futures expire. Each contract has a delivery month and a code — ESZ5 is the December S&P — and liquidity concentrates in the front month. Positions are rolled or closed before expiry; nothing is ever delivered to you.

Daily Loss Limit

The most that may be lost within one session. On One Step there is none at $25K, and it is $1,250 / $2,000 / $3,000 on $50K / $100K / $150K; on Instant it is $500 / $1,250 / $2,500 / $3,750. It is a soft limit.

Daily Loss Rule

Soft: reaching the Daily Loss Limit stops trading for the rest of the day, and the account stays open. Trading resumes at the next session.

Drawdown

How far the account has fallen from a reference point, either its starting balance or its highest point. On WhitePips the limit on it is the Max Loss, the total loss the account may take before it ends; whether that limit is static or trailing (its Max Loss Type) changes how it behaves once you are in profit.

dxFeed

The market data connection the futures platform, Volumetrica, receives its data over. On WhitePips the platform comes with the account, and every new futures account includes 30 days of dxFeed market data; after that it is $35 for 30 days.

Evaluation

A one time, paid assessment on a simulated account, also called a challenge. You trade to a published profit target without breaching the plan's loss limits; pass it and the account is funded. On WhitePips no evaluation has a time limit.

Expert Advisors

Whether MetaTrader automated strategies may be run on the account. Where allowed, this is the plan expressly permitting automation that the Trading Rules otherwise prohibit.

Fee Refund

On Prime, the evaluation fee is refunded in full once the account is funded and in profit after 30 days.

Floating Loss Rule

How the Max Floating Loss per Symbol is applied: per symbol, with every position on that symbol counted together, always against the starting balance. Splitting one idea into several positions does not avoid it.

Funded account

The simulated account you trade once an evaluation is passed, or from purchase on plans that skip the evaluation (Instant, on both the CFD and futures lines). Payouts are real money, paid on its measured performance under the plan's funded rules.

Hard breach and soft breach

A hard breach ends the account immediately and finally: reaching the Maximum Loss Limit is one. The Daily Loss Limit is soft: reaching it stops trading for the rest of the day, and the account stays open. Going over the position cap is a warning the first time and puts the account under review the second.

Inactivity

Fifteen days without trading deactivates the account.

Leverage

The maximum ratio between position size and margin the platform will allow: 1:100 on Edge 1 Step, Edge 2 Step and Prime 2 Step, 1:50 on Prime 1 Step, 1:33 on Instant Pro and 1:25 on Instant Go. It is a ceiling; Max. Exposure is what sizes your positions in practice.

Leverage and margin

Leverage is the ratio between the position you control and the margin held against it. 1:50 means $1,000 of margin supports a $50,000 position. It is a ceiling the platform enforces, not a target: the drawdown limits on your plan will stop you long before the leverage cap does.

Long and short

Buying is going long — you profit if the price rises. Selling is going short — you profit if it falls. A CFD is symmetrical, so there is no borrowing step and no restriction on shorting.

Lot

The unit of size in forex. One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency; a mini lot is 0.1 and a micro lot is 0.01. On EUR/USD one pip on a standard lot is roughly $10, on a mini lot roughly $1, on a micro lot roughly $0.10.

Margin

The exchange deposit that supports one contract, and on a simulated funded account the reason the position cap exists rather than a leverage ratio. Futures size is counted in contracts, so the plan caps contracts.

Max Daily Loss

The most you may lose within one trading day, measured from the day's opening balance (the previous day's closing balance). Equity below that floor at any moment is a hard breach and ends the account.

Max Floating Loss per Symbol

On Instant Pro and Instant Go, the combined open loss of every position on one symbol, against the starting balance: 1% sends a notice, the first 1.5% breach is a formal warning, and each one after that is a strike.

Max Loss

The total loss allowance, often called the maximum drawdown or max drawdown: equity may never fall below the starting balance minus this figure. It is static, so it never moves. Reaching it is a hard breach and ends the account.

Max Loss Type

CFDs: Static on every CFD plan: the maximum loss is fixed to the starting balance and never moves.

Futures: How the Maximum Loss Limit is measured. End of day trailing (One Step) is recalculated at each session close against that session's ending balance and moves up only. Intraday trailing (Instant) follows the highest equity during the session, open profit included. Both lock once the floor reaches the starting balance.

Max Trading Days

How long the stage may run. Unlimited on every CFD evaluation and indefinite once funded: no WhitePips CFD account expires on time.

Max. Exposure

The combined size of every open position, as a share of the balance: 5,000% on $2,500 down to 1,000% on $200,000. On a $50,000 account at 2,000%, your open positions may total $1,000,000. Going over it is a strike, not a breach.

Maximum Loss Limit

The total loss allowance for the life of the account, measured below the trailing high water mark. It stops trailing once the floor reaches the starting balance. Reaching it is a hard breach and ends the account.

Maximum Loss Rule

Hard: reaching the Maximum Loss Limit ends the account.

Maximum Payout

The most one payout can be, before the 90% split. One Step: $1,000 / $2,000 / $2,500 / $3,000 on the first payout, then $1,500 / $2,500 / $3,000 / $3,500. Instant: $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,000 on every payout.

Maximum Position Size

The most contracts that may be open at the same moment, stated in minis and in the equivalent micros. Ten micros equal one mini, so the two figures are one limit expressed twice. It applies to simultaneous exposure, not to how many trades you may take.

Microscalping

Trades held under 30 seconds are allowed, but at most 50% of your profit may come from them. Over it, the evaluation cannot pass and a payout waits until longer trades bring it back under.

Min Profitable Days

Days that close at +0.5% of the account size or more: three to pass Edge 1 Step, two per phase on Edge 2 Step, and the same number again before each payout once funded; five before each payout on Instant Go. Falling short delays a pass or a payout; it never closes the account.

Mini and micro

Two sizes of the same contract. A micro is exactly one tenth of a mini, so ten micros carry the same exposure as one mini. This is why every position cap on the board states both — 4 Mini | 40 Micro is one limit written twice, not two limits.

Minimum Payout

CFDs: The smallest payout that can be requested: 1% of the account. Crypto payouts must also be at least $100.

Futures: The smallest payout: $500, measured before the 90% split, on both plans.

Minimum Profit Goal

On the One Step funded account: 1% of the starting balance in new profit above the Profit Buffer, before every payout, the first included ($250 / $500 / $1,000 / $1,500 on $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K).

Minimum Trading Days

The fewest days an evaluation can pass in. One Step has no minimum: it can be passed in a single day.

Monthly Salary

On Prime, 1% of the account size a month, accrued daily from the day the account is funded. A day already accrued stays yours even if the account is later lost.

News Trading

CFDs: No trade may be opened, closed or held within two minutes of a high-impact release. Profit from a news trade is removed and the loss stays; the first and second violations are warnings and the third goes to compliance review. It never ends the account on its own.

Futures: Allowed during the One Step evaluation. Once funded, and on Instant, no trade may be opened or closed within two minutes of a high-impact release; a position opened before may be held through it. Profit from a trade inside the window is removed and the loss stays; the first and second violations are warnings and the third goes to compliance review. It never ends the account on its own.

Order flow

Reading the sequence of executed trades and resting orders in the book, rather than reading a chart of past prices. It depends on the exchange's published tape and depth, which is what the futures platform is built around.

Overnight Holding

CFDs: Whether positions may be carried through the daily rollover.

Futures: Futures positions are not held overnight or over the weekend: anything still open at 3:55 PM CT is closed by the system. It is not a breach.

Payout

A share of the profit on a simulated funded account, paid as real money on request. It is requested from the dashboard on the plan's payout cycle, never transferred automatically, and paid by bank transfer, in crypto or as store credit.

Payout Cycle

How often a payout may be requested. The first is on demand, as soon as the account qualifies; after that, every 7 days (every 14 on Instant Go).

Payout Frequency

On demand: request a payout whenever the conditions are met.

Payout Milestone

On Instant: the profit the account must show before every payout, the first included: $1,450 / $3,000 / $5,000 / $8,000 on $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K. Profit a capped payout leaves behind counts toward the next.

Phase 1 Profit Target

The net profit that clears the first phase of the evaluation, once the phase's profitable days are also met. Reached at any time, in any number of trades.

Phase 2 Profit Target

The net profit that clears the second phase of a two step plan. It is smaller than phase one: two step plans split the journey, they do not double it.

Pip

The smallest conventional price increment on a currency pair — the fourth decimal place on most pairs, the second on yen crosses. It is the unit most CFD risk is counted in.

Point

A whole unit of the underlying price. On the E-mini S&P a point is four ticks and worth $50; on the Micro it is worth $5.

Prime Consistency Rule

On a funded Prime account, each 7 days your trade count and your volume per instrument must stay within ±25% of your averages from the evaluation and your first 30 funded days.

Prime Downgrade

Breaking the Prime Consistency Rule or the Quarterly Profit Target turns the account into a standard funded account of the same size, without the salary or the 100% split. It does not end the account.

Profit Buffer

On the One Step funded account, profit that stays on the account: the balance must stay above the starting balance plus the Maximum Loss Limit, and only profit above it can be paid.

Profit Split

CFDs: Your share of the net profit on a funded account: 80% up to 95% on Edge, 75% up to 90% on Instant Pro, 70% up to 85% on Instant Go, and on Prime 80% for the first 30 days funded, then 100%.

Futures: Your share of the net profit on a funded account: 90% on both futures plans.

Profit Target

CFDs: The net profit that clears a single-phase evaluation, once its profitable days are also met.

Futures: The net profit that clears the evaluation. There is no phase two on any futures plan — one target, and the account is funded.

Profitable Trading Days

Days that close at +0.25% of the starting balance or more ($62.50 / $125 / $250 / $375 on $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K). Three before each payout on the One Step funded account, five on Instant. None in the evaluation.

Prop firm

A proprietary trading firm backs traders with its own capital instead of asking them to risk their own.

Quarterly Profit Target

On a funded Prime account, every 90 days your payouts plus the account's profit must reach 5% of the starting balance.

Scaling

Increasing a funded account's size as its results qualify. On the WhitePips CFD line scaling is applied automatically once the criteria shown in your dashboard are met, and it can never take your combined accounts above the allocation ceiling. The profit split is set by the plan.

Session

Futures trade close to twenty-three hours a day, Sunday evening through Friday afternoon New York time, with a short daily maintenance break. The end of day used to measure trailing drawdown is the close of that session, not midnight local.

Simulated account

Every WhitePips account, evaluation and funded alike, runs on a simulated demo environment against live prices. No capital of yours is placed at market risk; the payouts are real money.

Slippage

The difference between the price you asked for and the price you got, on a fast market. It is normal, it counts against your drawdown like any other loss, and it is the reason a stop is not a guarantee of an exact exit price.

Spread

The gap between the buy and sell price. It is the cost of the round trip and it is charged the instant you open, which is why every position starts marginally negative.

Strikes

What a soft breach costs. In the evaluation, the account must be back above its starting balance before a reset is issued, and strikes are cleared when the account is funded. Once funded, each strike cuts the next payout cycle to a 10% split.

Swap

The financing adjustment applied to a position held past the daily rollover. It can be a credit or a debit depending on direction and instrument.

Tick

The smallest price increment a contract can move, and the unit all futures risk is counted in. Each tick has a fixed dollar value — on the E-mini S&P a tick is 0.25 index points and is worth $12.50.

Time Limit

How long the evaluation may run. Published as None: there is no expiry date on any futures evaluation.

Trade Copier

CFDs: Whether trades may be mirrored between your own accounts. Copying another person's trades, or trading a signal service, is prohibited on every plan.

Futures: Whether trades may be mirrored between your own futures accounts. Futures accounts copy futures accounts only. Copying another person's trades, or trading a signal service, is prohibited on every plan.

Weekend Holding

A paid add-on on every CFD plan, chosen when you buy the account. Without it, positions still open at 4:45 PM New York time on Friday are closed by the system: the first time is a warning, the second time closes the account. Edge and Prime accounts bought before the add-on was introduced keep holding.