# How many contracts to trade on a prop firm account

> Size from the drawdown, not the account: the risk of one trade, how many losses to survive, and worked examples on NQ, MNQ, ES and MES.

Published October 14, 2026 · By the fillprint desk

Trade the number of contracts your drawdown can afford, not the number your account size suggests. Work out what one full loss costs per contract (stop in ticks × tick value, plus fees), decide how many full losses in a row the drawdown must survive, and divide. On a 50K account with a 2,000 dollar drawdown and a 40-tick stop, that is usually one NQ or about ten MNQ, not five minis.

## Size from the drawdown, not from the account

The drawdown is your real capital on a prop firm account, so it is the number to size from. A "50K account" never lets you lose 50,000. It lets you lose the drawdown, often 2,000 to 3,000 dollars, and then it is gone. Sizing as if the headline balance were yours is the quickest way to lose an evaluation.

Think of the evaluation as a 2,000 dollar account with a leverage limit. Every contract you add is a larger share of that 2,000, not of the 50,000.

## The risk of one trade

The risk of one trade is the stop in ticks, times the tick value, times the number of contracts. A 40-tick stop on NQ is `40 × 5 = 200` dollars per contract. Two contracts risk 400.

Add commissions and exchange fees to that figure. They are a fixed amount per contract and per round turn, so they barely move a mini trade and weigh much more on micros. Read the real rate on your firm's rules page or in your platform statement, then add it to the loss per contract. The [position size calculator](https://fillprint.io/en/tools/position-size) does this sum for every instrument at once.

> **The stop comes first**
> Set the stop where the chart says the trade is wrong, then size around it. Never tighten a stop to fit more contracts: you only make the loss more likely.

## How many losses the drawdown must survive

Decide how many full losses in a row the account must be able to take, then divide the drawdown by that number. Eight to ten is a reasonable range for most intraday traders. Losing streaks of five or six come up regularly with an ordinary win rate; ten gives you room for the bad week and for your own mistakes.

The formula is short:

- **Maximum risk per trade** = drawdown ÷ number of losses to survive
- **Contracts** = maximum risk per trade ÷ risk per contract, rounded down

Round down every time. Rounding up is borrowing from the next loss.

## A worked example on a 50K account

Take a hypothetical 50K evaluation with a 2,000 dollar drawdown. You want to survive ten full losses in a row, so the most you risk on one trade is 200 dollars.

### NQ and MNQ with a 40-tick stop

On NQ, a 40-tick stop (10 points) costs 200 dollars per contract. One contract uses your whole 200 budget: ten losses and the account is closed. Two contracts would cost 400 per loss, and five losses would end it.

On MNQ, the same 40 ticks cost 20 dollars per contract. Ten MNQ risk the same 200 as one NQ. Same exposure, same ten losses. The difference shows when you want eight losses instead of ten: the budget becomes 250, NQ still only allows one contract (two would be 400), while MNQ allows twelve (240).

### ES and MES with an 8-tick stop

On ES, an 8-tick stop (2 points) costs `8 × 12.50 = 100` dollars per contract. With a 200 budget you can trade two. On MES the same stop costs 10 dollars, so twenty MES risk the same 200.

Do not read this as "ES allows more contracts". An 8-tick stop on ES is tight; the right stop on each instrument comes from its own volatility. What stays fixed is the budget per trade.

## What a 40-tick stop costs on each contract

A 40-tick stop costs anywhere from 20 to 500 dollars per contract, depending on the instrument. Forty ticks is also not the same distance everywhere: 10 points on NQ, 40 points on YM, 40 cents on crude.

| Instrument | Tick size | Tick value | 40-tick stop, per contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| NQ | 0.25 pt | $5.00 | $200 |
| MNQ | 0.25 pt | $0.50 | $20 |
| ES | 0.25 pt | $12.50 | $500 |
| MES | 0.25 pt | $1.25 | $50 |
| YM | 1 pt | $5.00 | $200 |
| MYM | 1 pt | $0.50 | $20 |
| RTY | 0.10 pt | $5.00 | $200 |
| M2K | 0.10 pt | $0.50 | $20 |
| CL | $0.01 | $10.00 | $400 |
| MCL | $0.01 | $1.00 | $40 |
| GC | $0.10 | $10.00 | $400 |
| MGC | $0.10 | $1.00 | $40 |

Each micro is one tenth of its mini. On the 2,000 dollar drawdown above, a 40-tick ES stop on a single contract already risks a quarter of the account: four losses and it is over.

## Why micros matter in an evaluation

Micros let you size precisely, which a small drawdown requires. With minis, your risk jumps in steps of 200 or 500 dollars; with micros, it moves in steps of 20 or 50. That granularity lets you hit your budget exactly instead of rounding down to too little or up to too much.

They also give you a clean way to scale. Start the evaluation at a size that survives ten losses. Once you have a profit buffer, add micros a few at a time instead of doubling with a second mini. And when the account is close to its floor, you can cut size by half without stopping trading.

The cost is fees: ten micros pay ten sets of commissions where one mini pays one. On a passing plan, that is usually a fair price for control. Our guide on [how to pass a futures prop firm evaluation](https://fillprint.io/en/journal/how-to-pass-a-futures-prop-firm-evaluation) puts sizing in the wider plan.

## Intraday trailing: count the give-back

With an intraday trailing drawdown, size so that a full give-back of open profit plus your stop does not end the account. The floor follows your highest equity in real time, so open profit that comes back has already cost you room. [Trailing drawdown explained](https://fillprint.io/en/journal/trailing-drawdown-explained) shows the mechanics.

Take the same hypothetical 50K account with two NQ and a 40-tick stop. The trade runs 60 ticks in your favour: 600 dollars open, and the floor moves from 48,000 to 48,600. Then it reverses all the way to your stop. You lose 400. The account is at 49,600, the floor is at 48,600: one trade took 1,000 dollars of your 2,000 of room.

On an intraday trailing account, your real risk per trade is the stop plus the open profit you are willing to give back. Either size smaller, or take partial profit early so the give-back stays small. An [end-of-day drawdown](https://fillprint.io/en/prop-firms/best/end-of-day-drawdown) removes this problem inside the session.

## The daily loss limit and the contract cap

The daily loss limit is a second ceiling: your size must also fit inside it, not only inside the drawdown. If a hypothetical account has a 1,000 dollar daily limit and you risk 400 per trade, two losers and one slipped stop end your day. Size so the daily limit holds at least three or four full losses. At some firms hitting it pauses the account until the next session, at others it fails the evaluation: check which.

Firms also cap the number of contracts by account size, and many count micros against that cap at ten to one. Some add a scaling plan that unlocks more contracts as profit builds. Here is how each firm on the board handles scaling on its reference account:



The cap is a maximum, not a target. Being under the cap does not mean being inside your budget. Run your numbers in the [position size calculator](https://fillprint.io/en/tools/position-size) before the open, not after the first loss. Sizing does not make a strategy profitable; it only decides how long you get to find out.

Size your next trade

> **[DeepCharts](https://my.deepcharts.com/redirect/deepchart?affId=OFF&utm_source=fillprint&utm_medium=affiliate) · code OFF** — Sign up through our partner link and the OFF discount is applied automatically. If a code is asked for at checkout, type OFF. [Get DeepCharts](https://my.deepcharts.com/redirect/deepchart?affId=OFF&utm_source=fillprint&utm_medium=affiliate)

## Terms used in this article
- [Evaluation](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/evaluation)
- [Profit target](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/profit-target)
- [Scaling plan](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/scaling-plan)
- [Trailing drawdown](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/trailing-drawdown)
- [Daily loss limit](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/daily-loss-limit)
- [Tick and tick value](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/tick-value)
- [Micro futures](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/micro-futures)
- [E-mini futures](https://fillprint.io/en/glossary/e-mini-futures)

---

Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. fillprint is an independent publication, not a broker or a prop firm.

Some links are affiliate links: if you sign up through them, the firm or DeepCharts pays us a commission, at no extra cost to you, and often with a discount for you. Affiliate links are marked and carry rel="sponsored". Being an affiliate never moves a firm up the board. Firms without a program stay listed, marked “no affiliation”.

HTML: https://fillprint.io/en/journal/position-sizing-for-prop-firm-drawdown · Prop firm data: fundedyield.com · © fillprint