Every Upcomers Futures account has a floor it cannot fall below. That floor is the trailing maximum drawdown, which we call the Dynamic Risk Shield™. If your account equity touches that floor, the account fails (on a challenge) or is closed (on a funded account). A drawdown breach is enforced by the system automatically: the moment your equity hits the floor, all open positions are closed at market with no manual step.

What makes it "trailing" is that the floor is not fixed. It starts a set distance below your starting balance, and as your account grows the floor rises with it, keeping the same distance below your highest point. It only ever moves up. When your account gives profit back, the floor stays where it was. Once your account grows by the trailing amount and the floor climbs all the way up to your starting balance, it locks there permanently and stops moving. This is what protects your gains once you have earned them.

One thing to keep in mind from the start: you are not risking the full account size. What matters is the gap between your current equity and the floor. That gap is your real room to lose, so size your trades against it, not against the headline account number.

The trailing drawdown is a percentage of your starting balance, so it is a fixed dollar amount for the life of the account. The percentage is the same in the challenge and the funded stage. On a $50,000 account that is $2,000 on Thunderbolt and $1,500 on Vanguard; on a $100,000 account it is $4,000 and $3,000.

Vanguard is instant funding, so it has no challenge stage. You start on the funded rules with a 3% trailing drawdown from your first trade.

On all three programs the shield moves in real time. It follows your account equity tick by tick, including open (unrealized) profit on positions you are holding. As your equity makes a new high, the floor rises with it and stays the drawdown amount below that high.

Does the floor stop at your starting balance? Yes. As your equity climbs, the floor trails the drawdown amount below your highest point, protecting more of your gains as you go. Once your account grows by the trailing amount (4% on Thunderbolt Classic and Legacy, 3% on Vanguard) the floor reaches your starting balance and locks there permanently. After it locks it is static and no longer moves, so you can keep trading without the drawdown chasing your profits. This is the same lock model as our CFD Dynamic Risk Shield. Until it locks, the floor only ever moves up as you profit, never down, so gains you have already protected stay protected.

One caution about payouts: a payout lowers your balance but it does not lower the floor. Say your floor sits at $50,000 and your balance is $53,000, so you have a $3,000 cushion. Withdraw $2,000 and your balance is $51,000, so your cushion is now $1,000. The floor stays where it was at $50,000. A large withdrawal can leave you sitting close to the floor, so plan payouts with that in mind.

Funded trailing drawdown is 4%, so on a $50,000 account the shield is $2,000.

Start: balance $50,000, floor at $50,000 minus $2,000 = $48,000.

You trade up to $51,000: the floor trails up with you, staying $2,000 below, so it moves to $49,000.

You reach $52,000: that is 4% growth, so the floor reaches $50,000, your starting balance, and locks there permanently. From this point it is static and no longer trails.

You keep climbing past $52,000: the floor stays locked at $50,000. It does not trail higher and it never follows you back down, so you can trade without the drawdown chasing your profits.

Because all programs trail in real time, the highs that move the floor include open profit. If your equity spikes to a new high on an open position and then you give it back before closing, the floor has already moved up to that spike.

Thunderbolt Legacy is our swing and overnight program, but its shield works exactly like the others. It trails in real time, following your equity higher as you profit, with a 4% trailing drawdown that is the same on the challenge and when funded.

Because Legacy trails in real time, the floor follows your equity tick by tick, including open profit on positions you carry across sessions. A new equity high moves the floor up and it stays there, even if you give the profit back before closing. The floor only ever ratchets up, never down, until your account grows by 4% and the floor reaches your starting balance, where it locks permanently and stops moving.

The floor is enforced at all times. If your equity touches the current floor at any point, intraday or overnight, that is a breach and the account is closed automatically.

Legacy trailing drawdown is 4%, so on a $50,000 account the shield is $2,000.

Start: balance $50,000, floor at $50,000 minus $2,000 = $48,000.

Your equity climbs to $51,500 on an open position. Because Legacy trails in real time, the floor moves up with you, staying $2,000 below, so it moves to $49,500. Even if you give that profit back before closing, the floor stays at $49,500.

You reach $52,000: that is 4% growth, so the floor reaches $50,000, your starting balance, and locks there permanently. From this point it is static and no longer trails, so it never moves up or down again.

The trailing drawdown is separate from the daily drawdown, and both apply to the same account. The trailing floor is your overall limit; the daily limit caps how much you can lose in a single trading day. You must stay above both.

Each daily limit is measured from the higher of your equity or balance at the 5:00 PM ET reset, then set that percentage below it for the session.

On a $50,000 account, a 3% daily limit is $1,500 and a 2% daily limit is $1,000, measured from that day's reset level.

Max trade loss: on top of these, every program caps the most any single open trade may lose. It is 2% of account size on Thunderbolt Legacy and 1.5% on Thunderbolt Classic and Vanguard. On a $50,000 account that is $1,000 on Legacy and $750 on Classic and Vanguard. This is a hard rule: a single trade that loses more than its limit triggers an automatic breach and closes the account, even if your overall equity is still profitable. Positions on the same instrument in the same direction count together as one trade, so you cannot split an oversized position to get around it.

If your account was closed on a drawdown breach and you believe it was a platform error, you can ask us to review it. Contact support at [email protected] with the subject "Drawdown Breach Review Request" and include your Account ID.

Not sure how the shield applies to your account? Start a chat with our team from the help center and we will walk through your numbers.