The Consistency Rule requires traders to show steady performance before requesting a payout.
Specifically, no single day's profit (commissions are not included in profit) should exceed a set percentage of the trader's total profits over a given period.
This means your biggest day's profit must be at or below this percentage of your total profits. If your biggest day exceeds the percentage limit, you do not meet the consistency requirement yet and will need to continue trading smaller profitable days before requesting a payout. This encourages disciplined and steady trading behavior.
Growth Sim Funded Accounts must follow a 35% Consistency Rule.
Select Evaluation Accounts must follow a 40% Consistency Rule during the evaluation phase only. There is no consistency rule for Select accounts in funded mode.
Lightning Funded Accounts purchased after September 12, 2025, at 8:00 AM EST must follow a gradual Consistency Rule:
First payout: 20%
Second payout: 25%
Third and subsequent payouts: 30%
Lightning Funded Accounts purchased before September 12, 2025, at 8:00 AM EST maintain the original 20% Consistency Rule for all payouts, without scaling.
To calculate the balance required to meet the Consistency Rule, use the following formula:
Biggest End of Day PnL / Consistency % = Total Balance Needed
For example, if your biggest day's profit is $1,000 and you must follow the 20% rule, the required total balance would be: $1,000 / 0.20 = $5,000. Another example: if your biggest day's profit is $2,682.10, the required total balance would be:
$2,682.10 / 0.20 = $13,410.50
Here's a sample chart using the same 20% rule, showing when an account is in line with the rule (green) and when it is not (red):
Why is the Consistency Rule Important?
Implementing the Consistency Rule is crucial for several reasons:
Risk Management: It prevents traders from relying on a few high-risk trades to achieve overall profitability.
Performance Stability: The rule encourages consistent performance, reducing the likelihood of erratic profit spikes.
Discipline: It ensures traders maintain a steady approach and avoid taking excessive risks in pursuit of quick profits.
How Does the Consistency Rule Work?
No single trading day's profit should exceed the consistency percentage for your account type (40% for Select Evaluation, 35% for Growth, or 20-30% for Lightning Funded) of the total profits accumulated from the first day of trading up to the payout request date. To remain compliant with the 20% rule for Lightning Funded accounts, calculate using this method:
Highest end-of-day profit / 0.20 = Total profits required to meet the 20% consistency rule.
For example, if your total profit is $10,000, your biggest single-day profit must not exceed $2,000 ($10,000 x 20% = $2,000).
After an approved payout, the consistency % will reset and you will need to maintain consistency % for the period up to the next approved payout request.
More Examples of the Consistency Rule in Action
Here's another example to illustrate how the Consistency Rule is applied:
A trader has been trading for 10 days in their Growth Sim Funded account, which follows a 35% Consistency Rule.
Total profits over the 10 days: $10,000.
Highest single-day profit: $4,000 (which is 40% of the total profits).
Since 40% exceeds the 35% limit, the trader does not meet the consistency requirement yet and is not eligible for a payout. The trader must continue trading until the highest single-day profit is less than or equal to 35% of the total profits.
If, on day 11, the trader makes an additional $1,500 in profits:
The trader has now traded for 11 days.
Total profits: $11,500.
Highest single-day profit: $4,000 (which is now 34.7% of the total).
At this point, the trader is eligible to request a payout, as their highest profit no longer exceeds the 35% limit. For Lightning Funded accounts, if your highest single-day profit is $643.34, calculate the required total profit to meet compliance as:
$643.34 / 0.20 = $3,216.70
If your current profits are $2,570.14, you need to add $646.56 in additional small profit days while ensuring no single day exceeds $643.34.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why does my dashboard show 100% consistency when I've had multiple profitable days?
A: For Rithmic and Wealtcharts your consistency stats update when the dashboard reconciles, which happens once daily between 5-8 PM EST. If you traded profitably today, that day's results won't appear until tonight's reconciliation. For example, if you had one profitable day yesterday ($1,000) and another today ($550), your dashboard currently only knows about yesterday - showing 100% ($1,000 / $1,000). After tonight's update, it will show 64.5% ($1,000 / $1,550). Simply wait for the 5-8 PM EST reconciliation and your consistency percentage will update automatically.
For Tradovate, consistency is updated in real time in your Tradeify Dashboard after each closed trade.
Q: When do consistency stats update?
A: For Rithmic and Wealtcharts all dashboard statistics, including consistency percentage, update once daily during the 5-8 PM EST reconciliation window. Your trades execute in real-time on your trading platform, but the Tradeify dashboard reflects End of Day (EOD) calculations after reconciliation. For Tradovate, Account PNL, consistency, and others are updated in real time after each closed trade.
Q: Do losing days affect my consistency percentage?
A: Yes, losing days can hurt your consistency percentage. The formula is: (Your biggest profitable day) / (Total profits). Losing days reduce your total profits (the denominator), which makes your consistency percentage go up. For example, if your biggest day was $1,000 and your total profit was $1,500 (66.7% consistency), a $300 losing day would drop your total to $1,200, pushing your consistency to 83.3% (worse). To improve consistency, you need profitable days that increase the denominator without exceeding your current biggest day.
Q: Can I meet the consistency requirement with just one profitable day?
A: No. If you have only one profitable day, that day represents 100% of your total profits. Since 100% exceeds all consistency thresholds (20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%), you'll need multiple profitable days to meet the requirement. For example, with a 20% rule, you need at least 5 profitable days of roughly equal size to bring your biggest day down to 20% or less of total profits.
Q: Can I keep trading if my consistency percentage is over the limit (20%, 35%, or 40%)?
A: Yes! The consistency rule only determines when you can request a payout - it does NOT restrict your trading in any way. You can make any amount of profit on any day. If you have a big profitable day, you simply need more total profit (spread across future days) before you're eligible to request a payout. Your account will not fail or be penalized for having high consistency - just keep trading profitable days to bring the percentage down. For smooth progress toward payout, aim for consistent daily profits based on your account size and profit goal.