Before anything else:
This is based on my experience in the prop firm space, conversations with people working inside firms, and my own journey.
And I’ll say this openly — I’ve blown many accounts myself before understanding how this game really works and before taking consistent payouts.
Blown accounts are not rare. They are part of the process.
1. Blown Accounts Are Common — Even Among Profitable Traders
From what people inside prop firms openly say:
Blowing an account alone means nothing.
Almost every trader who ends up profitable long term has blown accounts early on.
What matters is not the blown account.
What matters is:
- Do you reduce risk over time?
- Do you respect drawdown rules after mistakes?
- Do you adapt?
The difference between someone who eventually succeeds and someone who keeps failing is behavioral evolution.
2. Passing Fast vs Trading Long-Term
One thing I learned the hard way:
Optimizing for speed is dangerous.
Many traders push size aggressively just to pass an evaluation quickly. High leverage. Big positions. Fast targets.
Passing this way is common.
But from what I’ve heard repeatedly from people inside firms, what raises red flags is when someone keeps doing this without any intention of protecting capital once funded.
Evaluation mode is not the same as funded mode.
If you treat both the same, you won’t last.
3. Firms Care About Rules — Not Fancy Metrics
This is something most retail traders misunderstand.
From inside firms, what they actually monitor is simple:
- Maximum drawdown
- Daily drawdown
- Profit rule compliance
Not your Sharpe ratio.
Not your dashboard statistics.
Not your win rate screenshots.
Someone with “great metrics” who violates drawdown rules will eventually blow the account.
Someone with average-looking stats who respects the framework can survive and scale.
That’s the reality.
4. Even Successful Traders Blow Accounts
This part surprises people.
There are traders on X (Twitter) who post large payouts and still blow accounts regularly.
The difference is how they approach it:
- They treat it like a business.
- They operate multiple accounts.
- They stick to consistent setups.
- They follow the rules strictly.
- They don’t take losses personally.
They understand probabilities.
If one account breaches, it’s part of operating costs. Across multiple accounts and consistent execution, the math works in their favor.
It’s structured. Not emotional.
5. The Real Red Flag: No Adaptation
From what I’ve learned speaking with people inside firms:
One blown account is normal.
Repeatedly blowing accounts the same way is not.
If losses always lead to:
- Bigger position sizes
- Wider stops
- Revenge trading
- Ignoring drawdown limits
That’s not variance. That’s behavior.
And behavior is what determines long-term survival.
6. The Data Reality
From long-term firm observations:
Only around 2–3% of funded traders remain profitable long term (6+ months, net positive, still active).
Not challenge buyers.
Funded traders.
That shows how difficult long-term consistency really is.
And almost none of those 2–3% got there without early failures.
Final Thought
Blowing accounts doesn’t define you.
Refusing to adjust does.
This business rewards:
- Discipline
- Rule compliance
- Emotional control
- Treating trading like a business
If you take every blown account personally, you won’t survive.
If you treat it as data and adjust your behavior, you give yourself a chance.
And from everything I’ve seen and heard from inside the industry, that behavioral shift is what separates the small percentage who last from the majority who don’t.