Month 3 at a glance
You can follow a plan, and you can measure it. Now you run it where it counts.
What’s new
- An evaluation plan: pass with a plan, not with speed.
- The size ladder: size goes up slowly and comes down instantly.
- A funded playbook, written before you need it.
- Your trading plan: one page, in your words, by Day 84.
What doesn’t change
- The Sweep Setup and your refinement.
- Your routine, tags and daily journal.
- Guardrails 2 to 10. Rule 1 is replaced by the ladder.
- Friday recap, light Sundays, streaks that count red days.
Choose your arena (Day 62)
| Track A · Option 1 | Start an evaluation. Only if the Month 2 gate is passed, it fits your budget and you’ve read the firm’s official rules. |
|---|---|
| Track A · Option 2 | Stay in sim, but with the exact rules of the evaluation you’d buy. Just as valid. |
| Track B | Keep going on your current account, with your plan and the ladder. |
Your guardrails, version 3
Rule 1 now follows the size ladder. One rule is added for the moment most traders give it all back: right after a win.
- Size follows the ladder. Never skip a step, never size up mid-session.
- Stop and target placed at entry. The stop never moves further away.
- Maximum 3 trades per session. Zero trades is a valid session.
- Done for the day after 2 losses or −2R, whichever comes first. 1R = your planned risk on one trade.
- Never add to a loser, never size up to win it back.
- No trades in your excluded news windows.
- Only your setup, with your refinement, in your window.
- Slipped up? Stop, log it, understand it. A slip is information, not failure.
- 10-minute pause after every loss. Away from the chart. Then reread your setup before the next trade.
- Up +2R on the day? A setups only. Or call it a day. A good day is protected, not pushed.
- New · After a pass, a payout or a new account: back to step 1 for 5 sessions. A win changes your account, not your process.
The size ladder
Your risk grows only when your execution justifies it. Up slowly, down instantly.
| Step 1 · 1 micro | Where every account and every month starts. |
|---|---|
| Step 2 · 2 micros | 10 sessions in a row at step 1 without a major slip, an average process score of 4 or more, and your new daily stop still well below the firm’s daily limit and far from your drawdown. |
| Step 3 · 3 micros | The same criteria, 10 sessions at step 2. Step 3 is the ceiling for Month 3. |
Step down immediately if
- You have 2 major slips within 5 sessions.
- You hit your daily stop 2 sessions in a row.
- Your distance to the drawdown no longer fits 2 full days of your daily stop at this size.
More on the drawdown test before each step: when to size up.
Stepping down is not a punishment. It’s the ladder doing its job: you climb back with the same criteria.
Pass with a plan, not with speed
An evaluation rewards the trader who doesn’t break rules, not the one who goes fastest. Before your first session (Day 63), write down your firm, account type, profit target, daily loss limit, max drawdown (static or trailing), consistency rule and other rules: minimum days, time limit, news, scaling. Each firm’s current rules are on our prop firm pages. Track A, option 2: use the evaluation you’d buy.
Your numbers
| Target in R | Profit target ÷ your 1R |
|---|---|
| Daily stop | 2R at your current step, plus slippage |
| Daily cap | Consistency % × profit target. Hit it, and stop for the day. |
| Bad days you can absorb | Distance to drawdown ÷ daily stop |
These numbers for every firm’s evaluation, checked every week: how to pass a prop firm evaluation.
If it doesn’t pass
Your plan stays the same. A failed evaluation tells you whether you followed your rules: check that first in your journal. Then the cooldown rule applies.
Your funded playbook
Funded accounts are often lost by traders who change what got them there. Write your rules now (Day 77), while you’re calm.
- First 5 sessions at step 1. Same setup, same window, same routine.
- Nothing new. No new market, no new setup, no “just this once”.
- Funded P&L is not income until it’s paid out. Track evaluation, funded and payouts separately.
- Your payout rule is decided now, inside your firm’s rules, not on a good day.
- The small things are the strategy. The checklist, the pause, the journal: that’s what got you funded.
Then write yours: your payout rule, what you will never change once funded, what made you pass in one sentence, and your warning sign that you’re drifting. In Sweep, My money keeps evaluation costs, funded profits and real payouts apart.
The full playbook, with the warning signs: after you pass.
Week 9 · Choose your arena
Decide where you trade this month, and plan it before you start.
Day 61 · Kickoff + weekly recap
Compare Month 2 to your baseline. Set your Month 3 targets.
Done when Targets written down.
Day 62 · Your arena
Track A: an evaluation, or sim with evaluation rules. Track B: check your account status. Read the official rules.
Done when Decision and rules written down.
Day 63 · Evaluation plan
Fill in your numbers: target in R, daily stop, daily cap, bad days you can absorb.
Done when Plan written down.
Day 64 · First session in your arena
Step 1. Same setup, same routine. Track your progress in R.
Done when Session journaled, progress logged.
Day 65 · Arena session
Note your distance to the daily limit and to the drawdown, before and after.
Done when Both distances logged.
Day 66 · Focus: no urgency
The target is far. Zero trades is fine if nothing qualifies.
Done when Every trade and every pass justified.
Day 67 · Arena session
Same process.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Week 10 · Climb slowly
Your size can move now, only by the ladder’s rules.
Day 68 · Session + weekly recap
Check your ladder criteria. Step up only if all of them are met.
Done when Ladder status updated.
Day 69 · Next-step drill
On 10 replay setups, calculate the risk at the next step. Does the stop still fit your daily stop?
Done when 10 calculations at the next step.
Day 70 · Your step-down rules
Write when you step down, in your words. Prep your news windows.
Done when Step-down rules written down.
Day 71 · Arena session
At your current step.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 72 · Focus: good days
Near +2R or your daily cap? Protect the day.
Done when Rule 10 and daily cap respected.
Day 73 · Arena session
Same process.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 74 · Arena session
Same process.
Done when Zero slips. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Week 11 · Close to the line
Near the target or near the drawdown: same trader, same process.
Day 75 · Session + weekly recap
Ladder check. Where are you against your evaluation plan?
Done when Weekly recap done. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 76 · One-day-from-passing drill
In replay, trade as if one good day passes you: A setups only, daily cap respected.
Done when Drill done, cap respected.
Day 77 · Funded playbook
Write your playbook and your payout rule.
Done when Playbook written down.
Day 78 · Arena session
Same process.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 79 · Focus: after a big day
After your best day, the next session is a normal one. Same size, same routine.
Done when No change after a win.
Day 80 · Arena session
Same process.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 81 · Arena session
Same process.
Done when Zero slips. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Week 12 · Own it
Write your plan, trade only from it, and close the 90 days.
Day 82 · Session + weekly recap
Last ladder check of the gameplan.
Done when Weekly recap done. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 83 · Your 90 days in numbers
Months 1, 2 and 3 side by side: compliance, process score, R, spending.
Done when 90 days reviewed.
Day 84 · Your trading plan
Write your one-page plan from everything you learned.
Done when Plan written down.
Day 85 · Plan-only session
Trade only from your written plan.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 86 · Plan-only session
Same process.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 87 · Plan-only session
Same process.
Done when Session journaled. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 88 · Plan-only session
Same process.
Done when Zero slips. Sweep · auto : Sweep ticks it on its own in the app
Day 89 · Final weekly recap
Pick 3 decisions you’re proud of and 3 lessons from the 90 days.
Done when 6 decisions explained.
Day 90 · Final gate
Check the gate and set your routine from Day 91 on.
Done when Gate completed.
Your one-page trading plan
On Day 84, in your words. It replaces the gameplan from Day 91 on.
- Market, trading window, current size step, account(s), 1R and daily stop in dollars.
- Your setup, your refinement, and when you skip.
- Your guardrails: the 3 you need most.
- Your pre-session routine, your step-up and step-down rules, your payout rule.
- Your weekly review (when, what you check) and your warning sign.
The free trading plan template has room for all of it, on one printable page.
Final gate
Passing an evaluation is not a criterion. Trading your plan is.
- 100% of sessions journaled and tagged this month.
- Zero trades over planned risk. No stop moved further away.
- Every size change followed the ladder, with no skipped step.
- Last 10 sessions without a major slip.
- The evaluation, if any, traded according to the written plan, passed or not.
- No impulse purchase: cooldown respected, spending within budget.
- Funded playbook and payout rule written.
- One-page trading plan written and traded for at least 4 sessions.
- Average process score of 4 or more.
- Gameplan complete: your plan becomes your routine. Weekly recaps and the ladder keep running.
- Not yet: repeat Weeks 11 and 12, focused on your most frequent slip.
Ninety days don’t prove a lasting edge. They prove you can run a measurable, repeatable process: the only foundation an edge can be built on.