The Progression Ladder limits the number of contracts that traders can open. Traders must self-regulate and limit the number of contracts that they open. As traders profit and increase their account balance, they may open more positions to take advantage of their additional capital, although it is not mandatory.
If traders open more contracts than their account size and profit levels allow, their evaluation will be blocked for the day.
Update from March 1, 2024. Not complying with the progression ladder rule will block your evaluation account for the day, but it does not require your account to be reset. During market close we will remove the block from the failed account so that you can continue your progress the next trading day with the same evaluation account.
Important Notes/Examples:
Earn2Trade tracks current account balance which includes open and closed equity intraday, on profit and on loss. Therefore, traders should build up a profit margin above the contract size they wish to trade, so that they have a buffer before they no longer can have a position of that size open. This will help prevent their account balance suddenly dropping to a level that doesn’t allow them to hold the number of positions they currently have open.
For example, if you have a $50,000 account, you are only allowed to open two contracts. It is possible to open a position with 2 ES contracts. It is also possible to open 1 ES and 1 CL positions. However, opening a third contract (of the same asset or other) will fail the examination immediately.
If you have a $50,000 account, you can open up to four contracts when you have $1,501 or more in profit in your account ($51,501 or more). However, you must make sure that your profits do not dip below this limit again while having these 4 contracts open, or you will fail the examination.
Please note that the following micro contracts: MES, MNQ, MYM, M2K, MGC, MCL, M6B, M6E, MHG can be traded for up to ten contracts and it'll only count as one contract towards the progression ladder. For example if the progression ladder allows you 4 contracts then you can either trade up to 4 ES, 3 ES & 10 MES, 2 ES & 20 MES, 1 ES & 30 MES or 40 MES.
Traders should maintain discretion and vigilance over their account capital so that they don’t fail the examination and ensure that they are exposing themselves to a minimum level of risk.