ICT Decoded · Stops, Sizing and Trailing for Prop Accounts
Where Does the Stop Go, and How Do You Size It for a Prop Account?
By Steve H — reads every firm’s official rulebook, checks prices and codes daily, and maintains the Enigma Score · Methodology · Editorial policy · Last updated November 1, 2026
ICT concepts were created and are taught by Michael J. Huddleston, The Inner Circle Trader (X · YouTube). This lesson is FundedEnigma’s own summary, not affiliated with or endorsed by ICT.
In short: The stop goes where the idea is proven wrong: one tick beyond the high or low a market structure shift came from. Because that distance changed about six times on 2020-2026 NQ data, size each trade by a fixed risk, not a fixed number of contracts. On a prop account, the drawdown limit is the account you really have.
Stop Loss, Position Sizing and Trailing Stops for Prop Accounts (ICT): Tested on NQ · 7:36 · published November 1, 2026 · part of the ICT Concepts Decoded playlist
Watch the video
The full video is embedded above this article: Stop Loss, Position Sizing and Trailing Stops for Prop Accounts (ICT): Tested on NQ. This page is the written version, with every chart walked through step by step. Jump to any part of the video:
Key facts: stops, sizing and trailing at a glance
| Part | How we define it |
|---|---|
| Stop | One tick beyond the high or low the five-minute market structure shift came from |
| 1R | The distance from where the shift is known (the minute it trades through its reference swing) to the stop. A ruler, not a result |
| Sizing | Contracts = the risk you allow ÷ (point value × stop in points), rounded down. NQ is 20 dollars a point, MNQ 2 |
| Halfway stop | Halfway between the shift price and the high or low it came from: still inside the structure |
| Trailing | Behind every completed five-minute candle, or only beyond a new five-minute swing once it forms |
| Prop accounts | The drawdown limit is the account. Risk per trade as a share of it = how many full losses in a row end it |
| Result (our data) | 4,724 shifts: 1R before the stop about 46 in 100, stop first about 47; the longest run of stops first was nine in a row, in July 2020 |
Last verified 2026-11-01. All charts below are real historical CME NQ futures data, shown in New York time. Dollar figures are examples only.
Here is the problem on real charts. On August 14, 2026, after a five-minute shift at 9:11 AM, a stop one tick above the high it came from was 21.25 points away. On June 9, 2026, after the same kind of shift at 10:00, that stop was 215.50 points away: ten times the distance.
Where does the stop go?
Where your idea is proven wrong. That idea comes from ICT (Michael J. Huddleston): a stop is not a number you pick. After a market structure shift, the idea is that the high or low the shift came from holds, so the stop goes one tick beyond it. We call the distance from where the shift is known to that stop one R, and twice that distance two R. That is just a ruler for measuring, not a result.
How do you size a trade by risk?
Decide the most one trade may cost, then divide by the point value times the stop in points, and round down. On Nasdaq futures, one NQ contract is 20 dollars a point and one micro (MNQ) is 2 dollars a point (CME contract specifications). Because the stop sits where the idea is wrong, its distance changes every time, so the number of contracts has to change too.
Example 1: same setup, ten times the stop, August 14 and June 9, 2026
- On August 14, 2026, price runs the previous day's high just after 8:00 AM and pushes on to 30,283.00 at 9:05.
- At 9:11 it trades through the 9:00 low at 30,262.25. That is the shift.
- The stop goes one tick above the high: 21.25 points. For example, with 500 dollars allowed per trade, that is one NQ contract (425 dollars) or eleven micros (467.50 dollars).
- On June 9, 2026, a first shift off the previous day's high failed at 9:43 AM. Price then ran up to 29,848.25.
- At 10:00 it traded through the 9:30 low at 29,633.25.
- Now the stop is 215.50 points away. At the same example 500 dollars, not even one NQ contract fits (one would risk 4,310 dollars). One micro does (431 dollars).
With a fixed two contracts every time, the second trade would have risked ten times the first. Sizing by risk keeps each stop costing about the same.
Does a tighter stop or a trailing stop help?
They are trade-offs, not upgrades. Two things traders often change:
- A tighter stop, for example halfway between the shift price and the high or low it came from. It is still inside the structure, so price can tag it while the idea is still alive.
- Trailing, moving the stop as price moves: either behind every five-minute candle, or only beyond a new five-minute swing once it has formed.
Example 2: halfway stop vs trailing, May 12, 2026
- At 9:45 AM price runs the London high, up to 29,296.00. At 9:57 it trades through the 9:35 low at 29,143.00.
- One R is 153.50 points. The halfway point is 29,219.50, and at 10:19 price trades right back up to it.
- Trailing every candle was out even earlier, at 10:12 (29,154.25), eleven and a half points on the wrong side of the shift price.
- The stop that trailed only to new swings moved three times, down to just above the 11:35 swing high. At 11:58 price reached two R, at 28,835.75, and that stop was still in place.
What does the data say about stops?
At these stop distances, the shift by itself showed no edge: the stop only defines the risk. We took every five-minute shift between 8:30 AM and noon on Nasdaq futures, January 2020 to September 2026, leaving out contract rolls: 4,724 shifts.
- Distance: eight in ten stop distances fell between about 20 and about 120 points, about six times apart. The median went from about 38 points in 2020 to about 88 in 2026, but as a share of the average day's range it stayed about the same.
- 1R vs the stop: 1R came first about 46 times in 100 and the stop about 47. Close to a coin flip, which is why the size matters more than the setup.
- Halfway stop: touched in about 8 of every 10 shifts. Of the moves that reached two R, about a third came back to the halfway point first.
- Trailing: still in at two R about 6 in 100 times when trailing every candle, about 19 when trailing only to new swings, about 26 without trailing. Trailing every candle also got out on the right side of the shift price about twice as often as trailing to swings.
- The day's range: how much of the average daily range was already used made only a small difference: about 28 in 100 reached two R with less than half used, about 24 with all of it used.
How should you size for a prop account's drawdown?
The drawdown limit is the account you really have, whatever the account size says: how much you can lose before it is closed. Risk per trade as a share of that limit tells you how many full losses in a row end it. For example, if each trade risks a tenth of it, ten full losses in a row end the account; a twentieth, and it takes twenty. Check your own account's rules, including whether the limit moves up with your balance.
How long do losing runs get? Taking the first shift each day, the longest run that hit the stop before 1R was nine in a row, in July 2020. Shuffling the same results at random gives about the same, so long runs like that are what chance alone produces, and the longest one in the data is not a ceiling. This is education, not a trading plan.
How do you use it in your own charting?
Measure the stop first, then let the size follow from it.
- The stop: where the idea is wrong, not a fixed number of points.
- The size: a fixed risk per trade, so a wide stop means fewer contracts.
- The trade-offs: a tighter stop or a tighter trail changes what you get, not whether the idea was right.
- The account: on a prop account, the drawdown limit is the account. Losing runs are normal, so know how many your sizing can take.
More concepts in the series are on the ICT Concepts Decoded hub. If you trade futures with a prop firm, you can look up a firm's rules on the challenges page or set two firms side by side on the compare page. Affiliate disclosure: FundedEnigma earns a commission from some of the firms on this site when you sign up through our links or codes, at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I put my stop loss with ICT concepts?
Where the idea is proven wrong. After a market structure shift, that is one tick beyond the high or low the shift came from.
How do I calculate position size on NQ futures?
Divide the most one trade may cost by the point value times the stop in points, and round down. NQ is 20 dollars a point and MNQ 2 dollars a point. For example, 500 dollars over a 21.25-point stop is one NQ or eleven MNQ.
Is a tighter stop better?
Not by itself. On our data the halfway stop was touched in about 8 of 10 shifts, and about a third of the moves that reached two R tagged it first.
Should I trail my stop behind every candle?
On our data, trailing every candle was still in at two R about 6 in 100 times, against about 19 when trailing only to new five-minute swings and about 26 without trailing. It also got out on the right side of the shift price more often. It is a trade-off.
How many losing trades in a row should a prop account be able to take?
That depends on your own sizing and your account's rules. On our data, the longest run of first shifts that hit the stop first was nine in a row, in July 2020, about what chance alone gives, and the longest run in a sample is not a ceiling.
Sources
- Concepts: the stop placed where the idea is invalidated and the market structure shift as taught by ICT (The Inner Circle Trader, Michael J. Huddleston). Fixed-risk sizing, sizing to a drawdown limit and trailing are general risk management. The rules, examples and charts on this page are our own.
- Contract specifications: CME Group: E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ) 20 US dollars per index point; Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ) 2 US dollars per index point.
- Data: every chart and count are real historical CME Nasdaq-100 E-mini (NQ) futures data, shown in New York time. Prices traded, not fills: no slippage, commissions or partial fills.
- Video: Stop Loss, Position Sizing and Trailing Stops for Prop Accounts (ICT): Tested on NQ, FundedEnigma.
Last verified: 2026-11-01. Written by Steve H.
Disclaimer: This page is for education only and is not financial advice. It does not describe any firm's rules. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss. Past price behaviour does not guarantee future results.
Related ICT concepts
- Reading Candles: Open, High, Low, Close and Wicks: How to read a candle the ICT way: open, high, low, close, the order they print in, expansion, reversal and indecision candles, and the wick's 50%, on three real NQ sessions and 4,195 sessions of data.
- Dealing Ranges and Average Daily Range (ADR): What an ICT dealing range is, how to measure average daily range (ADR), and what 4,175 NQ sessions and 473 New York mornings say about each, on three real NQ charts.
- Phases of Price: Consolidation, Expansion, Retracement, Reversal: The four ICT phases of price (consolidation, expansion, retracement, reversal) with a testable rule for each, two real NQ sessions and what 527 days of 15-minute data say about each phase.
- Top-Down Analysis: From the Daily Bias to the Five-Minute Chart: ICT top-down analysis with one job per timeframe (daily bias, one-hour structure, five-minute timing), two real NQ sessions and what 1,264 five-minute shifts say about lining the timeframes up.
- The A+ Entry Checklist: ICT's Setup in Order: ICT's A+ entry checklist as seven checkable boxes, two real NQ sessions and what 1,919 five-minute setups say about ticking more of them.
- The Silver Bullet: ICT's One-Hour Window: ICT's Silver Bullet defined so it can be checked, two real NQ mornings and what 1,534 days say about whether the 10 to 11 AM hour matters.
- Breaker + FVG (the Unicorn) and the Box Setup: ICT's breaker + FVG pairing and the box setup, defined so they can be checked, four real NQ mornings and what 2020-2026 NQ data says about each.
- ICT's Son's Model and the Twitter Model: ICT's son's model and the Twitter model, defined so they can be checked, four real NQ mornings and what 2020-2026 NQ data says about each.
- Broadening Formations: ICT broadening formations defined so they can be checked: 15-minute, daily and session versions on real NQ charts, and what 2020-2026 NQ data says.
- Trading Without a Structure Break: Reading a raid before the market structure shift, defined so it can be checked: three real NQ mornings and what 2020-2026 NQ data says about the early read versus waiting for the shift.
- News and the Economic Calendar: Filtering the economic calendar, ICT's idea of news as the catalyst, three real NQ release days and what CPI, jobs-report and Fed days did on 2020-2026 NQ data.
- Why Traders Fail with ICT (and the Fix): Why traders struggle with ICT: the busy chart tested on 2020-2026 NQ, boxes drawn for no reason, losing streaks in one fixed rule, and how to make your trading measurable.
- Currency Futures and the Dollar Index (6E, 6B, DXY): 6E, 6B and the dollar index explained, why a forex pair is a fraction, and whether picking the pair from yesterday's daily candle worked on 2010-2026 daily data.
- EURGBP for Relative Strength (EURUSD vs GBPUSD): EURGBP as a live gauge of relative strength between EURUSD and GBPUSD, two real New York mornings, and a test of whether it tells you in advance.
- Internal vs External Liquidity: Where pullbacks stop and where the next leg goes: the back and forth between old highs and lows and fair value gaps.
- Market Structure: Read the trend from swing highs and lows, and tell a real change in trend from a pullback.
- Protected and Relevant Swings: Rank swing highs and lows, see how a swing becomes protected, and focus on the relevant ones.
- Market Structure Shift: Spot the turn: a stop raid, then displacement through the swing that started the last push.
- MSS vs Liquidity Grab: The wick shows the stops were taken; the close and what follows show whether price meant it.
- Premium, Discount and Equilibrium: Split the dealing range at its 50%: longs in discount, shorts in premium.
- Optimal Trade Entry (OTE): The 62-79% band of a clean leg: where to look on a pullback, with a reason inside it.
- Fair Value Gaps (FVG): Three candles that don't overlap: mark it wick to wick and judge it by the closes.
- Inversion Fair Value Gaps (IFVG): A gap a candle body closed through: it can flip sides, and where it forms decides if it matters.
- Order Blocks: The last opposite-close candles before the shift: frame them with bodies and only count them after a sweep, a shift and displacement.
- Breaker Blocks: An order block that failed after a sweep: frame the candles of the broken swing with bodies and judge them by the closes.
- Mitigation Blocks: A breaker's shape without the sweep: the second swing stops short, price breaks the swing between, and the candles in that second swing become the block.
- Propulsion Blocks: An order block built on an order block: a candle dips into a fresh order block, holds its middle, closes back out, and a close beyond its open makes its body the block.
- Change in State of Delivery (CISD): A body close back through the open of the run that made the high or low: the first sign that the other side has taken over.
- Killzones and key times of day: ICT's windows of the day in New York time, Asia, London and New York, plus the key opening times: when to look, not which way to go.
- Daily bias: Which side of yesterday's range today is more likely to reach, read from yesterday's candle, with yesterday's 50% as the line to respect.
- Intraday bias: The daily bias read on the four-hour candles: which side of the last candle's range the next one is more likely to reach.
- Power of three (AMD): Accumulation, manipulation and distribution: the range, the wick and the body of a daily candle, and how to check a manipulation.
- Standard deviation projections: Which leg to measure, the -1, -2, -2.5 and -4 marks, when they are void, and how often NQ actually reached them.
- Inducement: The small swing high or low in front of a zone, why price runs it on the way in, and whether it helps the zone hold.
- SMT Divergence: When NQ and ES disagree at the same level, what that one-sided sweep says, the confirmation to wait for, and how often it held.
- High vs Low Resistance Liquidity: How to read the path between price and a pool: a clean path left by a fast move, or a crowded path of defended highs, and why distance matters more.
- London Reversal Daily Profile: The ICT London reversal daily profile: London runs one side of the night and turns, New York continues. Rules, real NQ sessions and how often it held.
- New York Daily Profiles: Three ICT daily profiles where New York turns the day: the New York manipulation, the New York reversal and seek and destroy, with real NQ sessions and how often each showed up.
- Weekly Profiles: Classic Expansion and Midweek Reversal: Two ICT weekly profiles, the classic expansion and the midweek reversal: which day makes the weekly wick, three real NQ weeks and how often each showed up.
- Weekly Profiles: Consolidation Reversal, Intraweek Reversal, Thursday Counter and TGIF: Four ICT weekly profiles, the consolidation reversal, intraweek reversal, Thursday counter and TGIF, on four real NQ weeks and 731 weeks of data.
- Draw on Liquidity: Which high or low price is most likely to reach next, and two simple reads to pick the side.
- Liquidity: Where stop orders rest above highs and below lows, and how price runs from one pool to the next.
- All ICT Concepts Decoded lessons (the series hub)
- The ICT Concepts Decoded playlist on YouTube
Keep learning
- How prop firm drawdown works
- How to pass a prop firm evaluation
- Trading futures with a funded account? Futures prop firms ranked and side-by-side comparisons