Thousands of traders attempt prop firm evaluations each year. A small percentage pass on their first attempt. What separates them? Five core principles.
The evaluation is not the time to experiment. Traders who attempt new strategies or new instruments during evaluations almost universally underperform. Your evaluation should be a faithful execution of the strategy you've already proven works.
One of the most common mistakes is starting with undersized positions, building confidence, then dramatically oversizing when close to the profit target. Choose a position size consistent with your strategy's typical win rate and stick to it throughout.
Even on accounts with no daily loss limit rule (like Spartora's accounts), the most successful traders set their own. A self-imposed limit of 30-50% of your maximum drawdown per day ensures that a single bad session can never be catastrophic.
Not every market day offers high-quality setups for your strategy. On days when you don't see clear opportunities, don't trade. Spartora has no minimum trading day requirement — use that freedom deliberately.
When you're close to the profit target, reduce your position size. Protecting a 90% complete evaluation from a reset is more valuable than accelerating the last 10%. Scale down to half your normal size when within 20% of the profit target.
The evaluation is a marathon packaged as a sprint. Run it like a marathon.