Scaling plan (prop firm contract ladder)
A scaling plan is a prop firm rule under which the number of contracts a trader may hold starts below the account's maximum and increases in steps as the account's profit reaches stated levels. It limits size while the cushion above the drawdown floor is thin and releases it as the cushion grows.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
How a ladder works
The rule publishes tiers: up to a first profit level, a small number of contracts; above it, more; and so on up to the account's maximum. The profit reference varies: closed balance, end-of-day balance or equity. Some plans move back down a tier when the balance falls below a level, others keep the tier once reached. The exact figures differ by firm, program and account size and change over time, so only the account's own terms are a reference.
A hypothetical example shows the mechanics: a 50,000 dollar account allowing 2 minis until the balance is 1,500 dollars above its start, then 3, then 5 above 3,000 dollars. A trader who opens 3 contracts at a profit of 1,200 dollars breaches the ladder even though 3 is below the account's final maximum.
Why firms use it
- Early in an account, the distance to the drawdown floor is at its smallest; a full-size loss there ends the account quickly.
- It prevents passing or cashing out with one oversized trade on a fresh account.
- It aligns size with demonstrated results rather than with the nominal account size.
- With a trailing drawdown that follows the peak, the cushion may not grow as fast as the ladder allows, so reaching a tier is not the same as having the room for it.
Planning around a ladder
Size to the current tier and to the current distance from the floor, whichever is tighter. When a strategy's backtest was run at a constant size, its results on a laddered account will differ: early trades are smaller, later ones larger, so both the growth and the drawdowns shift. The order in which wins and losses arrive matters more than usual, because it decides when each tier is reached.
In Senzoukria
The prop firm rules form records a single maximum contracts value per phase, evaluation and funded, and the rule engine reports a position size breach when the peak number of contracts held exceeds it, counting micros at one tenth of a mini. A contract ladder is not simulated: in the rule presets that include one, it is listed as a restriction the engine cannot check, with the stated reason that the cap rises in profit tiers while the engine does not receive the position size trade by trade, so only the final cap is verified. The simulation's verdict therefore does not cover tier breaches, and the report says so rather than passing silently.
Related
- Maximum contracts
- Trailing drawdown
- Prop firm simulation
- Prop firm rules form
- Orderflow software and prop firm rules
In the same section
- Scripting
- Scaling out
- Security definition
- Sample size
- Self-match prevention
- RTH
- Sequence number
- Rotation factor
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Frequently asked questions
- Is a scaling plan the same as the maximum contracts rule?
- No. The maximum contracts rule is the account's ceiling. A scaling plan is a staircase below that ceiling, released by profit. An account can have a maximum without a ladder, and a ladder always ends at some maximum.
- Does breaching a scaling plan fail the account?
- It depends on the firm's terms. Some treat it as a violation that ends the account, others reject orders that exceed the current tier, others issue a warning. Read the consequence in the agreement before relying on the platform to block it.