The maximum number of calendar or trading days a trader has to complete an evaluation phase. If the profit target is not reached within the time limit, the evaluation is considered failed.
Why It Matters
- 1Time limits add pressure that can significantly affect your trading psychology and strategy.
- 2A 30-day time limit on a 10% profit target means you need to average roughly 0.33% per trading day. Shorter time limits push traders toward more aggressive strategies, which increases the risk of hitting drawdown limits.
- 3Some firms have moved to unlimited time evaluations, removing this pressure entirely and allowing traders to focus purely on consistent execution.
Example
- 1You start a $100,000 evaluation on March 1st with a 30 calendar day time limit and an 8% profit target.
- 2You have until March 31st to earn $8,000. By March 20th, you've made $5,000. You have 11 days left to earn $3,000, which means averaging about $273 per trading day — a manageable pace if you don't panic.
Common Mistakes
- ✖Confusing calendar days with trading days — 30 calendar days is only about 21 trading days
- ✖Increasing position sizes as the deadline approaches, leading to drawdown violations
- ✖Not checking if the time limit is per phase or for the entire evaluation