Why I failed two challenges with a strategy that works on IC Markets
Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2026 4:05 pm
Two failed evaluations in 2024, both with a London open EURUSD strategy that had made money on my own IC Markets raw account for three years. I blamed the prop firms at first. That was wrong, and it took me a while to work out why.
Failure one was the daily loss limit. On my own money I risk 0.5% per trade and accept that four or five losers in a row happens a few times a year. On a challenge with a 5% daily limit that sounds fine, but I had sized up to 1% per trade to hit the target faster. Four losers on a choppy Tuesday and a fifth that slipped on a stop, and I was done. The strategy didn't change. My risk did.
Failure two was subtler. The evaluation's trading conditions were different from my own account: the spread on EURUSD around 07:00 was wider, commission was charged differently, and my 3-pip targets took a bigger hit. My average winner shrank by roughly 0.4 pips after costs. On a strategy whose edge is maybe 0.8 pips per trade, that wiped out half the expectancy.
What I didn't do was test the strategy on the challenge's own conditions before starting. I assumed an edge travels. Edges as thin as scalping ones often don't.
The third attempt, at a different firm, I passed slowly at 0.5% risk, after first spending two weeks on their free trial logging spreads at my hours.
Failure one was the daily loss limit. On my own money I risk 0.5% per trade and accept that four or five losers in a row happens a few times a year. On a challenge with a 5% daily limit that sounds fine, but I had sized up to 1% per trade to hit the target faster. Four losers on a choppy Tuesday and a fifth that slipped on a stop, and I was done. The strategy didn't change. My risk did.
Failure two was subtler. The evaluation's trading conditions were different from my own account: the spread on EURUSD around 07:00 was wider, commission was charged differently, and my 3-pip targets took a bigger hit. My average winner shrank by roughly 0.4 pips after costs. On a strategy whose edge is maybe 0.8 pips per trade, that wiped out half the expectancy.
What I didn't do was test the strategy on the challenge's own conditions before starting. I assumed an edge travels. Edges as thin as scalping ones often don't.
The third attempt, at a different firm, I passed slowly at 0.5% risk, after first spending two weeks on their free trial logging spreads at my hours.