Part of our rules series. Start with Alpha Capital rules explained, then read Alpha One vs Pro vs Swing vs Three · Swing account explained · trailing drawdown vs static drawdown · scaling vs FundedNext · up 4%, then breached.
TL;DR: On a $100K Qualified Analyst account, Alpha Pro, Alpha One, Alpha Three, and Alpha Direct cap combined open exposure at 40 lots. Alpha Swing caps the same simulated size at 20 lots. Two 25-lot trades are a breach. The limit is the total, not each ticket. The first breach makes that performance fee ineligible. The second forfeits the fee and deactivates the account. Forty lots is a ceiling. The daily loss limit is the number that should size the trade.
Quick answer: $100K Pro, One, Three, and Direct: 40 lots open at once. $100K Swing: 20 lots. Add every open position together. Margin can stop you earlier, and the daily loss limit can be spent by a much smaller size.
Traders ask what lot size fits a 100k prop firm account because the platform will often let the order through. The review happens when you request a performance fee. By then the lots are already in the history. These accounts use simulated funds. A $100K label is the simulated starting balance, not a cash wallet. Performance fees are performance-based. Passing an evaluation does not guarantee income, and simulated results do not reflect live trading outcomes.
Figures below are the published rules as of 1 October 2026, checked against the lot size limit help article. If that article moves, the article wins.
How many lots can you open on a $100K prop firm account?
Max lot exposure is the combined size of everything open at the same time. On a $100K account with a 40-lot cap you can open one 40-lot trade, or two 20-lot trades. You cannot open two 25-lot trades. That is 50 lots, and 50 is over the limit.
The same ratio runs through the other sizes. A $50K Pro, One, Three, or Direct account is 20 lots. A $25K account is 10. Swing is half of that row at every size.
| Simulated account size | Pro, One, Three, Direct | Swing |
|---|---|---|
| $2.5K | 1.25 lots | Not offered |
| $5K | 2.5 lots | 1.25 lots |
| $10K | 5 lots | 2.5 lots |
| $25K | 10 lots | 5 lots |
| $50K | 20 lots | 10 lots |
| $100K | 40 lots | 20 lots |
| $200K | 80 lots | 40 lots |
| $300K | 120 lots | 60 lots |
Alpha One publishes this same table on the plan. One plans go up to $200K, except One 12%, which stops at $100K. The lot you can actually fill still depends on leverage and free margin. The cap is the maximum. It is not a size the account owes you.
Plan shapes, targets, drawdown type, and who each path is for, are in Alpha One vs Pro vs Swing vs Three. Swing's wider hold rules sit in the Swing account explained.
Why is 40 lots the wrong number to risk?
Forty lots answers how much exposure is allowed. It does not answer how much this trade can lose. Those are different questions, and the second one is the one that fails evaluations.
The daily loss limit is a percentage of the day's starting balance, or of balance and equity when the plan uses whichever is greater. The day resets at 00:00 GMT+3. On a $100K simulated account the published daily percentages are:
| Plan | Daily loss limit |
|---|---|
| Alpha Pro 6% | 3% of the greater of balance or equity |
| Alpha Pro 8% | 4% of balance |
| Alpha Pro 10% | 5% of balance |
| Alpha One 6% | 3% during the evaluation, 4% once qualified, greater of balance or equity |
| Alpha One 10% | 4% of the greater of balance or equity |
| Alpha One 12% | 5% of the greater of balance or equity |
| Alpha Swing | 5% of balance |
| Alpha Three | 4% of the greater of balance or equity |
| Alpha Direct | 3% of the greater of balance or equity |
Take a $100K One 6% evaluation on a flat morning, balance and equity both $100,000. The daily room is 3%, so $3,000. Equity has to stay above $97,000. A 40-lot position with a wide stop can spend that $3,000 in a move that still looks small on the chart. Size comes from the stop distance and that dollar room. The 40-lot cap only tells you the order the firm will treat as over the line.
If the day opens with equity above balance, some plans measure the percentage off the higher figure. A One 6% account at $100,000 balance and $101,000 equity starts the next day with a 3% room off $101,000, which is $3,030, and equity must hold above $97,970. The full drawdown map, including the static and trailing maximum loss, is in Alpha Capital rules explained and on daily risk limits.
What happens if you exceed the prop firm lot size?
The check is made at the performance-fee review, and it is counted per position, not per idea.
- First time. The performance fee earned through lots over the limit is not eligible for request.
- Second time. The performance fee is forfeited and the Qualified Analyst account is deactivated.
A sequence can be both strikes at once. If your cap is 10 lots and you open 11, then open another 1 lot while the first is still live, that is two breaches. The account can be closed from that pair of tickets. You do not get a free second trade because you meant them as one setup.
On a Qualified Analyst account you can ask for a higher cap. Approval needs enough trading history on that account. It is a request, not a setting you switch on.
Does the lot cap change when the account scales?
On the first scale, no. On the second scale, the lot cap rises by 10%.
Scaling is available on Alpha Pro, Alpha Swing, and Alpha Three. The ceiling across scaled accounts is $2 million in simulated size. You need a fresh 10% gain sitting in the account. Earlier performance fees do not count toward it, and you ask for the scale inside the performance-fee request. After that request is processed, the new simulated account starts at the scaled balance. The new account needs 5 trading days before the first performance fee on that scaled account.
A $100K account that makes 10% is at $110,000. The published example uses the standard 80% performance split, so that $10,000 gain produces an $8,000 performance fee, and the new simulated account starts at $110,000. The lot cap stays 40.
The next 10% of the original size, another $10,000, takes the simulated balance to $120,000. That second scale is the one that lifts the cap, from 40 lots to 44.
The 40-to-44 example is the published $100K Pro path, where the base cap is 40 lots. Swing's base cap on $100K is 20 lots, so do not copy the 44 onto a Swing account. One and Direct are not on the scaling list. Alpha Direct starts on a Qualified Analyst account and uses the 40-lot cap at $100K from day one. Direct accounts cannot be scaled.
A 90% performance split is a separate add-on, chosen at purchase on Alpha One and on on-demand Alpha Pro. It changes the split on the performance fee. It does not change the lot table. How this scale compares with FundedNext is in Alpha Capital vs FundedNext scaling rules. The source example is the scaling plan help article.
What does a bigger lot cost on a swap-free account?
Swap-free is an add-on, about 10% of the base plan price, and you choose it when you buy. It is on MetaTrader 5, on Alpha One and Alpha Pro. It removes the overnight swap and replaces it with a commission of $5 per lot, charged in both directions. Spreads on those accounts are Standard. Expert Advisors are off on a swap-free account.
At the $100K cap, 40 lots is $200 on the way in and $200 on the way out, $400 round-turn in that extra commission, before the spread. The add-on is published for One and Pro. Swing, Three, and Direct are outside it. The lot is still capped by the table above, and the daily loss limit still sizes the trade. The commission is the price of that swap-free structure on every fill. Source: 90% profit split and swap-free add-ons.
How should you pick a lot size before the first trade?
Start from the dollar room, then the stop, then the lot. On a $100K One 6% evaluation the daily room on a flat account is $3,000. Decide how much of that room one trade is allowed to use. A stop that risks the whole $3,000 is one trade from a stopped day. A stop that risks a slice of it leaves you able to take the next setup.
Then check two ceilings:
- Combined open lots stay inside the cap: 40 on $100K Pro, One, Three, and Direct, 20 on $100K Swing.
- Free margin can fill that size. Leverage can reject the order before the lot rule ever sees it.
The maximum loss is the other ceiling, and it does not reset every morning. Pro, Swing, and Three use a static floor. One and Direct use a trailing floor that locks once profit equals the trail. On a $100K One 10% account the trail is 6%. At $102,000 the floor is $96,000. Request the $2,000 profit and you are back at $100,000 with that $96,000 floor still in place. The lot cap did not move. The cushion did. That mechanic is walked through in trailing drawdown vs static drawdown and in the story version, up 4%, then breached.
Futures evaluations do not use forex lots. Contract caps, minis and micros, are the parallel rule on Alpha Futures. The $50K version is how many NQ contracts fit a $50K evaluation.
Frequently asked questions
What is the max lot size on a $100K prop firm account?
At Alpha Capital, a $100K Qualified Analyst account on Pro, One, Three, or Direct can have 40 lots open at once. A $100K Swing account can have 20. Every open position counts toward the same number.
Can I open two trades that add up to more than 40 lots?
No. The cap is combined exposure. Two 25-lot trades are 50 lots. That is over a 40-lot account, even if each ticket looked fine on its own.
Does the lot limit breach close the account immediately?
The review is at the performance-fee stage, and it is counted per position. The first time, the performance fee from the oversized lots is not eligible. The second time, the fee is forfeited and the Qualified Analyst account is deactivated. Two oversized positions open together can be both strikes.
Does scaling increase the lot size on a $100K account?
Not on the first scale. A $100K Pro account goes to $110,000 and keeps a 40-lot cap. The second scale, to $120,000, lifts that published example from 40 lots to 44. Swing, One, and Direct do not follow that 40-to-44 step. Swing starts at 20 lots on $100K. One and Direct are outside the scaling plan.
Is 40 lots a safe position size?
Forty lots is the exposure ceiling, not a suggested risk. On a flat $100K One 6% evaluation the daily loss room is $3,000. Size the lot from your stop and from a fraction of that room. Margin can also block the order before you reach the cap.
Simulated evaluations and simulated funds. Performance fees are performance-based. Outcomes are not guaranteed.
