Pine Script Strategy for TradeDay Prop Firm

TradeDay runs a comparatively simple evaluation structure for algorithmic futures traders: no consistency rule, a documented minimum trading-day count, and broker support for the standard TradingView automation stack. The one detail worth handling carefully is exactly how its drawdown trails.

TradeDay evaluation rules (50k tier)

What actually suits TradeDay to Pine Script algos

No consistency rule

None. If a strategy has one exceptional trend day that produces far more than an average session, that isn't a violation — trading continues normally, unlike firms that cap a single day's share of total profit.

A documented minimum trading-day count

TradeDay requires 10 separate trading days before an evaluation can complete. A very selective session filter — one setup a week, say — can stretch this out across a month or more; widening entry criteria slightly during the evaluation phase is the practical fix, same as on any firm with a day-count minimum.

The drawdown mechanic — trail cautiously until confirmed

TradeDay's own material describes the max drawdown as a trailing floor that tracks the account's peak value across sessions, but doesn't state whether that trail updates end-of-day (like Topstep) or intraday (like Apex). Until that's confirmed directly, the safer approach is to size and manage risk as if it could be the stricter, intraday version — treating unrealized intraday gains as something that may already be locking in a higher floor rather than assuming they're free to give back.

Configuring a Pine Script strategy for TradeDay

Daily loss kill switch

Required regardless of the exact drawdown mechanic. On the 50k tier, a kill switch around $400 (80% of the $500 daily limit) leaves room for an open position to hit its stop after the switch trips, without breaching the hard limit itself.

No overnight positions

Positions need to be flat before market close. Build a session-end flatten at 4:00 PM ET (or the relevant close time for the contract), moved up to 3:30 PM ET on Fridays to avoid weekend gap risk.

Conservative initial sizing

Because the drawdown's exact trailing behavior isn't confirmed, starting smaller than a purely static-floor account would justify is the more careful approach:

• 25k tier: 1–2 MES, an 8-point stop, a 10–12 point target
• 50k tier: 2–3 MES or 1–2 MNQ, scaling up after 3+ profitable sessions
• 100k tier: 4–6 MES or 2–3 MNQ, scaling after 10+ sessions of confirmed live edge

TradeDay ORB strategy — Pine Script

An original 15-minute opening-range-breakout strategy, configured for the 50k tier's $500 daily loss limit with an $400 internal kill switch. Runs on MES or MNQ on a 1- or 3-minute chart.

//@version=5
strategy("TradeDay — 15min ORB", overlay = true,
     default_qty_type = strategy.fixed, default_qty_value = 1)

// ── TradeDay 50k: daily loss 500, kill at ~80% ────────
killSwitch = input.float(400.0, "Kill Switch ($)")
rrRatio    = input.float(2.0, "Reward:Risk Ratio")

// ── 15-minute opening range from 9:30 ET ───────────────────────────
isOpenBar = not na(time("1", "0930-0931:23456", "America/New_York"))
inORBWin  = not na(time("1", "0930-0945:23456", "America/New_York"))
afterORB  = not na(time("1", "0945-1200:23456", "America/New_York"))

var float orHigh = na
var float orLow  = na
var bool  orSet  = false

if isOpenBar
    orHigh := high
    orLow  := low
    orSet  := true

if inORBWin and orSet
    orHigh := math.max(orHigh, high)
    orLow  := math.min(orLow, low)

// ── daily kill switch ────────────────────────────────────────────────
isNewSession        = ta.change(time("D")) != 0
var float dayOpenEq = na
dayOpenEq          := isNewSession ? strategy.equity : dayOpenEq
if isNewSession
    orSet := false
halted = math.min(0.0, strategy.equity - nz(dayOpenEq, strategy.equity)) <= -killSwitch

// ── breakout entries ───────────────────────────────────────────────
orRange = orHigh - orLow
bullBrk = close > orHigh and close[1] <= orHigh[1] and barstate.isconfirmed
bearBrk = close < orLow  and close[1] >= orLow[1]  and barstate.isconfirmed

if bullBrk and afterORB and not halted and strategy.position_size == 0
    strategy.entry("ORB-L", strategy.long)
    strategy.exit("L-x", "ORB-L", profit = orRange * rrRatio / syminfo.mintick,
                                   loss   = orRange / syminfo.mintick)

if bearBrk and afterORB and not halted and strategy.position_size == 0
    strategy.entry("ORB-S", strategy.short)
    strategy.exit("S-x", "ORB-S", profit = orRange * rrRatio / syminfo.mintick,
                                   loss   = orRange / syminfo.mintick)

// ── EOD / Friday flatten ─────────────────────────────────────────────
eodFlat    = not na(time("1", "1559-1601:23456", "America/New_York"))
fridayFlat = dayofweek == dayofweek.friday and not na(time("1", "1529-1531:6", "America/New_York"))
if (eodFlat or fridayFlat) and strategy.position_size != 0
    strategy.close_all("Flatten")

Setups that fit TradeDay's structure

Opening range breakout

With no consistency rule to worry about, an ORB setup's naturally higher per-trade variance — a few large wins on trending days, several small losses when the range fails — isn't a structural problem the way it would be on a firm capping single-day contribution.

VWAP reclaim

The standard VWAP reclaim setup (see our full VWAP strategy guide) produces a steadier, more moderate-variance equity curve that's a comfortable fit while the drawdown mechanic is being sized conservatively.

Trend continuation after an opening consolidation

NQ and ES often consolidate for 15–30 minutes after a strong open before resuming the initial move. Entering on the continuation break with a stop inside the consolidation range captures the directional move with a specific, technical stop rather than an arbitrary tick distance.

TradeDay vs. comparable firms

FundedNext's confirmed static floor is the more algo-friendly of the two on paper, since its drawdown behavior isn't in question. TradeDay's advantage is a single-phase structure with no consistency rule at all — running an account on each is a reasonable way to diversify while TradeDay's exact trailing mechanic gets confirmed.

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