Can You Use the Same Trading Strategies for Cash and Prop Accounts?

Can you trade the same strategies in a cash account and a prop account?
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IMO some…but not all.
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For example, if you have a strategy with a 10% win rate but a 20:1 RvR. Statistically, that works nicely…
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You lose 9R and gain 20R = net 11R
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​But unless that R unit is so small, that drawdown potential is probably going to trigger a rule break in a prop account.
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​No good.
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You’ve also got to watch strategies that live on the other side of that coin.
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High win rate, low RvR type methods
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Eg: A 90% win rate and 0.5:1 RvR
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Again the maths works out in theory… you win 4.5R and lose 1R = 3.5R
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But if that R is more than the max daily loss, you’ll trigger a rule violation even if you’ve made 4 or 5R yesterday.
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​So you need to be somewhere in the middle.
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​Oh, and your equity curve needs to be slow and steady… no killing it one week and then giving 25% back the next. That’s going to trigger your trailing stop…
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Make no mistake, the rules are tougher than they seem.
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​But there are also some nice advantages to trading prop.
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​The capped downside.
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I was working with a trader who was:

• Funded prop trader
• Day trading ES
• Making regular $6-10k withdrawals
• Just a super consistent operator

But he wasn’t using his max size yet.
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And I said to him:
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“You’ve had almost $100k from this account. That money is withdrawn and safe, you’re in tune with market conditions, things are working, you have to consider sizing up hard on your best plays now.
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The downside is you lose the prop account, the upside is you 10x your last monthly withdrawal…that feels like a good trade to take”
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​Of course, there’s more nuance but in simple terms that’s the situation…
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You’re never going to give back all that profit you’ve withdrawn from the prop account.
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That’s in your bank account now.
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If you lose the funded account, you go again, get another funded and work your way back up.
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So it’s swings and roundabouts…
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You just have to know the game you are playing, the rules, and your objective.
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Then align your trading strategy and approach to suit.
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Before deploying any new strategy, or making any trading plan adjustments, it’s always worth cross-checking that your intended changes align with the account you are trading with.