MT5 equity drawdown maximal vs balance drawdown, explained

Six drawdown lines, one report. Here is what each means, why equity is usually worse, and which to compare.

Run a backtest in the MetaTrader 5 Strategy Tester and the report lists six drawdown lines that look almost the same: balance drawdown absolute, maximal and relative, and the same three for equity. Traders search for “MT5 equity drawdown maximal” because the numbers disagree and nobody explains why. This page defines each term in plain language, shows a worked example with made-up numbers, and explains which one to compare with a prop firm limit or with your live results.

The six lines in the report

Report line	Plain meaning
Balance Drawdown Absolute	How far the balance fell below the initial deposit at its lowest point
Balance Drawdown Maximal	The largest fall of the balance from a local high to the next local low
Balance Drawdown Relative	The largest fall as a percentage of the peak it fell from
Equity Drawdown Absolute	How far equity fell below the initial deposit at its lowest point
Equity Drawdown Maximal	The largest fall of equity from a local high to the next local low
Equity Drawdown Relative	The largest fall of equity as a percentage of its peak

MetaQuotes documents these in the Testing Report page of the MetaTrader 5 help. In the report the maximal figure is shown in deposit currency with its percentage in brackets. Wording differs slightly across builds and languages, so check your own report.

Balance versus equity

Balance changes only when a trade closes or money moves in or out. Equity is balance plus the floating profit or loss of trades that are still open. That single difference explains why the equity lines are usually worse. A trade can sit 300 under water and then recover to break even. The balance never records a dip, because the trade never closed at a loss. Equity records every dip along the way. Our explainer on balance vs equity goes deeper, and floating vs realized profit covers the open-trade side.

Absolute, maximal and relative: what changes

Absolute looks only at the initial deposit. If the account never goes below the starting level, absolute drawdown is zero, whatever happened above it.
Maximal looks at peak to trough anywhere on the curve. It is the one most people mean by “max drawdown”.
Relative expresses the worst fall as a percentage, so a 500 loss from a peak of 2,000 is 25 percent, but the same 500 from a peak of 10,000 is 5 percent. The relative figure can come from a different stretch than the maximal figure.

Because the maximal and the relative worst falls can occur at different times, the two lines do not have to describe the same event. That surprises people who expect the relative figure to be the maximal one divided by the account size.

A worked example (hypothetical)

Start with a 10,000 deposit. The balance rises to 10,800, then closed trades pull it to 10,200 (a fall of 600), then it climbs to 11,000. Balance drawdown maximal is 600. Meanwhile, at the worst point of an open trade, equity dipped to 9,900 before the trade closed, having peaked at 10,800 earlier. Equity drawdown maximal is therefore 10,800 minus 9,900 = 900, which is larger than the balance figure of 600. Equity drawdown absolute is 10,000 minus 9,900 = 100, because equity went 100 below the starting deposit. Balance drawdown absolute is zero, since the balance never fell below 10,000. The relative equity figure is 900 divided by 10,800, about 8.3 percent. Every number here is invented to show the arithmetic.

Which one should you compare with a prop firm?

Rules differ by firm and by account stage. Some measure a daily loss from the day’s starting balance or equity, others use a trailing maximum drawdown, and some count floating profit while others do not. You must read your own firm’s page; we never state a firm’s limits as fact. As a general rule, a rule that includes open trades behaves like the equity figure, and a rule based on closed results behaves like the balance figure. See balance-based vs equity drawdown in prop firm rules and the consistency rule explained.

Backtest drawdown versus live drawdown

The tester report works from simulated history and an equity curve it knows to the tick. Your live account has spreads, slippage and real fills. The report is a model, so treat its drawdown as an estimate. For live trading you track drawdown from your own record; the step-by-step method is in how to track drawdown in MT5, and building an equity curve from trade history shows how to draw it.

What AI Trading Journal shows

The app reads closed positions from the MT5 terminal and builds a balance-based view: the dashboard, the growth curve on the Progress page and the Excel export are based on closed results, with profit plus commission plus swap per trade. It does not record the floating profit or loss of open trades, so it cannot reproduce an equity-based drawdown line the way the Strategy Tester does. If your firm measures equity, use the platform or the firm’s dashboard for that figure and use the journal for the closed-trade picture.

Limits of this page

Report layout and wording can change between MT5 builds. Check your own tester report.
The definitions come from MetaQuotes’ documentation; we make AI Trading Journal and benefit if you buy it.
All example numbers are invented. This is not trading advice.

Frequently asked questions

What is equity drawdown maximal in MT5?

The largest fall of equity from a local peak to the next local low during the test, shown in deposit currency with a percentage in brackets.

Why is equity drawdown bigger than balance drawdown?

Equity includes floating profit and loss of open trades, so it records dips that never reach the balance because the trade recovered or had not yet closed.

What does drawdown absolute mean?

How far the balance or equity fell below the initial deposit. If it never went below the deposit, it is zero.

Can maximal and relative drawdown come from different periods?

Yes. The largest money fall and the largest percentage fall can happen at different times.

Does AI Trading Journal calculate equity drawdown?

No. It works from closed positions and does not record floating profit of open trades.

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