Trailing drawdown and the NQ: the nervous couple

Most readers of this site trade the NQ on a funded account, and most funded accounts have a trailing drawdown: a floor that rises with the account's high, sometimes on unrealised, and closes the account when hit. The NQ is the contract that raises that floor fastest. The FDAX course says the same of the DAX; the NQ is worse.

Why the NQ is the worst contract for an unrealised trailing

A trailing computed on unrealised (intraday, on the unrealised high) bills every favourable excursion you do not realise. An NQ that rises 40 points in your favour then returns to entry has raised the floor by $800 for nothing. The NQ does this several times in an ordinary session; with a VXN of 28, it does it with 70-point excursions.