Definition and Differences Between End-of-Day and Intraday Trailing Maximum Drawdowns

An End of Day Trailing Maximum Drawdown Limit (EOD TMD) calculates the maximum drawdown from the realized profits on the end-of-day balance (at the 16.00 CT futures market close). If a trader has made money during the morning session but loses it in the afternoon, the TMD limit will not move at the end of the day because there was no increase in the account balance at the end of day.

An Intraday Trailing Maximum Drawdown (Intraday TMD) calculates the drawdown from unrealized profits in real-time during a trading session. If a trader has an open position in profit during the trading session, the TMD limit will be calculated off the highest balance in the account during the day, even if that position ends up losing money. 

The key difference between the two is that for an EOD TMD account, the TMD limit is calculated on end-of-day realized profits, whereas for an Intraday TMD account, the TMD limit is calculated on unrealized profits within the trading day, in real-time.