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You open your funded account dashboard and the balance reads $98,412. You closed yesterday at $99,800. Nothing you did explains the gap, and now you're wondering if the firm is quietly skimming your account.
I get it. Balance discrepancies trigger immediate suspicion, and sometimes that suspicion is justified. But most of the time, the gap has a boring, explainable cause. Here's how to find it before you send an angry ticket.
BALANCE VS EQUITY: THE FIRST THING TO CHECK
Half of all missing-money reports are actually a balance versus equity confusion.
Balance is your account value with open positions excluded. Equity is your account value with open positions included. If you have a position open, equity moves with the market and balance doesn't. A $1,400 gap on a $100K account with one open position is usually just floating loss, not theft.
Here's the check: ignore the balance column and look at equity. If equity matches your last known value minus current floating results, there's no discrepancy. The math is doing its job.
THE REAL CAUSES OF BALANCE DISCREPANCIES
If equity doesn't explain it, work through this list.
1. Swaps and rollover. Holding positions overnight accrues or costs swap interest. On a leveraged forex account, three days of rollover on a large position can move the balance by hundreds of dollars.
2. Spread and slippage. Your entry fills at the ask, your exit at the bid. That spread is real money that never appears as a commission line. Slippage around news can widen it further.
3. Partial fills and requotes. A market order can fill in pieces at different prices. The average fill differs from the price you saw, and the balance reflects the real fills.
4. Fees and adjustments. Inactivity fees, platform fees, or a balance correction from the broker all move the number without a trade.
5. Genuine errors. Yes, they happen. Duplicate entries, wrong lot sizes, system glitches. That's why you keep records.
HOW TO AUDIT YOUR OWN ACCOUNT
You can solve 90% of discrepancies in ten minutes with a basic audit.
Step 1: Pull the trade history. Export every trade with open and close times, prices, and lots.
Step 2: Rebuild the math. Start from your starting balance, add profits, subtract losses, subtract swap and fees. If your reconstructed number matches the platform, the discrepancy was accounted for.
Step 3: Check the statement periods. Make sure you're comparing the same timestamps. A payout processed at 23:59 shows up differently depending on your timezone.
Step 4: Contact support with the numbers. Give them the exact starting balance, the date, and the difference. A firm that can't explain a balance with your numbers in hand is a firm to worry about.
HOW A FIRM SHOULD HANDLE IT
Here's where the firm's character shows. A transparent firm explains the math quickly and in writing. A bad firm blames system adjustments and hopes you drop it.
At SFX Funded, every account runs on published risk limits and a clear payout process. The 2-Step caps daily loss at 4% and total loss at 8%. Rapid caps daily loss at 3% and total at 4%. Instant caps daily at 3% and total at 6%. When the numbers are public, discrepancies are easy to check against them.
And when a payout does happen, the timeline is written down too: guaranteed within 48 hours, or we owe you $1,000 extra.
One more thing to keep in mind: your account history is the record that protects you. If you ever need to dispute a balance, the person with the cleanest trade log wins. That's true at any firm, ours included, so keep your exports current and your records organized.
YOUR BALANCE-AUDIT CHECKLIST
1. Check equity before you check balance.
2. Add swap and spread into your mental math.
3. Export trade history and rebuild the numbers.
4. Compare identical timestamps and timezones.
5. Contact support with your numbers, not your feelings.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why does my funded account balance look lower than yesterday?
Usually floating loss on an open position, swap charges, or spread. Check equity first, then your trade history, then contact support with the exact numbers.
Can a prop firm take money from my balance without telling me?
Legitimate firms can't. Fees and adjustments should appear in your statement. If a balance change has no matching statement entry, ask for it in writing and escalate if needed.
How do I verify my balance at SFX Funded?
Export your trade history and compare it against the published limits for your program. If anything doesn't match, support will walk through the numbers with you.
What should I do if I find a genuine error?
Document it with screenshots and timestamps, then open a ticket. Real errors get fixed when you can prove them.
