Scaling plan
A scaling plan is a firm's published schedule for increasing a funded account's capital after sustained profitable trading, reviewed at set intervals.
A commonly cited shape: every three months the firm reviews the account, and if the period qualifies — some firms require a profit threshold over the window, others payouts taken in each cycle — the balance is increased by about 25%. Advertised ceilings commonly sit in the one-to-two-million-dollar range, and some firms improve the profit split at the same milestones.
Loss rules scale with the account: a 5% daily limit on a $125,000 balance is $6,250, and the maximum drawdown grows in proportion. A violation at any size ends the account like any other account breach — scaled capital is not protection, only larger numbers on the same rulebook, and a breach typically sends the trader back to a fresh evaluation.
Example
A trader holds a $100,000 funded account on a plan that adds 25% after each qualifying quarter. Two reviews take the account to $125,000 and then about $156,000. The same 80% split on the same 4% quarterly return now pays out roughly $5,000 instead of $3,200 — identical trading, larger base.
At most firms the scaled balance remains simulated: the plan raises the numbers the split is computed on, not a pool of live capital. Whether the long climb justifies the rules you must keep intact along the way is the subject of are prop firms worth it.