Every company that operates in a regulated or semi-regulated space changes its rules over time. Markets evolve, risk models improve, edge cases surface that no one anticipated. Rules have to change. The question is not whether they change — it is how.
Dolvero publishes every rule change at /changelog, permanently, with the exact wording before and after the change, the effective date, and a written explanation of why the change was made. This post explains why we built this system and what it protects you from as a trader.
The Industry Standard Is Silence
The default behavior in the prop trading industry — and in most consumer-facing financial services — is to update rules without announcement. The terms of service are amended. The updated date changes at the top of the page. If you happen to re-read the rules after the change, you might notice something is different. If you do not, you might find yourself in violation of a rule you did not know had changed.
This pattern is not unique to bad actors. Even firms with no intent to harm traders operate this way, simply because maintaining a public changelog requires systems and processes that most firms do not build. The path of least resistance is a terms-of-service page that gets silently updated.
The harm to traders is real, even without malicious intent. A trader who passed Phase 1 under one set of rules and is now in Phase 2 under different rules — without having been notified — is operating with incomplete information about their evaluation. In the worst cases, this results in account failures for behaviors that were permissible when the evaluation began.
What the Dolvero Changelog Contains
Every entry in the Dolvero changelog contains the following:
- Change number: Sequential ID, starting from #1 at launch
- Effective date: The exact date the change took effect
- Category: What area of the rules was affected (risk parameters, prohibited strategies, payout rules, etc.)
- Previous wording: The exact text that was in place before the change
- New wording: The exact text that replaced it
- Rationale: A plain-language explanation of why the change was made
- Scope: Whether the change applies to new evaluations only, or to evaluations already in progress
The scope field is particularly important. When we updated the maximum risk per trade rule in January — simplifying from a tiered structure to a flat 2% — we specified that the change applied to all active evaluations immediately, not just new ones. That is a significant commitment. It means we could not simply apply favorable rule changes to new customers while leaving existing traders under the old, potentially less clear framework.
We applied it universally because a rule that is ambiguous for some traders is ambiguous for all, and the clarity benefit of the simplified rule outweighed the disruption of applying it mid-evaluation.
Why Permanent Records Matter
The changelog is permanent. Entries are never deleted, never edited after publication, and never overwritten. If we need to clarify a changelog entry, we add a new entry that references the original and explains the clarification. The original stays.
This permanence serves a specific purpose: it eliminates the possibility of retroactive revisionism. A firm that can silently edit its changelog — or delete entries — can rewrite the history of its rule changes. A firm that cannot do that has a public, permanent record of every commitment it has made and every change it has imposed.
At the time of publishing this post, the Dolvero changelog contains three entries:
- #1: Launch rules (November 30, 2025)
- #2: Timezone clarification for the news trading rule (December 2025) — the rule previously did not specify UTC explicitly
- #3: Maximum risk per trade simplified to 2% (January 9, 2026)
This record is the complete history of every rule change Dolvero has made since inception. Every trader who has passed an evaluation or is currently in one can see exactly what rules were in place when they started and what changes have occurred since.
What We Will and Will Not Change
Transparency about changes is more meaningful when paired with clarity about what kinds of changes are and are not on the table. Here is our position:
What we will change
- Rule clarifications: When language is ambiguous or has generated support questions, we will clarify it. These changes will not affect the substance of the rule, only its clarity.
- Risk parameter adjustments: If market conditions or our risk models support adjusting drawdown limits, profit targets, or other parameters, we will make those adjustments. They will be announced in advance for new evaluations; existing evaluations will continue under the rules in effect at purchase unless the change is materially beneficial to the trader.
- New rule additions: As edge cases surface — trading behaviors that create risk we did not anticipate — we may add rules to address them. Any new rule that restricts trader behavior will be flagged clearly in the changelog and announced with at least 14 days' notice before taking effect for active evaluations.
- Product additions: New account sizes, addons, or evaluation structures may be added. These do not change existing rules.
What we will not change retroactively
- Profit split percentage: The 80% split (or 90% with the Split addon) will not decrease for evaluations already purchased or funded accounts already active. If we ever reduce the split for new customers, existing customers will grandfather at their original terms.
- Evaluation fee refund commitment: The fee refund on the second payout is a firm commitment for evaluations purchased under the current terms. This will not be reversed.
- Drawdown limits (more restrictive): We will not reduce the drawdown limit (making it more restrictive) for an evaluation that has already started. If you begin Phase 1 with a 10% drawdown limit, it stays at 10% for the duration of your evaluation.
Why Most Firms Do Not Do This
We have thought carefully about why changelog publishing is not standard practice, even among firms that consider themselves trustworthy. Several reasons:
Litigation risk aversion
Publishing explicit rationale for rule changes creates a record that can be used against the firm in disputes. If we say "we simplified the maximum risk rule because the previous version was ambiguous," a trader who was penalized under the old version might point to that statement in an appeal. Many legal teams advise against creating paper trails that could be used adversarially.
Our view: if we changed a rule because it was ambiguous, and a trader suffered under the ambiguity, that trader has a legitimate grievance. Creating a record of that change does not create our liability — it creates accountability for whether we handled the transition fairly. We believe our handling is defensible because we apply changes in ways that protect existing traders. The paper trail is not a threat to us; it is a protection for traders.
Competitive intelligence
A published changelog tells competitors exactly what rules you are adjusting and in what direction. If Dolvero simplifies the risk per trade rule and publishes it, competitors can immediately see our evaluation design philosophy and potentially adapt their product to compete more directly.
Our view: we are not competing primarily on rule obfuscation. We are competing on trust, processing speed, and the quality of the funded trading experience. Giving competitors visibility into our rule evolution does not meaningfully undermine our competitive position.
Operational friction
Maintaining a rigorous changelog requires process. Every rule change must be documented, reviewed, approved, and published through a defined workflow rather than by simply editing a web page. This is overhead that most firms choose to avoid.
Our view: this is worth the cost. The systems we have built to manage the changelog also ensure that rule changes go through a proper review process before implementation, which reduces the likelihood of poorly-considered changes in the first place.
How to Use the Changelog as a Trader
Bookmark /changelog. Check it before starting a new evaluation and periodically during your evaluation. Here is what to look for:
- Changes to risk parameters: If drawdown limits, daily loss limits, or profit targets have changed, confirm that your evaluation's terms are what you expect them to be.
- New prohibited strategies: If a new strategy restriction has been added, review whether it applies to your evaluation and whether your current approach is affected.
- Scope fields: Always check whether a change applies to existing evaluations or only to new ones. The changelog will tell you explicitly.
If a changelog entry is unclear, contact support through your dashboard. We will explain any entry in plain language.
The Broader Principle
Publishing a changelog is, at its core, a statement about the power balance between a firm and its traders. A firm that can change its rules silently holds all the information about what changed. Traders are reactive — they discover changes only when they encounter an unexpected rule in practice, often at the worst possible moment.
A firm that publishes every change, with full context, shifts that balance. Traders can be proactive. They can monitor changes. They can ask questions about upcoming changes before they affect an active evaluation. They can hold the firm accountable for the reasoning it has committed to on the record.
That accountability is not a threat to us. It is the standard we are trying to establish as normal in this industry.
Start an evaluation at app.dolvero.com/start. Review all current rules at /rules. See the full changelog at /changelog. Use code 2026 for 26% off.
