Futures Prop Firm Comparison: 9 Firms, Rule by Rule (2026)
15 min read
Prop firm rules decide how you trade, when you get paid, and how fast you lose an account. Most comparison content ranks firms or picks favorites. This one does not.
This futures prop firm comparison covers 9 firms organized by rule category. Same structure for every firm. No affiliate relationships, no recommendations, no pricing (it changes too often to be useful here). All data is sourced from our published firm-specific articles, each verified against official program documentation. The goal is to put the rules next to each other so you can compare prop firms and decide what fits your trading.
The nine firms covered: Apex Trader Funding, Alpha Futures, Bulenox, Earn2Trade, FundedNext Futures, Lucid Trading, My Funded Futures (MFF), Take Profit Trader, and Tradeify.
Drawdown Rules Compared
Drawdown type is the single most important rule to understand before buying an account. It determines when your maximum loss limit moves, and that determines how much breathing room you actually have.
There are two main types:
EOD trailing drawdown updates once per day at session close. Your max loss limit only moves when your end-of-day balance makes a new high. This gives you room to hold through intraday swings without the floor chasing your position in real time.
Intraday (real-time) trailing drawdown updates tick by tick. Every new high watermark during the session immediately raises your floor. A trade that goes 20 ticks in your favor then reverses has already cost you 20 ticks of drawdown room, even if you close flat.
Most firms default to EOD trailing. Here's how drawdown rules compare across all 9 firms.
Firm | Drawdown Type | Lock Behavior |
|---|---|---|
Lucid Trading | EOD trailing (all plans) | Locks once floor reaches initial balance |
Apex | EOD trailing or intraday trailing (choose at purchase) | EOD updates at 4:59 PM ET. Intraday locks at starting balance + $100 |
MFF | EOD trailing (eval, Flex/Pro funded), intraday trailing (Rapid funded) | Locks at starting balance + $100 |
Tradeify | EOD trailing (all accounts) | Locks when EOD balance exceeds drawdown by $100 |
Take Profit Trader | EOD trailing (Test, PRO+), intraday trailing (PRO) | Type changes between phases |
FundedNext Futures | EOD trailing (all programs) | Bolt caps at $50,100 |
Earn2Trade | EOD trailing (eval, LiveSim), real-time trailing (live funded) | Type changes at live transition |
Bulenox | Option 1: real-time trailing. Option 2: EOD trailing | Choose at purchase. Locks at starting balance + $100 |
Alpha Futures | EOD trailing (all accounts) | Standard: locks once floor reaches starting balance |
What to pay attention to: Earn2Trade and Take Profit Trader change drawdown type between phases. You might pass an evaluation with EOD trailing and then trade a funded account with intraday or real-time trailing. Read the funded phase rules, not just the eval rules.
Daily Loss Limit Comparison
A daily loss limit (DLL) caps how much you can lose in a single session. Some traders want this guardrail. Others find it forces them to stop trading on days when one losing trade early doesn't mean the setup is broken.
The landscape here is complicated because DLL rules vary by plan within the same firm.
Firms with no DLL on any plan:
MFF (all plans)
Take Profit Trader (all plans)
Firms where it depends on the plan:
Firm | Plan | DLL on Eval | DLL on Funded | Breach Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lucid | LucidPro | Yes (50K+) | Yes | Soft (pauses trading) |
Lucid | LucidFlex | No | No | N/A |
Apex | EOD accounts | Yes | Yes | Soft (pauses trading) |
Apex | Intraday accounts | No | No | N/A |
Tradeify | Growth | Yes | Yes | Soft (pauses trading) |
Tradeify | Select | No | Daily path: yes, Flex path: no | Soft |
Tradeify | Lightning | N/A (no eval) | Yes (except 25K) | Soft |
FundedNext | Bolt | Yes | Yes | Soft (pauses trading) |
FundedNext | Rapid/Legacy | No | No | N/A |
Earn2Trade | All | Yes | Yes (removable after DD locks) | Hard breach |
Bulenox | Option 1 | No | No | N/A |
Bulenox | Option 2 | Yes | Yes (removable after DD locks) | Soft |
Alpha Futures | Zero | Yes (2% of balance) | Yes | Soft (locks until next day) |
Alpha Futures | Standard | No | Yes | Soft |
Alpha Futures | Advanced | No | No | N/A |
Soft vs. hard breach matters. Most firms pause your trading for the day on a DLL breach. Earn2Trade is the exception with a hard breach, meaning you fail the account entirely. Bulenox Option 2 and Earn2Trade both let you remove the DLL after your drawdown locks, which is a meaningful rule change mid-account.
Consistency Rule Comparison
Consistency rules cap how much of your total profit can come from a single day. The calculation is the same everywhere: your largest single day's profit divided by your total profits equals your consistency percentage. If that number exceeds the firm's threshold, you can't request a payout until you bring it down.
Here's a concrete example. Say you're on a funded account with a 40% consistency rule. You've made $5,000 in total profit across 8 trading days, but $2,500 of that came from one session. That one day is 50% of your total, which is above the 40% threshold. You need to keep trading profitable days until that $2,500 day drops below 40% of your new total. At $6,250 in total profit, the big day would represent exactly 40%. So you need at least $1,250 more in profit from other days before you can withdraw.
This math is why consistency affects your timeline more than almost any other rule. The tighter the percentage, the more days you need.
What happens when you violate it
No firm in this comparison breaches your account for failing consistency. The consequences are:
Most firms (Lucid, Apex, MFF, Tradeify, Take Profit Trader, Earn2Trade, Bulenox, Alpha Futures): Your payout request is denied. Keep trading profitable days until the ratio improves. The consistency percentage resets after each approved payout.
FundedNext Bolt and Legacy (eval only): Instead of blocking you, failing consistency raises your profit target. If your target is $2,500 and you earn $1,500 in one day (exceeding the 40% cap of $1,000), your new target becomes $3,750. You're not failed, but you now need to earn more.
Where consistency applies
Firm | Plan | Eval Consistency | Funded Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
Lucid | LucidPro | None (can pass in 1 day) | 40% |
Lucid | LucidFlex | 50% | None |
Lucid | LucidDirect | N/A | 20% |
Apex | All | None (can pass in 1 session) | 50% |
MFF | All plans | 50% (except Pro One Day Add-On) | None |
Tradeify | Growth | None | 35% |
Tradeify | Select | 40% | None |
Tradeify | Lightning | N/A | 20% to 30% (escalating) |
Take Profit Trader | All | 50% | None |
FundedNext | Bolt | 40% | None |
FundedNext | Rapid | None | 40% |
FundedNext | Legacy | 40% | None |
Earn2Trade | All | 30% | None |
Bulenox | All | None | 40% (every payout) |
Alpha Futures | Zero | None | 40% |
Alpha Futures | Standard | 50% | 40% |
Alpha Futures | Advanced | 50% | None |
The strategic difference: eval vs. funded consistency
Most firms put the consistency rule on either the eval or the funded phase, not both. This creates two very different experiences.
Consistency on eval only (MFF, Take Profit Trader, Tradeify Select, FundedNext Bolt/Legacy, Earn2Trade, Alpha Futures Advanced): You need multiple profitable days to pass the evaluation, but once funded, you can have a massive winning day and withdraw without worrying about the ratio. This favors traders who want to grind through the eval and then trade freely.
Consistency on funded only (Lucid LucidPro, Apex, Tradeify Growth, FundedNext Rapid, Bulenox, Alpha Futures Zero): You can pass the eval in a single session (or very few days), but every payout request on the funded account must meet the consistency threshold. This favors traders who can pass evaluations quickly but need to pace their funded trading more carefully.
Alpha Futures Standard is the notable exception. It has consistency on both the eval (50%) and the funded phase (40%). This is the only plan across all 9 firms that enforces consistency at every stage.
Tradeify Lightning's escalating consistency
Tradeify Lightning is unique because its consistency requirement gets tighter over time: 20% on your first payout, 25% on your second, and 30% on all payouts after that. At 30%, no single day can account for more than roughly one-third of your profits. For a trader targeting a $3,000 payout on a 100K account, that means the best day in the payout cycle can't exceed about $1,000. This forces increasingly spread-out trading as you progress through the account.
Profit Split Comparison
Profit split is what you keep when you withdraw. Most sim-funded accounts range from 80/20 to 90/10 (trader/firm). Apex is the outlier at 100/0.
Firm | Sim Funded Split | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Apex | 100/0 | Highest in the industry |
Bulenox | 100% on first $10K, then 90/10 | Tiered structure |
Lucid | 90/10 | All plans |
Tradeify | 90/10 | Elite Live drops to 80/20 + reward pool |
Alpha Futures (Zero) | 90/10 | Flat from first payout |
Alpha Futures (Advanced) | 90/10 | Flat from first payout |
MFF (Rapid) | 90/10 | Other plans 80/20 |
Take Profit Trader (PRO+) | 90/10 | PRO is 80/20 |
MFF (Flex/Pro) | 80/20 | |
Take Profit Trader (PRO) | 80/20 | |
FundedNext Futures | 80/20 | All plans |
Earn2Trade | 80/20 | All plans |
Alpha Futures (Standard) | 70% to 90% | Tiered: 70% (payouts 1-2), 80% (3-4), 90% (5+) |
Context matters more than the number. A 90/10 split with a $2,000 payout cap pays less than an 80/20 split with no cap. Always look at the payout structure alongside the split percentage.
Payout Frequency and Withdrawal Rules
How often you can withdraw and how much you can take out varies more than any other rule category. This prop firm payout comparison covers frequency, caps, buffers, and qualifying requirements together because frequency alone doesn't tell you much. A daily payout with a $600 cap and a buffer requirement might pay out less per month than a biweekly payout with no cap. You need to look at frequency, caps, buffers, and qualifying requirements together.
Key terms before diving in
Buffer (or safety threshold): A minimum balance you must maintain above your starting balance before you can withdraw. If a 50K account has a $2,100 buffer, your balance must stay above $52,100 after the withdrawal. The buffer protects the firm's drawdown cushion and limits how much of your profit is actually withdrawable.
Winning day / qualifying day: A trading day where you hit a minimum profit threshold. The amount varies by firm and account size. For example, Tradeify Growth requires $100 profit per day on a 25K account, while Apex requires $250 on a 50K EOD account. These thresholds determine how fast you can unlock your next payout.
Payout cap: A maximum withdrawal amount per request. Most firms cap early payouts and increase limits over time. Some remove caps entirely after a set number of payouts.
Payout frequency comparison
Firm | Plan | Frequency | Key Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
MFF | Rapid | Daily | 90/10 split, $500 min, buffer required |
Tradeify | Select Daily | Daily | $250 min, buffer required, 2x profit cap per payout |
FundedNext | Rapid | Every 3 days | Caps removed after 5 payouts |
Lucid | LucidPro | Every 3 days | Must meet profit target + consistency |
Tradeify | Growth/Lightning | Every 5 days | Growth needs 5 profitable days, Lightning needs profit goal |
Lucid | LucidFlex | Every 5 winning days | 50% of profit, capped |
Tradeify | Select Flex | Every 5 winning days | 50% of total profits, capped |
MFF | Flex | Every 5 winning days | 50% of net profits, capped |
Take Profit Trader | PRO/PRO+ | Day one (after buffer on PRO) | No max withdrawal |
Earn2Trade | All | Weekly (Wednesdays) | Request by Friday 2 PM, $100 min after fees |
Bulenox | All | Anytime (processed Wednesdays) | First 3 payouts capped, 10 trading days before first payout |
Alpha Futures | Standard | Every 14 days | $200 min, $15K max |
Alpha Futures | Zero/Advanced | Up to 4x per month | After 5 winning days of $200+ |
FundedNext | Legacy | After 5 benchmark days | 50% capped before 30 days, uncapped after |
MFF | Pro | Every 14 days | $100K lifetime max per user |
Apex | All | After 5 qualifying days | 6 payouts then account lifecycle ends |
Payout caps by firm (100K accounts)
This is where the real differences show. Here's what a 100K account can actually withdraw at each payout stage:
Firm | Plan | Payout 1 | Payout 2 | Payout 3 | Payout 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apex | EOD | ~$2,000-$2,500 | ~$2,500 | ~$2,500-$3,000 | Escalates through payout 6, then account ends |
Lucid | LucidPro | $2,500 | $3,000 | $3,000 | $3,000 |
Lucid | LucidFlex | $2,500 | $2,500 | $2,500 | $2,500 (flat, doesn't scale) |
Tradeify | Growth | $2,000 | $2,500 | $3,000 | $4,000 |
Tradeify | Select Daily | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 | $1,500 (flat cap) |
Tradeify | Select Flex | $4,000 | $4,000 | $4,000 | $4,000 (50% of total profit) |
Tradeify | Lightning | $2,500 | $2,500 | $2,500 | $3,000 |
MFF | Rapid | No cap | No cap | No cap | No cap (daily, $500 min) |
MFF | Flex | Up to $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 (50% of net profits) |
MFF | Pro | No per-payout cap | No cap | No cap | No cap ($100K lifetime max per user) |
FundedNext | Rapid | $2,500 | $2,500 | $2,500 | $2,500 (caps removed after payout 5) |
FundedNext | Bolt | $1,200 | $1,200 | $1,200 | $1,200 (5 payouts total, final up to $7,700) |
FundedNext | Legacy | 50% of profit, capped at $6,000 | Same | Same | Uncapped after 30 benchmark days |
Earn2Trade | GAU | $4,000 | $4,000 | $4,000 | $4,000 |
Bulenox | All | $1,750 | $1,750 | $1,750 | No cap after payout 3 |
Alpha Futures | Zero | 50% of profit, max $2,500 | Same | Same | Same (up to 4x/month) |
Alpha Futures | Standard | Up to $15,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 |
Alpha Futures | Advanced | 50% of profit, max $15,000 | Same | Same | Same |
Take Profit Trader | PRO/PRO+ | No cap | No cap | No cap | No cap |
Buffer requirements
Several firms require you to maintain a minimum balance before withdrawing. This means not all of your profit is available to take out.
Firm | Plan | Buffer (100K account) |
|---|---|---|
Apex | All | Starting balance + drawdown + $100 (about $103,600) |
MFF | Rapid | $3,100 above starting balance |
MFF | Pro | $3,100 above starting balance |
Tradeify | Select Daily | $2,600 above starting balance |
Take Profit Trader | PRO | Starting balance + max drawdown (about $102,500-$103,500) |
Bulenox | All | $3,100 safety threshold |
Take Profit Trader | PRO+ | No buffer (but $5K frozen from PRO) |
MFF | Flex | No buffer |
Tradeify | Growth | Minimum balance of $104,500 |
Tradeify | Select Flex | No buffer |
Firms without a buffer listed (Lucid, FundedNext, Earn2Trade, Alpha Futures) either have no minimum balance requirement or bake the requirement into their profit target structure.
Winning day thresholds (100K accounts)
Firm | Minimum daily profit to count as a qualifying/winning day |
|---|---|
Apex EOD | $300 |
Apex Intraday | $250 |
Tradeify Growth | $200 |
Tradeify Select Flex | $200 |
Lucid LucidFlex | $200 |
Alpha Futures Zero/Advanced | $200 |
MFF Flex | $150-$200 (varies) |
Lucid LucidPro | No winning day requirement (profit target based) |
Take Profit Trader | No winning day requirement |
The Apex lifecycle: what happens after payout 6
Apex is unique. Each Performance Account (PA) has a 6-payout lifecycle. After your 6th withdrawal, the account is done. You can't trade it or withdraw from it again. To keep trading, you pass another evaluation and open a new PA. You can have up to 20 active PAs at once, which is how Apex traders scale, but each individual account has a hard expiration. No other firm in this comparison ends accounts after a set number of payouts.
FundedNext Bolt: 5 payouts then done
FundedNext Bolt works similarly to Apex. You get 5 total withdrawals, capped at $1,200 per cycle for the first 4, with up to $7,700 on the 5th. After that, the account is concluded. This makes Bolt a shorter-lifecycle account than any other program in this comparison.
Processing days
Most firms process payouts on specific days, not instantly:
Bulenox: Wednesdays only
Earn2Trade: Wednesdays only (request by Friday 2 PM the week before)
Apex: Processing varies, typically 1-3 business days
MFF Rapid: Daily processing
Take Profit Trader: Available from day one, processing within business days
FundedNext: 1-3 business days after request
News Trading Rules by Firm
If you trade around FOMC, NFP, CPI, or other scheduled events, this section matters.
No restrictions on funded accounts:
Apex Trader Funding
FundedNext Futures (all programs)
Tradeify (all plans)
Bulenox
Lucid Trading
Alpha Futures (Advanced plan only)
Restrictions apply:
MFF: 2-minute buffer before and after any news release. FOMC, NFP, and CPI are fully restricted on Rapid and Pro funded accounts. Flex funded is unrestricted for these events.
Take Profit Trader: Must be flat 1 minute before, during, and after FOMC, NFP, and CPI. Crude Oil Inventories restricts crude contracts. Bond Auctions restrict bond contracts.
Alpha Futures: Zero and Standard funded accounts cannot execute orders within 2-5 minutes of high-impact events. Advanced is unrestricted.
Earn2Trade: Not specifically restricted but general CME compliance rules apply.
If news trading is central to your strategy, check whether the specific plan you're considering allows it on funded accounts. Several firms allow it on some plans but not others.
Supported Platforms and Data Feeds
Firm | Platforms | Data Feed |
|---|---|---|
Lucid Trading | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView, TradeSea, MotiveWave, Quantower | CQG, Rithmic |
Apex | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView | Rithmic, CQG (via Tradovate), Wealthcharts |
MFF | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView | CQG (recommended Tradovate) |
Tradeify | Tradovate, TradeSea, WealthCharts | CQG (Tradovate), Rithmic (TradeSea) |
Take Profit Trader | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView, R | Trader, Quantower, MotiveWave |
FundedNext Futures | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView | CQG (via Tradovate) |
Earn2Trade | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, Finamark | Rithmic |
Bulenox | NinjaTrader + Rithmic-compatible platforms | Rithmic |
Alpha Futures | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, AlphaTicks, TradingView | CQG |
Rithmic vs. CQG is mostly a preference issue, but some platform and firm combinations only support one. If you use a specific charting platform, check that it's compatible with your firm before purchasing.
Path to Live Funded Trading
Every firm has a different threshold for transitioning from sim-funded to live capital. Some are transparent about requirements. Others are invitation-only.
Firm | How You Qualify | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
Lucid | 5 payouts | Enters live review pool |
Apex | Invitation-only | Not publicly detailed |
MFF | Varies by plan | Rapid: $10K single-day profit or Risk Team selection. Flex: 5 consecutive payouts. Pro: 3 consecutive payouts |
Tradeify | 3 payouts on single account OR 10 total payouts | Elite Live: starts at $0, 80/20 split, no DLL, performance reward pool up to $90K |
Take Profit Trader | Invitation-only | PRO+: starts at $0, 90/10, EOD DD, $5K frozen from PRO |
FundedNext Futures | $100K total active profits | 50% settlement, 25% live deposit ($50K cap), remainder held in reserve |
Earn2Trade | Plan-dependent | TCP: progression through steps to $400K. Gauntlet: $5K profit triggers live. LiveSim phase first |
Bulenox | 3 successful Master payouts | All Master accounts consolidate into single funded account |
Alpha Futures | $40K single payout OR 5 payouts OR $100K lifetime | Alpha Prime: $10K ($5K + $5K match), 60% or 80% split |
Live accounts are not always better. Tradeify's Elite Live starts at $0 balance with an 80/20 split (vs. 90/10 on sim-funded). Take Profit Trader's PRO+ also starts at $0 and freezes $5K from your PRO account. FundedNext takes 50% of your active profits as a settlement fee. Read the live transition terms carefully.
How to Compare Prop Firms by Trading Style
Instead of recommending firms, here's how the rules map to different trading approaches. Find the constraints that matter to your strategy, then compare the firms that match.
If you want no consistency rule on funded accounts
MFF (all plans), Take Profit Trader (PRO/PRO+), FundedNext (Bolt, Legacy), Alpha Futures (Advanced), and Tradeify (Select) all skip consistency requirements on funded accounts. This matters most for traders who have occasional large winning days and don't want those days to create payout problems.
If you want no daily loss limit
MFF (all plans), Take Profit Trader (all), FundedNext (Rapid, Legacy), Alpha Futures (Advanced), Bulenox Option 1, Tradeify Select Flex, and Apex Intraday accounts all skip the DLL. Traders who size up on conviction plays or hold through larger drawdowns before targets tend to prefer this.
If you trade news events
Apex, FundedNext, Tradeify, Bulenox, Lucid, and Alpha Futures Advanced have no news restrictions on funded accounts. If you trade FOMC, NFP, or CPI regularly, check the funded phase rules. Having no restrictions on an eval doesn't mean the funded account works the same way.
If you want the fastest payout frequency
MFF Rapid and Tradeify Select Daily both offer daily payouts. The tradeoff for MFF Rapid is intraday trailing drawdown. The tradeoff for Tradeify Select Daily is a buffer requirement and per-payout caps.
If you want the highest profit split
Apex pays 100/0 on sim-funded accounts. Bulenox pays 100% on the first $10K then drops to 90/10. Lucid, Tradeify, MFF Rapid, and Alpha Futures Zero/Advanced all pay 90/10.
If you want instant funding with no evaluation
Lucid LucidDirect and Tradeify Lightning both skip the evaluation entirely. You start on a funded account immediately. Both come with tradeoffs in contract limits and rules that don't apply to standard evaluation paths.
How to Choose Based on These Rules
Start with your dealbreakers. If you can't trade without news access, eliminate firms with restrictions. If a daily loss limit would change your strategy, filter to firms without one.
Compare within your account size. Rules and payout caps vary by account size within the same firm. A 50K account at Tradeify Growth has different caps than a 150K account.
Read the funded rules, not just the eval rules. Several firms change drawdown type, add consistency rules, or modify DLL requirements between phases. The eval is just the entry point.
Check payout math, not just payout frequency. Daily payouts with a $600 cap and a buffer requirement might pay out less per month than biweekly payouts with no cap.
Whichever firm you choose, tracking your trades across evaluations and funded accounts helps you see what's working. Tanto auto-syncs trades from all 9 firms covered here so every session is journaled, graded, and ready to review. You can also test your strategy against any firm's rules before purchasing with the prop firm simulator.
Last updated: April 6, 2026