Every term the firms use in their rules, in plain English, with what it costs you and what to check on the firm's own page before you buy. Tap any chip or rule label on Prop Desk to open the matching entry.
The test and what comes after it.
The paid test you trade first. You trade a simulated account and must hit a profit target without breaking the firm's rules before you get a funded account.
The eval fee is only the sticker price. Most traders don't pass on the first try, so resets, activation fees and monthly renewals decide what you really pay.
Profit target, drawdown type, time limit (if any), and whether the fee is one-time or renews monthly.
The profit you need to close the eval, usually 6% to 10% of the account size (for example $3,000 on a 50K).
Target divided by drawdown tells you how hard the test is. A $3,000 target with a $2,000 drawdown means you have to make 1.5 times what you are allowed to lose.
Target size, minimum trading days, and whether there is a time limit.
The account you get after passing. At most futures firms it is still simulated (often called a Performance Account, PA, or sim-funded), and the firm pays you from its own pocket. A 'live' account places real orders in the market, usually only after a run of payouts.
Sim-funded accounts can have different rules from the eval: new drawdown, consistency rules, payout minimums and contract limits. The rules that matter most start here.
Activation fee, payout rules on the funded stage, and when (or if) you move to a live account.
How many contracts you may trade, often tied to your balance, and how the limit grows as you earn.
A small contract limit makes a big profit target slower to reach, and breaking the limit is a rule violation at most firms.
Max contracts at the start, how scaling works, and whether micros count differently.
The rule that ends most accounts. Same size, very different products.
Your maximum loss line follows your account balance up as you make money, including open, unrealized profit during a trade. If your balance ever falls back to that line, the account is closed.
The strictest type. A trade that runs $1,000 in your favor and comes back to break-even has moved your loss line up by $1,000, so you can be stopped out while sitting at your starting balance.
Whether the firm says 'intraday', 'real-time' or 'end of day' for the trailing calculation, and whether it stops trailing once you are a set amount above the start.
The loss line only moves up once a day, based on your closed balance at the end of the trading day. Open profit during the day doesn't move it.
Much more forgiving than intraday trailing: a winner that comes back to break-even doesn't raise your loss line. Two firms with the same price and drawdown size are not the same product if one is intraday and one is EOD.
What time 'end of day' means (usually the exchange settlement), and whether the drawdown locks in place after you earn a buffer.
A fixed loss line that never moves. If the account starts at $50,000 with a $2,000 static drawdown, you are out at $48,000 whatever you make in between.
The simplest rule to trade around, and usually the most generous, which is why static accounts often cost more or come with a smaller size.
That the limit really is static, not 'static after you reach X'.
The most you may lose in one day, on top of the overall drawdown. Hitting it usually locks you out until the next session, and at some firms it ends the account.
It caps a bad day, which some traders like, but a tight daily limit on a volatile day can end a run that the overall drawdown would have survived.
Whether hitting it is a lockout or a failure, and whether it is optional (some firms let you add one in exchange for a bigger payout).
A cushion you must build above the original drawdown line before you can take a payout, or an extra amount added to the drawdown.
It changes how far your first payout is. A $100 safety net is small; a rule that the drawdown must be fully 'cleared' before withdrawing means you need the whole drawdown amount in profit first.
The exact number and whether it applies to every payout or just the first.
The sticker price is the smallest number.
A one-time or monthly charge to open the funded account after you pass. Common at futures firms; some waive it or offer a 'no activation fee' plan that costs more upfront.
It can be larger than the eval itself. A $50 eval with a $150 activation fee costs more than a $120 eval with none, if you pass.
Amount, whether it is per account, and whether a 'lifetime' or 'no activation' option exists.
Paying to start a failed eval over with a fresh balance and drawdown instead of buying a new account.
Resets are where the real money goes. If you expect to need two resets, a $79 reset fee on a cheap eval can beat a free reset on an expensive one, or not. Do the math for your own pass rate.
Reset price per size, whether resets are allowed on funded accounts, and whether discount codes apply to resets (they often don't).
A one-time eval is paid once and stays open until you pass or fail. A monthly eval renews every month you are still in it.
A 'cheaper' monthly eval that takes you three months costs three times its sticker price. Prop Desk labels each deal's billing type next to its price.
The renewal date, how to cancel, and whether a sale price applies to renewals or only the first month.
What you actually pay to reach your first payout: eval fee plus likely resets plus activation fee plus any monthly renewals, minus the discount.
It is the number the sticker price hides. Two deals with the same '50% off' headline can be hundreds of dollars apart once you add activation and a reset.
Add it up for your own expected attempts before you compare headline discounts.
The rules between a green account and money in your bank.
How withdrawn profit is shared. 90/10 means you keep 90%. 'Up to' and '100% of the first $10K' are the firm's best case, usually with conditions.
The split matters less than the rules that control when you can withdraw at all. A 100% split with a long payout cycle can pay you less, sooner, than a 90% split with weekly payouts.
The split at each stage (funded vs live), what 'up to' depends on, and any cap on total withdrawals.
The conditions for withdrawing: a minimum amount, a payout cycle (daily, weekly, every 14 days), a number of qualifying trading days, and sometimes a cap on your first payouts.
This is the path to money. Count the days and the minimum before you buy: 5 qualifying days at $150 profit each plus a $500 minimum is a very different product from 'withdraw from day one'.
Minimum payout, qualifying day definition, payout cycle, caps, and the consistency rule at payout time.
Your best day (or your profits around a payout) may not be more than a set share of total profit, for example 40% or 50%. Breaking it usually delays a payout rather than failing the account.
It stops one lucky day from carrying you to a payout. If you trade big on news days, a 30% rule can hold your money for weeks.
The percentage, whether it applies in the eval, the funded stage or both, and what happens when you break it.
Crypto futures with no expiry that trade 24/7. Every few hours, longs and shorts pay each other a 'funding' rate to keep the contract near the spot price.
Funding payments and exchange-style trading fees can count against your drawdown at perps prop firms, and 24/7 trading means your end-of-day line may be defined differently.
Whether fees and funding hit your drawdown, which exchange prices are used, and the maximum leverage.
A public code is the firm's own promotion, open to anyone. An affiliate code is tied to a partner who earns a commission when you use it, at no extra cost to you.
Prop Desk labels every code. Where a code is an affiliate code it says so, and we still report bad rule changes from the same firm.
That the code works at checkout on the firm's own site; prices and codes change often.