Start Here: How a Prop Firm Evaluation Works, Step by Step

Pick a market and a firm

Futures firms (ES, NQ, CL, GC) hand you a platform login and sim account. CFD and forex firms run on MT5, cTrader or a browser platform. Perps firms trade crypto perpetuals 24/7. Each market has its own firms, rules and price range.

Shortlist two or three firms, not ten. The directory filters by market and shows whether a sale is on.
Decide on the drawdown type before the price. An end-of-day trailing drawdown and an intraday trailing drawdown are different products at the same price. See drawdown types.
Check the platform list. If you can't run NinjaTrader, a firm that only offers NinjaTrader is a bad fit whatever the discount.

Do thisPut your shortlist side by side. Read the Drawdown and Split rows before the Price row.

Know the true cost before you pay

The eval fee is the smallest number. What you actually spend is the eval, plus a reset or two if you fail, plus an activation fee when you pass, plus renewals if the eval is billed monthly and you take longer than a month.

One-time evals stay open until you pass or fail. Monthly evals renew; cancel them when you're done.
Discount codes usually apply to the eval only, not to resets or activation. Our live deals say what each code skips.
Buying five accounts to "diversify" multiplies every fee by five. Start with one.

Do thisRun the true cost calculator with one reset and the activation fee. That number is what you're risking.

Pass the evaluation

You need to hit the profit target without touching the drawdown line, breaking a daily loss limit, or tripping a consistency rule. Most firms also require a minimum number of trading days.

Size for the drawdown, not the target. A $2,000 drawdown with $400 average losing days gives you five bad days. The runway calculator does this math.
Trailing drawdowns move up with your open profit at some firms. A winner that comes back to break-even can still cost you drawdown room.
News releases are where evals die. Know the week's red folders and the firm's news-trading rule before the session.

Do thisUse the contracts per trade calculator with your real stop. Trade that size every time.

Activate the funded account

Passing gets you a funded account, which at most futures firms is still simulated (a "performance" or "sim-funded" account). The firm pays you from its own revenue. You usually pay an activation fee, one-time or monthly, to open it.

The rules change here. Read the funded-stage drawdown, consistency rule, contract scaling and payout rules separately from the eval rules.
Some firms move you to a live account after a run of payouts; that stage usually has a different profit split.
Expect identity verification before activation or the first payout. It's normal; have your documents ready.

Do thisOpen the firm's profile and read the "rules" card again as a funded trader, not as an eval taker.

Get paid

Payout rules decide when money moves: a minimum amount, a number of qualifying days, a payout cycle, sometimes a buffer you must keep in the account, and the profit split.

Count the days before you buy. Five qualifying days at a $150 minimum plus a $500 minimum payout is a very different product from "withdraw from day one."
A consistency rule can hold a payout even when the balance qualifies. Spread your profit across days as you get close.
Payouts are usually paid to you as a contractor. Keep records for tax time.

Do thisRun days to first payout with the firm's real numbers. If the answer is longer than you can trade without tilting, pick a different plan.

Before you buy

Tick each one off on the firm's own page. Your ticks stay on this device only.

I know the drawdown type (intraday trailing, end-of-day trailing or static) and the amount for my size. I know whether there is a daily loss limit and what happens when I hit it. I know the consistency rule percentage, and whether it applies in the eval, the funded stage or both. I know the reset price and whether the discount code applies to it. I know the activation fee and whether it is one-time or monthly. I know the minimum payout, the qualifying-day rule and the payout cycle. The firm offers a platform I can actually run, with data included or priced. I know the firm's rule on trading through high-impact news. The code shows the discount at checkout on the firm's own site before I pay.

What ends most accounts

Doubling size after a loss to "get it back." The drawdown doesn't care that you were right the next day.
Holding through a red-folder release with a trailing drawdown and a stop that fills late.
One huge day that breaks the consistency rule a week before payout.
Forgetting a monthly renewal on an account you stopped trading.
Buying more accounts than you can watch, then copying one mistake onto all of them.

See today's live codes with the fine print → Open the directory of 61 firms → Read the glossary →