What it costs after you pass: activation, commissions, splits and data

Most prop firm comparisons stop at the evaluation price. But the money you actually take home depends on what happens after you pass. This guide walks through each cost in the order you meet it, with figures from the firms’ own help centres, and a calculator to work out your take-home pay.

1. The activation fee

Some firms charge a one-off fee to turn your passed evaluation into a funded account. It’s usually tied to the cheaper monthly plans:

An activation fee isn’t bad in itself. A $49-a-month evaluation plus $149 can still beat a $209 one-time fee. Our monthly vs one-time guide does that maths.

2. Commissions on every trade

Funded accounts charge round-turn costs (one buy plus one sell) on every contract, even in a simulated funded account. Topstep publishes its TopstepX figures in full:

That looks small until you multiply it out. A trader taking 4 trades a day with 5 MNQ makes 20 round turns a day. That’s $24.40 a day, or about $488 over 20 trading days. On MNQ, each round turn costs 0.61 points of a $2 contract. If your average winner is 10 points, fees take 6% of it before you start.

3. The profit split

Once funded, the firm keeps a share of what you withdraw. Topstep, Tradeify and MyFundedFutures pay 90%. Earn2Trade, TradeDay and Phidias pay 80%. Take Profit Trader pays 80% on PRO and 90% on PRO+. On $2,500 of withdrawable profit, the difference between 90% and 80% is $250.

4. Fees to get paid

• Topstep: no fee for Prop-to-Brokerage, Aeropay or Wise. ACH and international wires cost $30 each.
• Take Profit Trader: withdrawals under $250 carry a $50 fee.
• Rise and crypto payouts: firms that pay through Rise say Rise sets its own fees. Crypto payouts can lose value to network fees and the USD-to-stablecoin rate.

Our payout methods guide compares every route by firm.

Where $3,000 of trading profit goes

A worked month on a Topstep-style account: $3,000 of trading profit before fees, 20 MNQ round turns a day for 20 days, a 90% split and one international wire:

5. If you move to a live account

Simulated funded accounts usually include market data. Live accounts don’t always. Topstep lists three costs in its Live Funded Account:

• Professional market data: Topstep covers one exchange (CME by default). Each extra exchange costs $133 a month, so all four (CME, NYMEX, COMEX, CBOT) would be $532. YM and MYM are CBOT products, so a Dow trader needs CBOT covered.
• Round-turn commissions, taken from your brokerage balance.
• A platform licence if your platform charges for one.

Topstep also notes the exchange doesn’t pro-rate data fees, so starting a live account on the 1st of the month avoids paying for a partial month. By contrast, TradeDay says its funded sim accounts carry no professional market data fee.

Take-home calculator

Enter a month of trading. Defaults match the worked example above.

Assumes commissions are taken from the account before the split, as on TopstepX, and that payout and monthly fees come out of your share. Firms differ, so check yours.

Four cost mistakes after passing

1. Sizing up in micros to “save” money. Ten MNQ cost $12.20 a round turn at Topstep; one NQ costs $3.78. The same exposure costs over three times as much in fees.
2. Small, frequent withdrawals. A flat fee on every payout, or a minimum-size penalty like Take Profit Trader’s, adds up fast.
3. Forgetting the activation fee when comparing firms. It belongs in the cost of passing, not after it.
4. Going live mid-month. Data fees aren’t pro-rated, so you pay for the whole month.

Fees from Topstep’s help centre (TopstepX commissions and fees; Live Funded Account costs; payout policy), TradeDay’s help centre, and each firm’s own website, checked 24–29 Oct 2026. Not financial advice.