- Passing is the start, not the finish. Topstep reported that just 0.71% of its funded traders reached a live account in its 2025 group.
- Rules often get stricter when you’re funded: drawdown can switch to intraday trailing, daily limits and consistency rules appear, and payouts are capped.
- Once your floor locks, every dollar you withdraw is a dollar of cushion gone. Withdraw only what leaves a full drawdown of room.
Most of the attention in prop trading goes on passing. Most of the money is lost after. A funded account has the same floor, often tighter rules, and a new temptation: taking money out. Getting the first two or three payouts right decides whether the account lasts long enough to matter.
What changes when you’re funded
Read your firm’s funded rules before you trade the account, not after the first breach. These are the funded-stage changes we track:
| Firm | What changes once funded |
|---|---|
| Take Profit Trader | Drawdown switches to intraday trailing in PRO; 1-minute flat window around listed news; 80% split applies above a buffer equal to the drawdown |
| MyFundedFutures | Rapid Sim Funded trails intraday until it locks near your starting balance; no trading 2 minutes either side of listed tier-1 news |
| Legends Trading | A $1,200 daily loss limit appears; $1,500 buffer and $2,000 maximum per payout cycle |
| Top One Futures | A daily loss limit and a 25% consistency rule |
| Alpha Futures, Funded Futures Network | A 40% best-day rule applies to payouts |
| E8 Futures | 35% best-day rule; 5 payouts, then the account closes and is replaced with a free challenge |
| Apex Trader Funding | 50% consistency rule at payout; up to 6 payouts per performance account; $500 minimum |
| Phidias | 30% consistency rule on funded cash accounts |
| Topstep | Choice of Standard or Consistency funded path since February 2026; $125 minimum payout, no profit floor on the first |
Each firm’s page on this site lists its current funded rules and sources, and our rule-change tracker logs when they change.
The lock point: the most important number in a funded account
On a trailing account the floor follows your high-water mark up until it reaches a lock level, usually your starting balance (Topstep, Take Profit Trader) or $100 above it (Lucid, Legends). After that the floor stops moving forever. On a $50K account with a $2,000 drawdown, the floor locks at $50,000 once your balance has closed at $52,000.
The lock changes the meaning of every dollar in the account:
- Before the lock, profit doesn’t add room. The floor rises with you, so you always have about $2,000.
- After the lock, every dollar of profit is extra room, and every dollar you withdraw removes it.
A worked example
| Step | Balance | Floor (locked) | Room to fail |
|---|---|---|---|
| After a good month | $54,500 | $50,000 | $4,500 |
| Withdraw $2,500 | $52,000 | $50,000 | $2,000 (a full drawdown) |
| Withdraw $4,000 instead | $50,500 | $50,000 | $500 (two losing trades) |
The second withdrawal is the one that ends accounts. It feels prudent (“take the money while you can”) but it leaves a quarter of a normal drawdown, at the same position size that made the profit.
The buffer-first payout plan
Firms build “buffers” and “safety nets” into their payout rules for this reason. Even where they don’t, run the same plan yourself:
- Phase 1 — reach the lock. Trade your evaluation size until the floor locks. No withdrawals.
- Phase 2 — build one full drawdown of cushion. Keep trading until your balance is at least lock level + drawdown + your first payout. On a 50K: $50,000 + $2,000 + payout.
- Phase 3 — withdraw only the excess. Each payout is whatever sits above floor + one drawdown. Never dip into the cushion.
- Phase 4 — size down for the first days after a payout. Your room is at its smallest right after a withdrawal.
Payout caps change which account size is best
If a firm caps payouts per cycle or limits the number of payouts per account, a bigger account doesn’t always pay more. E8 Futures closes each account after five payouts; Apex allows six per performance account. A trader who can reliably make $1,500 a cycle earns the same on any account size whose cap is above $1,500, so the cheaper account with the same cap wins. Compare caps on each firm’s page before buying the 150K.
Consistency rules reset every payout cycle
Where a best-day rule applies at payout, it usually measures each cycle from zero. A $1,800 first day in a cycle under a 40% rule means $4,500 of cycle profit before you can withdraw. Our consistency guide has a daily cap table and a checker; use the cap from day one of every cycle.
When the drawdown turns intraday
At Take Profit Trader (PRO) and MyFundedFutures (Rapid Sim Funded), the floor trails your open profit in real time once you’re funded. The style that passed the evaluation, letting a winner run and give some back, now raises your floor on every tick of open profit. Two adjustments:
- Take partial profits earlier. Locking half the position at 1R stops the floor rising on profit you then hand back.
- Avoid wide-swing setups until the floor locks. After the lock, intraday trailing no longer matters.
A funded-account routine
- Each morning, write down balance, floor, room, today’s daily limit (if any) and today’s consistency cap.
- Size from the smallest of those rooms (see sizing inside a drawdown).
- Stop for the day at the daily cap or after two full losses, whichever comes first.
- Request payouts only with the safe-withdrawal formula, and size down for three sessions after each one.
Prop Guard does steps 1 and 2 for you: pick your firm and stage, enter three numbers, and it shows the room to every limit using that firm’s rules.