Futures firms comparator

450 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10017

1 Allied Business Centre, Coldharbour Lane, Harpenden, England, AL5 4UT

United States

United Kingdom

2026

2023

Andrew Blaylock & George Kohler

No Boxcar payout fee.

Evaluation and initial funding are simulated. Prime, Flex and Funded reach live review after 5 approved payouts. Payout triggers review at USD 6,000 / 8,000 / 10,000 / 12,000 daily profit for 25K / 50K / 100K / 150K; the risk team may also initiate review. Approval, KYC and a separate agreement are required. One live account per eligible funded account with at least one payout.
Live starts at USD 0 with size-based EOD drawdown of USD 1,000 / 2,000 / 3,000 / 4,500, no DLL and exchange-specific position scaling. The floor locks at USD 100 upon earning profit equal to the starting drawdown or requesting an earlier payout. Daily requests when eligible.
Moving live closes all household simulated accounts; accounts without payouts are refunded. Prime, Flex and Funded forfeit remaining simulated profit, apart from an eligible final payout. Payout may settle profit above the buffer, capped at USD 15,000 combined with the usual split, after broker verification; the prior close is used and the transition session is excluded. Standard cooldown after a live breach: 2 weeks.

Qualified traders may be selected to trade real capital through the Alpha Futures Live Program or Alpha Prime. Live accounts offer daily uncapped withdrawals, no consistency rule and no news-trading restrictions.

Payout: daily requests when eligible. Prime: from 3 days; Flex and Funded: from 5 days per cycle. Plaid: instant delivery to US banks; WorkMarket by ADP: 2 days for international banks. Prior review and approval required.

• Zero, Standard and Advanced: Up to 4 times per month after 5 winning trading days of $200 or more
• Direct: Up to 4 times per month after meeting its Withdrawal Profit Target and 20% consistency rule

Gross amounts, in 25K / 50K / 100K / 150K order:

• Prime: first payout USD 1,000 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000; later payouts USD 1,500 / 2,500 / 3,000 / 3,500.
• Flex: up to 50% of cycle profit, capped at USD 1,000 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000.
• Payout: available profit above the buffer, with no additional per-request cap.
• Funded: payouts 1-3, USD 1,000 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000; payouts 4-5, USD 1,000 / 2,500 / 3,000 / 3,500.

• Advanced: $15,000 per account
• Zero 25K: $1,000
• Zero 50K: $1,500
• Zero 100K: $2,500
• Standard 50K: $3,000
• Standard 100K: $4,000
• Standard 150K: $5,000
• Direct 25K: $1,000
• Direct 50K: $2,000
• Direct 100K: $2,500
• Direct 150K: $3,000

USD 500 gross per request, before the split.

• Zero: $200
• Standard: $500
• Advanced: $1,000
• Direct: $500

Cycle profit goals, in 25K / 50K / 100K / 150K order:

• Prime: USD 250 / 500 / 750 / 1,000.
• Funded: first cycle USD 1,500 / 3,000 / 6,000 / 9,000; later cycles USD 1,250 / 2,500 / 3,500 / 4,500.
  Flex and Payout need a net-positive cycle. Each approval starts a new cycle. Minimum age: 18. Identity verification is required; businesses receive payment in their own name and provide formation, ownership and IDs for owners holding at least 25%. One permanent personal or business profile per trader, with no conversion or replacement. Requests are final and submitted through support.

Same day

USD per contract per side; round trip = twice the rate:

• ES, NQ, RTY, NKD, YM: 1.75.
• 6A, 6B, 6C, 6E, 6J, 6S, 6N: 2.40.
• CL, QM, NG: 2.00; QG: 1.30.
• PL, GC, SI, HG: 2.30.
• HE, LE, ZS, ZC, ZL, ZM, ZW: 2.80.
• MES, MNQ, M2K, MYM, MCL: 0.50; MGC: 0.80; SIL: 1.60.
  CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX contracts. QM, QG and NKD count as minis. MNG and MHG are unavailable. Live costs follow onboarding terms.

Active or failed evaluations and purchased direct-funded BoxcarFunded accounts can be reset. A reset replaces the account with the same plan and retains its history. Cost is the lower of the original amount paid for that account and its current reset price. Free accounts pay the current reset price. Funding earned by passing an evaluation needs a new evaluation after a breach; live accounts cannot be reset.

Evaluation Resets

Evaluation reset prices are shown in each challenge. Paying the next monthly subscription also resets an Evaluation.

Qualified Resets

Available after a breach on Zero and Standard Qualified accounts.

Level II: USD 13/month for CME only or USD 39/month for all four exchanges. Rithmic server-side copier: USD 15/month across all accounts on the login. An optional second login is also offered in the portal, with no confirmed public price.

• Level 2 (Depth of Market) Data for all exchanges: $41/month per user
• EUREX DOM data: $23 per month

BoxcarFunded starts directly in simulated funding.

Prime, Flex and Payout have one evaluation.

EOD trailing on Prime, Flex and Funded. Payout offers EOD or intraday in evaluation; funded is always intraday, including open profit. The floor never falls and stops at starting balance + USD 100, reached at starting balance + MLL + USD 100. A Flex payout request also locks the floor. Touching the floor, including through open losses, breaches the account.

• EOD trailing on every plan
• Locks at the starting balance
• Does not reset after a performance fee

Prime, Flex and Payout offer a DLL at purchase; the choice carries to both stages and cannot change. Hitting it closes positions and locks trading until the next session, without itself breaching the MLL. On funded Prime and Funded, the DLL becomes 60% of peak EOD profit after closing above the initial trail balance, and can only grow. Flex and Payout keep a fixed DLL; Funded 25K never acquires one.

• Advanced: none
• Zero: applies in Evaluation and Qualified; hitting it locks the account until the next trading day
• Standard: none in Evaluation; applies once Qualified
• Direct: applies from day one

• Zero, Standard and Direct: up to 5 Qualified accounts
• Advanced: up to 3 Qualified accounts; an active Advanced Qualified account limits the user to 3 total

Prime and Payout must retain starting balance + MLL + USD 100 after a payout. Flex has no additional buffer but must respect its loss floor. Funded applies cycle goals and caps as well as loss-floor protection.

Unlimited evaluations and up to 5 active funded accounts across plans. Additional direct-funded purchases remain in reserve. No household simulated trading while a member trades live.

No fixed deadline to pass. Inactivity rules still apply.

Prime evaluation: a 1-day pass is possible. Flex and Payout have no separate fixed minimum beyond consistency. Payouts: Prime from 3 days; Funded requires 5 trading days per cycle; Payout allows daily requests when other conditions are met.

• Zero (Evaluation): 1 day
• Standard (Evaluation): 2 days
• Advanced (Evaluation): 3 days
• Zero, Standard and Advanced Qualified: 5 winning days of $200 or more before each performance fee
• Direct: no minimum trading days; withdrawals require its profit target and 20% consistency rule

No activation charge after passing and no account subscription.

No activation fee on any plan. Direct is paid once; Zero, Standard and Advanced charge monthly only during Evaluation.

Funded Flex: 5 separate days per cycle, each with at least USD 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 net profit for 25K / 50K / 100K / 150K. Day counts restart after payout approval.

Zero, Standard and Advanced require 5 winning days with at least $200 profit each before every performance fee request. Direct requires its Withdrawal Profit Target and 20% consistency rule.

Only Flex sim-funded scales contracts with accumulated closing profit; losses or payouts can lower its tier. Prime, Payout and Funded retain full limits. Live scaling is confirmed per exchange.

The scaling plan limits maximum position size according to accumulated profit. Zero 25K has no scaling plan; Advanced and Direct have no scaling plan.

Zero Qualified

Standard Qualified

One-time purchase with no automatic renewal. Platform and Level I data included. Breaches, lack of use or a change of mind do not normally qualify for refunds; duplicate or incorrect charges, missing access and statutory rights are reviewed. An unused purchase may receive discretionary review before any order or trade.

Zero, Standard and Advanced use a monthly Evaluation fee. Direct is one-time.

Own automated strategies are allowed on evaluations and simulated-funded accounts, subject to all account rules. Software errors and HFT restrictions still apply.

Opposing different products or mini/micro pairs are allowed within one evaluation or sim-funded account. Long and short in the same exact contract, or opposing same/correlated products across accounts, including other traders or firms, are prohibited. Same-account exceptions do not carry over to live. A first violation may return balances to the prior close; repeated violations may breach accounts and end access.

Realistic scalping is allowed. More than 50% of profit from trades lasting 5 seconds or less may trigger review. A flag is not automatic failure; confirmed or repeated exploitation may lead to profit removal and loss of access.

Tick or micro scalping is prohibited when trades repeatedly last less than 2 minutes and move less than 10 ticks. There is no universal minimum holding time.

DCA and scaling into positions within contract and loss limits.

Reasonable DCA is allowed. Excessive order stacking or order-book spamming intended to exploit simulated fills is prohibited.

Permitted within account limits, although Boxcar strongly discourages it.

Across your own Boxcar accounts, using built-in or third-party copiers. Each account keeps its own limits. Credential sharing and trading for others are prohibited.

Permitted only when one user copies trades across accounts held in that same person's name. Automated, group and reverse trading remain prohibited.

Allowed on Prime, Flex, Funded and Payout evaluation. Funded Payout must be flat from 1 minute before through 1 minute after high-impact USD news on the Forex Factory calendar; violations breach the account. Cancel pending entries and pause automation. Live has separate terms.

• All Evaluation accounts: no news-trading restrictions
• Advanced Qualified: no news-trading restrictions
• Direct, Standard and Zero Qualified: no orders within 2 minutes before or 2 minutes after high-impact news

At least one closed trade with USD 1 net profit or loss in every 30-calendar-day period. Otherwise the account may be permanently removed. Breached evaluations may be removed after 30 days without a reset.

10 trading days

Prime: none in evaluation, 40% per funded cycle. Flex and Payout: nominal 50% in evaluation plus a 2-point cushion, an effective 52% ceiling; no funded consistency. Funded: 20% per cycle. Best net day divided by total net profit; fees and losing days count. Missing consistency delays passing or payouts without itself breaching drawdown.

• Zero: no Evaluation consistency rule; 40% on Qualified accounts
• Standard: 50% in Evaluation; 40% on Qualified accounts
• Advanced: 40% in Evaluation; none on Qualified accounts
• Direct: 20% between performance fee requests

Evaluation and sim-funded positions must close before weekends and exchange early closes.

Exploitative HFT, latency or delayed prices, unrealistic simulated fills, technical defects, spoofing, layering, prohibited coordination or hedging, and trading for others. Brief flipping to count trading days is allowed but does not replace minimum-profit days or payout goals.

• All or Nothing Approach
• Order Book Spamming
• Tick or Micro Scalping
• Exploiting Absence of Slippage / Favorable Fills
• Multiple Limit Orders at Same Price
• Gambling Tendencies / Account Rolling (Account Stacking)
• Reverse Trading / Hedging
• Trading Illiquid or Gapped Markets for Isolated Fills
• Non-Compliance with CME Group Rules
• Group Trading (Collaborative Trading)

Trading during the overnight session is allowed, but positions cannot cross the daily close: flatten by 16:45 ET and re-enter from 18:00 ET in the next open session. Scheduled automatic flattening is not a breach. Live follows its own schedule.