Futures firms comparator

L1, Shaw House, 201 Wan Po Road, Tseung Kwan O

Somesh Kapuria

Steve A. Kubik

Hong Kong

United States

2.5% per payout. Minimum fee: USD 25 for bank wire or Rise; USD 5 for crypto.

By risk-team invitation; the transition cannot be requested or declined. Eligibility reference: at least ten payouts totaling USD 50,000, with possible earlier invitations. One live account per trader. At most 15% of the sim funded account size transfers; excess profit does not carry over. Paid professional data required.

• Halcyon may transition traders to a Live Brokerage account once consistency and risk management are demonstrated.
• Trader Live Training Program: intermediate stage in a simulated environment that rewards milestones before live transition.
• Live Brokerage: daily reward requests (Mon–Fri), 100% profit split, swing trading allowed, margin-based contract limits.
• Exclusive to the Ironbeam platform.
• Starting capital on live typically matches the qualifying Reward Account's drawdown amount.

Prime and Direct sim funded: every seven calendar days from the first trade of the cycle; after a payout the next trade starts a new cycle. Live: daily requests.

• 6 qualifying trading days are required before each reward request
• All 6 days must meet the applicable Minimum Daily Profit Requirement
• Lite/Prime minimums: $100 for 25K, $200 for 50K and $350 for 150K
• Dynamic minimums: $200 for 50K, $275 for 75K, $325 for 100K and $400 for 150K
• After each approved reward, all qualifying trading days reset to zero
• No payout window: requests can be submitted whenever the dashboard shows an eligible reward amount
• Processed first-in, first-out, up to 3 business days

Processing within one hour of an eligible request, following a prior review of up to 24 business hours. Business days only; KYC or incomplete details may cause delays.

Prime and Direct sim funded payout caps, ordered first / second / third / fourth and subsequent:

• 25K: USD 1,000 / 1,250 / 1,500 / 2,000.
• 50K: USD 1,500 / 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000.
• 100K: USD 2,000 / 2,500 / 3,000 / 4,000.
• 150K: USD 2,500 / 3,000 / 4,000 / 5,000.

Lite and Prime

• 25K: 50% of profits, up to $1,000 per reward
• 50K: 50% of profits, up to $2,000 per reward
• 150K: 50% of profits, up to $3,000 per reward

Dynamic

• 50K: up to $1,250 per reward
• 75K: up to $1,550 per reward
• 100K: up to $2,000 per reward
• 150K: up to $3,000 per reward

Maximum 5 approved rewards per account. After the 5th reward, the account may be reviewed for transition to the TLT Program or a Live Brokerage account.

Prime and Direct sim funded, by size: 25K, USD 250; 50K, USD 500; 100K, USD 1,000; 150K, USD 1,500. Rise requires at least USD 500 of the trader share. Live: USD 500 including the firm share.

Minimum reward request: $250. Lite, Prime and Dynamic Reward Accounts only need net profit above their starting balance; there is no buffer to clear.

KYC, agreement and interview before the first payout; account review for every request and further checks when required. After a payout the loss floor becomes the starting balance: retain enough profit to avoid touching it. Consistency resets even after a partial payout.

• Based on the default (free) membership tier of platform partners.
• Fees include: exchange, NFA, clearing and platform commission.
• Calculated per contract, per round trip.
• Micro contracts generally have lower fees than mini contracts.

Failed challenges can be repurchased at any time. Funded accounts cannot be reset.

• Unlimited resets available for a fee (via the Trader Dashboard).
• Restores a fresh account balance with all risk parameters reset.

Direct Account: funded access without any evaluation phase.

1-Step Prime Challenge: single-phase evaluation with a profit target and consistency requirement.

Live program: whenever accumulated profit reaches 100% of the reference balance, the account grows by 10%. Payouts count toward profit and eligibility is reviewed on payout requests. The Forex scaling ladder does not automatically apply to Futures sim funded.

Evaluation and sim funded: trails the highest end-of-day balance, not intraday unrealized peaks. It only rises and locks at the starting balance after earning the drawdown distance. A payout fixes the floor at the starting balance even if it had not locked yet. Touching it with balance or equity closes the account.

Halcyon Lite (Intraday Trailing)

• $25K: $1,000 | $50K: $2,000 | $150K: $4,000
• Tracks Total Liquidation Value including unrealized profits
• Locks permanently at starting balance + $100 after the first approved reward

Halcyon Prime (End-of-Day)

• $25K: $1,000 | $50K: $2,000 | $150K: $4,500
• Updates only at end of trading session based on closing balance
• Locks permanently at starting balance + $100 after the first approved reward

Halcyon Dynamic

• Evaluation: $2,000 on the 50K account; Intraday or End-of-Day selected at purchase
• Reward: $2,000 on 50K | $2,500 on 75K | $3,000 on 100K | $4,000 on 150K
• Reward drawdown can be Intraday or End-of-Day, independently of the evaluation choice
• Locks permanently at starting balance + $100 after the first approved reward

Each product split is listed in its challenge. The live program has its own split and starting-balance release requirements.

90/10 profit split on all Lite, Prime and Dynamic Reward Accounts. Trader keeps 90%, firm keeps 10%.

Prime evaluation and sim funded: no daily cap. Direct: based on the previous closing balance; reaching it closes positions and pauses trading until the next day, without terminating the account for that isolated event. Maximum-loss breaches still terminate the account.

No daily loss limits on any plan.

Combined sim funded and Direct: up to USD 500,000 or five accounts, whichever comes first. Combined Forex and Futures: USD 800,000. One live account may additionally be held.

After a payout the balance must stay above the starting balance, which becomes the loss floor. Withdrawing all profit would leave no room above that limit.

• No buffer. Removed for accounts purchased from 8 Aug 2026.
• To request a reward it is enough to be above the account starting balance: there is no locked amount to build or maintain.
• Previously a buffer of drawdown + $100 was required, and withdrawing from within it was not allowed.
• After the first approved reward, the maximum loss limit moves permanently to starting balance + $100.

At most five sim funded or Direct accounts, subject to total allocation; one additional live account. Unlimited evaluation purchases.

Unlimited on all plans.

• Evaluation accounts expire after 30 calendar days if not passed.
• Accounts inactive for more than 30 calendar days are disabled.

None on any plan.

• Halcyon Lite Evaluation: 1 trading day
• Halcyon Prime Evaluation: 3 trading days, or 1 day with the 1-Day Pass add-on
• Halcyon Dynamic Evaluation: 1 trading day
• All Reward Accounts: 6 qualifying trading days before each reward request; the counter resets to zero after each approved reward

Sim funded: no monthly membership fee; Level 1 data included. Live: professional data, USD 130 per exchange per month or USD 520 for all four, without proration.

Lite and Prime

• With activation-fee pricing, the activation fee is paid once after passing
• With no-activation-fee pricing, no payment is required after passing
• Both options lead to the same Reward Account rules

Dynamic

• After passing, the trader pays a one-time upgrade fee based on the selected Reward Account size, drawdown type and consistency option

Prime sim funded: five non-consecutive profitable days in every payout cycle, not only the first. Minimum daily profit: 25K, USD 100; 50K, USD 150; 100K, USD 200; 150K, USD 250. Direct has no profitable-day minimum.

• Halcyon Lite Evaluation: 1 trading day
• Halcyon Prime Evaluation: 3 trading days, or 1 day with the 1-Day Pass add-on
• Halcyon Dynamic Evaluation: 1 trading day
• All Reward Accounts: 6 qualifying trading days meeting the applicable Minimum Daily Profit Requirement before each reward request

Size-based limits are listed on each challenge. Standard mini:micro ratio is 1:10; Micro Silver has double weighting, and MBT/MET count as minis. No progressive sim funded contract-scaling plan is documented. Live has separate limits.

1-Step Prime is a subscription that renews automatically every 30 days until passing or cancellation. It cannot be paused. Cancellation loses progress and returning requires a new purchase.

Lite and Prime
Two one-time pricing options are available:

• With activation fee: lower evaluation fee, then a separate activation fee after passing
• No activation fee: higher all-in evaluation fee; upgrade to the Reward Account is free

Dynamic

• One-time 50K evaluation fee: $47 with Intraday Trailing drawdown or $49 with End-of-Day drawdown
• A separate Reward Account upgrade fee is paid after passing

No subscriptions or recurring billing.

• Halcyon Prime: 1-Day Pass add-on. Price by size: +$18 (25K), +$27 (50K), +$41 (150K).
• Bypasses the 40% consistency rule.
• Allows passing the evaluation in a single trading day.
• Halcyon Lite has no add-ons.

• Bots, algos and semi-automated systems are allowed.
• You must be the sole owner of the system.
• The system cannot be used across multiple firms.
• HFT (high-frequency trading) bots are not allowed.
• Halcyon may request proof of usage.

Legitimate connections and VPNs outside restricted countries are permitted. Own devices only; travel may require verification. Device or identity sharing may close all accounts.

Stop losses required in sim funded and Direct; without one, a trade is treated as unlimited risk. The per-idea risk rule does not apply during evaluation. No fixed three-minute stop-placement deadline is documented here.

There is no universal minimum holding time. A systematic pattern of sub-three-minute trades without a plan, tick scalping, HFT or latency exploitation is prohibited.

Sim funded and Direct: 2% of the initial balance per idea on Tradovate, NinjaTrader and WealthCharts; legacy DX Futures accounts use 1%. Not applicable during evaluation. Overlapping positions and same-asset, same-direction re-entries within ten minutes are combined.

• Contract limits are applied based on account size.
• Excessive daily contract usage is prohibited (over 250 contracts across micros or minis).

Only own Hola Prime challenge or sim funded accounts within the same environment. The lead must have the lowest contract limit. Third-party copiers are used at the trader responsibility; external or other-person accounts cannot be copied.

Evaluation and sim funded: complete at least one round-trip trade within each seven-day period. Live: suspension after 30 calendar days; opening or closing a trade counts as activity.

Accounts must place at least one trade every 30 consecutive calendar days. Accounts inactive for more than 30 days will be considered inactive and may be disabled. Evaluation accounts also expire 30 calendar days after starting if not passed.

1-Step Prime Challenge: 40%. Prime funded account: 35%. Direct Account: 20%.

Halcyon Lite

• No consistency rule on evaluation or reward accounts.

Halcyon Prime

• 40% consistency rule on BOTH evaluation and reward accounts.
• No single trading day's profit may exceed 40% of total profits during the qualifying period.
• 1-Day Pass Add-On allows bypassing the consistency requirement during evaluation only.

Halcyon Dynamic

• When upgrading after passing the evaluation, the trader chooses a Reward Account with 40% consistency or no consistency.

Day trading only. All positions must be closed and all orders canceled by 4:45 PM EST (New York Time). Positions are automatically liquidated outside trading hours. No overnight or weekend holding on any account type.

Bots and partial or full automation; tick scalping and HFT; arbitrage, latency, errors and low-liquidity exploitation; grid, overexposure, account rolling and unsupported bets; copying external or other-person accounts; cross-account hedging; shared accounts or devices; unjustified strategy or contract-size changes to manipulate evaluations or payouts. Trading within 2% of a CME price limit is prohibited. Violations may forfeit profits and terminate accounts.

• Hedging on the same or related underlying assets (e.g. ES + MES, NQ + MNQ)
• Opposite Direction Trades within or across accounts (CME Rule 534 – Wash Trades, CME Rule 575 – Disruptive Practices)
• Mixing micro and mini contracts on the same asset
• Holding positions outside trading hours / overnight / weekend
• Account sharing or third-party trading

Close daily before 15:30 CT; the trader must be flat by 15:28 CT without relying on risk-team flattening. Observe earlier agricultural and holiday closes. Sunday-evening to Monday trading belongs to one session and is permitted.

• All positions must be closed and all orders canceled by 4:45 PM EST.
• Positions are automatically liquidated outside trading hours.
• Failing to close may trigger automatic liquidation and account failure.