Futures firms comparator
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48 differences
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia
Algaroud Center, 2nd Floor, Office 101-05, Dubai, UAE
Christoph Radecker
Sean Bainton
Saint Lucia
United Arab Emirates
2021
Elite trades real capital by risk-team invitation; standard Funded accounts use simulated capital.
After completing the evaluation and trading consistently on a Simulated Funded Account, the Risk Management team may invite traders to Live. There is no fixed timeline; each trader is evaluated individually. From 28/09/2026, all eligible funded accounts merge into one Live Account at transition. Their starting Live drawdowns add together: five $50K accounts provide $10,000 of combined drawdown. The $15,000 cap applies to new purchases after 28/09/2026. Contract limits scale with the combined drawdown, up to 10 minis / 100 micros. At each live profit milestone of 0.5x, 1x and 1.5x the starting drawdown, 25% of that drawdown is deposited into the Live balance as a bonus. The bonus becomes withdrawable after five winning days with the account in profit. Instead of trading Live, the trader may choose a one-time Live Buyout of 50% of the combined starting drawdown at transition. It is available once per trader, with a 28-day cooldown afterward. Live accounts use end-of-day drawdown with no daily loss limit. CME professional data, trade commissions and platform fees are deducted from the balance. Contract limits may increase with consistent performance.
Core and Instant: every 10 active sessions. Rapid Daily: after one session; Rapid Futures 3D: every 3 sessions. Rapid closes after the fifth payout.
- Standard: every 3 days, from 3 days after the first trade
- Reserve: instant payout once eligible (5 winning days)
- Express: daily payouts
- Direct: instant payout from day one
Withdrawal eligibility is confirmed by the end-of-day (EOD) dashboard update. Once the withdrawal button is enabled, a request can be submitted at any time without waiting for the next EOD update.
The website advertises processing within 48 hours or a 100% split on that payout. Bank transfer or USDC ERC-20 according to the help center.
Payouts processed within 24 business hours. If Blue Guardian misses that window through a delay on their end, you receive an extra 10% profit share on that payout. Does not apply on weekends or bank holidays, nor to delays from compliance or risk reviews, Rise onboarding or a pending trader response.
Up to 50% of profits per request, before the split. Core/Instant 50K: $1,500/$2,000/$2,500 for payouts 1-2/3-4/5+; 100K: $2,000/$2,500/$3,000. Rapid Daily 50K: $1,000 for the first two, then $1,500; 100K: $1,500/$2,000. Rapid 3D 50K: $2,000; 100K: $2,000 for the first two, then $3,000. After the first payout, new profits of at least 50% of the next requested amount are required.
No published minimum.
$500 across all account types.
2% processing fee on all withdrawals (Riseworks).
Per contract per side: dxFeed $0.75 micro / $2 mini; Tradovate $0.80 / $2.88. CME L1 included; other exchanges and L2 cost extra. Tradovate is limited to DLL accounts; evaluations cannot migrate.
Evaluation resets and up to two funded or Instant resets. Help articles exclude promotional accounts from resets, although the Welcome Futures checkout displays a reset price. Confirm before purchasing a Welcome reset.
Evaluation accounts can be reset at 30% off the original price. After failing the evaluation, the trader has 7 days to decide whether to reset. Funded accounts cannot be reset.
Discretionary invitation to Elite with real capital and individual limits. The website also advertises a waiting list; automatic scaling is not guaranteed.
Scaling applies to funded Reserve and Express accounts only. Standard and Direct keep flat contract limits from start to finish.
On Reserve and Express you get full contract size during the evaluation, and funded limits start lower and grow with the account balance. Updated at end of day (EOD) on the closing balance; if the EOD balance drops below a trigger, the tier can go back down.
Starting funded limits
- $25,000: 1 mini / 10 micros
- $50,000: 2 minis / 20 micros
- $100,000: 3 minis / 30 micros
- $150,000: 3 minis / 30 micros
Scaling triggers ($25K / $50K / $100K / $150K)
- +$1,500: 2/20 · 3/30 · 4/40 · 4/40
- +$2,000: — · 4/40 · 5/50 · 5/50
- +$3,000: — · — · 8/80 · 8/80
- +$4,500: — · — · — · 12/120
Flat limits (Standard and Direct)
- $25,000: 1 mini / 10 micros
- $50,000: 4 minis / 40 micros
- $100,000: 8 minis / 80 micros
- $150,000: 12 minis / 120 micros
1 mini = 10 micros; contracts can be mixed within the limit.
EOD trailing: the threshold follows the highest closing value and never decreases. It locks at the initial balance when reached or after the first payout. Subsequent loss room consists of the profits left in the account.
Trailing end-of-day (EOD) on all plans. Values per plan and size:
- Standard $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,500 / $2,000 / $3,500 / $5,000
- Reserve $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,500
- Express $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,000 / $2,000 / $2,500 / $3,500
- Direct $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,500 / $2,000 / $3,500 / $4,500
Once the trailing drawdown reaches the starting balance, it locks and stops trailing.
On Direct the drawdown becomes static after the account exceeds the initial trail balance or after the first payout request. After any approved payout the drawdown floor locks at starting balance + $100 on every plan.
Core DLL and funded Rapid Daily: the checkout specifies one soft closure and account termination on the second breach. Older Core DLL articles still describe an immediate hard breach.
Soft breach on every plan: open trades are closed automatically and the account is disabled for the rest of the day, then reinstated the next trading day.
- Standard $25K: none. $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000
- Reserve: configurable at checkout. Traders can choose no daily loss limit or a soft DLL of $600 / $1,200 / $1,700 / $3,000 on $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K. The price varies depending on the selected option
- Express challenge $25K: none. $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,000 / $1,250 / $1,750
- Express funded $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K: $500 / $1,000 / $1,250 / $1,750
- Direct $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K: $1,000 / $1,250 / $2,500 / $3,000
Core and Instant: up to 10 funded accounts. Rapid: up to 5. One Welcome account per user. Unlimited evaluations; passed accounts can wait for an activation slot. Futures limits are separate from CFD/crypto limits.
New purchases: 90-day evaluation; Instant accounts have no expiry. No monthly renewal fees for purchases from 22 October 2026 at 18:00. Older accounts retain their renewal terms.
Core: no minimum evaluation days. Rapid: the help center specifies 3 evaluation days and consistency.
- No minimum trading days on evaluation. Standard can be passed in as little as one trading day
- Express with the optional 50% consistency add-on can qualify after 2 green days
- Funded: one trade every 7 days to keep the account active
Reserve challenges are configurable at checkout. Traders can choose a Daily Loss Limit or no Daily Loss Limit, combined with a 40% consistency rule (3-day pass) or a 50% consistency rule (2-day pass). The price varies depending on the selected combination.
Express challenges offer an optional 50% evaluation consistency add-on instead of the standard 40% rule, allowing traders to qualify after as few as 2 green days.
90% on all funded accounts and plans.
A payout delayed beyond the 24-business-hour guarantee adds an extra 10% profit share on that payout.
Standard — Funded Buffer
- $25,000 → $1,600
- $50,000 → $2,100
- $100,000 → $3,600
- $150,000 → $5,100
Payouts are only available from profits earned above the buffer, and the buffer must stay intact when submitting a request.
Express
- $25,000 → $1,100
- $50,000 → $2,100
- $100,000 → $3,600
- $150,000 → $5,100
Payouts are only available from profits earned above the buffer.
Reserve
- No buffer to reach before a payout, but after any withdrawal the drawdown floor locks at starting balance + $100.
Direct
- No profit buffer requirement.
No activation
- Standard: no minimum. First payout 3 days after the first trade
- Reserve: 5 winning days before each payout, with a minimum of $100 / $150 / $200 / $250 profit per day on $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K. Winning days reset after every payout
- Express: no minimum
- Direct: no minimum
One-time fee
Only self-developed or transparent systems with full source access and control over their logic. No commercial black-box bots, HFT or arbitrage.
Allowed for security or connectivity, never to conceal identity or bypass restrictions.
No HFT or tick scalping. Payouts require the 15-second rule: at least half of trades and profits must come from trades exceeding that threshold, as described in payout help.
Microscalping (trades held seconds with minimal profit margins) is prohibited. Automated scalping systems that exceed 200 trades per day are not allowed. Exploiting tight brackets or the simulated market's absence of slippage is forbidden.
Position Loss plans aggregate all trades in the same market, including fees, spread and slippage. Limit: 1% in evaluation and 0.5% funded/Instant. Two soft closures; the third breach ends the account. Rapid Futures does not use this limit.
Max risk-to-reward ratio: 5:1. For every $100 of profit target, your initial stop loss cannot exceed $500. Mental stops are accepted but excessive risk-taking can lead to warnings or payout disqualification. Adjusting stops to add risk goes against policy; only move stops forward to trail and protect profits.
Additional risk guardrails:
- Trade within 2% of any CME price limit is prohibited.
- Trading without clear risk management, excessive sizing, inconsistent contract sizes or "all-in" strategies may be considered gambling and lead to account review.
- Holding a position into the daily 16:10 EST auto-close is fine; the auto-close itself doesn't breach the account.
Allowed on both challenge and funded accounts, on every plan. Traders can open, manage and close positions during high-impact news. Blue Guardian warns that slippage and spread widening may occur.
Closure after 8 calendar days without trading. Opening or closing a trade resets the timer; an open position pauses it.
At least one trade every 7 days on funded accounts.
Core: 30% funded and Instant, none during evaluation. Rapid: 40% during evaluation; none for funded Rapid Daily. Rapid Futures 3D: 40% per funded cycle. Resets after each payout.
A single trading day cannot equal or exceed:
- Standard: 40%, on the funded account only
- Reserve: configurable as 40% (3-day pass) or 50% (2-day pass), on the evaluation only
- Express: 40% on the evaluation by default; an optional 50% evaluation consistency add-on allows qualification after as few as 2 green days
- Direct: 20% on the first payout, 25% on the second, 30% from the third onwards
Calculation: Highest Net Profit Day / Total Account PnL. On evaluation accounts, passing is delayed until the ratio complies with the selected threshold. On funded accounts, payouts are blocked until the ratio drops below the applicable threshold. Violating the rule does NOT terminate the account.
Latency arbitrage, price or platform manipulation, spoofing/layering, bug exploitation, copying/external signals, third-party management, account sharing, multiple identities and excessive exposure.
- Automated scalping systems exceeding 200 trades per day.
- AI, bots and fully automated trading mechanisms (all account types).
- Hands-off, continuous day-and-night trading or complete automation.
- Placing multiple limit orders at the same price to manipulate fills.
- Strategies aimed at exploiting isolated fills in low-liquidity or gapped markets.
- Using tight brackets or absence of slippage in the simulated market for favorable fills.
- Trading during tier 1 economic data releases.
- Coordinated trading across unconnected accounts (identical or opposing strategies).
- Microscalping (trades held seconds with minimal margins).
- Trading within 2% of a CME price limit.
- Trading without a stop loss, relying on the trailing threshold to close trades.






















