Futures firms comparator
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53 differences
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Paris
Algaroud Center, 2nd Floor, Office 101-05, Dubai, UAE
Léon Grimm
Sean Bainton
France
United Arab Emirates
2023
2021
Merit Live: Phoenix covers the processor fee on withdrawals above $500.
2% processing fee on all withdrawals (Riseworks).
Live Funded account at EdgeClear on Rithmic. Classic and Spark: after 4 payouts. Daily: once $1,200/$3,000/$6,000 has been paid (Seed/Starter/Growth). Merit: straight to Live on approval. Risk review required; if not passed, the pre-funded payout limit may be extended instead. Live amount: Classic $1,250/$2,000/$3,500; Spark $400/$1,000; Daily $500/$1,250/$2,000; Merit $2,000. Static drawdown, daily limit agreed with the trader, and every rule waived except overnight and over-week positions. Other funded accounts go dormant on transfer.
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.
Classic: weekly, first payout after 5 trading days and then every 5. Spark: bi-weekly, first payout after 5 trading days. Daily: any trading day once profit matures (3 trading days; 5 for a day above 30% of total profit and above the tier's daily cap). Merit Live: any time, up to 10 per day. Processing: 2 to 3 business days.
- 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.
Per payout: Classic $600/$1,000/$2,000 (Starter/Growth/Scale); Spark $300/$400 (Seed/Starter). Daily: $200/$500/$1,000 per trading day (Seed/Starter/Growth), with $1,000 per day per trader across all Daily accounts. Merit Live: no maximum. PayPal: $2,000 per month.
Classic and Daily: $75. Spark: $30 (Seed) or $75 (Starter). Merit Live: $1.
$500 across all account types.
After passing: review of up to 72 hours, then KYC and Pre-Funded contract within 48 hours. The trailing drawdown locks at the starting balance on the first payout. Every denied payout comes with a written reason from the risk team. No crypto payouts.
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.
Per contract and side on TFeed; dxFeed is double. ES, NQ, RTY and YM $1.09; MES, MNQ, M2K and MYM $0.35; CL $1.15; MCL $0.43; GC $1.20; MGC $0.43; NG $1.20; 6E $1.20; ZN $0.80; ZB $0.83; BTC $3.38; MBT $1.38. Same rates on every line, in evaluation and funded.
Classic, Daily and Spark: unlimited, by paying the fee or with reset coupons (one per month the challenge stays alive; they stack and never expire). Classic: a failed account is reset free at renewal. Merit: no 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.
Performance Review (+20% on the price): 20 to 30 page report on the trader's own trades. Free ATAS licence with dxFeed.
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.
Scaling beyond the Classic plan on request, after a full review of the trades.
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.
Classic and Daily: end-of-day trailing in evaluation and funded. Spark: end-of-day trailing in evaluation and real-time trailing once funded. The trailing drawdown locks at the starting balance. Merit: static, the whole $2,000 balance. Live: static.
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.
Classic and Spark: 90%. Daily: 80%. Merit: 50% until the trader has withdrawn twice the starting balance, then 80%.
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.
Classic, Daily and Spark: none. Merit: 25% dynamic (soft breach). Live: agreed with each trader based on their results.
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
Classic and Daily: a locked buffer equal to the maximum drawdown stays in the account and is not withdrawable. Spark and Merit: none.
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.
Unlimited challenges. Pre-funded: 5 on TFeed (up to 3 Spark, 3 Daily, 3 Classic Growth or Scale and 5 Classic Starter) and 3 on dxFeed. Live: up to 5, at Phoenix's discretion. Merit: one attempt; another requires buying a Classic or Daily account first.
No deadline. Spark closes after 90 days without a trade. Merit: 30 calendar days.
Classic and Daily: 2. Spark: 1. Merit: none; the challenge lasts 30 calendar days.
- 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
No monthly fee on funded accounts. Activation: $29 one-time on Spark; $0 on Classic, Daily and Merit. Live: CME professional data at $135/month per exchange, deducted from the account.
No activation
Phoenix Extra: PHX earned for ideas and ambassador work, usable on accounts, resets and activation fees. Not convertible to cash.
Classic: 5 days between payouts with at least $100/$200/$300 profit (Starter/Growth/Scale). Spark: 5 days with at least $40 (Seed) or $100 (Starter). Daily and Merit: none.
- 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
Classic: the contract limit rises with profit at $1,000, $2,000 and $4,000 up to the account maximum, in evaluation and funded, and drops if profit falls back. Spark, Daily and Merit: full size from day one. Live: one extra mini per $2,000 of profit.
Classic: monthly subscription every 30 days, cancelled automatically on passing; dxFeed adds $20/month. Daily, Spark and Merit: one-time payment. No refunds.
One-time fee
HFT and bots that trade without the trader are prohibited. Tools that assist the trader (hotkeys, DOM, alerts) are allowed.
VPN, VPS and proxy allowed; sessions are monitored and identity documents may be requested.
Opposite positions on the same asset across accounts, own or someone else's.
No minimum trade duration.
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.
Rotating through accounts, each risked in full on the same bet until one hits, is prohibited. Holding several accounts is allowed.
Allowed within a single account, also DCA. Prohibited across accounts.
Same direction across the trader's own accounts. Thor is included with TFeed.
Including Tier 1 releases, at every stage.
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.
Pre-funded: one trade every 7 calendar days, otherwise the account closes without a payout. Live: 30 days, not applied mechanically. Challenges: none, except Spark (90 days).
At least one trade every 7 days on funded accounts.
Classic and Daily evaluations: best day up to 50% of total profit; exceeding it only delays passing. Spark funded: 30%. No rule on Classic and Daily funded, Spark evaluation or Merit.
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.
Hedging between accounts, account rolling, martingale or loss recovery across accounts (also at other firms) and HFT or bots. On funded accounts: flipping and one-tick trading on bonds. Stop trading a contract within 2% of its CME daily price limit.
- 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.
Positions must be closed before the session ends, at every stage including Live. Breach: funded account denied, or payout denied and account closed.
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.

















