Futures firms comparator

Paris

Léon Grimm

Steve A. Kubik

France

United States

2023

2024

Merit Live: Phoenix covers the processor fee on withdrawals above $500.

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.

• 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.

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.

• 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

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.

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.

Classic and Daily: $75. Spark: $30 (Seed) or $75 (Starter). Merit Live: $1.

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

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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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

Performance Review (+20% on the price): 20 to 30 page report on the trader's own trades. Free ATAS licence with dxFeed.

• 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.

Scaling beyond the Classic plan on request, after a full review of the trades.

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.

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

Classic and Spark: 90%. Daily: 80%. Merit: 50% until the trader has withdrawn twice the starting balance, then 80%.

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

Classic, Daily and Spark: none. Merit: 25% dynamic (soft breach). Live: agreed with each trader based on their results.

No daily loss limits on any plan.

Classic and Daily: a locked buffer equal to the maximum drawdown stays in the account and is not withdrawable. Spark and Merit: none.

• 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.

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.

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

Classic and Daily: 2. Spark: 1. Merit: none; the challenge lasts 30 calendar days.

• 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

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.

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

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.

• 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

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.

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.

HFT and bots that trade without the trader are prohibited. Tools that assist the trader (hotkeys, DOM, alerts) are allowed.

• 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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

Positions must be closed before the session ends, at every stage including Live. Breach: funded account denied, or payout denied and account closed.

• 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.

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