Halcyon Trader Funding vs TradeDay: Long-term Growth and Scaling Roadmap

2nd Floor, 412 S. Wells, Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States

Steve A. Kubik

James Thorpe

2024

2020

• US Wire Transfer: Free
• International Wire Transfer: $15/withdrawal
• Crypto L1: $2.5/withdrawal + estimated gas fees
• Crypto L2: Free

• 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.

Funded Live Access
Up to 5 active Funded Live accounts per trader.
90% profit split on Funded Live.
Clear position scaling rules and structured account transition.

No Activation Fee
TradeDay 2.0 removes the activation fee that existed in the previous model.

• 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

Day-one payouts on Quick Pay (no buffer). Requests submitted before 17:30 CT processed within 24 hours on business days. No frequency limit.

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.

Fast Pass Funded Sim maximum per request: $1,500 (50K), $1,875 (100K), $2,250 (150K).

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

$250 minimum per payout request.

• 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.

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

Available on current plans. See challenges for reset price.

• 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.

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

Two drawdown types available, both Trailing Maximum Drawdown:

Intraday TMD
Calculated in real time from unrealized profits during the session.

End of Day TMD
Calculated from realized profits at end of day (16:00 CT close). Follows account growth until frozen at the initial balance.

Funded Sim drawdown type matches the evaluation type purchased.

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

Quick Pay Funded Sim

• 80% trader / 20% TradeDay above $4,000 gross profit
• 50% trader / 50% TradeDay below $4,000 gross profit
• Split evaluated per account

Fast Pass Funded Sim

• 80% trader / 20% TradeDay

Funded Live

• 90% trader / 10% TradeDay

No daily loss limits on any plan.

Up to 10 Evaluation accounts and 5 Funded Sim accounts simultaneously per trader. Up to 5 active Funded Live accounts per trader. Multiple Funded Sim accounts allowed. Single-member US LLC allowed. Multi-member LLC, S-corps and C-corps not allowed.

• 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.

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

Unlimited

• 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

• Quick Pay: 5 trading days minimum (non-consecutive).
• Fast Pass: no minimum trading days.

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

No activation fee on TradeDay 2.0.

• 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

Fast Pass Funded Sim: 5 profitable days per payout; $150/$200/$250 minimum daily profit on 50K/100K/150K.

Fast Pass Funded Sim starts at 2/3/4 contracts for 50K/100K/150K, then adds one contract per $2,000 of EOD profit. Quick Pay limits are fixed by account size.

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.

Monthly subscription. See challenges for current list prices and promotions for active discounts.

• 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.

Allowed if using supported platforms: NinjaTrader, Tradovate, Tradingview, Jigsaw, Quantower. TradeDay does NOT expose Tradovate API. Own systems allowed (NOT purchased from third parties). If multiple users make same trades: All accounts closed.

Scalping allowed EXCEPT: High-frequency ATS, >200 trades per day, trades in few seconds for 1-2 ticks, playing with sim matching engine.

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

Allowed from a trader's own account into their TradeDay account, and between two of the trader's own TradeDay Funded Sim accounts. NOT allowed between Funded Live and Funded Sim, and NOT allowed between two different users. Compatible third-party tools: Tradesyncer (TDTC), Flowbots (tradeday), Expert Trading Programmers (TradeDay25OFF).

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.

TradeDay does not charge inactivity fees. However, Tradovate archives the account after 1 month without login.

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.

Quick Pay: 30% consistency in evaluation. Fast Pass: 45% consistency in evaluation and Funded Sim. Funded Live has no consistency rule.

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 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

• Using bots/ATS purchased from third parties
• Systems generating >200 trades in a day
• Strategies trading in few seconds to capture only a few ticks
• Attempting to capture queue position advantage by playing with sim engine
• Spoofing and layering (per CME Group rules)
• Order splitting (multiple limit orders at same price simultaneously)
• Trading in illiquid markets to benefit from missed fills
• Exploiting lack of slippage in simulation (e.g., bracket orders in data releases)
• Trading outside best bid/offer
• Using external or slow data feed
• High-frequency trading or short-term trading
• Simultaneous opposite positions between accounts
• Multiple registrations with different names/emails
• Using VPN or VPS to mask location
• Hedging: Prohibited (trading long in one account and short in another for same product)
• Trading within 2% of price limit (Funded Live only, loss of account)
• Microscalping (positions held <5-10 seconds dominating profit)
• Trading Tier 1 news/data releases (2 min before/after, auto-liquidation)

• 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.