TradeDay Review April 2026

After analyzing and evaluating +40 prop firms, we can confirm that TradeDay is a legal, well-established futures-only proprietary trading firm. TradeDay has a 4.6/5 rating on Trustpilot and 1,300+ reviews. We liked TradeDay since it includes day-one payouts with next-business-day processing, no daily loss limit on any account type, no consistency rule on funded accounts, a tiered profit split reaching up to 95%, and the choice of static drawdown type, which is one of the most sought-after drawdown mechanics in the futures prop space.

TradeDay operates from 412 S. Wells, Chicago, Illinois 60607, and it is based there. The company was founded in 2020 by James Thorpe and Steve Miley. The CEO James Thorpe has over 15 years of full-time futures trading experience and previously served as CEO of Mercury Derivatives and Futures First. The Co-founder Steve Miley spent 13 years as Head of Technical Analysis at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse.

TradeDay offers a single-step evaluation across three account sizes ($50K, $100K, $150K) with three drawdown types: Intraday Trailing, EOD Trailing, and Static. As a result, you will be able to select from nine distinct evaluation settings. The evaluation pass rate was 28.2% between October 2023 and March 2024 (per TradeDay’s official disclosure), which is notably higher than many competitors.

The firm trades CME Group futures exclusively across CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX exchanges. Read the full review to uncover every technical parameter: pricing, profit targets, drawdown mechanics, contract limits, evaluation rules, funded account structure, payout tiers, the path to live capital, platforms, instruments, prohibited practices, and more details.

TradeDay: How It Works

TradeDay follows a straightforward single-step evaluation model. We only had 3 alternatives to choose in the type of account and account sizes sections. You can do it as quicky as this:

1. Choose an account size and drawdown type.
2. Pay the monthly subscription fee. The previous step will determine this fee.
3. Pass the evaluation by hitting the profit target while respecting drawdown and consistency rules.
4. Pay a $139 activation fee (often waived during promotions) to receive a Funded Sim account.
5. Trade toward payouts from day one with no monthly fees on the funded account.
6. Progress through $5,000 milestone reviews toward potential Funded Live capital.

All the evaluations have only one step, and there is no time limit to complete it. You can take as long as needed to pass. The minimum trading days requirement is 5 days (it was 7 days before).

Just remember that each monthly subscription renewal includes one free reset if you fail. After this, you will have to pay the resets. Prices vary depending on account size and drawdown type.

Evaluation Account Parameters in TradeDay

There is one main rule TradeDay clearly states across its website: you don't have to reach or exceed the stated maximum drawdown limit of the account type you chose. This demonstrates your risk management ability, and following the golden rule will get you funded. 

Additionally, three objectives must be achieved:

• Trade at least for 5 days. The company needs to see a record of 5 trading days.
• Hit the profit target: $3000, $6000, or $9000, depending on your account size.
• Achieve the consistency objective: No single day should be responsible for more than 30% of your total profits.

We studied below each type of account, Itraday, End of Day and Static. Although there is no time limit, TradeDay needs to see at least 5 days of trading activity for any account during evaluation. Besides, you must comply with a 30% consistency rule. Read on to understand how they work in detail, the account sizes available, and much more before any investment.

Drawdown Type 1: Intraday Trailing Account

The intraday trailing maximum drawdown (Intraday TMD) calculates the drawdown limit from unrealized profits in real-time during the trading session. The drawdown floor moves upward with every equity peak and freezes permanently once it reaches the account's starting balance.

If you are looking for a challenge, this would be the type of risk for you, and here's all the information about it:

Drawdown Type 2: End-of-Day (EOD) Trailing Account

The EOD trailing maximum drawdown (EOD TMD) calculates the drawdown limit from realized profits at the end-of-day balance (at the 4:00 PM CT futures market close). Intraday equity swings do not move the drawdown floor. However, if equity drops below the active drawdown level during the session, auto-liquidation still triggers. The drawdown freezes at the account's starting balance.

Take a look at the details about EOD Account on TradeDay:

Drawdown Type 3: Static Account

Do you want simplicity and minimal risk? The static drawdown limit (SDL) is a fixed maximum drawdown that does not move or track account balance growth. The breach level stays at a fixed dollar amount below your starting balance, regardless of profits earned. Static accounts have lower profit targets and significantly lower contract limits.

Offering a static drawdown alternative is trader-friendly and not that common. It is a differentiator. The tradeoff here is that you get 1 to 3 contracts, so your earning power is limited, the reason why the profit target is also lower than on other accounts.

We summarized the key parameters below for you: 

TradeDay Drawdown Types Compared: Which One Fits Your Trading Style?

Not all drawdown structures are the same, and the one you choose will definitely affect your day-to-day trades. We analyzed and compared the three TradeDay offers. Read carefully if you are considering this firm to get funded.

Firstly, there is a critical EOD nuance. While the drawdown floor only updates at end of day, auto-liquidation is still enforced in real time. If your equity drops below the current drawdown level during the session, the account is terminated immediately. The EOD advantage is that unrealized profit peaks during the day don’t raise your floor, but the floor is still enforced intraday.

Secondly, the drawdown freeze is present on both Intraday and EOD accounts. The trailing drawdown stops trailing once the floor reaches your starting balance. For example, on a $50K account with a $2,000 drawdown, the floor starts at $48,000 and trails upward. Once it reaches $50,000, it locks permanently. From that point, your only risk is dropping below $50,000.

And, finally, the Static drawdown is the most forgiving option. The floor never moves. On a $50K account, your drawdown is $500, so the floor stays fixed at $49,500 from day one until you're done. Your only goal is to grow your account to $51,500 (profit target of $1,500) without ever letting your equity touch $49,500.

Evaluation Rules and Objectives

You will have 5 objectives to achieve in order to be funded by TradeDay. As we mentioned before in this article, the golden rule is not to break the Maximum Drawdown Limit. After this, you have to show consistency in your trading strategy by doing the following:

1. Reach the starting balance plus the profit target ($3,000/$6,000/$9,000 for trailing; $1,500/$2,500/$3,750 for static).
2. Minimum Trading Days: Trade on at least 5 separate days.
3. Consistency Rule of 30%: No single day’s profit can exceed the 30% of your total profit at the time you request funding.
4. Drawdown: Do not breach the maximum drawdown at any point.
5. Trading Rules: Only day trading is allowed, and all positions must be closed by 3:50–4:00 PM CT.

There are no other prohibited practices, and the evaluations have no expiration date. This means you can take as long as you need to complete them. Nonetheless, the monthly subscription continues until you pass, fail, or cancel the eval, and each renewal includes one free reset.

📌 Consistency rule detail: If your best day is $1,500 and your target is $3,000, you need $5,000 total profit ($1,500 ÷ 0.30) before the 30% rule is satisfied. The formula: Best Day Profit ÷ 0.30 = Minimum Total Profit Required. This rule only applies during the evaluation stage. It is removed on funded accounts.

Funded Account Structure: What Happens After Passing The TradeDay Evaluation?

Once you complete and pass the TradeDay evaluation stage, on the same day, you will get a notification by email at 17:30 CT. You will now receive new objectives for your funded account, and the monthly subscription will disappear.

Set up the funded account by following the four steps. You can find them on the evaluation Dashboard:

1. Pay the $139 activation fee.
2. Then, you will be onboarded on Riseworks, the payment and compliance platform. This step includes completing the KYC and submitting your ID. Check your email and hit the Accept Invite button.
3. Step three includes completing the Rules and Regulations Course.
4. Finally, funded sim will unlock and be set up at the moment.

💡 Remember: You have 30 days to complete the onboarding. Don't let the invite expire, or the offer will be withdrawn.

Funded Sim

After passing the evaluation and paying the $139 activation fee (frequently waived during promotions), you receive a Funded Sim account. This is a simulated account that mirrors real market conditions. Here, the same drawdown type and rules from your evaluation carry over.

• Here, the monthly subscription fees end, and there are no ongoing costs. Also, the 30% consistency rule is removed on funded accounts.
• Milestone Reviews: Your progress is reviewed at $5,000 gross profit increments ($5K, $10K, $15K, $20K). At each milestone, trading is paused and the Head of Trading reviews your account overnight. Most traders reaching the $20K milestone advance to Funded Live. You may hold up to 3 Funded Sim accounts simultaneously (increased from the original 1).
• Buffer Zone: Your “buffer” equals your starting balance plus the drawdown amount. On a $50K account with a $2,000 drawdown, the buffer is $52,000. Withdrawals above the buffer use the standard profit split (80/20). Withdrawals that dip into the buffer use a 50/50 split.

Funded Live

After demonstrating consistency through Funded Sim milestone reviews (typically at ~$20K gross profit), you may be promoted to Funded Live. This is a real brokerage account where trades execute on actual CME exchanges with TradeDay's money as a professional trader.

Note the key differences from Funded Sim:

• Limited to 1 Funded Live account (multiple Funded Sim accounts merge into 1 Live account).
• Professional market data fees required ($156/month per exchange).
• No milestone reviews. You will be authorized to trade continuously without mandatory pauses.
• Payout requests via email instead of the dashboard.
• Real market execution with real slippage and queue-based fills.
• The same profit split tiers apply.
• Setup takes approximately 5 business days with KYC/AML checks.

Please remember to read the full information on TradeDay's website. When you will be moved to a Funded Live Account is a decision entirely made by the company, based on your performance evaluation.

Payout Policy and Structure

The upside of choosing TradeDay comes with Payouts since day one. But before you can withdraw, you need to clear the buffer zone, meaning your account balance must exceed your starting balance by at least the drawdown amount. The minimum withdrawal is $250, and requests submitted before 5:30 pm CT are processed the next business day.

How does your profit split improve the more you earn over time with TradeDay? Check it out:

• 80% on your first $50K withdrawn
• 90% between $50K and $100K
• 95% beyond $100K

If you withdraw into the buffer, TradeDay penalizes it with a 50/50 split instead of the normal 80/20.

📌 Some notes about the payouts: TradeDay’s homepage states that traders keep the first $10,000 they make, then 90% thereafter. Some sources describe the tiers as 80/90/95 based on cumulative lifetime withdrawals. The firm has updated payout structures over time, so always verify the current split on the TradeDay website before purchasing. Payouts are processed through Riseworks with bank transfer and cryptocurrency options.

Pricing Summary

The prices listed on this review do not display the promotional prop firm discounts. Click on our link to visit TradeDay's official website and find the prices for each account with promotional discounts of 30% to 40%. These are frequently available through codes like SAVE40, PFA, and MATCH. A 40% discount reduces the $50K EOD from $175 to $105/month. Up to 6 evaluation accounts can be active simultaneously.

What Are The Trading Platforms Supported by TradeDay?

TradeDay supports multiple professional trading platforms, all using the CQG data feed through Tradovate infrastructure. You can learn more about each one in their FAQs section.

Here's a summary table for a general overview:

Tradable Instruments: What Products Can Be Traded on TradeDay?

TradeDay works only with futures products. It provides access to CME Group futures across all four exchanges:

Equity Index Futures: ES (E-mini S&P 500), NQ (E-mini NASDAQ 100), YM (Mini-DOW), RTY (E-mini Russell 2000), plus micro versions (MES, MNQ, MYM, M2K). Energy Futures: CL (Crude Oil), NG (Natural Gas), plus micros. Metals Futures: GC (Gold), SI (Silver), HG (Copper), plus micros. Agricultural Futures: ZC (Corn), ZS (Soybeans), ZW (Wheat), and others. Currency/FX Futures: 6E (Euro FX), 6B (British Pound), 6J (Yen), and others. Bond/Interest Rate Futures: ZN (10-Year T-Note), ZB (30-Year T-Bond), and others.

❌ It is not possible to trade stocks, options, forex pairs (spot), cryptocurrency, or CFDs. 

Trading Rules: Read Before Investing

TradeDay has very straightforward rules and conditions. It is your responsibility to carefully study them before investing. We summarized them for you but always check the official pages where all the information is stated.

Day Trading Only

You cannot hold trades overnight or over the weekend; all positions must be closed by 3:50–4:00 PM CT daily. If you leave a trade open past that window, TradeDay may close it for you automatically, and it could count as a rule violation against your account.

📌 In short: open and close your trades within the same trading day, every day.

News Trading

News trading is permitted; you can trade around major news events. However, you must manage risk around Tier-1 economic events (CPI, FOMC, NFP). TradeDay auto-liquidates positions during certain high-impact windows. The company may let accidental violations slide once or twice during evaluation, but abuse will result in account termination.

📌 In a nutshell: news trading is allowed, just don't rely on it as a strategy or you'll lose your account.

No Daily Loss Limit

TradeDay does not enforce a daily loss limit on any account type. The only loss constraint is the maximum drawdown. This means you can lose any amount in a single day as long as the drawdown floor is not breached.

30% Consistency Rule

The 30% consistency rule applies only during the evaluation phase: no single day’s profit can exceed 30% of your total profit when requesting funding. This rule is completely erased on funded accounts.

Automated Trading and EAs

You can use custom-built strategies on NinjaTrader, Tradovate, or TradingView, that's considered legitimate algorithmic trading and is allowed. What's banned are third-party purchased bots and automated trading systems (ATS) designed to exploit the platform. The distinction is between legitimate algorithmic trading (allowed) and bots designed to exploit platform infrastructure (prohibited).

📌 In short: build your own system, don't buy one designed to game the infrastructure.

Copy Trading

You can use Copy trading tools, such as TradeSyncer, Replikanto, CrossTrade, Quantower's built-in copier. They are supported for managing multiple personal accounts, provided risk management rules are followed.

📌 In other words: Copy yourself, not someone else. Copying between your own accounts is allowed.

Inactivity

Your account needs to show regular trading activity to remain in good standing. Check the FAQs section for specific timeframes and to avoid any risks for inactivity.

Maximum Accounts

You can run up to 6 evaluations simultaneously and up to 3 Funded Sim accounts at the same time. You can only have 1 Funded Live account once you graduate to live funding, all your Funded Sim accounts merge into that single Funded Live account.

Prohibited Practices

Before your first payout, TradeDay runs a security review to confirm your profits were earned legitimately and in line with their trading policies. This is not a formality, if your account is flagged for prohibited practices, you won't be funded.

You must bear in mind that the simulated market is almost identical to live trading, but not identical. So, exploiting gaps in the simulated environment to produce results that look great in an evaluation does not mean you won't lose money in real markets. TradeDay screens for this, and any strategy that games the simulation rather than reflecting genuine trading skill is banned outright. The following practices are prohibited:

❌ Manipulative trading patterns designed to game the evaluation rather than trade legitimately.

❌ Opening and immediately closing trades to accumulate trading days without actual market participation.

❌ Coordinated trading across multiple accounts to hedge positions.

❌ Bots designed to exploit platform infrastructure or drawdown mechanics.

❌ Third-party purchased automated trading systems.

❌ Latency arbitrage or data feed exploitation.

❌ Any other activity that undermines the integrity of the evaluation or funded trading environment.

Company Information

TradeDay is a legally established proprietary firm founded in 2020. You can find public profiles of the company on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and Discord.

TradeDay provides extensive trading guides, e-books, and learning materials you can download from their website. In our view, this adds value to their offer and helps you grow in the trading industry.

Who Is TradeDay Best For: Is it a Good Fit For You?

We created two profiles so you can evaluate if TradeDay is the right prop firm for you.

TradeDay is a strong fit if you:

• Are a CME futures day trader (ES, NQ, CL, GC, and more) and want the choice of three drawdown types (intraday, EOD, or static) to match your strategy.
• Are looking for a low-risk static drawdown, a type of risk not many companies offer.
• Value day-one payouts processed within 24 hours with no waiting period.
• Prefer no daily loss limit and just the overall drawdown rule.
• Want no consistency rule on your funded account.
• Appreciate a tiered profit split reaching up to 95% on lifetime withdrawals above $100K.
• Would like to have up to 6 evaluation accounts and 3 funded sim accounts simultaneously.
• Are looking for an experienced company, a firm founded by industry veterans (Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, CME backgrounds).
• Prefer monthly subscriptions with free resets on renewal over one-time fees.
• Prefer a clear path to live capital through structured milestone reviews.

However, TradeDay may not be the best fit if you:

• Need overnight or weekend holding, as this company only offers day trading.
• Prefer one-time evaluation fees over monthly subscriptions.
• Want a starting profit split above 80% from day one. Some competitors start at 90–100%, but it is not the case with TradeDay.
• Need static drawdown with full contract access (static accounts limit contracts to 1/2/3 minis).
• Want larger account sizes above $150K. These are not offered by TradeDay.
• Don't want a 30% consistency rule during evaluation.
• Prefer a prop firm with MT4/MT5 support (TradeDay uses Tradovate/CQG infrastructure).
• Are uncomfortable with $5K milestone review pauses on Funded Sim accounts.

How Does TradeDay Compare to Other Prop Firms? A Quick Comparison

Here's a quick comparison for you to have an overview of TradeDay and other prop firms. What would be the best deal for your trading style? One-step evaluation or instant funding? New companies or more experienced ones? Check it out:

PropFirmsFinder Final Take on TradeDay

TradeDay has established itself as a reliable, trader-friendly futures prop firm through operational consistency, transparent rules, and a founding team with genuine institutional trading backgrounds. The three-drawdown-type system (Intraday, EOD, Static) is a meaningful differentiator; most competitors force traders into a single drawdown model, and do not even offer a static alternative.

The EOD trailing drawdown option is TradeDay’s most significant advantage. Unrealized intraday equity swings don’t raise the drawdown floor, giving momentum and swing-style day traders substantially more breathing room than intraday trailing. Combined with no daily loss limit and no consistency rule on funded accounts, the funded trading environment is among the least restrictive in the futures prop space.

The day-one payout system with next-business-day processing is another differentiator. Most competitors require 5–14-day waiting periods between payouts. TradeDay allows daily withdrawals with no frequency restrictions once the buffer is cleared. The tiered profit split (80% → 90% → 95% based on lifetime withdrawals) rewards long-term consistency, though the 80% starting split is below competitors' offering 90–100% from day one.

The main cons we found out include the monthly subscription model vs. one-time fees competitors offer. Also, the static account has a very tight drawdown ($500 on $50K, $750 on $100K, and $1,000 on $150K) with limited contract access. The 30% consistency rule during evaluation can also extend the time needed to pass if you have one unusually profitable day early in the evaluation.

All in all we can confirm that for disciplined futures day traders who value drawdown choice, fast payouts, transparent rules, and a structured path from evaluation to live capital, TradeDay is a good choice.

Resources Consulted to Write This Review

All information in this review is sourced directly from TradeDay's official channels:

• TradeDay Official Website
• TradeDay Help Center / FAQ
• TradeDay Trustpilot Reviews