Many futures prop firms have a live program where their management selects traders qualified for live accounts. It is rare for a firm like DayTraders to move you onto a live account without going through the sim-funded phase. This is a major attraction among traders looking for immediate access to the live market with the backing of a prop firm’s capital.
PipBack’s DayTraders review covers the account option that lets you trade on the live market within a short time. We also discuss the various account options that suit specific traders.
DayTraders Account at a Glance
Trail Pro Account
| 25K | 50K | 150K | 300K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Target | $1,500 | $3,000 | $8,500 | $15,000 |
| Drawdown Type | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing |
| Max Drawdown | $1,500 | $2,500 | $4,500 | $7,000 |
| Daily Loss Limit | None | None | None | None |
| Consistency Rule Evaluation | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Consistency Rule Pro Account | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% |
| Max Positions Funded | 6 Minis/60 Micros | 10 Minis/100 Micros | 24 Minis/240 Micros | 40 Minis/400 Micros |
| Min. Daily Profit: | $100 | $200 | $300 | $400 |
Trail accounts have an intraday trailing stop, which tracks your unrealized losses in real time. In exchange, it has a looser max drawdown.
EOD Pro Account
| 25K | 50K | 150K | 300K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Target | $1,500 | $3,000 | $8,500 | $15,000 |
| Drawdown Type | EOD Trailing | EOD Trailing | EOD Trailing | EOD Trailing |
| Max Drawdown | $1,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 | $6,500 |
| Daily Loss Limit | None | None | None | None |
| Consistency Rule Evaluation | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Consistency Rule Pro Account | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% |
| Max Positions Funded | 6 Minis/60 Micros | 10 Minis/100 Micros | 12 Minis/120 Micros | 40 Minis/400 Micros |
| Min. Daily Profit: | $100 | $200 | $300 | $400 |
This account uses an EOD trailing drawdown that counts your unrealized losses at the end of the day. With the easier drawdown rule, the MLL is lower for this account.
Static Pro Account
| 25K | 50K | 100K | 150K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit Target | $2,500 | $3,750 | $5,750 | $6,750 |
| Drawdown Type | Static | Static | Static | Static |
| Max Drawdown | $750 | $1,000 | $1,500 | $1,750 |
| Daily Loss Limit | None | None | None | None |
| Consistency Rule Evaluation | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% |
| Consistency Rule Pro Account | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% |
| Max Positions Funded | 4 Minis/40 Micros | 60 Minis/60 Micros | 8 Minis/80 Micros | 8 Minis/80 Micros |
| Min. Daily Profit: | $100 | $200 | $300 | $300 |
This account follows a static drawdown, where your max loss limit is fixed and will not trail up like the other accounts. In addition, the drawdown is an EOD where your losses are counted at the end of the session.
S2F Accounts
| 25K | 50K | 150K | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drawdown Type | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing |
| Max Drawdown | $1,000 | $2,500 | $6,000 |
| Daily Loss Limit | None | $1,250 | $3,750 |
| Consistency Rule Pro Account | 20% | 20% | 20% |
| Max Positions Funded | 6 Minis/60 Micros | 10 Minis/100 Micros | 24 Minis/240 Micros |
| Min. Daily Profit: | $100 | $200 | $300 |
The Straight 2 Funding (S2F) is the instant-funding option that lets you skip the evaluation. Because you are not getting tested, the funded phase is much tougher with a tight consistency rule.
S2L Accounts
| Core Plan | Edge Plan | Ultra Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Capital | 25K | 150K | 300K |
| Profit Target | $1,500 | $3,000 | $8,500 |
| Drawdown Type | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing | Intraday Trailing |
| Max Drawdown | $1,500 | $2,500 | $4,500 |
| Daily Loss Limit | None | None | None |
| Consistency Rule Evaluation | 25% | 25% | 25% |
| Consistency Rule Pro Account | None | None | None |
| Max Positions Funded | 6 Minis/60 Micros | 10 Minis/100 Micros | 24 Minis/240 Micros |
| Min. Daily Profit: | $100 | $200 | $300 |
The Straight 2 Live (S2L) is the unique account option of DayTraders that moves you to the live market. Note that you need to pass the evaluation before you are considered for a live-funded account.
DayTrader Evaluation
Apart from the S2F, all DayTrader accounts require you to go through the evaluation phase. You need to reach the profit target while avoiding the drawdown for your account. Below are other rules and conditions during this phase:
- Consistency Rating: The Trail, EOD, and Static accounts have a 50% consistency rule. On the other hand, the S2L has a lower 25% consistency rule.
- Qualifying Day: You are required to achieve a minimum daily profit for two days. The minimum profit amount is based on account sizes.
- Account Limit: You can hold a total of 15 evaluation accounts for either Trail, EOD, Static, or S2L.
- News Trading: There are no restrictions on news trading during the evaluation phase.
- Activation Fee: You need to pay a $130 activation fee after passing the evaluation and moving to the funded phase.
- Account Activity: Keeping an evaluation account from becoming inactive requires one trade once every 30 days, even without making a profit. This is an important factor if you plan on controlling several evaluation accounts.
- Overnight Holding: DayTraders allow you to leave your positions open overnight during the evaluation. This is a major benefit for swing traders since many futures prop firms restrict overnight holding of positions.
DayTrader Pro Account
Passing the evaluation of either the Trail, EOD, or Static account, or purchasing the S2F account, moves you to the Pro Account phase, where you are working on profits you can withdraw. To keep from breaching your account as well as meeting the payout requirement, below are the rules and factors of the funded phase to note.
100% Profit Split
All Pro Accounts and S2F Accounts enjoy 100% profit split on their payout. According to the FAQ page and even the online support agent, there is no limit on the profit split. You can withdraw all of your gains as long as you are meeting all requirements and are within the maximum payout cap. This is a significant benefit since some firms will give you a 100% profit split up to a certain amount withdrawn.
Drawdown Trailing and Static Rules
Both the Trailing and EOD accounts use the trailing drawdown mechanic. The trailing drawdown involves the threshold that moves with your realised and unrealised P&L. This threshold starts as the initial balance minus your account’s maximum loss limit. During the funded phase, the drawdown threshold stops when it reaches your initial balance.
Note that the Trail Account have their threshold move in real time while EOD accounts have their threshold update at the end of the day. S2F account traders will also follow the EOD trailing rules, which is also rare since many instant-funded accounts use an intraday trailing mechanic.
For the Static Accounts, the drawdown threshold never moves. It stays at the amount of your initial balance minus the maximum loss limit. In addition, your realized and unrealized PnL is tracked at the end of the day, which gives this account an EOD aspect.
For the Straight-2-Live drawdown, we will discuss its rules below.
Maximum Pro Account
You can only control up to 5 Pro Accounts at the same time. This can be a mix of either the Trail, EOD, Static, or S2F accounts. The limit should be accounted for if you plan on purchasing more than 5 Trail, EOD, and Static evaluation accounts.
News Trading
Like the evaluation phase, there is no restriction on news trading. DayTraders is only warning account holders to be wary of the highly volatile markets during major news events. This is a major feature for news traders since this practice is often restricted within the funded phase among some futures prop firms.
Qualifying Day
A qualifying day is DayTrader’s term for winning days, which requires you to achieve a minimum profit for one trading session. The minimum depends on the account size you have:
| Account Size | Minimum Profit |
|---|---|
| 25K | $100 |
| 50K | $200 |
| 100K | $300 |
| 150K | $300 |
| 250K | $300 |
| 300K | $400 |
You need to complete 8 qualifying days for the Trail, EOD, and Static accounts to qualify for a payout request. If you are on an S2F account, you need to do 10 QDays. The Qualifying Days is much higher than the usual 5 minimum trading days among many futures prop firms. In exchange, you enjoy a 100% profit split and no news trading restrictions.
Consistency Rule
The consistency rule limits the gains you can make for a single day. During the funded phase, the consistency percentage is much tighter than during the evaluation, with the Pro Accounts having a 30% consistency percentage. The S2F account is even stricter with a percentage of 20%.
You can see if you are meeting this requirement by accessing the Consistency Rule Calculator within your Members Dashboard. If it is high, you can bring it down to the required percentage by making gains across several days.
Overnight Holding
DayTrader automatically closes trades at the end of the day. Fortunately, they do not penalise accounts when you leave the system to be closed automatically.
Minimum Account Balance
The minimum balance is similar to the buffer amount rule, where you are required to make enough gains to reach a specific balance to request a payout. You are then required to maintain a minimum balance for the approval of your payout.
| Account Size | Mininimum Balance to Request | Minimum Balance After Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| 25K | $26,600 | $26,000 |
| 50K | $52,600 | $52,000 |
| 100K | $103,100 | $103,000 |
| 150K | $155,100 | $153,500 |
| 300K | $307,600 | $305,000 |
Microscalping
There are no rules or restrictions when it comes to microscalping. DayTraders’ support also confirmed that the firm will not penalize you for incredibly short trades that last for less than a minute. The only restriction on trades with short periods is activities that are similar to high-frequency trading (HFT), which involves executing thousands of trades within a minute. The lack of restrictions is a major benefit for scalpers who are concerned about getting penalized for the practice. Note that it is rare for futures prop firms to be lenient with microscalping.
DayTraders Straight 2 Live
A unique option from DayTraders, the Straight to Live accounts let you move to a live funded account without going through the sim-funded phase. Unlike the S2F or an instant-funded account, you need to go through the evaluation process.
The evaluation of the S2L includes the following parameters:
- Drawdown: Intraday Trailing
- Consistency Percentage: 25%
- Qualifying Days: 8 QDays
- Activation Fee: None
When you pass the evaluation, you need to sign the live account agreement and wait for the DayTraders management to contact you. The process takes one to five days. It is important to avoid taking on any of the Pro (Trail, EOD, and Static) or S2F evaluations during this time. When your management approves your transition to the live account, all sim-funded accounts are forfeited automatically since you cannot have both a live and a sim account at the same time.
During the funded phase, the following are significant factors to note:
- Maximum Live Accounts: 5
- Drawdown: Intraday Trailing
- Real-Time Data Fees: None
- Profit Split: 80%
- Payout Frequency: Daily
- Qualifying Days: None
- Consistency Rule: None
You will be trading on the ONYX platform with a free license provided by DayTraders. You have the option to use alternative platforms like ATAS, MotiveWave, EdgeProX, or Quantower. However, you will need to have a license for these respective platforms. Note that Tradovate and NinjaTrader platforms are not compatible with the live accounts.
Pro Accounts and S2F can also transition to a live account. DayTrader’s risk management team determines this based on your performance. If you are controlling several Pro Accounts, you can consolidate the accounts or choose a live allocation structure that suits your trading style.
Who Are the Accounts For?
There are five different DayTraders accounts to choose from, with their own perks and drawbacks. Below is a discussion on the accounts and who they are designed for.
Trail Pro Account
The intraday trailing drawdown is the drawback of the Trail Pro Account. Traders are encouraged to actively monitor their positions throughout the day and set proper stops.
Despite the drawdown policy, the Trail account has the highest max loss limit among the other Pro Accounts. A higher limit allows for a flexible risk to your positions, such as higher position sizes and longer exits. In addition, the Trail is the second-lowest priced account option at DayTraders.
The Trail Pro Account suits any futures prop firm trading style. Even with the intraday trailing mechanic, the high max loss limit allows for higher position sizes and longer trade durations.
EOD Pro Account
As the name indicates, this Pro Account has an EOD drawdown with your losses tracked at the end of the day. As a compromise, the max loss limit is lower than that of the Trail Pro Account. It is also the priciest of the Pro Accounts.
Having your losses counted at the end of the day and a higher max loss limit than the Static Pro Accounts are the main benefits of this Pro Account. Both give your positions enough breathing room for size and duration. These factors are a fair exchange for the higher price tag of the EOD Pro Account.
The EOD Pro Account is for traders who are comfortable with its drawdown rule instead of the intraday one. Even with a smaller max drawdown, traders have the freedom to be riskier with their trades through the EOD mechanic.
Static Pro Account
While the Static Pro Account has the most flexible drawdown rule, it also has the tightest max loss limit. Some of the account sizes have less than half the limit you can hit compared to the Trail Account. Even if your realized or unrealized losses can hit a drawdown at the end of the day, there is less room for mistakes on your trade since a large loss can easily breach your account. In addition, you have fewer contracts to control than other Pro Accounts.
The major benefit of the Static Pro Account is its low one-time fee. Its price lets you control several Pro Accounts within a budget. You are also trading with an EOD drawdown, providing more time to correct your losses.
If you are looking to control several Pro Accounts without breaking your wallet, the Static option is recommended. This is also a great option to reach the live-funded accounts at a budget price while enjoying the 100% profit cut.
Straight-2-Funding Account
The instant-funded model tends to be stricter than regular accounts among most futures prop firms that offer them. The S2F follows the standard model with a higher price and a low consistency rule. In addition, the payout requirement includes 10 qualifying days, instead of 8 QDays as required for all Pro Accounts.
Despite the limitations, the S2F plan is more lenient than other instant-funded models. It uses an EOD drawdown mechanic, while its max loss limit is nearly the same as the 25K and 50K Trail Pro Accounts, while the 150K S2F has a higher MLL than any Pro Accounts.
Even with a low consistency percentage, the risk of hitting the drawdown with the S2F is much lower with this model’s drawdown mechanic and MLL. Those lower risks make the S2F model attractive to anyone looking for a lenient instant-funded account. Note that this is not the recommended account if the price is too high or you want more room to make gains with a higher consistency percentage.
Straight-2-Live Account
The S2L is a shortcut to skip the sim-funded phase and move on to the live-funded phase, but you will still go through the evaluation. Its challenge phase is stricter than almost any evaluation model at other futures prop firms, with a 25% consistency percentage, 8 qualifying days, and an intraday trailing drawdown.
A significant reason to reach the live account is the daily payout that has no consistency rule, buffer amount, or qualifying days requirement. While the profit split is at 80%, the potential withdrawable gains is much higher with the live account, especially if you are controlling the 5 maximum allowed accounts.
The main benefit here is the perks of the live account, which has the most favorable payout policy in the industry. There is no guarantee that you will transition from a sim-funded account to a live one in most futures prop firms. Even if there are firms that are actively looking for talented traders, it can take weeks or months for a risk management team to move one to a live account. The strict evaluation of the S2L allows the DayTraders’ team to see your potential and prioritize you when considering traders for the live markets.
Final Word: DayTraders Review
The Straight-2-Live account is the unique offer on the table from DayTraders. There are a few futures prop firm models similar to it. With the lucrative payout requirements, the live account is highly attractive for many traders. In addition, the path towards live through the Pro Accounts and S2F Account is beneficial with its reasonable trading rules and 100% profit cut.
The account options are not perfect, especially with their payout requirements. All Pro Accounts have a consistency rule of 30% and 8 qualifying days requirement. This forces the payout frequency to be around two weeks. The limitation makes sense with the indefinite 100% profit cut until you reach the live-funded accounts.
Overall, DayTraders still has solid offers for various types of traders. It is also one with a lucrative live program with many perks for people consistent with their gains. Note that they are also lenient on their news trading and micro-scalping rules, which are accommodating to different trading styles.
FAQ: DayTraders Review
Which Pro Account is for beginners?
The EOD Pro Account is suitable for new traders. The EOD drawdown mechanic and max loss limit give you more room with the risks of your trades. Another alternative is the Trail Pro Account. Even with the intraday drawdown mechanic, its high max loss limit still lets you be flexible on your position’s size and stop-loss.
Is the Straight-2-Funding Account Worth It?
This depends on how you value the option to skip the evaluation. The S2F is worth it if you are willing to pay a higher price point and take on stricter payout requirements for the instant-funding option.
What happens to several of my Pro Accounts or S2F Accounts if I upgrade to live?
The Risk Team will discuss how to create a live account structure based on your performance and the accounts you control. One of the options is to consolidate your account or create a unique live trading plan that fits your performance.