Last Updated on July 26, 2024
Congratulations, the big day is here! You have passed the Gauntlet Mini™ or the Trader Career Path® challenges, and you are a funded trader.
But what now? Do you still need to follow the rules? What happens if you make a nice profit? How can you withdraw funds? What happens if you blow your funded trading account? There are a lot of questions that need an answer.
This article will help you better understand what happens after you join our funded trading program and once the real trading begins.
What Happens After You Get Funded?
Candidates who pass the Gauntlet Mini™ will receive a guaranteed offer for a funded trading account with our proprietary trading partner. It will be the same size as the one used to pass the evaluation.
With the Trader Career Path®, you will begin with a capital of $25,000–$100,000 and follow a scaling plan, where you can grow your account to $200,000 or $400,000, depending on the selected plan. The best among you will be able to even go beyond that and receive a customized offer.
There are two types of funded trading accounts available after passing the evaluations:
LiveSim® Accounts
The LiveSim® account is a virtual account that allows you to continue sharpening your skills in a simulated environment while having the benefit of withdrawing your profit. Although no trades on the account are executed on a live exchange, the simulation is traded through a live data connection from Rithmic.
The prop firm offers this as an optional step for traders who don’t think they’re ready to jump into live trading. Think of it as a bridge between trading on a simulator and trading on a live account. Furthermore, it grants you advantages like faster setup time (you can start trading in just two business days after accepting the funding agreement) and a NinjaTrader® license from Earn2Trade.
This option suits traders who want to mitigate the stress of live trading but still make money if they perform well. As stated above, this is an optional step and not necessary if you want to start trading live immediately.
For traders who chose a LiveSim® account upon completing the Gauntlet Mini™, it is only available until you make your first $5,000 (minus the 20% profit split – more on this later).
For those who passed the Trader Career Path® evaluation, LiveSim® will be available until you reach the profit target of $1,750 in the TCP25 or $3,000 in the TCP50 (minus the 20% profit split).
After that, you will be automatically switched to a Live account.
Furthermore, traders with non-professional status pay a $139.00 account activation fee, deducted from their first profit withdrawal. Those with professional status will be charged $135/month/exchange.
LiveSim® accounts calculate drawdown the same way as on your evaluation account.
Live Accounts
To really experience being a professional trader, you should pick the Live account. In the Live account, you will be trading on your preferred platform, with your orders being processed directly through a brokerage to the CME. The setup time is a bit longer (up to 10 days) because there is a necessity for registering with the brokerage. However, in the end you will be regarded by the CME as a professional trader and have the opportunity to trade with the prop firm on the live market through a real futures account at an FCM (Futures Commission Merchant).
Keep in mind that on Live accounts, the trailing drawdown is calculated on intraday open equity gains and losses. Monthly data fees on Live accounts are $135 per exchange.
Now that you have received your offer after passing the Gauntlet Mini™ or the Trader Career Path® challenge, you are probably wondering what the next steps are.
For starters, you can take advantage of an 80/20 profit split scheme that works in your favor. The profit split system is among the most generous in the industry, so you have the prerequisites to build your way up. However, to succeed, you should maintain the discipline and the behavior you have gotten used to during the evaluation.
While obvious, it is important to state a crucial fact regarding withdrawals. You can only withdraw funds when you have positive account performance. In other words – you can’t withdraw any of the initial capital that the prop trading firm has given you, but only the profits you have earned with it.
You might also enjoy:
- What is The Daily Loss Limit Rule in Funded Programs?
- What is The Maintain Consistency Rule and Why is It Important?
When Can You Withdraw Your Funds?
The minimum amount you can withdraw is $100. So, as soon as you have $100 in profits, you can cash them out (please note that on LiveSim® accounts, for the first withdrawal only, the trader needs at least $239 in profits to cover both the minimum withdrawal amount and the one-time setup fee).
While you can withdraw funds from your funded trading account at any time, with the Trader Career Path® program, you are also required to do so each time you hit the profit target of your current account. Once you withdraw the entire profit, your account will be upgraded to the next one to increase your capital and bring an even more flexible drawdown requirement.
Withdrawal requests are processed once a week, every Tuesday. To ensure that your funds are withdrawn on time, you should email a request to the prop trading firm by 2 p.m. CT on the prior Friday.
What Are the Withdrawal Rules?
The withdrawal policy of Earn2Trade’s funded trader programs is flexible and transparent. The main rule is that you can withdraw only the profits earned and not the capital that the prop firm has granted you. The profit split scheme is 80/20 in your favor.
For example, the profit goal of the TCP50’s Live Trading Account ($50,000) is $3,000. Hitting it will ensure you can withdraw $2,400 (the $3,000 profit goal – the 20% share of the prop firm). You can handle the withdrawals either by cashing out the entire sum at once or over several transactions.
You can choose to withdraw via the following:
- Bank Wire
- Crypto withdrawal
These withdrawal methods are provided through a partnership with Rise, an international contract and payment management platform.
Are You Obligated to Keep Following All the Rules?
Before answering this question, let’s think about it for a moment. Why would you look to break the rules if they allowed you to pass through the Gauntlet Mini™ or the Trader Career Path® challenges? Whether virtual or live trading, the key to success is discipline. Now that you have instilled it, keep up.
The rules are mostly the same when trading as a funded trader as when you took on the original challenges. Because the proprietary trading firm providing the funds takes on all the financial risk, your account will have a few safeguards to protect its capital. This is a measure against situations where traders successfully pass the evaluation, then for some reason can’t handle the switch to a live market.
Drawdown
The number one safeguard is the trailing drawdown. Similar to your evaluation, with the funded trading account, the drawdown will again stop trailing once its threshold value (the balance where your account gets liquidated) reaches your starting balance. Alternatively – after your balance goes above the starting balance by the allowed drawdown value.
The drawdown is pegged to your positive account performance and is adjusted at the end of the day and updated after market close. That means if you increase your profit by $1.00, then your minimum account balance will also rise by $1.00.
For example, the allowed drawdown for the $50,000 account is $2,000. So, you shouldn’t fall below $48,000. If you make $100 in profits, the minimum account balance will also rise by $100 (to $48,100). However, once the threshold value reaches your account’s starting point ($50,000), it will stay there.
There is also a fixed drawdown that you shouldn’t dip below. Learn more about it here.
Other rules
Initially, your funded trading account will have a daily loss limit, just like during the evaluation, but the difference is that for the funded trading account, this rule is only temporary. Once your trailing drawdown stops trailing (see the above example), your daily loss limit can be permanently removed upon request. The rules concerning approved times and maximum position size (including the progression ladder) remain the same.
There is only one new rule added to the mix. Your account will get terminated after an unscheduled absence of five consecutive trading days. This rule serves a crucial purpose. Capital provided to traders by the prop firm can’t be allocated anywhere else. That’s why they are interested in preventing traders from simply claiming their funded account and not doing anything with it. It’s also critical to point out what the word “unscheduled” means. Traders can take time off from trading for whatever reason as long as they notify the prop trading firm. Some case-by-case restrictions may apply here, so don’t expect to take half a year off trading, for example.
What Costs and Fees Are You Responsible For After Getting Funded?
There are different types of fees that you will be charged with by third parties, including:
Data Fees
During the Trader Career Path® / Gauntlet Mini™ evaluations, traders with a “non-professional” status on the CME don’t incur any out-of-pocket data fees (“professional” traders will be charged $135.00/month per exchange). However, once you successfully complete your evaluation, you will need to pay for accessing CME’s live data.
The fee amount depends on your chosen type of trading account:
- LiveSim® Account – traders with a non-professional CME status are charged a one-time account activation fee of $139.00 that covers all four CME exchanges. This amount is deducted from traders’ first profit withdrawal, which means there are no upfront out-of-pocket costs. After passing, you have 30 days to activate the LiveSim® account (delayed starts are acceptable). Traders who specify their CME status as “professional” will be charged $135.00/month per exchange.
- Live Account – the fee is $135.00/month/exchange. Note that these are pass-through fees from the exchange, and they can change at any time.
The fees are charged to your credit card (or other payment method) before the end of each month for the following month. Note that the CME charges data fees per calendar month and even if the data is turned on in the last week of a month, it will still charge you $135, regardless of how many days of that particular month you use the data.
However, there are some tips that you can use to cut costs. For example, we generally recommend starting with only one exchange at first. Only add more once you’ve built up your account balance a bit. We also suggest not starting your funded trading account near the end of the month. Starting at the beginning of the month means you don’t get charged for both the first and second months right away at the same time.
If you already have a data feed of your own for charting and simply want to execute on the prop firm’s feed, you do not need to subscribe to their data feed and do not incur any costs.
Withdrawal Fees
The prop firm charges $10.00 per withdrawal (pass-through fee to Rise), which is waived for withdrawals over $500.00.
Platform Fees
Unless you’re using a free trading platform, you will also be responsible for your own platform fees. Most traders who take the evaluation already have their own platform license, so they don’t need to purchase a new one when they get funded. If you don’t have one yet, you can purchase NinjaTrader at a discounted price – see the details here. The Finamark platform also comes with three months of free access after getting funded. However, it needs to be purchased afterward if you plan to keep using it.
All platforms are made by 3rd parties, and their prices are set independently by their respective vendors. If you’re looking for a free platform option, we recommend R | Trader Pro.
Other Fees
There are some other fees and commissions that you should know about, including NFA, exchange, FCM (up to $0.54 and $0.46 per side for full-sized and micro contracts, respectively), and other fees. You can learn more about them here.
While the structure of the fees might vary, here is a basic example that illustrates how the total per-side fee forms.
How Much Can You Make Now That You’re Funded?
If you stick to the rules and stay above the trailing drawdown limit set by your starting account size, there is no upper limit to how much you can earn. That being said, don’t expect to get rich quick. Trading is difficult and requires a lot of time and patience, and the unfortunate truth is that the majority of traders will not make money in the market.
Slowly building up your account and showing restraint may seem tedious, but by remaining patient and following good risk management, you are more likely to succeed, and with the Trader Career Path®, you have a clear scaling plan to follow and keep you motivated.
As mentioned above, the key factor here is that you need to stick to the rules. Keep a close eye on your trading positions, spread the risk, and find a balance between maintaining liquidity and withdrawing your profits. While you will be able to open more positions as your profits rise, it is not mandatory to scale up. If you see an opportunity, you can work in a position within your restrictions, but if you don’t feel comfortable scaling up, don’t do it.
While the promise of short-term profits may seem tempting, remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. Your account will remain open as long as you remain above your trailing drawdown limit and abide by all of the rules.
What Happens if You Blow Your Funded Trading Account?
As a trader, you will live and die by your decisions, investment strategies, and trading discipline. Unfortunately, if your account balance dips below the trailing drawdown, your account will be automatically closed and terminated. Although futures trading has the potential to make money whether the markets are going up or down, there are still cases of unexpected volatility that can ruin your day.
That’s why you should always keep one eye on limiting losses and the other one on maximizing profit. The hustle and bustle of a heavy trading day can make it easy to lose focus, and traders always need to be aware of that danger. Use your evaluation experience to perfect your investment strategies and tighten your discipline. In summary, treat your funded trading account as the unique opportunity that it is!
How to Avoid Losing Your Funded Trading Account?
Initially, the rules for the funded trading account are the same as the evaluation challenges. You must not:
- Reach or dip below your daily loss limit
- Exceed the maximum position size
- Trade outside of approved hours
- Reach or dip below your trailing drawdown
- Exceed progression ladder limits
As mentioned earlier, there is also one new rule to keep in mind:
- Unscheduled absences of five consecutive trading days will result in your account being terminated
All you have to do to avoid losing your funded account is to continue trading with the same principles that helped you pass the evaluation. You’ve already proven that you can do it. Now, you just need to keep going.
If it feels like too much pressure, that’s not a problem either. Sometimes, it’s better to take a break because forcing yourself to trade can often lead to poor outcomes. That’s why the rule against missing a week of trading has a provision to allow you to contact the prop trading firm to schedule an absence.
Basically, remember what made you succeed in the first place, then do more of it.
Conclusion
The concept behind the Gauntlet Mini™ and the Trader Career Path® evaluations is simple. Find trading strategies that work for you, reduce your risks, cut your losses, and doing so will help you maximize your profits. The key to any trading account is discipline. Proprietary trading firms are more interested in long-term steady partners/traders than those with a volatile track record. The 80/20 split of profits allows our partner firm to create a revenue stream for successful traders. It also incentivizes new traders to take a more long-term approach, maintain discipline, and use the investment strategies that brought them success in the first place.
