Prop Firm Rules Explained: The 2026 Rule Checklist

This page is the rule reference: what each rule means, how it is measured and the current numbers at each firm. If funded trading is new to you, start with how prop firms work. To turn these rules into a choice of firm, use our guide to choosing a prop firm; to trade inside them once you have bought an evaluation, follow the step-by-step plan for passing a challenge.

Prop firm rules by firm (50K accounts)

Checked on each firm's own pages on October 5, 2026. Every plan here is a single-phase evaluation: hit the target once and you pass. There is no "Phase 2". If a term in the table is unfamiliar, our futures and prop firm glossary defines it in a line.

Firm and plan	Profit target	Maximum loss	Daily loss limit	Consistency (evaluation)	Min days
Topstep Combine	$3,000	$2,000, end-of-day trailing	Optional, $1,000	Best day at most 55% of target	2
Apex EOD	$3,000	$2,000, end-of-day	$1,000, pauses the day	None	None
Apex Intraday	$3,000	$2,000, intraday trailing	None	None	None
MFFU Builder	$3,000	$2,000, end-of-day trailing	$1,000, soft pause	None	1
MFFU Rapid	$3,000	$2,000 end-of-day; intraday trailing once funded	None	50%	2
MFFU Rapid EOD	$3,000	$2,000, end-of-day	None	30%	4
MFFU Pro	$3,000	$2,000, end-of-day trailing	None	50%	2
FTMO Futures Growth	$3,000	$2,000, end-of-day trailing	None ($1,000 soft once funded)	40%	None (3 fastest)
FTMO Futures Pro	$3,000	$3,000, end-of-day trailing	$1,000, hard	50%	None (2 fastest)

Sources: Topstep's Maximum Loss Limit and consistency pages, Apex's EOD and Intraday evaluation pages, MyFundedFutures' Builder, Rapid, Rapid EOD and Pro plan pages, and FTMO's Futures comparison table. Targets scale with size: $6,000 on 100K and $9,000 on 150K at all four firms.

1. Drawdown: the rule that ends most accounts

The maximum loss sets a floor under your account. Touch it and the account is gone. Two things matter: the amount, and how the floor moves.

End-of-day (EOD) trailing

The floor rises with your closing balance and never moves down. Open profit during the session does not lift it. But "end-of-day" describes how the floor is set, not when it is checked. Topstep monitors its Maximum Loss Limit in real time, open losses included. FTMO Futures works the same way: the limit is fixed at the start of each day from your highest closing balance, and your equity breaches it the moment it touches it.

Example (Topstep 50K): you start at $50,000 with a $2,000 limit, so the floor is $48,000. You close day one at $51,000, so the floor moves to $49,000. On day two a trade is $1,000 in profit, then turns into a $2,100 loss. Equity hits $48,900, below the $49,000 floor, and the Combine fails mid-session.

The floor stops trailing at a lock level: the starting balance at Topstep and FTMO Futures, and the starting balance + $100 on MyFundedFutures plans (on Pro, after the first approved payout).

Intraday trailing

The floor follows your highest equity, including open profit, in real time. Apex Intraday accounts and MyFundedFutures Rapid funded accounts use it.

Example (Apex 50K Intraday): you start at $50,000 with the floor at $48,000. A trade runs to $800 open profit, so the floor moves to $48,800 at once. If that trade reverses into a $1,200 loss, equity is $48,800 and the evaluation is over, on a trade that was once a winner. On Apex funded accounts the floor stops at $50,100 once your peak reaches $52,100 (Apex intraday drawdown explained). Our end-of-day vs intraday drawdown breakdown shows how much buffer the open-profit rule costs over a full $50K example.

Static

The floor never moves: $50,000 with a $2,000 static limit always breaches at $48,000. It is the easiest to manage and the least common; Topstep sells static accounts only as limited Topstep Labs releases. To see what that difference is worth, our static vs trailing drawdown comparison runs the same two weeks of trades under each rule.

How the floor moves, step by step: trailing drawdown explained. The habits that keep you off it, from a pre-trade buffer check to peak-profit rules, are in how to avoid trailing drawdown violations.

2. Daily loss limit: pause or fail?

A daily loss limit caps what you can lose in one session. The key question is what happens when you hit it. A soft limit locks you out until the next session. A hard limit ends the account.

Firm and plan	Daily loss limit (50K)	When you hit it
Topstep Combine and XFA	None, unless you add it at checkout ($1,000)	Locked out for the session; not a rule violation
Apex EOD evaluation	$1,000	Trading paused for the day
Apex Intraday evaluation	None	Only the drawdown applies
MFFU Builder	$1,000	Soft pause; the account survives
MFFU Rapid, Rapid EOD, Pro	None	Only the drawdown applies
FTMO Futures Growth	None in evaluation; $1,000 once funded	Positions closed, trading resumes next day
FTMO Futures Pro	$1,000	Account terminated

On Apex funded accounts the limit scales with your profit, from $1,000 up to $3,000 on a 50K. Sources: Topstep daily loss limit, Apex daily loss limit, FTMO Futures rules.

3. Profit target, minimum days and time limits

• Target: $3,000 on a 50K at all four firms.
• Minimum days: Apex has none, so you can pass in one day. MyFundedFutures needs 1 (Builder), 2 (Rapid, Pro) or 4 (Rapid EOD). Topstep needs 2. FTMO Futures has no minimum, but its consistency rule makes the fastest pass 3 days on Growth and 2 on Pro.
• Time limits: Apex evaluations expire after 30 calendar days, with no extensions. Topstep and FTMO Futures have no time limit but bill monthly. MyFundedFutures one-time accounts can be closed if you go 7 calendar days without a trade.
• No target at all: a few firms sell simulated funded accounts with no evaluation. They cost more and still gate payouts behind consistency rules; our instant funding comparison lists them with prices.

4. Consistency rule: the cap on your best day

• Topstep Combine: your best day must stay at or below 55% of the profit target, so under $1,650 on a 50K. Go over and the target rises to your best day divided by 0.55: a $2,000 day makes it about $3,636.
• Topstep funded (XFA): only on the Consistency payout path, where your largest day must be at most 40% of net profit.
• Apex: none in the evaluation. For payouts, no single day may be 50% or more of the profit since your last approved payout.
• MyFundedFutures: Builder has none in the evaluation and 50% for payouts. Rapid (50%), Rapid EOD (30%) and Pro (50%) apply it in the evaluation only.
• FTMO Futures: 40% on Growth, 50% on Pro, evaluation only. Going over is not a breach; you keep trading until the rule is met.

Full breakdown: prop firm consistency rule and minimum trading days.

5. Position size and scaling

Firm	Max size in the evaluation (50K)	Max size once funded (50K)
Topstep	5 minis or 50 micros	2 minis below $1,500 profit, 3 from $1,500, 5 above $2,000
Apex	6 minis or 60 micros	2 minis at first, up to 4 once you are $3,000 up
MyFundedFutures	Builder 4 minis; other plans on their plan pages	Builder 4 minis, Rapid 5, Rapid EOD 3, Pro 5
FTMO Futures	5 minis	2 minis at first, scaling to 5 with profit (and back down if it falls)

Micros count at 10 to 1 against minis at Topstep, Apex and FTMO Futures. A bigger allowance is a ceiling, not a target: size every trade from the loss budget. How each firm raises these limits with profit, and what changes after payouts, is set out in our prop firm scaling plans comparison.

6. Conduct rules: news, automation, hedging, the close

Rule	Apex	MyFundedFutures	FTMO Futures
News	Allowed in your normal strategy; no betting on the release	Tier 1 news banned on Rapid, Rapid EOD and Pro funded accounts	Allowed in every phase
Automation	Not allowed	Check the help center	Allowed; no HFT
Copy trading	Across your own accounts, same direction	Allowed on all account types	Across your own accounts
Hedging	Prohibited	Prohibited	No cross-account hedging
Holding past the close	Flat before 4:59 PM ET	Auto-closed at 4:10 PM ET	Flat by 4:10 PM ET

On MyFundedFutures restricted accounts you must be flat, with no orders, from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after a Tier 1 release. Topstep runs only on its own platform, TopstepX; our Topstep explainer shows how its Combine, Express Funded and Live stages fit together. Sources: Apex prohibited activities, MyFundedFutures news policy, FTMO Futures forbidden practices.

7. Payout rules

Firm and plan	Split	When you can request	Limits (50K)
Topstep XFA	90/10	5 winning days of $150+ (Standard path)	50% of balance up to $2,000; minimum $125
Apex EOD	100%	5 days of $250+	Minimum $500; first payout max $1,500; 6 payouts per account
Apex Intraday	100%	5 days of $200+	Minimum $500; first payout max $1,500; 6 payouts per account
MFFU Builder	80/20	Every 48 hours, 2 qualifying days	$500 minimum, $2,000 maximum per cycle
MFFU Rapid and Rapid EOD	90/10	Daily, once the $2,100 buffer is cleared	$500 minimum
MFFU Pro	80/20	Every 14 days	$1,000 minimum
FTMO Futures Growth	90/10	Every 4 qualifying days of $150+	50% of profit, max $2,500
FTMO Futures Pro	90/10	Every 5 qualifying days of $200+	100% of profit, max $5,000

Two rules people miss. At Topstep, traders who joined the new dashboard before January 12, 2026 keep 100% of their first $10,000; everyone else is on 90/10. And after a Topstep payout the Maximum Loss Limit moves to $0 for good, so whatever you leave in the account is your entire cushion. Sources: Topstep payout policy, Apex EOD payouts, MyFundedFutures payout policy.

The split is the headline, but caps and minimums decide what reaches your bank: our profit split comparison works through why 100% can pay less than 90%, and our guide to how long prop firm withdrawals take covers processing times, methods and KYC.

8. What happens when you breach

• Topstep: a reset costs the monthly price ($49 on the 50K Standard path, $95 on No Activation Fee), up to 2 per account per day, and every monthly rebill adds a free reset credit. Funded accounts can't be reset; if you lose one before your first payout, Back2Funded reactivates it within 30 days for $599 on a 50K.
• Apex: current evaluations have no resets. You buy a new one. Resets exist only on Legacy evaluations.
• MyFundedFutures: a reset restores the evaluation's starting balance. A breached Rapid funded account ends, and you start a new evaluation.
• FTMO Futures: pay a reset ($109 Growth, $129 Pro at 50K) or keep the subscription and get a new account on the next billing date. Sim-Funded accounts can't be reset.

If it has already happened, read what to do after a failed prop firm challenge.

9. The pre-session checklist

Fill this in before every session. If any line is blank, you are not ready to trade.

Check	Rule	Your number
☐	My drawdown type (EOD, intraday trailing or static)
☐	Today's floor in dollars
☐	Distance from current equity to the floor
☐	The firm's daily loss limit, and soft or hard
☐	My own daily stop (below the firm's limit)
☐	Previous day's closing balance
☐	Max contracts allowed today, and my actual size
☐	Minimum trading days still needed
☐	Profit so far vs target
☐	Largest day allowed by the consistency rule
☐	High-impact news today, and my firm's news rule
☐	Time I must be flat by
☐	Payout qualifying days so far
☐	Every tool I use is allowed

If you can't fill in all 14 lines in two minutes, don't trade. It takes less time than paying for a $49 reset.

Related prop firm guides

• How to pass a prop firm challenge
• Trailing drawdown explained
• End-of-day vs intraday drawdown
• Prop firm payouts and withdrawals
• Risk management framework
• How to avoid drawdown violations

Sources

1. Topstep: Maximum Loss Limit
2. Topstep: daily loss limit
3. Topstep: consistency target and profit targets
4. Topstep: payout policy
5. Apex: EOD evaluations
6. Apex: intraday trailing drawdown explained
7. MyFundedFutures: current plans
8. FTMO Futures: trading objectives and rules