What to check before buying an evaluation
Six things to know before paying for a futures evaluation: the rule that fails the account, the drawdown, the flat time, the reset price, the deadline.
Editorial team
Articles by StarTrading Team
Traders, the risk desk and support, writing together. We explain the rules we apply every day: how an evaluation is judged, why a drawdown moves the way it does, what happens between a payout request and the wire. Plain words, the real figures of each account, and a link to the rule every time we quote one.
Trading several accounts in parallel
What running two or three prop accounts at once actually buys you, why two 50K accounts are not one 100K, and the one pattern that ends every account you hold.
Trading one hour a day
Why the 9:30 to 10:30 am ET window suits an evaluation, how to budget a target across short sessions, and the rules that make a short day workable.
The price of a reset, and when to buy
What a reset costs on each account size, what you are actually buying back, and the arithmetic that decides between restarting and grinding on.
A trading journal that changes results
The six fields that make a futures journal useful: distance to the Max Loss Limit at the open, size as a fraction of that room, and what to review weekly.
Bots, copy trading and multiple accounts
Where automation stops being allowed on a futures prop account: HFT, hedging across accounts, micro-scalping, and the checklist to run before you connect a bot.
What happens after you pass
Passing swaps one rule set for another: the funded simulated account, the buffer, which rules disappear by account type, and the path to Live after 5 payouts.
Why most evaluations fail
The five failures that end futures evaluations, in the order they happen: oversized entries, the trailing peak, no personal stop, flat time and revenge trading.
Choosing your account type
Cycle, Clear, Stream or Direct: the four account types compared on evaluation, drawdown, consistency, buffer and payouts, then a pick by trader profile.
Your first payout, step by step
What happens between reaching the payout goal and the wire arriving: the conditions to meet, the $500 minimum, the 90% split and why a request is declined.
Consistency rules: 40%, 50% and 20%
Why futures prop firms cap the largest day, how the 40%, 50% and 20% thresholds are computed on each StarTrading account type and how to plan payouts around it.
Prop firm evaluation or your own account?
Trading your own futures account against paying for a prop firm evaluation: margin, real losses, rules, fees, the 90% split, and when each one makes sense.
Max contracts by account size and scaling
The position limit on 25K to 150K accounts, 2 to 10 minis with micros at one tenth, why it exists, and how to size from the Max Loss Limit rather than the cap.
News trading on a funded futures account
Trading CPI, NFP and FOMC on a funded futures account: slippage, spread widening, the one-minute flat window on funded Stream and a release-day plan in micros.
How to pass a one-phase futures evaluation
A plan for a one-phase futures evaluation with no time limit: target, drawdown room, daily budget, consistency check and the mistakes that end most attempts.
Daily loss limit explained for beginners
What a daily loss limit is on a futures prop account, soft versus hard, the amount by size on each StarTrading account, and how to set your own stop under it.
Intraday vs end-of-day trailing drawdown
How an intraday trailing drawdown differs from an end-of-day one, a worked day where the same trades fail one and not the other, and which accounts use each.
Micros vs minis: sizing a 50K account
Tick values of ES, NQ, CL and GC against their micros, and how to size positions on a 50K prop account from the room to the Max Loss Limit rather than the size.
Futures hours, flat time and the Sunday open
When CME futures trade, when the daily maintenance break is, what flat time means on a prop account at 4:15 or 4:45 pm ET, and how the Sunday open affects you.
What is a trailing drawdown?
A trailing drawdown is a loss limit that follows your account balance upward. End-of-day and intraday versions, the lock, and worked examples on a 100K account.
What moves ES, NQ, CL and GC prices
The scheduled data, earnings, oil inventories and dollar moves that drive ES, NQ, CL and GC futures, and how to plan a session around them on a prop account.