TradeDay

Account Track Overview

TradeDay offers three sequential phases:

• Evaluation — paid evaluation. Pass to receive a Funded Sim account.
• Funded Sim — simulated funded environment with payouts. Continued performance can lead to Funded Live.
• Funded Live — live trading with real capital, allocated at TradeDay's discretion based on Funded Sim milestones.

Only one Funded Live account is allowed; while live, no new accounts can be purchased.

Consistency

Evaluation

• 30% consistency rule on evaluations. No single day's profit should exceed 30% of the profit target.
• Calculation: best day's PnL divided by total PnL earned to date.
• If your best day exceeds the 30% threshold, the account does not fail — instead, the profit target increases. The new target is calculated by dividing the best day's profit by 30% to determine the total profit needed to complete the evaluation.

Sim Funded / Live

• No consistency rule when you are in your Funded Sim or Funded Live account.

Algorithmic Trading

Allowed

• Automated trading systems run on TradeDay's supported platforms — NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView, Jigsaw, and Quantower — are allowed.
• You may run your own custom algorithms developed for these platforms.

Not Allowed

• Third-party trading bots and ATSs purchased from a third party are forbidden.
• Multiple users running the same trading bot or ATS results in all related accounts being shut down.
• TradeDay does not make platform APIs available to traders for direct automated execution.
• TradeDay does not evaluate third-party trading systems on the trader's behalf.
• Traders must review TradeDay's prohibited trade practices before deploying any automated system. Account suspension and closure apply to policy violations.

Scalping Rules

All Account Types

Scalping is permitted with caveats:

• Automated trading systems designed to scalp at extremely high frequency are prohibited.
• Strategies that produce more than 200 trades in a day are prohibited.
• Strategies that trade in just a few seconds, designed to capture only a couple of ticks at a time, are prohibited.
• Any strategy that attempts to capture queue-position advantage by gaming the simulated matching engine is prohibited (this specifically includes limit-order entry/exit patterns in low-volatility, high-liquidity products like bonds).
• TradeDay's view: scalping strategies often fail in live markets due to simulator fill generosity compared to real conditions, plus competition from professional firms. Trade accordingly.

News Trading

All Account Types

News trading is allowed except during high-impact news (Tier 1). TradeDay automatically liquidates all open positions 2 minutes before Tier 1 releases and reopens markets 2 minutes after.

Tier 1 News Events

Enforcement

• Accidental violations carry no penalty.
• Traders who deliberately ignore the policy will lose their account.
• Tier 1 release dates are available via TradeDay's tier 1 data calendar, the Members trading room, or external calendars (Investing.com, CME).

Permitted Trading Times

Trading Session

• For CME products, a session runs from 5:00 PM CT one day through the close the next day.
• Any trading during this window counts as one trading day.

Daily Cutoff & Auto-Liquidation

• Auto-liquidation at 3:50 PM CT daily. This is the only routine time TradeDay force-closes positions outside of Tier 1 news.
• You must exit all positions 10 minutes before your product's market close — no positions may be open at closing.
• Different CME products close at different times. It is the trader's responsibility to verify closing times for each product (referencing the CME Group website).

Overnight Holding

• Overnight holding is permitted in a limited sense: positions opened after 5:00 PM CT must close before the next day's 3:50 PM CT auto-liquidation cutoff. Positions cannot persist beyond a single session.

Enforcement

• TradeDay does not automatically fail accidental breaches; warnings may be issued.
• Traders who deliberately ignore the policy risk account loss.

Inactivity Rule

Evaluation

• No inactivity rule for Evaluation accounts.

Funded

• If a Funded account is inactive for 30 days without prior consent, TradeDay considers it dormant and closes the account.

Copy Trading

• Traders can use a copy trader to copy trades from a personal account elsewhere into TradeDay Evaluation and Funded accounts.
• Coordinated trading is prohibited: if multiple users are making the same trades, all related accounts will be shut down.

DCA

• TradeDay's public rules do not explicitly address DCA (adding to losing trades) or scaling-in.

Hedging Across Accounts

• Hedging — going long in one account and short in another on the same product — is strictly prohibited.
• Violations result in offboarding, account suspension, and forfeiture of any Funded Account profits.

Other Prohibited Practices

TradeDay prohibits a range of practices that exploit the simulated environment or platform infrastructure:

Market Manipulation

• Spoofing and layering strategies.
• Order splitting (multiple orders at identical prices/times to manipulate fills).
• Strategies exploiting price display errors or update delays.

Liquidity & Gap Exploitation

• Trading in gapped, illiquid markets to capture stray fills.
• Exploiting unrealistic stop-loss execution in simulated environments.
• Taking trades outside the best bid/offer spread.

Account & System Abuse

• Multiple usernames or email addresses from a single trader.
• Connected accounts trading in concert.
• Using VPNs or VPS services to mask location.
• Circumventing geographical restrictions.
• Holding positions within 2% of CME price limits.

Technology Misuse

• External or slow data feeds.
• Software exploiting platform errors or deficiencies.
• AI or ultra-high-speed systems creating unfair advantages.

Consequences

• Profits from prohibited practices are confiscated.
• Violators lose funding eligibility and refund rights.

Passed Accounts

• You can pass up to 6 Evaluation accounts.
• Upon passing more than 3, only 3 are activated as Sim Funded Accounts; the remaining passed accounts are queued as reserves and activated only when an existing Funded Sim account is lost or transitioned to Funded Live.
• Passed accounts in reserve remain dormant until activated. Renewal is not available for passed accounts.

Max Number of Accounts

• Up to 6 active Evaluation accounts at any given time, traded simultaneously.
• Up to 3 Funded Sim accounts at the same time.
• Only 1 Funded Live account; you cannot purchase additional accounts while you have an active Funded Live account.
• All accounts must be on the same trading platform — you cannot split accounts across different platforms.

Household Restriction

• One username, one user per household. Do not sign up under multiple usernames.

Clear Path to Live

Milestones

• Funded Sim profit milestones are set at every $5,000 of gross profit, up to $20,000 — i.e. $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, and $20,000. The Head of Trading may extend beyond $20,000 at their discretion.
• Reaching $20,000 typically results in a move to Funded Live. TradeDay may also transition traders after the 3rd withdrawal request, at their discretion.

Review Process

• When a milestone is reached, the account is automatically paused at the End-of-Day run (4:30 PM CT) and reviewed overnight.
• Traders must stop trading once they reach a milestone.
• Any excess profits above the milestone are removed, and the balance is revised back to the milestone level.
• Profit measurement uses gross profits (total profits after commissions, including realized gains and prior withdrawals).

Two Options After Review

After review, the Head of Trading will either:

1. Extend the Funded Sim account to the next milestone, or
2. Move the trader to a Funded Live account.

How Balance Transfers to Live

• Only net profits (gross profits minus prior withdrawals) transfer to the Funded Live account.
• No additional drawdown is transferred at this time. Risk limits may be adjusted to reflect prior withdrawals.

Transfer Example

• A trader has earned $10,000 (after commission) in the Funded Sim — that's gross profit. During this time the trader has taken a payout of $3,500.
• Gross profit = $10,000. Net profit = $10,000 − $3,500 = $6,500.
• Only $6,500 transfers to the Funded Live account.

Payout Eligibility

• Payouts can be made from day one after meeting the buffer requirement.
• The minimum payout request is $250.

Profit Split

The trader split is based on lifetime withdrawals with TradeDay (cumulative across all accounts):

• 80% on the first $50,000 of profits withdrawn
• 90% on profits withdrawn between $50,000 and $100,000
• 95% on profits withdrawn over $100,000
• Buffer-zone withdrawals: 50/50 split (see Buffer Withdrawal Rules below)

Balance Required for Payout (Funded Sim)

Payout Examples

1. Payout request, not into the buffer

A trader on a $50K Funded Sim account earns $4,000, first withdrawal from TradeDay (no prior). Account balance is $54,000, buffer is $52,000. The trader requests $2,000.

• The withdrawal takes the account from $54K to $52K — to the buffer line, but not into it.
• The 80/20 split applies on the full $2,000: trader receives $1,600, TradeDay receives $400.

2. Payout request into the buffer

Same scenario, but trader requests $3,000 instead.

• This takes the account from $54K to $51K — partially below the $52,000 buffer line.
• The first $2,000 (above the buffer): 80/20 split — trader $1,600, TradeDay $400.
• The remaining $1,000 (into the buffer zone): 50/50 split — trader $500, TradeDay $500.
• Trader's total payout: $1,600 + $500 = $2,100. TradeDay total: $400 + $500 = $900.

Sim Payouts Cap

• No payout caps; however, payout milestones are enforced.
• Milestones are set at every $5,000 of gross profit: $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000.
• At each milestone, trading is automatically paused during the End-of-Day run (4:30 PM CT) for overnight review. Traders must stop trading when reaching a milestone.
• Any excess profits above the milestone are removed and the balance is revised back to the milestone level.
• TradeDay may also consider transitioning a trader to Funded Live after the third withdrawal request.

Payout Window

• Requests received before 5:30 PM CT are processed within 24 hours (business days only).

Payout Process — Funded Sim

1. From the Dashboard, click "Request Withdrawal."
2. Enter the amount you wish to withdraw.
3. Click submit; you will see a confirmation message.
4. Requests received before 5:30 PM CT are processed within 24 hours (business days only).
5. After processing, you receive a confirmation email instructing you to log into Riseworks to withdraw the funds.

Payout Process — Funded Live

• Request the payout via email at fundedtrader@tradeday.com.
• TradeDay will instruct Tradovate to transfer funds from the live account.
• Once funds have moved from the live account, TradeDay authorizes the payout at Riseworks.

Payout Methods (via Riseworks)

• US bank wire — free
• International wire — $15 per withdrawal
• L1 Crypto — $2.50 + gas fees
• L2 Crypto — free