Futures prop firm max contract limits compared (2026)

Contract caps scale with account size and drop on the funded stage at most firms. Topstep allows 5, 10 and 15 minis on 50K, 100K and 150K in the Trading Combine, with micros at ten times that, but the Express Funded Account replaces the cap with a balance-based scaling plan that opens at 2 lots on a 50K. Apex permits up to 6 in the evaluation but opens the Performance Account at 2. MyFundedFutures runs 5 on most plans, Tradeify 4, Take Profit Trader 6 and 12. The full table and the scaling logic behind each number follow.

Update, 1 November 2026: the catalogue now has 11 strategy families and 36 tracks, and the ranking moved to the 2026-11 edition. Current figures: the strategies page.

Contract limits at the major futures prop firms scale with account size: Topstep allows 5 / 10 / 15 minis (or 50 / 100 / 150 micros) on its 50K / 100K / 150K Combines and opens the Express Funded Account at 2 lots on a $0 balance, MyFundedFutures matches those numbers on most plans, TakeProfitTrader allows 6 / 12 contracts on the 50K / 100K with micros at ten times the mini cap, and Tradeify's 50K runs 4 minis. All figures below were checked on the firms' official documentation in August 2026 — and several change between the evaluation and the funded stage, where scaling plans decide how much of the headline cap you can actually use. The cap and the size your drawdown can absorb are rarely the same number: run yours through the DLL sizing checker before treating a contract limit as a target.

How many contracts does each firm allow per account size? 13 futures firms

The table shows maximum simultaneous open contracts — not daily volume. Micros convert at 10:1 unless noted.

Source: Puravida Edge rules cards, 40 futures and CFD prop firms, verified 29 September 2026.

Two structural patterns are worth reading out of that table before picking a firm. First, at the same nominal account size the cap can differ by 50% between firms — 4 contracts at Tradeify versus 6 at Apex or TakeProfitTrader on a 50K. Second, the headline number is usually the evaluation number, and the funded number is often lower or gated behind scaling, which is where most sizing plans quietly break. And the cap is only the outer wall — what actually holds your losses day to day is the buffer between balance and floor, which shrinks with the giveback on trades that run green first; that arithmetic is in prop firm buffer rules.

One firm that shows up in comparison searches doesn’t belong in this table at all: Maven Trading runs a forex-style, lot-based account model (MT5/cTrader-class platforms, floating-PnL rules) rather than per-contract futures caps — its “scaling” is a +25% balance increase after 10% profit across four months with monthly payouts, not a contract ladder (maventrading.com FAQ, Aug 2026). If you’re comparing it against the futures firms above, you’re comparing two different products.

Are the limits the same in the evaluation and the funded stage?

Often not, and the direction of the change is consistent: funded limits are tighter or scale with balance. Apex's funded Performance Accounts start below the evaluation caps and grow with account profits. MyFundedFutures' Flex plan trades full size in the evaluation but starts the funded stage at 2 minis on a 50K, releasing the full 5 only above $2,000 of realized profit. Topstep's Express Funded Account runs a scaling plan that sets your maximum position by current balance, and the released size updates between sessions, not mid-session (help.topstep.com, Aug 2026).

Apex is the sharpest example of the pattern: a 50K evaluation trades up to 6 contracts, but the funded PA opens at Tier 1 with 2 and tops out at 4 — a third of the evaluation size at the start. A strategy sized against the headline cap simply cannot run at funding without being re-cut. Tradeify's Select funded accounts work the same way, opening below the evaluation caps and releasing full size only as end-of-day equity crosses fixed triggers ($52,000 on the 50K). These ladders are what the industry calls scaling plans, and they differ enough between firms to decide account choice on their own — the firm-by-firm breakdown is in the scaling plans comparison.

How do micro contracts count against the limit?

The standard conversion is 10:1 — one mini equals ten micros — and most firms let you mix both within the cap, so 3 minis plus 20 micros on a Topstep 50K uses exactly the 5-mini allowance. Four exceptions matter in practice. Topstep's micro-to-mini ratio works in the Combine and Express Funded Account but is not available on the Live Funded Account, and some products carry non-standard weights. TakeProfitTrader states the micro allowance as ten times the mini cap per account size, which on the 50K means 60 micros. MyFundedFutures treats micro Bitcoin (MBT) as a mini due to volatility, so a 3-mini allowance means at most 3 MBT (help.myfundedfutures.com, Aug 2026). And Tradeify's own materials currently disagree with each other on mixing — the Lightning help article permits holding minis and micros together within the combined cap, while other official pages prohibit simultaneous mini and micro positions as a hedging risk ; when a firm's documents conflict, trade to the stricter reading.

For a systematic strategy this conversion is not a detail. A signal sized in micros can be replicated across account tiers by scaling quantity linearly; a signal sized in minis hits the cap in steps and forces rounding, which changes the realized risk per trade.

Where does your real contract limit actually come from?

Almost never from the table above. The firm's cap is a regulatory ceiling; the binding constraint is your drawdown math. Run the arithmetic on a Topstep 50K: the cap says 5 minis, but the daily loss limit is $1,000 (help.topstep.com, Aug 2026; enforced as a guardrail on non-TopstepX platforms) and a normal 20-point stop on NQ costs $400 per mini. Two minis already put a single stop-out at 80% of that day's room. The cap allowed five; the account affords two.

That gap is the single most common sizing error on funded accounts, because traders read the marketing number instead of dividing their stop distance into their loss limits. The DLL sizing checker does that division for you — stop distance, instrument, account tier in, your factual contract limit out — and the position size calculator covers the general case. If the account uses a trailing floor, the effective buffer shrinks as you profit intraday, which tightens the real limit further; the mechanics are in how to size against trailing drawdown.

What happens if you exceed the contract limit?

Enforcement differs, and it's worth knowing which kind you're under. Topstep's platform blocks orders that would breach the cap outright. Apex auto-rejects oversized positions, and its rules expect any accidental excess above half the allowance to be closed immediately. Tradeify treats exceeding the combined mini-plus-micro limit as an account breach (help.tradeify.co, Aug 2026). In other words: at some firms the limit is a guardrail the software enforces for you, at others it's a tripwire that ends the account — the same mistake has a very different price depending on where you make it.

See every prop firm rule, grouped by mechanism →

Max position size rules: maximum contracts per trader at each futures prop firm

The cap that matters is the one on the account you will actually trade; most firms publish a higher evaluation cap and a lower funded cap that opens at half size. The column below is the 50K figure from each rules card, verified September 2026; the full table above has every account size.

Verified against the firms’ rules cards on 29 September 2026; last checked 15 October 2026.

Related

• Strategies sized to these rules: Topstep 50K, Apex 50K, MyFundedFutures 50K, Tradeify 50K, Lucid 50K
• Prop firms that use MT5: automation and bridges
• Prop firms that use cTrader
• Apex vs Topstep, MyFundedFutures vs Topstep, Apex vs MyFundedFutures: head-to-head, every rule
• Monte Carlo simulation for prop firm sizing, explained
• Oversizing: the fastest way to blow a funded account
• How to size positions for a 100K funded account

FAQ

How many contracts can I trade on a 50K prop firm account?

Between 4 and 6 minis depending on the firm, as of August 2026: 4 at Tradeify (post-Sep-2025 accounts), 5 at Topstep (Combine; the XFA opens at 2) and MyFundedFutures, 6 at Apex (evaluation) and TakeProfitTrader. In micros that's 40 to 60 contracts at the standard 10:1 conversion — and funded-stage caps at Apex and Tradeify open lower than these numbers.

Do contract limits reset daily?

No — they are simultaneous position caps, not daily volume limits. You can open and close the maximum repeatedly within a session; what you cannot do is hold more than the cap at any single moment.

Can I trade minis and micros at the same time?

At most firms yes, within the combined cap at 10:1 — Topstep and Tradeify state this explicitly. The notable restriction is Topstep's Live Funded Account, where the micro-to-mini ratio functionality is not available (help.topstep.com, Aug 2026).

Why is my funded account limit lower than my evaluation limit?

Because most firms gate funded size behind balance-based scaling: Apex PAs open at a third of the evaluation cap on a 50K (2 of 6, maxing at 4), MyFundedFutures Flex starts a 50K at 2 minis, Tradeify Select opens reduced until EOD-equity triggers, and Topstep's XFA scaling plan releases size as the balance grows. Check the funded rules, not the evaluation marketing, before sizing a strategy.

What are the max position size rules at futures prop trading firms?

Each firm caps open contracts per account size, usually 1 to 3 minis per $25,000 in the evaluation and a lower funded cap that scales up with profit (Topstep XFA 2 lots on 50K, Apex PA half size until the Safety Net). Micros count at a 10:1 ratio at most firms. The table above lists the cap per firm.

How many contracts can a trader hold at a futures prop firm?

On a 50K evaluation: Topstep 5 minis, Apex 6, MyFundedFutures 5, Tradeify 4, Lucid 4, TradeDay 5; funded accounts open lower and scale. Exceeding the cap closes the excess at some firms and breaches the account at others.

Which futures prop firms have the highest contract limits?

For a 50K account the widest caps on our cards are Apex (6 in the evaluation), Topstep (5 in the Combine, 15 on 150K) and TradeDay (5); on funded accounts the caps converge at 2 to 4 until scaling unlocks more.

Do contract limits differ between evaluation and funded accounts?

At most futures firms yes: the funded account opens at roughly half the evaluation cap and scales with profit or the buffer; a few (MyFundedFutures on its standard plans, TradeDay) keep the same cap on both stages.

How do futures prop firms compare on maximum contracts?

Side by side on this page: cap per account size, evaluation vs funded, and the scaling step that unlocks the full cap. The comparison is from the rules cards verified September 2026.

What are the contract limits at Apex Trader Funding?

Apex: 6 minis (60 micros) in the evaluation on a 50K, 4 minis on the Performance Account, with the PA opening at half size until the Safety Net is reached. Limits per account size are on the Apex rules card.

Do CFD firms like FTMO or The5ers have contract limits?

No contract caps: CFD and forex firms (FTMO, The5ers, FundingPips) size in lots and limit risk through the drawdown and daily loss rules rather than a position cap. Futures prop firms are the ones with per-account contract limits.

Are there proprietary trading firms with no maximum position size?

Not among futures prop firms: every firm on our cards caps contracts per account size, because the cap is how the firm limits its own risk on a simulated account. CFD and forex firms (FTMO, FundingPips, The5ers) have no contract cap but limit exposure through lot sizing, the drawdown floor and the daily loss limit.

---

The practical order of operations, in our view, runs backwards from what most traders do: read the funded-stage cap, compute the real limit from your stop and the loss limits, and only then decide whether the account tier fits the strategy — it's the same logic our ready-made portfolios are sized with, two to four strategies fitted jointly against one drawdown limit.

Contract limits verified August 2026 on the firms' official documentation. Rules change frequently — always confirm on the firm's site before purchasing. Not financial advice.