Prop firm scaling plans: Topstep, Apex and MyFundedFutures

A prop firm scaling plan is the ladder between the contract cap you were sold and the size you can actually trade after funding. As of August 2026: Apex funded accounts open at roughly a third of evaluation size (2 of 6 contracts on a 50K), Topstep’s Express Funded Account releases size by current balance, MyFundedFutures Flex unlocks full size at $2,000 of realized profit, Tradeify Select steps up at fixed end-of-day equity triggers, and Alpha Futures applies scaling on Qualified accounts on every plan except Advanced. Firm by firm below, each verified on official documentation.

Scaling plans by firm

What is the Topstep scaling plan?

Topstep applies a balance-based scaling plan on the Express Funded Account: your maximum position is set by current account balance, and released size updates between sessions, not mid-session (help.topstep.com, Aug 2026). Position limits remain tied to the plan until well into the live progression. In the Combine itself there is no scaling — the full 5/10/15-mini cap applies from day one, with the 50% best-day consistency cap doing the filtering instead.

Topstep scaling plan by account size (50K / 100K / 150K)

The checkpoints scale with the account, and the shape is the same on each: a low starting cap, small profit thresholds releasing the middle rungs, full size only well above the starting balance.

• 50K: starts at 2 contracts, 3 above roughly $1,500 of profit, the full 5 past roughly $2,000 (help.topstep.com, Aug 2026).
• 100K: the middle account follows the same balance-ladder structure between the 50K and 150K checkpoints — confirm the exact 100K thresholds at help.topstep.com, as Topstep revises them.
• 150K: starts at 3 contracts and releases the full 15 as balance approaches roughly $154,500 (help.topstep.com, Aug 2026).

Two things hold at every size: the end-of-session report sets the next session's cap, so a mid-session balance that qualifies releases nothing until tomorrow, and the ladder runs in reverse after a losing day. Size the strategy against the rung you start on.

How does the Apex scaling plan work?

Apex's funded Performance Accounts open below the evaluation caps and scale through balance tiers: on a 50K, the evaluation trades up to 6 contracts, but the PA opens at Tier 1 with 2 and tops out at 4; the 100K and 150K PAs cap at 6 and 9 respectively (consistent independent analyses of the 4.0 lineup, Aug 2026). The practical consequence: a strategy sized against the evaluation cap cannot run at funding without being re-cut — the scaling plan, not the headline number, is the real position limit.

What is MyFundedFutures' scaling plan?

MFF concentrates its scaling in the Flex plan's funded stage: a 50K starts at 2 minis (20 micros) and unlocks the full 5 minis at $2,000 or more of realized profit; Pro and Rapid plans have no scaling phase at all — full size from the first funded day (help.myfundedfutures.com, Aug 2026). That makes the plan choice itself the scaling decision at MFF: Flex trades a slower start for its fixed evaluation drawdown, Pro and Rapid trade model strictness for immediate size.

What is Tradeify's scaling plan?

Tradeify Select funded accounts open below the account's cap and release full size at fixed end-of-day equity triggers: $52,000 on the 50K (4 minis / 40 micros), $103,000 on the 100K (8/80), $154,500 on the 150K (12/120); limits rise the session after the trigger is crossed (help.tradeify.co, Aug 2026). Lightning accounts run the same caps without the funded scaling ladder.

What is Alpha Futures' scaling plan?

Alpha Futures applies a scaling plan on Qualified (funded) accounts across its lineup with one exception: Advanced accounts get the full contract limit at all times, no scaling (help.alpha-futures.com, Aug 2026). Plan-based caps run Zero 1–6 contracts (25–100K), Premium 4–12 and Advanced 5–15 (50–150K), with micros at the standard 10:1.

A July 2026 caveat before relying on any Alpha figure. On July 12, 2026, Alpha announced that NinjaTrader had terminated their agreement effective that day, following the launch of Alpha's own AlphaTrader platform; no new accounts could be issued on NinjaTrader or Tradovate from that date, and existing Zero, Advanced and Direct accounts were migrated to AlphaTrader (Alpha Futures statement, July 12, 2026; TradeInformer, July 13, 2026). The Premium Plan was closed outright, with active accounts refunded automatically. On the pending Premium payouts the record conflicts: Alpha's statement said refunds covered pending payments, while PropFirmMatch — which delisted the firm on July 12 — and later coverage reported that pending payouts beyond the roughly $25 million already paid were not honored (PropFirmMatch, July 13, 2026; MondoTraders, July 20, 2026). The Premium row above describes a plan that no longer exists. Verify Alpha's current lineup and payout standing directly before purchasing anything.

Does Maven Trading have a scaling plan?

Yes, but it's a different animal: Maven runs a forex-style, lot-based account model, and its scaling is a +25% balance increase after 10% profit across four months with at least one payout per month (maventrading.com FAQ, Aug 2026) — an account-growth ladder, not a contract ladder. If you found this page comparing Maven against futures firms, you're comparing two different products.

Two timing rules matter more than the numbers

The review runs once a day. On a ladder system your end-of-session report sets the limit for the next session. You cannot size up the moment your balance qualifies mid-session — and a strategy that assumes it can will place an oversized order.

The ladder runs in reverse. A losing day can shrink the cap back down. The size you traded yesterday can be a breach today, on the same account, with no rule change. This is the single most common way a scaling plan is violated by someone who read the plan.

The trap nobody mentions: micros count differently by platform

This one is worth reading twice, because it changes your position size by a factor of ten inside the same firm.

On Topstep's own platform micros count 10 to 1 — ten MES equals one ES against your limit. On third-party platforms like Tradovate or NinjaTrader, one micro counts as one full contract. Same firm, same account, same word "5 contracts".

At a 5-contract cap with 10-to-1 counting, 50 micros is fine. At a 5-contract cap with 1-to-1 counting, 50 micros is a tenfold breach. Apex counts every contract one to one, so six MES counts as six — micros buy finer sizing, not more simultaneous contracts. Some products carry special weightings on top of that.

Before you set a position size in code, confirm the counting convention for the exact firm and platform combination you are on.

What this does to a systematic strategy

A fixed-size strategy and a scaling plan are structurally in tension. Your sizing model wants a constant relationship to the drawdown; the scaling plan wants size to be a function of accumulated profit that can also move backwards.

Two workable approaches. Either size for the starting tier and never scale up — simplest, and it means the plan never binds — or make position size an explicit function of the current tier, recalculated once per day at the same time the firm recalculates.

What does not work is sizing for the top tier and hoping. That is a breach waiting for the first losing week.

Our per-tier configurations take the conservative path: sizing is derived from the drawdown limit for the account size, not from the maximum contract count the firm advertises. The arithmetic is in sizing against trailing drawdown and the configurations are on the portfolios page. Related: contract scaling rule violations.

The pattern across firms is consistent: the evaluation sells the ceiling, the funded stage rents it back to you in installments. Before choosing an account, read the funded ladder next to the headline cap — the full per-firm cap table is in futures prop firm max contract limits — and size the strategy against the rung you'll actually start on, not the top of the ladder. If the account uses a trailing floor, how to size against trailing drawdown covers the rest of the math.

FAQ

What is a prop firm scaling plan?

A rule that limits how many contracts you can trade based on accumulated profit. You start below the advertised maximum and unlock more capacity as the balance grows. If the balance falls back, the cap usually falls with it.

What is the Topstep scaling plan?

Topstep Express Funded accounts use a balance ladder. A 50K account starts around 2 contracts, rises to 3 above roughly $1,500 in profit and 5 past roughly $2,000; a 150K starts at 3 and reaches 15 near $154,500. Limits are set by the end-of-session report and apply to the next session. Live Funded accounts use dynamic risk expansion instead.

How does Apex scaling work?

Apex starts you at half your funded contract maximum. Full size unlocks the session after your balance clears a threshold, roughly the starting balance plus the trailing drawdown amount plus a small buffer. On a 50K account that lands near $52,600 for the full contract count.

Do micro contracts count the same everywhere?

No, and this catches people out. On Topstep's own platform ten micros count as one contract; on Tradovate or NinjaTrader one micro counts as one full contract. Apex counts every contract one to one. Confirm the convention for your firm and platform before setting position size.

Which firms have no scaling plan?

MyFundedFutures Pro and Rapid plans give full contract size from day one. Tradeify and FundedNext apply fewer scaling restrictions than the ladder-based firms. Rules change often, so verify before purchase.

Verified August 2026. Prop firm rules change often and several firms rewrote their rulebooks in 2026. Confirm every figure on the firm's official site before purchasing an evaluation.

Performance figures are a combination of live-tracked and modeled results. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.

Performance figures are a combination of live-tracked and modeled results. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Not financial advice.