Reference · 5 min read

Prop firm rules, explained

The rule set is the product. A funded account is a contract whose terms decide which strategies can survive it, and most traders read the profit target and skip the rest. This is the rest.

Prop firm rules, in one paragraph: seven rules end funded accounts. The drawdown floor (trailing, end-of-day or static), the daily loss limit, the consistency rule at pass or payout, minimum or winning days before a payout, the contract cap and scaling plan, the automation and copy-trading policy, and the inactivity rule. The profit target decides whether you pass; these seven decide whether you keep the account. Futures and CFD firms apply the same seven, with different models: futures firms mostly trail, CFD firms mostly run static floors with a daily loss limit.

Every rule that ends a funded account, in one place. The pages below are grouped by the mechanism they describe, not by firm, because the same rule behaves the same way whichever firm applies it — and the firm-specific numbers change quarterly while the mechanics do not. Each linked page carries its own verification date. Firm-by-firm comparisons are in the blog; term definitions are in the glossary.

Prop firm rules cards: every rule by firm · Compare all 40 firms side by side

Rule-by-rule tables, 40 firms

Drawdown

Consistency and day rules

Contracts and scaling

Automation, copying, news

Payouts

Account lifecycle

The risk that is not in any rulebook

Every rule above is written down somewhere. The one that ended the most accounts in 2026 was not: in February ProjectX went exclusive to Topstep and six firms rebuilt their execution layer within weeks, and on 12 July NinjaTrader ended its partnership with Alpha Futures, closing Premium accounts and stalling payouts. No rulebook changed in either case — a supplier relationship did, and the traders carried it. Which platform a firm runs on, and which bridge reaches it, is on the platforms and bridges reference.

How to read a rule set before buying

Three questions decide whether a strategy fits a firm, and none of them is the profit target. First, which drawdown model runs on the funded stage — not the evaluation, because several firms switch between the two. Second, whether a consistency rule applies and at which stage. Third, what a qualifying day means, because minimum-day and inactivity rules count winning days, not trading days. The Pass Estimator runs a strategy's statistics against those constraints for the major futures firms. The 13 futures firms ranked on exactly these questions are in best futures prop firms 2026.

FAQ

Which prop firm rule ends most accounts?

The drawdown floor — specifically a position sized against account balance rather than against the distance to the floor. Consistency rules and daily loss limits end accounts too, but the floor breach is the most common.

Do prop firm rules differ between the evaluation and the funded account?

Frequently. Several firms run end-of-day trailing in the evaluation and intraday trailing once funded, apply consistency rules only at payout, or reduce contract caps under a scaling plan. Check both stages before buying.

Which prop firm has the simplest rules?

Simplicity depends on the strategy. No consistency rule and static drawdown is simplest for a low-frequency strategy; EOD trailing with no daily loss limit is simplest for one that scales out. There is no universally simplest rule set.

What are the rules of a futures prop firm?

Seven rules decide whether you keep a funded futures account: the drawdown floor (trailing end-of-day, intraday or static), the daily loss limit, the consistency rule at pass or payout, minimum or winning days before a payout, the contract cap and scaling plan, the automation and copy-trading policy, and the inactivity rule. The profit target only decides whether you pass. Futures firms mostly trail the floor, while CFD firms mostly run static floors with a daily loss limit; the firm-by-firm numbers are on the rules cards and in the tables linked above.

Firm rules verified September 2026. Prop firm rules change frequently; confirm on the firm's site before purchasing an evaluation.

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Which firm’s rule set actually fits the way your system trades — eight guides, one per strategy shape:

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