Alpha Futures Maximum Contracts: Position Size Limits by Account

Position size limits at Alpha Futures depend on your account size and whether you're in evaluation or qualified status. During evaluation, the math is simple: 50K accounts get 5 minis (50 micros), 100K accounts get 10 minis (100 micros), 150K accounts get 15 minis (150 micros). Once qualified on Standard accounts, those limits drop dramatically through a scaling plan that rebuilds with profitability. Advanced accounts skip the scaling entirely—full contract access from day one.

Learned the hard way: I've traded Alpha Futures accounts across Standard, Advanced, and Zero plans—evaluation through funded. The rule breakdowns here come from real funded trading experience, including the Daily Loss Guard locks, EOD trailing drawdown mechanics, and consistency rule math that catches most traders off guard.

The biggest trap at Alpha Futures is how rules interact—DLG locking you out before you hit max drawdown, consistency percentages changing between Standard and Advanced, and news buffer windows stacking with DLG. I broke down every rule with real examples and compliance strategies in my complete Alpha Futures rules guide. For the absolute latest, check Alpha Futures' website.

Evaluation Account Contract Limits

During evaluation, you get straightforward position sizing tied to account size. No games, no earning your way up—you have full access to test your strategy at realistic scale.

What This Means Practically

On a 50K evaluation trading ES, your maximum position is 5 contracts at $50/point each. That's $250 per point of movement. Your drawdown is $2,000 (4% of $50K), meaning an 8-point adverse move at max size would breach your account.

I never trade max size during evaluations unless I'm scaling into a winner. Starting a position at full allocation leaves zero room for averaging or adding on pullbacks. My typical approach: enter with 2-3 contracts, scale to 4-5 if the trade confirms, cut down to 2 if it struggles.

The micro contract option gives flexibility for fine-tuning. 50 micros equals 5 minis in exposure, but you can trade 37 micros if that matches your risk math better. Some traders prefer micros for the granular control, others stick with minis for simpler position management.

Why Evaluation Limits Are Generous

Alpha Futures gives you full position access during evaluation because they want to see how you actually trade. If your strategy requires 5 contracts and you can only trade 2 during eval, your results won't represent real performance.

This transparency matters. You're proving your strategy works at the scale you'll actually use. No surprises once qualified where suddenly you can access size you've never tested with.

The flip side? New traders sometimes blow evaluations by going full size too early. Just because you can trade 5 contracts doesn't mean you should—especially before building any profit buffer.

Qualified Standard Account Scaling Plan

Here's where things get interesting. Once you pass evaluation on a Standard account, your contract limits drop significantly and scale back up based on profitability. Alpha Futures calls this "earning your positions."

The Scaling Logic

Starting at 2 contracts on a 50K qualified account feels restrictive—because it is. Alpha Futures uses this as built-in risk management for newly funded traders. You can't blow the account with one bad trade when you're limited to 2 contracts.

The scaling thresholds make sense when you think about it. At $1,500 profit, you've demonstrated you can trade without immediately breaching. The firm rewards that with slightly more size. At $3,000 profit on 100K/150K accounts, you've proven sustained profitability—now you get meaningful scale.

I had to recalibrate my strategy after passing my first Alpha Futures eval. Went from trading 4 contracts in evaluation to being capped at 2 on the qualified account. Same setups, 50% less profit potential per trade. Frustrating at first, but it forced better selectivity. Only took quality setups knowing my position size was limited.

How Withdrawals Affect Scaling

This gets tricky. When you withdraw profits, your account balance drops, which can drop you down scaling tiers. The contracts you've "earned" through profitability can effectively be reduced by cashing out.

Example: You've built your 50K account to $52,500 (full 5 contracts unlocked). You withdraw $1,800 in profits. Account balance now $50,700, which is $700 profit. You're back in the "less than $1,500" tier—2 contracts maximum.

This isn't a penalty, just math. But it means you need to strategize withdrawals. I typically leave enough profit in the account to stay at least one scaling tier above minimum. Taking a partial payout that keeps me at 3+ contracts feels better than cashing everything and resetting to 2.

Advanced Account: No Scaling Plan

This is the headline difference with Advanced accounts. No scaling whatsoever. Day one of your qualified account, you have full contract access—5 minis on 50K, 10 on 100K, 15 on 150K.

For traders with proven strategies who want to hit the ground running at real size, this matters. You paid more for evaluation ($139 vs $79 monthly on 50K) and you get immediate access to show what you can do.

The trade-off is Advanced accounts have 8% profit target during evaluation instead of 6%. So you're proving competency at higher stakes before getting unrestricted access. Makes sense from a risk perspective—if you can clear $4,000 on a 50K account during eval, you've demonstrated you can handle the volatility of full position sizing.

Which Should You Choose?

If your strategy specifically requires larger position sizes and the scaling plan would handicap your approach, Advanced is worth the premium.

If you trade smaller positions anyway (2-3 contracts), Standard scaling won't impact you much. Why pay extra for contract access you won't use?

My personal take: Standard makes sense for most traders starting out at Alpha Futures. Learn the platform, get comfortable with their rules, understand payout processes with the lower-cost option. If you're consistently hitting scaling limits and leaving money on the table, then consider Advanced for your next account.

Position Sizing Strategies Within Limits

The Fixed Fraction Approach

Some traders use a fixed percentage of available contracts regardless of setup. "I always trade 60% of my maximum." Simple, consistent, removes decision-making.

On a 50K eval with 5 max contracts, 60% means 3 contracts every trade. No thinking required. The downside: you're not adapting to setup quality. Your A+ entries get the same size as your B- entries.

The Scaling Approach

Start small, add if the trade confirms. I typically enter with 40% of max (2 contracts on 5-contract account), add another 40% once price moves in my favor, occasionally go to 100% on strong runners.

This approach means your average winning trade is larger than your average losing trade—you're scaling into winners while cutting losers at initial size. The math works in your favor over many trades.

The Setup-Based Approach

Different sizes for different setups based on historical win rates. Your high-probability reversal pattern at key support gets 4 contracts. Your speculative breakout attempt gets 2. You're allocating more capital to higher-edge situations.

Requires tracking and knowing your stats. Most traders don't actually know which setups perform best—they think they do, but haven't verified with data. If you have the data, this approach optimizes returns. If you're guessing, stick with fixed fraction.

Common Contract Limit Mistakes

Using Max Size Without Buffer

Day one of evaluation, 5 contracts, max drawdown exposure. Market gaps against you overnight (even though you should close by EOD—mistakes happen). Account breached before coffee finished brewing.

Build buffer first. Even $500-$1,000 of profit before touching max size creates margin for error.

Ignoring Scaling After Qualification

Traders who crushed their eval at 4-5 contracts sometimes forget they're starting qualified at 2. They enter their standard position and the order fails or gets rejected. Worse—some platforms let it through anyway and you've violated contract limits without realizing.

Always check your current scaling tier before trading qualified accounts. I literally have a sticky note on my monitor: "Check contract limit."

Not Accounting for Correlated Positions

5 contracts of ES and 2 contracts of NQ might feel like you're within limits on both. But if you're trading directional exposure to the same market (S&P and Nasdaq often move together), you're effectively 7+ contracts of equity index exposure.

Alpha Futures counts contracts per product, but your risk management should consider total portfolio exposure. Technically compliant doesn't mean strategically smart.

The Contract Limit Reality Check

Limits exist for risk management, not to punish you. Alpha Futures would rather you grow slowly with proper position sizing than blow up with unlimited contracts.

The scaling plan forces good habits. Can't make $1,500 profit before needing more contracts? Maybe those extra contracts wouldn't help anyway—you'd just lose more, faster.

The Advanced option exists for traders who've already proven discipline elsewhere and want full access immediately. That's a legitimate use case, but be honest about whether you're there.

My approach: respect the limits, use them as guardrails, focus on percentage returns rather than absolute dollars. Making 10% with 2 contracts is the same skill as making 10% with 5 contracts—just different numbers.

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