Alpha Futures Rules Overview: The Definitive Guide to Every Rule That Matters

Alpha Futures has cleaner rules than most futures props — but "clean" doesn't mean "simple." I've breached accounts at other firms because I misunderstood one sentence buried in their terms. At Alpha Futures, the rules are mostly straightforward, but the way they interact with each other during live trading? That's where things get nuanced.

I've traded Standard and Advanced accounts here, passed multiple evaluations, and navigated the funded rules through payout cycles. This isn't a copy-paste from their FAQ page — it's how these rules actually feel when you're in a position at 9:35 AM and NQ just dropped 40 points.

Every rule below is organized by when it matters: evaluation, funded trading, and universal rules that apply everywhere. I'll flag the ones that trip people up most.

Quick heads-up: This article is based on my real experience with Alpha Futures and the info available when I published/updated this. Things change in prop trading — rules, payouts, promos, all of it.

For the absolute latest, check Alpha Futures's website or their help center.

The Rules That Matter Most (Quick Reference)

Before the deep dive, here's every major rule mapped by plan type and trading phase. Bookmark this — you'll reference it more than once.

That table covers Standard and Advanced. Zero follows Standard's funded rules with one exception — no consistency rule during evaluation. Now let me break down each rule so you actually understand what it means at 9:31 AM when you're staring at a losing position.

Maximum Drawdown: The Rule That Ends Accounts

The max drawdown at Alpha Futures is EOD trailing. Four words that matter more than anything else in this article.

EOD means end-of-day. Your drawdown level only updates once per day, based on your closing balance. Not your intraday high, not your unrealized P&L at 10:47 AM — your balance when the session closes at 5 PM ET.

Trailing means it follows your highest closing balance upward but never comes back down. If your starting balance is $50,000 and you close Day 1 at $51,200, your new drawdown floor moves to $49,200 ($51,200 minus $2,000). That floor never resets — well, not exactly. Once it trails up to your starting balance ($50,000 floor on a 50K account), it stops trailing and becomes static. That's the lock-in point.

Here's why this is a big deal: you can be down $1,500 intraday and be fine, as long as you close the day above your drawdown floor. I've had sessions where NQ whipped me down $1,800 by 10 AM, and I clawed back to -$400 by close. Account survived. With intraday trailing drawdown — which firms like Apex use — I'd have been breached by lunch.

The Drawdown Math People Mess Up

The trailing aspect confuses people. Let me walk through a real scenario on a 50K Standard eval:

Day 1: Close at $51,400 (made $1,400). Drawdown floor moves to $49,400.Day 2: Close at $52,100 (made $700). Floor moves to $50,100.Day 3: Close at $51,300 (lost $800). Floor stays at $50,100 — it only trails UP.Day 4: Close at $52,800 (made $1,500). Floor moves to $50,800.

At this point the drawdown floor ($50,800) has passed the starting balance ($50,000). Now it's locked — it stays at $50,800 no matter what. Your account can drop to $50,801 and survive.

The danger period is early — Days 1-3 when the floor is below your starting balance. A bad Day 2 can end you before you've had time to build a cushion. I always trade smallest size on Day 1 of any eval. Two micros on NQ max. Build $400-$600 of cushion before increasing size. It's boring, but boring keeps accounts alive.

Daily Loss Guard: Your Safety Net (Or Your Cage)

The DLG is a 2% daily loss limit. On a 50K account, that's $1,000. Hit it, and your account locks for the rest of the session. No more trading until the next day.

This applies to Standard and Zero accounts in both evaluation and funded phases. Advanced gets the DLG during evaluation but loses it once funded — one of the major perks of paying the premium.

Important distinction: the DLG is not an account-killing breach. It's a temporary lock. Your account survives; you just can't trade again until the next session opens. That's a big difference from firms that treat daily loss limits as permanent violations.

How the DLG Actually Hits You

The DLG includes unrealized P&L. This is the part that catches people. If you're in a position that's down $900 and your realized losses today are already -$50, your unrealized draw is flirting with the $1,000 cap. Get one more tick against you, and the account locks.

I got locked by the DLG during a FOMC announcement on my Standard eval — NQ spiked against me 15 points in about 8 seconds, unrealized loss hit $1,050, account locked instantly. I was back to trading the next morning with no penalty other than the day's loss. Annoying? Yes. Account-ending? No.

My approach: I never risk more than $500 in a single trade when the DLG is active. That gives me room for two losers before I'm even close. Sounds conservative, and it is — but I've never been locked by the DLG in the middle of a winning streak. Only when I was already having a bad day and should've stopped anyway.

Advanced Funded: No DLG, No Cage

Once you're funded on Advanced, the DLG disappears entirely. You can lose $1,500 intraday and still keep trading. Obviously, the max drawdown still applies — you can't lose $2,000+ from your highest closing balance — but the daily freedom is real.

This matters most for news traders and scalpers who might have a rough first hour but recover by session close. On Standard/Zero funded, that rough first hour might lock you out before your setup even fires.

The Consistency Rule: Where Most Payout Problems Start

Alpha Futures uses a percentage-based consistency rule, and I'm going to be blunt — this is the rule that causes the most confusion and the most failed payout requests. Not drawdown. Not the DLG. Consistency.

Here's how it works: no single trading day's profit can exceed X% of your total profits in that period. During Standard evaluation, X = 50%. During Standard/Zero funded trading, X = 40%. During Advanced evaluation, X = 40%. During Advanced funded trading, there's no consistency rule at all.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Say you're on a Standard funded account and your cycle profits (since last payout or account activation) are $2,000 across 8 trading days. Your best single day was $950. Is $950 under 40% of $2,000? That's 47.5%. Nope — you've violated the consistency rule. You can't request a payout until you bring that ratio below 40%.

The fix: keep trading profitable days until the denominator is large enough. If your best day was $950, you need total profits of at least $2,375 ($950 / 0.40 = $2,375). So you need $375 more in profits spread across other days.

Here's a scenario table that makes this clearer:

This is why I aim for $400-$600 daily targets. A $500 best day needs only $1,250 total at 40%, which is realistic in a 14-day payout cycle. A $2,000 NFP explosion? Now I need $5,000 total before I can withdraw. That could take 2-3 weeks of additional trading.

The smart move — and I learned this the hard way — is to stop trading on monster days before you create a consistency problem. If I'm up $700 by 10:30 AM and my cycle target is $300/day, I close the platform. That extra $200 isn't worth the consistency headache it creates.

News Trading Rules: Eval vs. Funded Divergence

During evaluation, all three plans allow news trading. No restrictions. Trade through NFP, FOMC, CPI — whatever you want. This is actually one of Alpha's better features compared to firms that restrict news during eval.

Once funded, the rules split:

Standard and Zero funded: 2-minute buffer around major economic releases. No opening new positions within 2 minutes before or 2 minutes after the announcement. You can hold existing positions through news — the restriction is only on new entries. Close orders are fine too.

Advanced funded: No restrictions. Trade through anything.

What counts as "major economic releases"? Alpha follows the standard high-impact events calendar — FOMC rate decisions, NFP, CPI, PPI, GDP. The exact list mirrors what you'd see marked red on ForexFactory or TradingEconomics.

I trade around news regularly on my Advanced accounts and it's one of the reasons I pay the premium. On my Standard funded account, I just avoid the 4-minute window entirely. Not worth the risk of accidentally entering 90 seconds before an announcement and getting flagged.

Prohibited Strategies: What Gets You Banned

Alpha Futures prohibits a handful of strategies that most legitimate traders never use anyway. But knowing the lines matters, so here they are:

High-frequency trading (HFT): Automated systems executing hundreds or thousands of trades per session. Normal discretionary trading — even fast scalping — isn't HFT. If you're manually clicking entries, you're fine.

Tick scalping: Entering and exiting within one or two ticks for micro-profits at extreme volume. This is different from normal scalping. Taking a 5-8 point scalp on NQ is fine. Entering and exiting for 1 tick profit on 20 contracts, 50 times per day? That's tick scalping.

Latency arbitrage: Exploiting data feed delays between platforms. Not something retail traders accidentally do.

Account manipulation: Trading correlated opposite positions on multiple accounts to guarantee one passes. Alpha monitors account patterns across your funded accounts.

Copy trading from external sources: Using identical signals or trade copiers from outside your own accounts. You can copy your own trades across your own Alpha accounts — that's specifically allowed and they even have a guide for it. What you can't do is mirror someone else's trade signals.

The big takeaway: if you're a discretionary futures trader using any reasonable strategy — price action, order flow, VWAP setups, momentum, mean reversion — you're fine. The prohibitions target exploitation tactics, not trading styles.

Overnight Holding: The Universal "No"

Across all plans, all phases — no holding positions through the daily close at 5:00 PM ET. All positions must be flat before the session ends.

This isn't unique to Alpha — most futures props have this rule. But it's worth emphasizing because the CME's extended session starts at 6:00 PM ET, and some traders assume they can hold through the hour gap. You can't.

Alpha uses an auto-liquidation at 4:59 PM ET as a safety net. I wouldn't rely on it — close your positions manually by 4:50 at the latest. The auto-liquidation can hit at unfavorable prices during thin end-of-day volume, and you eat that slippage.

Inactivity Rule: Use It or Lose It

If you don't trade for 30 consecutive calendar days, your account goes inactive and can be terminated. This applies to both evaluation and funded accounts.

Simple fix: take one trade per month. Even a single micro contract entry and exit counts as activity. I set a monthly reminder for the 20th — if I haven't traded that account recently, I take a small position just to keep it active.

Payout-Specific Rules

Beyond the consistency rule, there are a few payout gates worth knowing:

Minimum payout: $250 across all plans. Below that, you can't request a withdrawal.

Buffer requirement: You must maintain enough balance above your drawdown floor after the withdrawal. If your drawdown floor is $50,800 and your current balance is $51,300, you can only withdraw a portion of the $500 above the floor — not the full amount, because you'd leave yourself with zero cushion.

Payout frequency: Standard and Zero cycle every 14 days. Advanced allows weekly requests after accumulating 5 profitable days (each $200+ in profit).

First payout timing: Your first payout request can happen after your first complete cycle — 14 days for Standard/Zero, 7 days for Advanced (with the 5-day requirement met).

Profit split escalation (Standard only): Payouts 1-2 at 70%, payouts 3-4 at 80%, payout 5+ at 90%. This resets if your account breaches and you start over. Advanced and Zero are locked at 90% from day one.

The Rule Interactions Nobody Tells You About

Here's where it gets real. Individual rules are straightforward. How they combine creates the actual experience of trading at Alpha Futures.

DLG + Consistency Rule: On Standard funded, if the DLG locks you out at -$800, that's a negative day. But you still need to maintain consistency for your payout. A big loss day doesn't just hurt your P&L — it reduces the denominator for your consistency calculation, making previous big wins look proportionally larger. One bad DLG day can indirectly create a consistency problem.

Drawdown + Withdrawals: When you withdraw profits from a funded account, your Maximum Loss Limit effectively tightens relative to your balance. If you withdraw aggressively and leave thin cushion, you're one bad day from breaching the drawdown. I never withdraw more than 60-70% of available profits. Leave some buffer.

Consistency + Payout Timing: The 14-day cycle resets after each payout. So your consistency calculation starts fresh. If you had a monster day in the previous cycle, it doesn't carry over. This means each cycle is a clean slate — which is good, but it also means you need to be consistent every cycle, not just once.

News Buffer + DLG: If you enter a position at 8:25 AM on a Standard funded account and NFP drops at 8:30 AM, you didn't violate the news rule — you entered more than 2 minutes before. But if NFP moves against you violently and triggers your DLG, the account locks for the day. The news rule didn't save you from the DLG. Plan entries further from news events to avoid this overlap.

My Rule Survival Framework

After trading multiple Alpha Futures accounts simultaneously, here's the mental framework I use:

During evaluation: Trade conservatively the first 2-3 days. Build $600-$800 cushion above the drawdown floor before increasing size. Don't chase the profit target fast — spread it across sessions. The consistency rule is easier to manage when profits are evenly distributed.

During funded trading: Know your payout cycle date. Track your best day relative to total profits daily. Aim for consistent $300-$500 days, not home runs. Leave 30-40% of available profits in the account as drawdown buffer after withdrawals. On Standard/Zero, avoid trading within 5 minutes of major news — not just the required 2 minutes, but an extra margin for safety.

Universal: Close all positions by 4:50 PM ET. Never risk more than 50% of your DLG on a single trade. Take at least one trade per month on every active account. Don't hold overnight, even if you think the setup is perfect. The auto-liquidation isn't your friend.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the drawdown trail during intraday trading?

No. Alpha uses EOD (end-of-day) trailing. The drawdown floor only updates at session close. You can be down $1,500 intraday and recover — as long as your closing balance stays above the floor.

What happens if I accidentally trade during the news buffer?

On Standard/Zero funded, entering a new position within 2 minutes of a major news event is a rule violation. I haven't personally triggered this, but from what I've seen in the Alpha community, first offenses typically result in a warning. Repeated violations can lead to account termination.

Can I use stop losses and take profits through news events?

Yes. The news buffer only restricts new entries. Existing orders — stops, take profits, trailing stops — execute normally through news events. You can also close positions manually during the buffer window.

Does the consistency rule count losing days?

Only profitable days count in the numerator. Losing days reduce your total profits (the denominator), which can indirectly affect consistency ratios. A losing day itself doesn't trigger a consistency violation.

What's the difference between DLG and max drawdown?

DLG is a daily safety net — locks your account for the session if you lose 2% in a single day. Max drawdown is the overall survival threshold — breach it and the account is terminated permanently. DLG protects you from catastrophic single days. Drawdown protects Alpha from catastrophic overall losses.

Can I trade on weekends or holidays?

Alpha follows CME trading hours. Most futures contracts trade Sunday 6 PM ET through Friday 5 PM ET with a daily maintenance window. No trading on CME-recognized holidays (Christmas, New Year's Day, etc.) when markets are closed.

Do the rules apply differently to micro vs. full contracts?

No. Rules apply to account balance, not contract type. Whether you're trading 1 NQ contract or 10 MNQ micros, the drawdown, DLG, and consistency calculations are based on your P&L in dollars.

How many contracts can I trade simultaneously?

Depends on your account size. A 50K account typically allows up to 5 minis or 50 micros. 100K doubles that. 150K triples it. Check the specific limits for your plan — they're listed on the account page in your dashboard.

Is there a time limit to pass the evaluation?

No. As long as you're paying the monthly subscription and keeping the account active (trading at least once every 30 days), the evaluation stays open indefinitely.

What happens if I breach my account during a payout request?

If your account breaches while a payout is being processed, the payout is typically canceled. The breach takes priority. This is rare — payouts process within 48 hours — but it's worth knowing if you're trading aggressively while waiting for a withdrawal to clear.

Can I scale into positions or do I need to enter all at once?

Scaling is allowed. You can add to winning positions, average into setups, scale out partially — standard position management. Just stay within your contract limits and manage total exposure relative to your drawdown.

Are there different rules for different instruments?

No. Whether you're trading ES, NQ, GC, CL, or any other CME contract — same rules across the board. Your margin requirements differ by instrument, which effectively limits how many contracts you can hold, but the drawdown, DLG, and consistency rules are universal.

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