Alpha Futures Standard Plan: Full Guide to Rules, Targets, Drawdown & Payouts

The Alpha Futures Standard Plan is the firm’s most balanced and popular funding option — lower fees than Advanced, easier targets, a trader-friendly daily balance-based drawdown, and bi-weekly payouts once you qualify.
This guide walks you through everything that matters: rules, consistency requirements, targets, payouts, platforms, pros/cons, and which traders benefit most.

Tested firsthand: I've traded multiple Alpha Futures accounts—passed evaluations on Standard and Advanced plans, dealt with the DLG and consistency rule interactions, and withdrawn real money through their payout system. What you're reading comes from live funded trading, not from reading their marketing page.

For the complete breakdown of every Alpha Futures account type—including how Standard, Advanced, and Zero plans differ in drawdown rules, profit splits, pricing, and which account size actually makes sense for your trading style—read my full Alpha Futures accounts overview. It covers all three plans from 25K to 150K with real cost analysis. For the absolute latest, check Alpha Futures' website.

Plan Overview

The Standard Plan is built for traders who want:

• clear rules
• a fair drawdown structure
• moderate consistency requirements
• bi-weekly payouts
• 70%→90% profit split
• access to multiple CME futures platforms

Below is a clean overview based on the official Alpha Futures plan table.

Alpha Futures Standard Plan — Rule Structure

Key Rule Explainers

Daily Balance-Based Drawdown (Huge Advantage)

The Standard Plan uses daily balance-based trailing drawdown during evaluation.
This means:

• your drawdown moves up only at end-of-day
• intraday fluctuations do NOT move the line
• it’s much more forgiving than equity-peak drawdown

Once funded, the drawdown becomes static, which is the ideal setup for scaling.

Consistency Rule (50% → 40%)

The Standard Plan requires:

• 50% consistency during evaluation
• 40% consistency once qualified

Example:
If you net $3,000 profit, no single day may exceed $1,500 during evaluation.

This prevents “one lucky spike” passes and rewards stable trading.

News Trading Rules

• Allowed in evaluation
• In Qualified accounts:
  • can hold through news
  • cannot enter 2 minutes before/after major releases

Standard Plan Payout Structure‍

Additional Payout Specs

• Frequency: every 14 days
• Minimum withdrawal: $200
• Maximum per request: $15,000
• Methods: Rise, Wise, bank transfer, ACH
• Important: withdrawals reduce your max loss buffer (Standard only)

Platform Access

The Standard Plan supports all major CME platforms:

• AlphaTicks – no commissions, fast, browser-based
• Tradovate – clean, modern, reliable
• TradingView via Tradovate – perfect for chart-first traders
• NinjaTrader – supported, but check setup with support if it’s your primary tool

Micros and minis are available across all platforms.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Fair and forgiving drawdown
• Reasonable targets
• Strong payouts
• Multiple platform options
• Clear consistency rules
• Smooth scaling to 90%

Cons

• Reset fees add up
• Payouts reduce drawdown
• Consistency rules limit single-day spikes
• Not suitable for scalping or algos

Who the Standard Plan Is Best For

Perfect For

• ES/NQ day traders
• Swing traders
• Traders needing bi-weekly payouts
• Those wanting a forgiving, balanced evaluation

Not Ideal For

• HFT / algo systems
• Micro-scalpers
• Total beginners
• Traders expecting weekly payouts

Frequently Asked Questions About Alpha Futures Standard Plan

What is Alpha Futures Standard?

Alpha Futures Standard is the entry-level monthly subscription evaluation plan at Alpha Futures. It uses a 6% profit target evaluation, daily balance-based trailing drawdown, a 2-minute news buffer window, and a tiered 70→80→90% profit split that reaches maximum at the fifth payout. Standard funded accounts enforce a 40% consistency rule, a Daily Loss Guard, and a withdrawal-shrinks-buffer drawdown mechanic. Monthly subscription costs range from $79 (50K) to $159 (150K) plus a $149 activation fee at funded account launch.

What is the profit split on Alpha Futures Standard?

Alpha Futures Standard uses a tiered profit split: payouts 1–2 at 70%, payouts 3–4 at 80%, and payout 5 onward permanently at 90%. At bi-weekly payout frequency, reaching the 90% tier takes a minimum of 10 weeks (5 payouts × 2-week cycles). A $5,000 cycle profit on payout 1 nets $3,500 at 70% versus $4,500 on Zero or Advanced — a $1,000 difference per cycle in the early phase. The tiered ramp is Standard's most significant income disadvantage relative to Zero and Advanced.

What is the Alpha Futures Standard evaluation profit target?

Alpha Futures Standard requires a 6% profit target: $3,000 on $50K, $6,000 on $100K, $9,000 on $150K. The target must be reached while staying within the daily balance-based trailing drawdown and the 2-minute news buffer rule. There is no minimum day requirement during the Standard evaluation — the account can be passed in a single session if the profit target is hit cleanly. The 6% target matches Zero's evaluation target and is 2% lower than Advanced's 8% requirement.

How does Alpha Futures Standard drawdown work?

Alpha Futures Standard uses daily balance-based trailing drawdown — the drawdown floor updates at end-of-day only, based on your highest closed balance at session end. Intraday equity peaks never move the trail. On a $100K Standard account, the starting drawdown is $3,000, giving an initial floor of $97,000. Each profitable session close raises the floor proportionally. Once your closing balance reaches the Qualified Trader threshold, the trail locks permanently as a fixed floor for the account's lifetime.

What is the Alpha Futures Standard consistency rule?

Alpha Futures Standard funded accounts enforce a 40% funded consistency rule: your single best profitable day cannot exceed 40% of total payout cycle profits when requesting a payout. If your best day is $1,200 and total cycle profit is $2,600, that's 46.2% — payout blocked until total reaches $3,000 ($1,200 ÷ 0.40). The consistency check runs only at payout submission — it doesn't monitor your account in real time. The calculation resets completely after each approved payout.

Does Alpha Futures Standard have a Daily Loss Guard?

Yes — Alpha Futures Standard funded accounts enforce a Daily Loss Guard (DLL) that suspends trading for the session when intraday losses reach the daily threshold. The DLL is a session lockout event, not account termination — you resume trading the following day. The DLL amount on Standard scales with account size. Advanced funded accounts have no DLL, making Advanced operationally freer for traders who have volatile intraday sessions. Hitting the Standard DLL on a funded account is one of the most common complaints among Standard traders.

How does withdrawing affect the Alpha Futures Standard drawdown buffer?

On Alpha Futures Standard Qualified accounts, each approved withdrawal reduces your max loss buffer by the withdrawn amount. If your locked drawdown floor gives you a $3,000 buffer and you withdraw $2,500, your remaining drawdown cushion drops to $500. This withdrawal-shrinks-buffer mechanic is the most dangerous structural feature of Standard accounts and the leading cause of funded account termination after initial payout success. After a large withdrawal on Standard, a single average losing day can breach the remaining buffer and terminate the account. Advanced accounts don't have this problem — withdrawals never affect the buffer.

What is the payout cap on Alpha Futures Standard?

Alpha Futures Standard caps withdrawals at $5,000 per bi-weekly cycle. Profits above $5,000 accumulated in a single cycle remain in the account and are accessible in the next cycle — there's no expiration on accumulated profit. The $5,000 ceiling means traders generating more than $10,000/month need at least two full cycles to extract it all. This is lower than Advanced's $15,000 weekly cap but higher than Zero's $1,500–$3,000 per-request cap. Standard's $5,000 bi-weekly cap is functional for most traders under $10,000/month.

Does Alpha Futures Standard allow news trading?

Alpha Futures Standard enforces a 2-minute news buffer window around Tier-1 economic releases. New position entries are blocked for 2 minutes before and 2 minutes after events including CPI, NFP, FOMC decisions, PPI, and GDP. Existing positions can be held or closed during the window. Violations can result in trade reversal and potential account review. Advanced accounts remove this restriction entirely. Standard's 2-minute window is identical to Alpha Zero's restriction — both differ from Advanced's completely unrestricted news policy.

How many qualifying days are required for an Alpha Futures Standard payout?

Alpha Futures Standard requires 5 qualifying profitable days within the bi-weekly cycle window before a payout request is eligible. A qualifying day is a session where you traded and closed with net positive P&L. Days where you traded but ended flat or down don't count toward the minimum. At the standard bi-weekly pace, completing 5 qualifying days typically takes 1–2 weeks of active trading. The minimum $200 profit threshold must also be met alongside the day count.

What is the monthly cost of Alpha Futures Standard?

Alpha Futures Standard monthly subscription pricing: $79/month for $50K, $119/month for $100K, $159/month for $150K. Additionally, a one-time $149 activation fee is charged when you convert from evaluation to funded (Qualified Trader) status — and again on each evaluation reset if the account is breached. Over 12 months at $100K, Standard costs $1,577 ($119 × 12 + $149 activation). Zero eliminates the $149 activation fee at the same monthly rate. Advanced costs $259/month for $100K plus the same $149 activation.

When does Alpha Futures Standard make sense over Zero?

Standard makes sense over Zero in very few scenarios given that Zero eliminates the $149 activation fee while matching Standard's monthly subscription cost. The primary scenario where Standard could be preferred: if you've been trading a specific Alpha account since before Zero launched and the existing account has accumulated funded history you don't want to restart. For new evaluations, Zero is almost always the better cost structure — same monthly, no activation, same 6% eval target, and 90% from day one versus Standard's 70% starting split.

What withdrawal strategy works best on Alpha Futures Standard?

The best withdrawal strategy on Standard accounts: never withdraw more than 50% of your current drawdown buffer in a single request. If your locked buffer is $3,000, cap each withdrawal at $1,500 maximum. This leaves $1,500 of cushion — enough to survive a bad trading day without breaching the floor. The 40% consistency rule adds another constraint: build at least 10–12 trading days of gradual profits before requesting rather than requesting immediately after a single large session, which maximizes the ratio dilution before the check runs.

What platforms does Alpha Futures Standard support?

Alpha Futures Standard supports the same platforms as all Alpha accounts: NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView (via Tradovate's CQG integration), and ProjectX. The CQG data feed powers all four platforms. Tradovate is the standard starting platform for new Alpha traders. NinjaTrader is preferred for scalpers who need ATM strategies and custom DOM layouts. TradingView provides clean multi-timeframe charting with Pine Script indicators for traders who prefer a chart-centric interface over a DOM-centric one.

Who should choose Alpha Futures Standard?

Honestly? Most traders shouldn't choose Standard as a new evaluation in 2026 — Zero matches its monthly cost, eliminates the activation fee, and gives 90% from day one instead of Standard's 70% starting split. The only reasonable case for choosing Standard over Zero is if you're already funded on a Standard account and plan to keep trading it. For new evaluations, choose Zero over Standard and choose Advanced over Zero once you're generating $5,000+/month consistently. Standard sits in an awkward middle tier that Zero undercuts on cost and Advanced outperforms on rules quality.

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