What Happens If You Fail TradeDay's Evaluation?

Written by Paul

Published on

January 16, 2026

I've failed two TradeDay evaluations. First one ended on day 8 when I hit max drawdown during a news spike I didn't see coming (cost: $105 and 8 days wasted). Second one lasted 23 days before I violated the consistency rule by letting one winning day account for 38% of my total profit (cost: another $105 and three weeks of effort).

Both failures hurt—not just financially but psychologically. You spend weeks building profit, staying disciplined on drawdown limits, counting your qualifying days, and then one mistake ends everything. Your account disappears. Your progress resets to zero. Your monthly subscription keeps charging.

This guide covers exactly what happens the moment you fail a TradeDay evaluation, what your options are afterward, how much recovery costs, and what you should do differently on your next attempt (if you choose to reset). I'm covering the mechanics TradeDay doesn't advertise—the actual financial and psychological consequences of evaluation failure.

Quick heads-up: This article is based on my real experience with TradeDay 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 TradeDay´s website or their faq page.

Immediate Consequences: Your Account Gets Terminated

When you breach any evaluation objective, TradeDay's system terminates your account instantly. Not "end of day" or "after review"—immediately.

What Triggers Instant Termination

These violations end your evaluation the moment they occur:

Max Drawdown Breach:

Your account balance drops below your drawdown limit
If you're on EOD drawdown, this happens at 5:00 PM CT when session closes
If you're on intraday drawdown, this happens in real-time during trading

Daily Loss Limit Violation:

You lose more than your daily threshold in one session (if applicable)
Less common at TradeDay than other firms, but exists for certain account types

Trading During Banned News Events:

You have open positions within 2 minutes of Tier 1 news releases
TradeDay auto-liquidates positions and terminates evaluation

Position Limit Violations:

You exceed maximum contracts allowed
Happens if you scale too aggressively or mismanage order entry

Prohibited Trading Practices:

Using banned strategies (detailed in prohibited practices guide)
Copy trading, hedging across accounts, exploiting platform bugs

The system doesn't wait for human review on these. Breach happens, account closes, done.

What Happens to Your Trading Access

The moment your evaluation fails:

Trading Platform Access: Revoked Immediately

You can't place new orders
Open positions get closed automatically (usually)
Platform credentials stop working within 15-30 minutes

Dashboard Access: Remains Available

You can still log into members.tradeday.com
You can view your trade history and see what caused failure
Your terminated evaluation shows final stats
You can see reset options and pricing

Historical Data: Preserved

TradeDay keeps your trade history from failed evaluations
You can download it for review
Useful for analyzing what went wrong

I logged into my dashboard 10 minutes after my first failure (max drawdown during NFP). Trading platform was already locked. Dashboard showed my final balance ($47,420 on a $50K account with $47,500 drawdown limit), marked the account "Terminated," and displayed the reset pricing immediately.

Your Progress Is Gone: Nothing Carries Over

This is the part that stings most: when you fail, everything resets.

What You Lose

All Profit:

Any gains you built during the evaluation disappear
Doesn't matter if you were at $1,900 of your $2,000 profit target
Resets to zero

Qualifying Trading Days:

Your minimum trading days counter resets to 0/7
Days you accumulated don't transfer to reset accounts
You start over counting days

Consistency Distribution:

Your 30% consistency rule progress resets
Any balanced profit distribution you built doesn't matter

Time Invested:

All the hours analyzing charts, managing risk, tracking objectives—gone
You're back to day 1 if you reset

My second failure hurt worse than the first. I had 6/7 qualifying days, $1,680 of my $2,000 profit target, perfect consistency distribution across 21 trading days—and then I took one oversized winner that pushed that single day to 38% of total profit. Consistency rule violation. Account terminated. 21 days of careful trading wiped out because I didn't take profit on one runner.

What Doesn't Reset

Your Monthly Subscription:

Keeps charging at your normal interval
Failure doesn't pause or stop billing
You're paying for access even with terminated accounts

Your Knowledge/Experience:

You learned what strategies work and what doesn't
You identified mistakes
You know TradeDay's platform better

Your Account History:

Previous evaluation results remain in your dashboard
You can review failed attempts
Useful for identifying patterns

The subscription continuing is brutal. I failed my first evaluation on day 8. My next renewal hit on day 15 (7 days later). I paid $105 for another month despite having a dead account. I could have canceled, but I wanted to reset—which meant keeping the subscription active.

Your Reset Options: How to Try Again

After failure, you have three choices:

Option 1: Purchase a Reset ($99-139 Depending on Account Size)

TradeDay offers paid resets that give you a fresh evaluation at the same account size:

Reset Pricing (As of January 2026):

Account Size	Initial Evaluation Cost	Reset Cost	Total If You Fail Once
$50K Account	$105/month	$99	$204 + monthly fees
$100K Account	$155/month	$119	$274 + monthly fees
$150K Account	$185/month	$139	$324 + monthly fees

What Reset Includes:

Fresh evaluation account at same size
Same evaluation rules and objectives
Same drawdown type (EOD or intraday)
New profit target counter (back to $0)
New qualifying days counter (back to 0/7)

What Reset Doesn't Include:

Any refund on original evaluation fees
Any compensation for time lost
Changes to rules (you get same terms)

I've purchased two resets. First one after my NFP failure, second one after my consistency violation. Reset accounts activate within 15 minutes of payment. You get new platform credentials immediately and can start trading same day.

Check the reset fees guide for current pricing since TradeDay occasionally runs promotions.

Option 2: Cancel Subscription and Walk Away

If you don't want to continue:

Log into dashboard
Navigate to subscription settings
Cancel your monthly membership
Your access ends at end of current billing cycle

Consequences:

You lose all fees paid (no refunds)
Can't access failed account data after membership expires
Starting fresh later requires new full-price evaluation

I almost canceled after my second failure. Three months of payments plus two reset fees had me at $450 invested with zero funded accounts. But I took two weeks off, reviewed all my trades, identified the consistency mistake pattern, and decided to reset one more time. Passed on the third attempt.

See the cancellation policy guide for details on how this works.

Option 3: Keep Subscription Active But Don't Trade

Some traders maintain their subscription for dashboard access and trade history review but don't purchase resets immediately:

Why Do This:

Review failed trades without time pressure
Wait for better market conditions
Let psychology reset before trying again
Maintain access while deciding whether to continue

Downside:

You're paying monthly fees for accounts you can't trade
Financially wasteful unless you reset soon

I don't recommend this. If you're not trading, cancel. If you want to try again, reset immediately. Paying $105/month for dead accounts is burning money.

The Financial Math of Failed Evaluations

Let's calculate what failure actually costs across different scenarios:

Scenario 1: Fail Once, Reset Immediately, Pass Second Try

$50K Account Example:

Initial evaluation: $105
Month 1 fees: $105 (failed on day 8, subscription renewed)
Reset fee: $99
Month 2 fees: $0 (passed before next renewal)
Total cost to funded account: $309

Scenario 2: Fail Twice, Reset Each Time, Pass Third Try

$50K Account Example:

Initial evaluation: $105
Month 1 fees: $105
First reset: $99
Month 2 fees: $105 (failed again, subscription renewed)
Second reset: $99
Month 3 fees: $0 (passed before renewal)
Total cost to funded account: $513

This was my actual path. $513 invested before getting funded. That's 5x the initial evaluation cost. Every failure compounds.

Scenario 3: Fail, Give Up, Cancel

$50K Account Example:

Initial evaluation: $105
Month 1 fees: $105 (paid through end of cycle)
Cancel before next renewal
Total loss: $210 (no funded account, no more fees)

Why Multiple Failures Hurt

Each reset costs nearly as much as the initial evaluation. If you fail three times, you've paid:

$105 (initial) + $105 (month 1) + $99 (reset 1) + $105 (month 2) + $99 (reset 2) + $105 (month 3) + $99 (reset 3) = $717

That's 7x the initial evaluation cost. You could have purchased instant funding for less at some firms.

Common Reasons Traders Fail Evaluations

After watching dozens of failed evaluations in TradeDay's Discord and analyzing my own failures, these patterns show up repeatedly:

1. Max Drawdown Breach (Most Common)

Why It Happens:

Revenge trading after losses
Position sizing too large for volatility
Not tracking drawdown limits during session
News spikes traders didn't anticipate

My Experience:

First failure was 100% max drawdown breach
ES dropped 18 points in 90 seconds during NFP
I was long from 2 minutes before release (didn't check calendar)
Position went from -$180 to -$2,600 in seconds
Hit max drawdown on a $50K EOD account instantly

Prevention:

Check economic calendar every morning
Size positions based on recent ATR, not account size
Set hard stops at drawdown threshold - 10%
Use EOD drawdown type if you trade aggressively

2. Consistency Rule Violation

Why It Happens:

One outsized winner accounts for 30%+ of total profit
Letting runners go too far without taking partial profit
Not tracking daily profit percentages

My Experience:

Second failure was consistency violation
Had $1,680 profit distributed across 21 days
Took NQ runner for $840 profit on day 22
That single day became 38% of new total ($2,520)
Account terminated despite being above profit target

Prevention:

Use consistency calculator daily
Take profit when a single day approaches 25% of total
Don't let winners run indefinitely during evaluations

3. News Trading Auto-Liquidation

Why It Happens:

Traders forget about scheduled news
Don't realize they're within 2-minute ban window
Assume they can exit before event (they can't)

Example From Discord:

Trader had 6/7 qualifying days, $1,950 of $2,000 profit target
Took ES long at 10:28 AM on CPI day
CPI releases at 10:30 AM (Tier 1 event)
TradeDay auto-liquidated at 10:30:00
Evaluation terminated for news trading violation

Prevention:

Mark major news on calendar with 5-minute buffer
Don't trade 5 minutes before Tier 1 events
Check TradeDay's news list before opening positions

4. Insufficient Qualifying Trading Days

Why It Happens:

Scalpers hold positions under 2 minutes
Traders assume profitable days automatically count
Not checking dashboard after each session

Example:

Trader hit $2,100 profit target in 12 days
Requested funding
TradeDay denied: only 4/7 qualifying days
Remaining 8 days had trades under time threshold

Prevention:

Hold positions 5+ minutes on days you need credit
Check qualifying days counter after every session
Build days throughout evaluation, not as afterthought

What You Should Do Differently on Reset

If you reset after failure, change your approach:

1. Identify Your Specific Failure Cause

Don't just say "I need better discipline." Be specific:

Max drawdown? → Reduce position size by 50% on reset
Consistency rule? → Take profit at 20% of daily total moving forward
News trading? → Set calendar alerts for all Tier 1 events
Qualifying days? → Extend hold times to 5+ minutes minimum

I reduced my ES position size from 3 contracts to 1 contract on my reset. This cut my profit per trade by 66% but kept me well within drawdown limits. I passed.

2. Lower Your Profit Target Pace

On resets, target hitting profit goal in 20-25 days, not 7-10 days. Slower pace means:

More qualifying days naturally
Better consistency distribution
Less pressure that leads to revenge trading
More time to respect drawdown limits

I hit my profit target on day 27 of my third attempt. Slow and boring, but it worked.

3. Journal Every Trade

Document:

Entry price and reason
Position size
Exit price and reason
How much drawdown you have left
What percentage of total profit this day represents

This takes 3 minutes per day. It prevents the mistakes that cause failures.

4. Risk Less Per Trade Than You Think You Should

Whatever position size you used during failed evaluation—cut it in half for reset. Yes, this means slower progress. But you're optimizing for passing, not for speed.

I risked 0.5% per trade on my reset (vs 1.5% on failed attempts). Made evaluation take longer, but I passed without coming close to max drawdown.

Do You Get Any Refunds After Failure?

No. TradeDay's refund policy is explicit:

Non-Refundable Costs:

Initial evaluation fee
Monthly subscription fees
Reset fees
Any other purchases

Exceptions:

Technical issues on TradeDay's end (platform crashes, data issues)
Billing errors (charged wrong amount)

I've never received a refund despite two failures. TradeDay's position is that you received the service (evaluation access), so the fee stands regardless of outcome.

Don't expect compensation for:

Your failed evaluation
Time invested
Emotional frustration
"Unfair" rule violations (they're in the terms you accepted)

The only recourse is to reset and try again, or walk away.

The Psychological Impact of Evaluation Failure

This doesn't get discussed enough: failing evaluations hurts beyond the money.

What I Experienced:

Self-doubt about strategy that works on personal account
Anger at "stupid" mistakes (news trading, consistency)
Reluctance to open positions on reset (fear of repeating failure)
Pressure to pass "this time" which creates more mistakes

What Helped Me:

Taking 2 weeks off after second failure before resetting
Reviewing trades objectively (not emotionally)
Accepting that prop firm rules aren't the same as personal trading
Lowering expectations (passing slowly is better than failing fast)

If you've failed multiple times, seriously consider whether TradeDay's evaluation structure fits your psychology. Some traders do better with different prop firms that have different rules or instant funding options.

When to Reset vs When to Walk Away

Reset if:

You understand exactly why you failed
You have a specific plan to avoid repeat mistakes
You can afford the reset fee without financial stress
You're still motivated to pass

Walk away if:

You've failed 3+ times with same mistake pattern
Reset fees are causing financial problems
You're trading emotionally (revenge trading, frustration)
Market conditions don't suit your strategy currently

I almost walked away after my second failure. What changed my mind was realizing my failures weren't strategy-related—they were rule-compliance-related. I had profitable trading days, I just violated evaluation technicalities. Once I fixed those, I passed.

If your strategy itself isn't profitable, no amount of resets will help.

How Long Should You Wait Before Resetting?

My Recommendation: 1-2 Weeks Minimum

Why Wait:

Emotional reset (prevents tilt trading)
Time to review failed trades objectively
Identify patterns you missed during evaluation
Market conditions might improve

Why Not Wait Too Long:

You're paying monthly subscription for inactive accounts
Knowledge and muscle memory of TradeDay platform fades
Overthinking can create additional fear

I waited 2 weeks after my second failure. Spent first week not looking at charts at all. Spent second week reviewing every trade from both failed evaluations. Identified the consistency mistake pattern. Reset on day 15. Passed evaluation 27 days later.

FAQ

Can TradeDay ban me for failing multiple evaluations?

No. You can fail and reset as many times as you're willing to pay for. TradeDay has no limit on reset purchases. Some traders are on their 5th or 6th attempt. The only way to get banned is through prohibited practices like using VPNs from banned countries or exploiting platform bugs.

If I fail during my first month, do I still have to pay the second month's subscription to reset?

Yes, unless you cancel. The monthly subscription continues regardless of evaluation status. If you fail on day 8 and your renewal hits on day 30, you'll pay for month 2 even if you haven't reset yet. Keep the subscription active only if you plan to reset soon.

Can I switch to a different account size when I reset?

No. Resets must be for the same account size and drawdown type as your failed evaluation. If you want to try a different size, you need to purchase a completely new evaluation at the new tier's full price. The reset fee only applies to same-size replacements.

Do my previous violations show up on my new reset account?

No. Your reset account is completely independent from failed evaluations. Previous violations don't carry over or affect your new attempt. TradeDay doesn't track "strike counts" across multiple resets—each evaluation stands alone.

What if I was close to passing when I failed—can TradeDay give me credit for partial completion?

No. There's no partial credit in prop firm evaluations. Doesn't matter if you had 6/7 qualifying days or $1,999 of $2,000 profit target. Fail any single objective and everything resets. This is standard across all prop firms, not just TradeDay.

Is there a discount if I buy multiple resets at once?

Not typically, but TradeDay occasionally runs promotions. Check their discount codes page before purchasing resets. I've never seen bulk reset discounts, but seasonal promotions (Black Friday, New Year) sometimes apply.

Can I request a refund if I fail due to a platform glitch or data issue?

Yes, if you can document that the failure was caused by TradeDay's technical problems (platform crash, data feed error, execution delays). Contact support immediately with screenshots and trade history. They review case-by-case.

If I fail and don't reset, do I lose access to my trade history from the failed evaluation?

Eventually, yes. While your subscription is active, you can view failed evaluation data in your dashboard. Once you cancel, access ends. If you want to keep that data, export your trade history before canceling.

Does the time I spent on failed evaluations count toward anything?

Not officially, but the experience matters. You learned TradeDay's platform, identified strategies that work within their rules, and (hopefully) discovered what mistakes to avoid. That knowledge transfers to reset attempts and makes passing more likely.

Can I have multiple reset accounts active simultaneously?

Yes. You can purchase resets on multiple failed evaluations and trade them concurrently. Each requires its own monthly subscription. Some traders run 2-3 evaluations simultaneously to diversify their chances. I don't recommend this—spreading focus usually leads to failing all of them.

Final Thoughts: Failure Teaches More Than Success

I learned more from my two failed evaluations than from passing the third. Failures taught me:

Position sizing matters more than entry quality
Evaluation rules require different psychology than personal trading
Consistency rule is harder to satisfy than it looks
News calendar checking is non-negotiable

If you've failed, don't beat yourself up. Most traders fail their first evaluation. The difference between traders who eventually get funded and traders who quit is simple: the ones who get funded learn from failures and adjust their approach.