TradeDay Professional Data Fees for Funded Live Accounts

Written by Paul

Published on

January 17, 2026

Funded Live traders at TradeDay pay $140 per month per CME exchange for professional market data—this is a mandatory cost charged directly by CME Group, not TradeDay. If you trade contracts from multiple exchanges (CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX), you're paying $140 for each exchange you access, potentially $560/month total if you need all four. This cost only applies to Funded Live accounts trading real capital; Funded Sim accounts get free market data with zero monthly fees.

The professional data fee isn't TradeDay policy—it's CME Group's exchange regulation. When you graduate from Funded Sim to Funded Live status, you're classified as a "professional trader" by CME Group because you're trading for profit as your primary activity. Professionals must pay professional data rates, which are roughly 10-20x higher than retail/non-professional rates. TradeDay can't waive these fees; they're pass-through charges paid directly to CME Group.

Most TradeDay funded traders never move to Funded Live specifically to avoid these data costs. Funded Sim provides identical payout speed (24 hours), same profit splits, and unlimited withdrawal frequency with zero overhead. Unless you need larger position limits than Funded Sim allows, there's little benefit to moving to Live and paying $140-560/month in data fees.

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.

What Are Professional Market Data Fees?

CME Group (the parent company operating CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX exchanges) charges subscription fees for real-time market data. These fees vary based on whether you're classified as "non-professional" (retail trader using personal funds) or "professional" (trader earning income from trading).

Non-Professional Rates (Retail Traders):

CME: $5-15/month
CBOT: $5-15/month
NYMEX: $5-15/month
COMEX: $5-15/month
Total for all four: ~$20-60/month

Professional Rates (Prop Traders, TradeDay Funded Live):

CME: $140/month
CBOT: $140/month
NYMEX: $140/month
COMEX: $140/month
Total for all four: $560/month

The professional designation triggers automatically when you're trading TradeDay's capital in Funded Live accounts. CME Group considers you a professional because trading is your income-generating activity, not personal investing.

What the Data Fee Covers:

Level 1 market data (Top of Book):

Best bid price and size
Best ask price and size
Last trade price, size, and time
Daily volume and open interest
High/low/settlement prices

Level 2 market data is additional and costs more (typically another $140/month per exchange for professional depth). Most traders only need Level 1 for

futures day trading.

Why Funded Live Accounts Pay These Fees

During evaluation and Funded Sim phases, TradeDay pays your market data costs. You're trading in simulated environments where TradeDay covers all overhead including data subscriptions. But when you graduate to Funded Live—trading actual capital where your trades hit real markets—you become the trader of record with CME Group.

Funded Sim vs Funded Live Data Structure:

Funded Sim:

Environment: Simulated trading (orders don't hit real market)
Data classification: TradeDay's corporate data subscription
Trader status: Not considered professional by CME
Cost to you: $0/month
Paid by: TradeDay

Funded Live:

Environment: Real market execution (orders route to CME)
Data classification: Individual professional subscription
Trader status: Professional trader per CME rules
Cost to you: $140/month per exchange
Paid by: You (the trader)

When your trades execute in real markets, CME Group requires you to have your own professional data subscription. TradeDay can't bundle you under their corporate subscription because you're executing as an individual trader-of-record, not as TradeDay employee.

Why You Can't Use Non-Professional Rates:

CME Group's professional vs non-professional designation is strictly regulated:

Non-professional = Trading personal capital, not primary income source, not providing services to others

Professional = Trading for income, trading firm capital, providing trading services, employed as trader

Funded Live traders clearly meet "professional" criteria—you're trading TradeDay's capital for income. Attempting to register as non-professional when you're actually professional violates CME Group's data policy and can result in account termination and potential fines.

Cost Breakdown by Exchange

The $140/month per exchange means your total cost depends on which markets you trade:

Exchange	Primary Contracts	Monthly Cost	Annual Cost
CME	ES, NQ, RTY (equity indices), 6E, 6B (currencies)	$140	$1,680
CBOT	ZN, ZB, ZF (treasuries), ZC, ZS, ZW (agriculture)	$140	$1,680
NYMEX	CL, NG (energy), HG (copper)	$140	$1,680
COMEX	GC, SI (precious metals)	$140	$1,680
All Four	Complete futures coverage	$560	$6,720

Strategic Exchange Selection:

If you only trade ES/NQ (CME equity indices), you only need CME data = $140/month. If you also trade crude oil (NYMEX), add another $140 = $280/month total. Most traders specialize in 1-2 markets from a single exchange to minimize data costs.

Example Scenarios:

Trader A: Only trades ES and NQ micros

Exchanges needed: CME only
Monthly data cost: $140
Annual data cost: $1,680

Trader B: Trades NQ, crude oil (CL), and gold (GC)

Exchanges needed: CME (NQ), NYMEX (CL), COMEX (GC) = 3 exchanges
Monthly data cost: $420
Annual data cost: $5,040

Trader C: Diversifies across indices, energy, metals, treasuries

Exchanges needed: All four
Monthly data cost: $560
Annual data cost: $6,720

The more markets you trade, the more expensive Funded Live becomes. This is why successful traders often narrow their focus to 1-2 high-liquidity contracts from a single exchange.

Funded Sim: The Zero-Fee Alternative

TradeDay's Funded Sim accounts provide everything Funded Live offers minus the professional data fees and commissions. For most traders, Funded Sim is the better long-term choice.

Funded Sim Benefits:

$0/month market data (TradeDay pays)
$0 commissions per trade
Simulated fills with realistic slippage modeling
Same payout speed as Funded Live (24 hours)
Same profit splits (80-95% depending on lifetime withdrawals)
No withdrawal fees
No minimum withdrawal waiting periods
Maximum 3 Funded Sim accounts simultaneously

Funded Sim Limitations:

Simulated environment (orders don't hit real market)
Lower position limits than equivalent Funded Live accounts
Mandatory milestone reviews every $5K in profits
Must eventually graduate to Funded Live after $20K milestone or third withdrawal

When to Choose Funded Sim:

You trade 1-2 primary contracts and don't need multi-exchange access
Monthly data fees would eat >10% of your typical monthly profits
Your trading volume doesn't justify paying $140-560/month overhead
You're profitable but not yet generating $2,000+/month consistently
You want to maximize take-home profit by avoiding all overhead costs

Real Trader Example:

Trader makes $2,500/month average in Funded Sim.

Gross profit: $2,500
Overhead costs: $0
Profit split (80%): $2,000 take-home

Same trader moves to Funded Live, trades 3 exchanges:

Gross profit: $2,500
Data fees: -$420 (3 exchanges)
Commissions: -$150 (200 trades/month)
Net after overhead: $1,930
Profit split (80%): $1,544 take-home

By staying in Funded Sim, this trader keeps an extra $456/month ($5,472/year). The only reason to move to Funded Live would be needing higher position limits that Sim can't provide.

Avoiding Professional Data Fees

The only way to avoid CME professional data fees while trading TradeDay capital is staying in Funded Sim permanently. Once you transition to Funded Live, the fees are mandatory—there's no exemption or workaround.

Strategies to Minimize/Avoid Fees:

1. Stay in Funded Sim Forever

Many successful TradeDay traders operate 3 Funded Sim accounts simultaneously, never transitioning to Funded Live. They scale by passing multiple evaluations, not by moving to Live.

Three $50K Funded Sim accounts = $150K total buying power, zero monthly fees, identical payout speed to Live. This is often better than one $150K Funded Live account paying $140-560/month.

2. Specialize in Single-Exchange Markets

If you must go Funded Live, trade only contracts from one exchange. ES/NQ traders only pay $140/month for CME. Don't diversify into gold, crude, treasuries unless your profits justify the additional $140/month per exchange.

3. Delay Funded Live Transition

TradeDay doesn't force you to Funded Live. You can stay in Funded Sim through multiple milestones ($5K, $10K, $15K) as long as you keep passing reviews. Only transition when your consistent monthly profits exceed $3,000-5,000 where the data fees become negligible percentage of earnings.

4. Calculate Break-Even Data Costs

Before transitioning to Funded Live, calculate how much extra profit you need to offset data fees:

CME only ($140/month):

Need $175/month extra gross profit to break even (assuming 80% split = $140 take-home)
Need $875/month for 5:1 ROI on data cost

All four exchanges ($560/month):

Need $700/month extra gross profit to break even
Need $3,500/month for 5:1 ROI on data cost

If you're not confident you'll earn significantly more in Live than Sim, don't make the move just because you can.

How Data Fees Are Charged

Professional CME data fees bill separately from TradeDay's systems. You establish direct billing relationship with CME Group (or the platform provider handling CME billing like Tradovate).

Billing Setup Process:

Pass TradeDay evaluation, complete Funded Sim milestones
TradeDay approves transition to Funded Live
Platform provider (Tradovate/NinjaTrader) sends CME professional data subscription forms
You complete CME professional status registration
Provide credit card directly to CME/platform for data billing
Data fees charge monthly from date of Funded Live activation

Important: Data fees charge regardless of whether you trade that month. If you activate Funded Live access on March 5, you're charged $140 on April 5, May 5, June 5, etc. until you cancel. Even if you take a month off from trading, the data subscription continues.

Canceling Data Subscriptions:

If you want to stop Funded Live and return to Funded Sim (or stop trading entirely), you must manually cancel CME data subscriptions. They don't auto-cancel when your funded account closes. Contact your platform provider to terminate data subscriptions.

Commission Costs in Funded Live

Beyond data fees, Funded Live traders also pay per-trade commissions. These run approximately $0.75-1.50 per contract depending on platform and exchange.

Typical Commission Structure:

CME (ES, NQ): $0.85-1.25 per contract
CBOT (ZN, ZB): $0.85-1.25 per contract
NYMEX (CL): $1.10-1.50 per contract
COMEX (GC, SI): $0.95-1.40 per contract

Micro contracts (MES, MNQ, MCL) have lower commissions, usually $0.30-0.60 per contract.

Volume Impact:

Light trader (50 round trips/month):

Commissions: ~$50-75/month

Active trader (200 round trips/month):

Commissions: ~$200-300/month

High-frequency trader (500 round trips/month):

Commissions: ~$500-750/month

Combined with data fees, a high-frequency trader using all four exchanges could pay $1,000-1,300/month in overhead (data + commissions). This is why most funded traders stay in Funded Sim where both costs are zero.

When Funded Live Makes Sense

Despite the costs, Funded Live offers advantages for certain traders:

Reason 1: Position Limit Constraints

Funded Sim accounts have lower position limits. A $100K Funded Sim might allow 10 contracts max, while $100K Funded Live might allow 15-20. If your strategy requires larger position sizing, Funded Live is necessary.

Reason 2: Real Market Fills

Sim fills are modeled, not actual. During high volatility or news events, sim fills might be more favorable than real market fills. If you need to know EXACTLY how your strategy performs in live conditions, Funded Live provides that certainty.

Reason 3: Psychological Validation

Some traders struggle with the psychological aspect of simulated profits. "These aren't real trades" becomes a mental barrier. For them, transitioning to Funded Live where every fill is real market execution provides confidence and validation worth the overhead costs.

Reason 4: High Profit Volume

If you're consistently generating $10,000+/month, paying $560/month for all-exchange access is only 5.6% overhead. At that profit level, the data fees are negligible cost of doing business.

Break-Even Analysis:

Scenario: Trader generates $5,000/month in Funded Sim

Move to Funded Live (2 exchanges):

Data fees: $280/month
Commissions: $200/month (moderate volume)
Total overhead: $480/month
Need to earn $600/month MORE in Live to break even (at 80% split)
Required gross profit in Live: $5,600/month

Unless this trader is confident they'll earn $5,600+ consistently in Live (vs $5,000 in Sim), staying in Sim makes more financial sense.

FAQ: Professional Data Fees

Do all funded traders pay $140/month data fees?

No. Only Funded Live traders pay professional data fees. Funded Sim traders have zero data costs—TradeDay covers everything.

Can I avoid professional rates by staying in Funded Sim?

Yes. Funded Sim has no data fees ever. Many traders operate in Funded Sim permanently to avoid $140-560/month overhead.

Why can't TradeDay waive the data fees?

They're CME Group charges, not TradeDay fees. CME requires all professional traders to pay professional data rates. TradeDay can't override exchange policy.

What if I only trade one market—do I still pay $560?

No. You only pay for exchanges you actually need data from. If you trade only ES/NQ (CME), you pay $140/month for CME only.

Can I cancel data subscriptions and restart later?

Yes, but you lose access to real-time data when subscriptions lapse. You'd need to reactivate (and pay activation fees again) to resume Funded Live trading.