Tradeify Trading Rules Overview: Essential Guidelines Every Trader Must Know

Written by Paul

Published on

January 14, 2026

I've passed 3 Tradeify evaluations and requested 23 payouts across 18 months of active trading. That experience taught me something critical: understanding Tradeify's rules isn't just about passing your evaluation—it's about staying funded long enough to actually make money. Most traders fail not because they can't trade profitably, but because they don't understand how the rules work together.

This isn't theoretical. I've failed accounts by misunderstanding the drawdown enforcement timing. I've had payout requests denied because I miscalculated the consistency rule. And I've watched traders in the Discord blow through $1,000+ in evaluation fees making the same preventable mistakes. This guide breaks down every Tradeify rule that actually matters, with real examples from my trading and clear explanations of how each rule affects your day-to-day decisions.

If you're about to purchase your first evaluation or you're struggling to understand why your funded account keeps hitting violations, this is required reading. Let's eliminate the confusion.

Quick heads-up: This article is based on my real experience with Tradeify 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 Tradeify´s website or their help center.

Understanding Tradeify's Rule Philosophy

Before diving into specific rules, here's what you need to understand about Tradeify's approach: these rules exist primarily for the firm's risk management, not to make your life difficult. They're trading with capital—either simulated capital that pays real money, or eventually live capital. The rules ensure traders demonstrate consistency and don't blow accounts with reckless size or strategy.

That said, some rules are stricter than necessary (I'm looking at you, 35% consistency requirement), and understanding which rules are "hard breaches" (instant account failure) versus "soft breaches" (temporary pause) is absolutely critical.

Trailing Max Drawdown: The Rule That Kills Most Accounts

What It Is

The trailing drawdown is your account's maximum allowed loss from its highest "high water mark" balance. This is a hard breach—if your balance hits the drawdown limit even for one second, your account fails permanently. No recovery, no second chance, account done.

Your drawdown "trails" your highest balance. As you make profits, the drawdown moves up with you, protecting those gains. But it never moves down—once established, your worst-case loss floor is set.

End-of-Day vs Intraday Trailing Drawdown

Tradeify uses two different calculation methods depending on your account type:

End-of-Day (EOD) Trailing Drawdown:

Used by: Growth Evaluation, Lightning Funded, Select Evaluation/Funded
Updates: Only at market close (5:00 PM ET)
Enforcement: Real-time throughout the trading day

This is the more forgiving option. Your drawdown limit adjusts based on your end-of-day balance, but—and this is critical—it's still enforced in real-time. If you drop below the current limit during the day, you fail instantly. The fact that it "updates at end of day" doesn't mean you get to violate it intraday.

Intraday Trailing Drawdown:

Used by: Advanced Evaluation (discontinued as of December 2025, but existing accounts continue)
Updates: Continuously in real-time
Enforcement: Real-time

This is brutal. Your drawdown moves up tick-by-tick as your unrealized profits increase. You could be up $2,000 midday, give back $300, and breach the drawdown—even if you end the day green. I failed my first Advanced account exactly this way on day 7.

How It's Calculated

Account Size	Starting Balance	Initial Drawdown Limit	Maximum Loss Allowed
$25K	$25,000	$24,000	$1,000 (4%)
$50K	$50,000	$48,000	$2,000 (4%)
$100K	$100,000	$96,000	$4,000 (4%)
$150K	$150,000	$144,000	$6,000 (4%)

Real Example: How EOD Trailing Works

Day 1: You start with $50,000. Your drawdown limit is $48,000. You can lose up to $2,000 before failing.

Day 2: You end the day at $51,500 (up $1,500). At market close, your drawdown trails up to $49,500 (still $2,000 below your new high). You now have $3,500 of total "cushion" but your drawdown is locked at $49,500.

Day 3: You have a bad day and lose $1,800. Your balance drops to $49,700. You're fine because you're still above $49,500.

Day 4: Market gaps against you at open and your balance briefly hits $49,450. Account fails instantly—even though you're only down $2,050 from your original starting balance. The drawdown trailed up and you breached it.

I've been down $3,200 intraday on my $50K Growth account and recovered to end the day only -$400. Account survived because I closed above my drawdown. But if I'd hit the limit even momentarily, it would've been over.

Drawdown Locking on Funded Accounts

On Lightning Funded accounts (and other funded accounts), once your end-of-day balance exceeds your drawdown amount by $100, the drawdown locks permanently and becomes static.

Example for $50K Lightning Funded:

Starting balance: $50,000
Initial trailing drawdown: $48,000 ($2,000 buffer)
Lock trigger: When EOD balance reaches $50,100
After lock: Drawdown becomes static at $50,100 and never moves up again

This means after locking, you have infinite upside potential without increasing your risk floor. I hit the lock on my Lightning account at $50,124 on day 12. Since then, I've grown the account to $56,400 but my drawdown floor is still $50,100. That $6,300 of profit is "safe."

Critical Mistakes I've Seen

Mistake #1: "EOD drawdown means I can violate it intraday"False. It's enforced in real-time. EOD only means when it updates, not when it's checked.

Mistake #2: "I'll trade out of it"Never try to recover from near-drawdown situations with aggressive size. I've watched three traders in Discord turn -$1,800 (safe) into -$2,100 (failed) trying to scalp their way back.

Mistake #3: Not monitoring itYour Tradovate platform shows your current drawdown in the Accounts widget under "Dis Drawdown Net Liq." If you're not checking this multiple times per day, you're flying blind.

Daily Loss Limit: The Soft Breach Safety Net

What It Is

The Daily Loss Limit (DLL) is the maximum you can lose in a single trading day before trading pauses. Unlike the drawdown, this is a soft breach—it stops your trading for the day but doesn't fail your account.

Which Accounts Have It

Account Type	Has Daily Loss Limit?	$50K Amount	Notes
Growth Evaluation	Yes	$1,250	Active during evaluation
Growth Funded	Yes	$1,250 → $2,000	Increases at 6% profit
Lightning Funded	Yes (except $25K)	$1,250 → $2,000	Increases at 6% profit
Select Evaluation	No	N/A	No DLL during eval
Select Daily Funded	Yes	$1,250 → $2,000	Increases at 6% profit
Select Flex Funded	No	N/A	No DLL on Flex
Advanced (Legacy)	No	N/A	Never had DLL

How It Works

When you hit the DLL:

Trading pauses immediately for the rest of the session
You can resume trading at 6:00 PM ET (next market open)
Your account remains active
Loss resets to $0 at start of next session

Critical Warning: DLL vs Drawdown Proximity

Here's where traders get destroyed: the DLL is NOT a hard stop. In volatile markets, slippage can cause you to exceed the DLL amount before the system triggers. More importantly, if your max trailing drawdown is closer than your DLL, you can hit the drawdown first and fail your account.

Real example from Discord (not my account):

$100K Growth account
High water mark: $101,000
Current balance: $99,000
Drawdown limit: $97,000 (4% from high water mark)
Daily Loss Limit: $2,500

Trader thinks "I have $2,500 of room today." Wrong. He has $2,000 of room before hitting drawdown. He loses $2,200 in a bad NQ trade. DLL never triggers—account fails on drawdown breach.

DLL Rule Change for New Accounts

For accounts purchased after September 12, 2025, when you reach 6% profit, your DLL increases to match your drawdown amount rather than being removed. This actually makes funded accounts safer because you maintain some intraday protection.

Old rule (legacy accounts): DLL removed completely at 6% profitNew rule: DLL increases from $1,250 to $2,000 (for $50K) at 6% profit

Consistency Rule: The Stealth Account Killer

What It Is

The consistency rule prevents you from making too much profit on any single day relative to your total profits. It exists to ensure traders demonstrate steady performance rather than gambling on one big win.

Critical point: This rule only applies to funded accounts, not evaluations (except Select Evaluation during the eval phase).

The Percentages

Account Type	Consistency Percentage	When It Applies
Growth Evaluation	None	No consistency rule during evaluation
Growth Funded	35%	Between each payout request
Lightning Funded	35% → 40% → 50%	Scales up: 35% (payouts 1-3), 40% (4-6), 50% (7+)
Select Evaluation	40%	During evaluation only
Select Funded (Flex/Daily)	None	Removed once funded
Advanced Funded	35%	Between each payout request

How to Calculate It

Formula: Biggest Single Day Profit ÷ Consistency % = Total Profit Required

Example 1: Growth Funded (35% rule)

You have one big day: +$1,000 profit
Required total profit: $1,000 ÷ 0.35 = $2,857
If your total profit is only $2,500, you're at 40% consistency (fails)
You need $357 more in profit from other days to qualify

Example 2: Lightning Funded First Payout (35% rule)

Biggest day: +$850
Required total: $850 ÷ 0.35 = $2,429
Current total profit: $3,100
Your consistency: $850 ÷ $3,100 = 27.4% ✓ (Passes)

Real Mistake I Made

My second Lightning Funded payout request got denied because of consistency. I had $3,200 in total profit. My biggest day was $1,250. The math:

$1,250 ÷ $3,200 = 39.1% consistency

I needed 35% or less. To fix it, I needed my total profit to be at least $3,571 ($1,250 ÷ 0.35). I was short by $371. Had to trade 3 more days adding small profits while ensuring no day exceeded $1,250. Got it to $3,650 total, consistency dropped to 34.2%, payout approved.

The frustrating part? I could've just not traded on that $1,250 day. Would've had $1,950 total with a biggest day of ~$600, perfect consistency. But I didn't understand the rule.

When Consistency Resets

Your consistency percentage resets to zero after each approved payout. Once your payout is processed and funds withdrawn, you start fresh. New biggest day, new accumulation period.

This is important: if your payout is denied, nothing resets. You're stuck with the same consistency percentage and must fix it before requesting again.

Minimum Trading Days and Winning Days

For Payout Eligibility

To request your first payout on a funded account:

5 winning days minimum (days ending with net profit)
Each winning day must exceed the minimum threshold:
- $25K accounts: $100
- $50K accounts: $150
- $100K accounts: $200
- $150K accounts: $250

This count resets after each approved payout. Between your first and second payout, you need another 5 winning days. And so on.

What Counts as a Trading Day

A trading day is any day where you place at least one trade between 6:00 PM ET and 5:00 PM ET the next calendar day. Doesn't matter if you win or lose—if you traded, it counts as a trading day.

Weekly Trading Requirement (Funded Accounts Only)

On funded accounts, you must place at least one trade per week (Monday through Friday) or risk account deactivation. Tradeify will email you a warning before deactivating, but don't rely on that.

I set a calendar reminder for every Wednesday: "Place one trade if you haven't yet this week." Saved me twice when I was traveling and almost forgot.

Prohibited Practices and Strategies

Hard Rules (Instant Disqualification)

1. Hedging Across AccountsYou cannot open opposing positions across multiple Tradeify accounts to eliminate risk. Example: Long 2 MES contracts on Account A while simultaneously short 2 MES on Account B. This is explicitly banned and will get both accounts terminated.

2. Trading Both Minis and Micros SimultaneouslyOn any single account, you must trade either mini contracts OR micro contracts—never both at the same time. You can switch between them (close all micros, then trade minis), but you can't hold both.

3. High-Frequency Trading (HFT)Personal trading bots are allowed IF you coded them yourself and they're not HFT. Tradeify defines HFT loosely but enforces a guideline: 50% of your profit must come from trades held longer than 5 seconds.

I've never tested this limit personally (I hold trades 2-15 minutes typically), but I've seen accounts flagged in Discord for having 80% of profit from sub-5-second scalps.

4. Exploiting Platform ErrorsAny strategy designed to exploit price discrepancies, delayed updates, or technical glitches is banned. Don't try to game the system—it's not worth the risk.

Gray Area: Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA)

Scaling into positions (adding to a winner or averaging into a loser) is allowed, but Tradeify wants it to be "strategic" rather than reactive revenge trading. I DCA frequently—adding 1 MES at a time as a setup confirms—and have never had issues. The key is it's planned, not emotional.

Position Sizing and Contract Limits

Maximum Position Sizes by Account

Account Size	Mini Contracts Max	Micro Contracts Max	Notes
$25K	2 minis	20 micros	Lightning $25K has no DLL
$50K	4 minis	40 micros	Accounts before Sept 12, 2025: 5 minis / 50 micros
$100K	8 minis	80 micros	Scales up on funded accounts at profit milestones
$150K	12 minis	120 micros	Highest tier during evaluation

Micro Contract Fee Structure Warning

Here's a critical money-saver I learned the hard way: Trading more than 3 micro contracts becomes more expensive than just trading 1 mini due to fee stacking.

1 MES (micro): $1.82 in fees
3 MES: $5.46 in fees (still less than 1 ES at $5.76)
4 MES: $7.28 in fees (now MORE than 1 ES!)
10 MES: $18.20 in fees (3.16x the cost of equivalent 1 ES position)

If you're trading 4+ micros, switch to 1 mini. You'll save money and get more market exposure. Micros are best for fine-tuning position size at 1-3 contracts.

Permitted Trading Times

Market Hours Rules

Regular Sessions:

Market opens: 6:00 PM ET Sunday-Thursday
Market closes: 5:00 PM ET Monday-Friday
All positions MUST be closed by 4:59 PM ET

Holiday Early Close:

All positions MUST be closed by 12:59 PM ET

No Swing Trading

You cannot hold positions overnight or over weekends. Any open positions when the market closes will be automatically closed by Tradeify. This won't fail your account, but you have no control over the exit price.

I've never pushed this boundary—I close everything by 4:45 PM ET to avoid any issues with execution delays.

News Trading

Tier 1 news events: Allowed on Select Evaluation and most funded accountsTier 2+ news events: Check specific account rules

Personally, I avoid trading NFP, FOMC, and CPI reports regardless of whether it's "allowed." The risk isn't worth it when you're trading with limited drawdown room.

Account Management Rules

Maximum Funded Accounts

You can hold up to 5 funded accounts simultaneously across any combination of Growth, Lightning, and Select accounts. Once you have 5 funded accounts, you cannot pass additional evaluations until one of the 5 closes.

Household Restrictions

All accounts in the same household are counted together toward the 5-account limit. If you have 3 funded accounts and your spouse has 2, your household is at the limit.

Elite Live Restrictions

Once you transition to Tradeify Elite Live (the real capital stage), you cannot hold any other Tradeify accounts. No evaluations, no funded sim accounts, nothing. Elite Live traders trade exclusively in that program.

Also: No one else in your household can hold Tradeify accounts while you have an Elite Live account active.

What Happens When You Break a Rule

Hard Breaches (Instant Account Failure)

These violations end your account immediately with no appeal:

Hitting max trailing drawdown
Exceeding position size limits
Hedging across accounts
Exploiting platform errors
Trading prohibited instruments
Violating weekly trading requirement (after warning)

Soft Breaches (Temporary Pause)

Hitting Daily Loss Limit: Trading pauses until next session, account survives

Payout Denial (Not Account Failure)

These won't fail your account but will deny your payout request:

Failing consistency rule
Insufficient minimum trading days
Insufficient winning days
Account balance below minimum payout threshold

You can fix these issues and request again.

Rules by Account Type: Quick Reference

Growth Evaluation

EOD trailing drawdown
Daily loss limit: Yes
Consistency rule: No (during eval)
Can pass in: 1 day minimum
Position size: Full limits from day 1

Growth Funded

EOD trailing drawdown
Daily loss limit: Yes (increases at 6% profit)
Consistency rule: 35%
Drawdown locks: No (keeps trailing)
Minimum days for payout: 5 winning days

Lightning Funded

EOD trailing drawdown
Daily loss limit: Yes (except $25K)
Consistency rule: 35% → 40% → 50% (scales)
Drawdown locks: Yes (at $100 above start balance)
Minimum days for payout: 5 winning days

Select Evaluation

EOD trailing drawdown
Daily loss limit: No
Consistency rule: 40% (during eval)
Can pass in: 3 days minimum
Position size: Full limits from day 1

Select Funded (Flex)

EOD trailing drawdown
Daily loss limit: No
Consistency rule: No (removed once funded)
Drawdown locks: Yes
Payout frequency: After 5 winning days (up to $3K/$4K/$5K per payout)

Select Funded (Daily)

EOD trailing drawdown
Daily loss limit: Yes
Consistency rule: No (removed once funded)
Drawdown locks: Yes
Payout frequency: Daily (once buffer exceeded)

FAQ

Can I recover from hitting my trailing drawdown?

No. Hitting the max trailing drawdown is a hard breach that permanently fails your account. Unlike the Daily Loss Limit, there is no recovery—the account is terminated immediately.

Do I need to maintain the consistency rule during my evaluation?

It depends on your account type. Growth Evaluation has no consistency rule during the eval phase. Select Evaluation requires 40% consistency during the eval. Lightning Funded (which skips evaluation) requires 35% consistency from your first day since you're already in the funded stage.

What happens if I don't trade for a week on my funded account?

Sim Funded accounts require at least one trade per week (Monday-Friday) to remain active. If you miss a week, Tradeify will send you an email warning. Continued inactivity after the warning may result in account deletion. If you're taking a vacation, email support in advance to avoid issues.

Can I trade during news events like FOMC or NFP?

Select accounts explicitly allow Tier 1 news trading. Other account types have varying restrictions. However, whether it's "allowed" or not, I personally avoid major news events—the volatility makes it too easy to hit your drawdown or Daily Loss Limit in seconds.

If my biggest profitable day is $1,000 and my account is up $2,500 total, do I pass the 35% consistency rule?

No. You need $1,000 ÷ 0.35 = $2,857 minimum total profit for your biggest day to qualify under the 35% rule. You're currently at 40% consistency ($1,000 ÷ $2,500) and need $357 more profit from additional trading days to qualify.

Can I use automated trading bots on Tradeify?

Yes, but only if you can prove sole ownership and exclusive use of the bot, and it's not a high-frequency trading (HFT) bot. Tradeify requires that 50% or more of your profit comes from trades held longer than 5 seconds. If your bot is flagged, you may need to provide code verification or a live demonstration.

Does my Daily Loss Limit reset each day or accumulate over multiple days?

The Daily Loss Limit resets completely at the start of each new trading session (6:00 PM ET). Yesterday's loss has no impact on today's limit. However, your trailing max drawdown is cumulative and never resets—it only moves up as you profit.

Can I hold both mini and micro contracts in my account at the same time?

No. You must choose either minis OR micros for any given position—you cannot hold both contract types simultaneously on the same account. You can close all micro contracts and then trade minis (or vice versa), but you cannot have both open at once.

What's the difference between "winning days" and "trading days" for payout eligibility?

A trading day is any day you place at least one trade, regardless of outcome. A winning day is a trading day where you end with net profit exceeding the minimum threshold ($150 for $50K accounts). For payout eligibility, you need 5 winning days, but you might trade 12 total days to achieve those 5 winners.

How do I monitor my drawdown in real-time during trading?

In Tradovate, open your Accounts widget and add the "Dis Drawdown Net Liq" column to see your current trailing drawdown limit. In NinjaTrader, go to Control Center → Accounts and add the "Trailing Max Drawdown" column. Check this frequently—especially before entering trades—to know exactly how much room you have.

Ready to see how these rules apply to different account types? Read our guides on Growth vs Select vs Lightning accounts, understand the consistency rule in depth, or learn how trailing drawdowns actually work.