What is a prop firm scaling plan, and why is it important to understand the scaling plan mechanism to become a funded trader by trading a prop firm’s capital?
We’ve analyzed the scaling plans of the 10 best prop trading firms, and some results were surprising.
1. Topstep Scaling Plan
The Topstep scaling plan is part of the objectives in the Trading Combine. The scaling plan with Topstep defines how many futures contracts you can trade at specific stages of the Trading combine.
Let’s take the $50K account as an example.
- If your profits are below $1,500, you are allowed to trade a maximum of 2 contracts at the same time.
- If your account profits are between $1,500 and $2,000, you can trade 3 contracts at the same time.
- Once the P&L rises above $2,000, you can trade up to 5 futures contracts at the same time.
You never have to trade the maximum, but you should never trade more than allowed by the scaling plan since, otherwise, you will be disqualified from the Topstep challenge.
The rule is easy to understand, and Topstep is highly transparent about the details. The number of tradeable lots is in reasonable relation to the account size and makes money management and risk assessment straightforward.
Topstep offers a 1-step evaluation across all account sizes.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Quantower, R|Trader, ATAS, Bookmap, and Investor/RT platforms.
Special Offer: Click Here for a 70% Discount at Topstep on All Funded Account Challenges
2. Earn2Trade Scaling Plan
Earn2Trade provides funded trader programs similar to Topstep by focusing on futures trading. Earn2Trade calls their scaling plan progression ladder. The progression ladder regulates the limits of futures contacts traders can open simultaneously during their so-called examination, which is what Topstep calls a Trading Combine, and other prop firms call it challenge or evaluation.
We take the Gauntlet Mini progression ladder as an example.
With Earn2Trade, the maximum number of tradable futures contracts in the $50K account is limited to 2 contracts with profits below $1,500, then 4 contracts with profits between $1,500 and $2,000 and above 6 contracts.
So, similar to Topstep, the number of contracts is the crucial part, and you can see with Earn2Trade, it’s possible to trade more contracts at the same time if you are above $1,500 in profits.
Earn2Trade’s scaling plan is a bit more complex and can’t be visualized in one graph or table since every account challenge type has its specific details. They are transparently mentioned on the website, and traders should take note of the limits before trading in the funded account.
Earn2Trade offers a 1-step evaluation with all Gauntlet Mini account sizes.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via NinjaTrader, Finamark, R|Trader, R|Trader Pro, Overcharts and various others.
3. TradeDay Scaling Plan
The TradaDay scaling plan for funded accounts is profit-oriented and consists of a fixed trading lot limit. Plus, for every $2,000 in profits, traders can trade one more full contract (or 10 lot Micros).
For example, traders funded in a 50K account have a 5 lot max position limit at the beginning. For every $2,000 in profits in the 50K account, they can add one more contract.
The absolute maximum of tradeable contracts is 25 lots, but to reach that level, a profit of $2,000 * 25 = $50,000 is needed.
Compared to Topstep and Earn2Trade, it’s possible to trade more contracts right away, but increased leverage also comes with increased risks.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Jigsaw and TradingView.
4. Apex Trader Funding Scaling Plan
Apex Trader Funding does not have lot size restrictions. There is no scaling plan for funded traders. However, there is one caveat to keep in mind.
While Topstep, Earn2Trade and TradeDay calculate their drawdown limits at the end of the day, ATF does it intraday.
That means traders who trade high lot sizes can get whipped out of their funded account quickly. That’s because a high number of traded contracts lets profit gain quickly, but if, after a couple of minutes or even seconds, the market reverses, you can get stopped out of the funded account quickly since the drawdown limit stepped higher intraday.
That means that it’s in the trader’s interest to trade a reasonable number of lots.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via TradingView, Finamark, Tradovate, Bookmap and more.
5. Take Profit Trader Scaling Plan
Take Profit Trader, which has a static maximum position size. That means that it is not possible to scale the number of tradeable lots to a higher level.
The clear benefit of this rule type is that it’s always clear how many contracts can be traded.
For the 50K account, for example, it is a 6 contract limit. So, funded traders can always trade 6 mini lots at any time in the 50K funded account.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Quantower, R|Trader, ATAS, Bookmap, and Investor/RT platforms.
6. Uprofit Trader Scaling Plan
Uprofit has similar rules to Topstep and Earn2Trade.
As for the $50K account, the rules are as follows.
When you start with the $50K account, you can trade a maximum of 2 contracts at the same time until you reach $1,501 in profits. From there, up to $4,000 in profits, you can trade 4 contracts, and then after $4,000 in profits, you can trade up to 6 futures contracts simultaneously.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via NinjaTrader, R|Trader, R|Trader Pro.
7. The Trading Pit Scaling Plan
At The Trading Pit, every trading challenge is directly linked to its specific maximum lot size. They only have two 1-step challenges and the account size that comes closest to the 50K account is their 20K account.
In the 20K account, traders can trade a maximum of 10 micro lots. No regular mini lots can be traded.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via ATAS, Quantower, R|Trader, Jigsaw and Volfix.
8. My Funded Futures Scaling Plan
My Funded Futures has a scaling plan that depends on the profits made in a funded account. There is always a starting level with the maximum number of contracts, and the more profits a trader makes, the more contracts can be traded.
In the 50K account, 2 contracts can be traded until the profit in the account reaches $1,500. Between $1,500 and $2,000 in profits, 3 contracts are tradeable, then 5 mini contracts above $2,000 in profits as the maximum position size.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via NinjaTrader, R|Trader Pro, Tradovate, TradingView, Quantower and Sierra Chart.
9. Elite Trader Funding Scaling Plan
Similar to Apex Trader Funding, Elite Trader Funding also has no scaling rule or limit. Traders can freely trade as many contracts as they want.
However, like Apex Trader Funding, Elite Trader Funding also has an intraday drawdown limit calculation.
As was mentioned before, that can lead to a stop in the funded account within minutes or even seconds.
That’s because if the position goes into profit quickly, the drawdown limit amount trails immediately in real time. If the position remains open and the market comes back a bit intraday, it can directly hit the drawdown limit, and the funded account is lost.
That means it requires a traders attention and reasonable position sizing to avoid getting stopped out intraday with this type of scaling plan rule combined with the drawdown limit type.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via Tradovate, NinjaTrader and, TradingView and various other platforms.
10. OneUp Trader Scaling Plan
OneUpTrader belongs to the prop firms that let traders trade futures contracts. They have an extensive range of account sizes, and every account size has its own rules, so we take the $50K account as an example. In the $50K account, you start with a maximum trade size of 2 contracts (for some reason, they call it lots on their site, which is a term used for forex trading). Once the trader makes a minimum of $1,501 in profits, he can trade 4 contracts and above $4,011 6 contracts.
Assets traded: Futures contracts via Ninjatrader, R|Trader, Agena Trader, Photon, eSignal and more.
Prop Firm with the Best Scaling Plan
The prop firm with the best scaling plan with futures funded accounts is Topstep, while The5ers and Surge Trader have the best scaling plans across forex funded accounts.
Conclusion
In our comparison, we focused on futures prop firm accounts of 50K to make the different rules comparable. If a provider didn’t have a 50K account, we’ve chosen the one that comes closest to the amount.
Before joining a prop firm, you should take a close look at the scaling plan details to understand the limitations and opportunities that come along with it.
- For futures prop firms, the scaling plan typically limits the number of contracts tradeable. If you trade too many contracts at once, you get disqualified from the trading challenge.
- Forex prop firms, in contrast, see the scaling plan mainly as a scaling of the account size and buying power, which also involves an increase of tradeable lots, chances, and risk.
Some programs let traders scale their demo accounts before they finally get a funded account. Others only allow scaling of live accounts. In fact, there is no one-fits-all definition for scaling plans. Suppose you made it through the whole article about the prop firm scaling plans for funded traders in challenges or instant funding scaling plans. In that case, you know that nearly every company has its own definition, rules and details on scaling plans.
What Is The Best Instant Funding Scaling Plan?
The5ers offer the best instant funding scaling plan via their Hyper Growth program, where the account size of the instant funded account doubles with every 10% profit target reached.
What Should I Know About Forex Prop Firm Scaling Plans?
Forex prop firms typically increase the buying power and lot size of tradeable currency pairs when traders reach specific profit targets. Some companies also require that payouts have to be processed before scaling up the account.
What is a Prop Firm Scaling Plan?
A pro firm scaling plan is a sign of trust of the prop firm to their traders. The more traders earn trading the financial markets, the more profitable it is for the prop firm. The best traders get higher-valued accounts to trade, which can enable them to make more money.