TradeDay is a futures-only proprietary trading firm that funds traders in TradeDay is a futures-only proprietary trading firm that funds traders via funded trader programs, who pass a simulated evaluation, then shares profits with unusually little friction: withdrawals from the first funded day, no buffer to clear, and a $250 minimum request. It fits disciplined intraday futures traders who can trade inside a trailing drawdown and want fast access to their money. Swing traders, anyone who holds positions overnight, equity and options traders, and anyone whose edge depends on gold or silver should look elsewhere for now.
Transparency: We may get compensated when you click on links in this article.
How TradeDay Works
Established in 2020 and based in Chicago, TradeDay runs a deliberately narrow version of the prop firm model. A trader buys an evaluation, trades a simulated account up to a profit target without breaching a drawdown limit, and on passing receives a funded account backed by the firm’s capital. TradeDay states it has paid more than $10 million to funded traders since launch. There is no equities, options, or spot forex product anywhere in the lineup. Futures are the entire business, and that focus is part of why the rules are as specific as they are.
The first real decision a trader makes is which of two evaluation paths to take.
Quick Pay vs Fast Pass
Quick Pay is the original route and the better starting point for most traders. It asks for a minimum of 5 trading days, applies a 30% consistency rule during the evaluation, and once funded allows payouts from the first day with no buffer. Quick Pay can be bought with either an intraday or an end-of-day drawdown calculation, which is the second choice a trader makes and the one that changes the price. Fast Pass trades the slower start for speed. A trader can clear it in as few as 3 days with no minimum trading day requirement, the consistency rule loosens to 45%, and the funded account then runs on a more structured schedule rather than the open day-one model. Fast Pass is sold only with the end-of-day drawdown.
Across the two models and the drawdown options, that produces nine distinct accounts: Quick Pay with intraday drawdown, Quick Pay with end-of-day drawdown, and Fast Pass with end-of-day drawdown, each in 50k, 100k, and 150k sizes. The instinct is to chase the faster route, but the choices reward different priorities. Quick Pay gives the cleanest payout terms once funded, day one from any positive balance. Fast Pass gets a trader funded sooner and is more forgiving on the consistency rule during the test, but its funded phase is tighter. Most traders who care about pulling profit early should default to Quick Pay; those who value speed to funding above all can justify Fast Pass.
The Evaluation
Three objectives decide whether a trader passes: a profit target tied to account size, a minimum number of trading days, and the consistency rule. Three guidelines run alongside them. Trades are day-trading only with no overnight holds, only permitted products may be traded, and each account size carries a hard position limit.
How the Consistency Rule Actually Behaves
The consistency rule is the objective most likely to catch a new applicant off guard. No single day’s profit may exceed a set percentage of the profit target, which works out to 30% on Quick Pay and 45% on Fast Pass. On a 50k Quick Pay account with a $3,000 target, that caps a clean qualifying day at $900.
Going over that figure does not fail the evaluation. Instead, the effective profit target rises until the oversized day dilutes back within the limit. A trader who books $1,200 in a single day toward a $3,000 target keeps trading until total profit reaches $4,000, at which point that big day represents 30% of the total and the account passes. The practical effect is that a trader whose edge produces a few large days, rather than many even ones, faces a longer evaluation. There is one mercy worth knowing up front: the consistency rule disappears entirely once a trader is funded. It shapes the test, not the income that follows.
The Trailing Maximum Drawdown
This is the single rule that ends an account. TradeDay sets a trailing maximum drawdown for each account size: $2,000 on the 50k, $3,000 on the 100k, and $4,500 on the 150k. The limit trails the highest balance the account reaches, then stops moving once it climbs to the original starting balance, where it locks permanently. A 100k account begins with the limit $3,000 below balance and freezes once the balance hits $103,000, fixing the floor at $100,000.
The way the limit is calculated depends on the account, and the difference is not cosmetic. On a Quick Pay intraday account the limit measures against unrealized equity throughout the session, so a position that spikes against a trader can breach it even on a day that would have closed green. The Quick Pay end-of-day account is gentler during the evaluation, recalculating only on the closing balance, but it switches to intraday calculation once the trader is funded, so the funded phase is stricter than the test. Fast Pass uses end-of-day calculation. The more forgiving end-of-day option carries a higher price, which is the clearest signal of how much that calculation method is worth. Either way the limit is enforced in real time, and touching it with an open position liquidates that position and closes the account. The trail-to-start-then-freeze design is more generous than a drawdown that follows every new high indefinitely, because past a certain point the trader is operating with a genuine cushion rather than a line that never stops rising.
Platforms and Instruments
Evaluations run on Tradovate or NinjaTrader, selected at signup, with TradingView and Jigsaw Trading shown as compatible platforms. Level 2 data can be added when registering.
Tradeable products are limited to CME Group futures listed on the CME, CBOT, COMEX, and NYMEX, spanning equity index, FX, interest rate, energy, metals, and agricultural contracts. The roster covers the instruments most intraday futures traders actually use, from the E-mini and Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq through crude oil, Treasurys, and the major FX pairs. High-margin and very illiquid contracts are deliberately left out.
One restriction matters more than the rest at the moment. Since February 11, 2026, full-size Gold, Silver, Copper, and Platinum are restricted across all account types, and Micro Gold and Micro Silver are capped at 4 lots. A trader who built a strategy around full-size gold or silver cannot run it here under the current rules, and that is a material limitation for metals specialists rather than a footnote.
Pricing
TradeDay prices every account as a monthly subscription with no activation fee. There are nine accounts in total, three sizes across three configurations, and the size sets the trading parameters while the configuration sets the price and the rules. The figures below show the list price first and the current price second, as displayed on the site.
Profit target, trailing drawdown, and the evaluation position limit are fixed by account size and are identical across the three configurations:
| Account size | Profit target | Trailing max drawdown | Position limit in evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50k | $3,000 | $2,000 | 5 contracts (50 micros) |
| 100k | $6,000 | $3,000 | 10 contracts (50 micros) |
| 150k | $9,000 | $4,500 | 15 contracts (50 micros) |
Price, drawdown calculation, consistency rule, and payout timing are set by the configuration:
| Configuration | Size | List price | Current price | Drawdown calculation | Consistency | First payout when funded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Pay Intraday | 50k | $125 | $62.50 | Intraday | 30% | Day 1 |
| Quick Pay Intraday | 100k | $230 | $115 | Intraday | 30% | Day 1 |
| Quick Pay Intraday | 150k | $350 | $175 | Intraday | 30% | Day 1 |
| Quick Pay End of Day | 50k | $175 | $87.50 | End of day in evaluation, intraday when funded | 30% | Day 1 |
| Quick Pay End of Day | 100k | $285 | $142.50 | End of day in evaluation, intraday when funded | 30% | Day 1 |
| Quick Pay End of Day | 150k | $395 | $197.50 | End of day in evaluation, intraday when funded | 30% | Day 1 |
| Fast Pass End of Day | 50k | $180 | $90 | End of day | 45% | Day 5 |
| Fast Pass End of Day | 100k | $320 | $160 | End of day | 45% | Day 5 |
| Fast Pass End of Day | 150k | $480 | $240 | End of day | 45% | Day 5 |
A few things are worth pulling out of the grid. For any given size, the intraday Quick Pay account is the cheapest, the end-of-day Quick Pay account costs more for the gentler evaluation drawdown, and Fast Pass sits at the top. The premium on the 50k runs from $62.50 to $90 depending on configuration, so the choice of drawdown and model is a real cost decision rather than a detail. Resets are paid per attempt, documented at $60, $110, and $165 on the Quick Pay intraday accounts by size, so a run of failed attempts quietly multiplies the true cost of getting funded. For traders who want the members area and learning resources without buying an evaluation, a CoPilot membership starts at $24 per month.
Payouts
Payouts are where TradeDay separates itself from much of the category, and on Quick Pay they are the strongest reason to choose it. Once funded on a Quick Pay account, a trader can request a withdrawal from the first day, from any positive balance, with no buffer to clear and a $250 minimum. The firm states most requests are processed within 24 hours. The Quick Pay profit split keeps 50% of the first $4,000 in net profit with the trader, rises to 80% above $4,000, and reaches 90% in a funded live account.
Fast Pass funds faster but pays more slowly and on stricter terms. Its funded accounts carry a 5-day minimum before a payout can be requested, a minimum-profitable-days requirement (five qualifying days, each clearing a threshold that rises with account size), and position limits that start small and scale with profit. A funded 50k Fast Pass account begins at 2 contracts and adds 1 contract for every $2,000 in profit; the 100k and 150k start at 3 and 4 contracts on the same scaling. That is a deliberate throttle on early size, and it is the trade a Fast Pass trader accepts in exchange for the quicker route through the evaluation.
The detail that earns Quick Pay the most credit is the absence of a buffer. Many firms require a funded trader to build a cushion above the starting balance before any money can come out. Quick Pay does not, which means a profitable first week can turn into a real withdrawal rather than a number on a dashboard.
Day Trading Only, and Hard Position Caps
Two guidelines quietly shape what kind of trader fits. TradeDay permits no overnight positions, so every trade closes within the session and any strategy that carries risk across the close is off the table. Evaluation position limits are fixed by size at 5, 10, or 15 contracts, or 50 micros. Quick Pay carries those same caps into the funded account, so a Quick Pay trader cannot scale beyond them even after building a large cushion. Fast Pass works the other way, starting a funded account at 2 to 4 contracts and adding size only as profit accumulates. For an intraday scalper the Quick Pay caps are rarely a constraint. For a trader used to sizing up hard on conviction, they are a real ceiling on how much a single good idea can earn.
Bottom Line
TradeDay is one of the more trader-friendly futures prop firms on payout terms, and that is the reason to choose it. Day-one withdrawals, no buffer, a low minimum, published payout proof, and a drawdown that eventually freezes into a genuine cushion add up to a model that pays working traders quickly and predictably. The catches are specific and knowable rather than hidden: the evaluation consistency rule, the current metals restriction, and per-attempt reset costs. For a disciplined intraday CME futures trader, it is an easy firm to recommend. For most other profiles, the fit breaks down quickly.
Pros
- Payouts from the first funded day on Quick Pay, from any positive balance, with no buffer and a $250 minimum, typically processed within 24 hours.
- No activation fee, and a trailing drawdown that freezes once it reaches the starting balance instead of trailing forever.
- A clear two-path structure that lets a trader pick speed to funding (Fast Pass) or the cleanest payout terms (Quick Pay).
- Profit split scales to 90% in a funded live account, and the consistency rule does not apply at all once funded.
- Operating since 2020 with more than $10 million in stated payouts, and signup on Tradovate or NinjaTrader.
Cons
- The evaluation consistency rule penalizes traders whose profits come from a few large days. Exceeding 30% (Quick Pay) or 45% (Fast Pass) of the target in one day does not fail the account, but it raises the target and lengthens the path to funding for exactly the traders whose edge is uneven.
- Full-size Gold, Silver, Copper, and Platinum are restricted on all account types as of February 2026, with micro metals capped at 4 lots, removing those markets as primary vehicles.
- Resets are paid per attempt, from $60 on the 50k to $165 on the 150k, so a difficult stretch quietly multiplies the true cost of getting funded.
For broader insights into the prop firm space, consider reading our Take Profit Trader review, Topstep review and Apex Trader Funding funded account review. Alternatively, learn how prop firm scaling plans compare and what the best prop firms for futures trading are.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Quick Pay and Fast Pass at TradeDay?
Quick Pay is the original route, requiring at least 5 trading days and a 30% consistency rule, and once funded it allows payouts from the first day with no buffer to clear. Fast Pass trades that slower start for speed, clearing in as few as 3 days with a looser 45% consistency rule, but its funded phase runs on a more structured schedule with payouts from day 5. Quick Pay can also be bought with either an intraday or an end-of-day drawdown calculation, which changes the price.
How do TradeDay payouts work?
On a Quick Pay account, a trader can request a withdrawal from the first funded day, from any positive balance, with no buffer to clear and a $250 minimum, and the firm states most requests process within 24 hours. The Quick Pay profit split keeps 50% of the first $4,000 in net profit, rises to 80% above $4,000, and reaches 90% in a funded live account. The absence of a buffer is what sets Quick Pay apart, since many firms require a cushion above the starting balance before any money can come out.
How does the TradeDay trailing drawdown work?
TradeDay sets a trailing maximum drawdown of $2,000 on the 50k, $3,000 on the 100k, and $4,500 on the 150k, which trails the highest balance and then stops moving once it climbs to the original starting balance, where it locks permanently. On a Quick Pay intraday account it measures against unrealized equity during the session, while the end-of-day option recalculates only on the closing balance during the test before switching to intraday once funded. Touching the limit with an open position liquidates that position and closes the account.
What can you trade at TradeDay?
TradeDay is futures-only, covering CME Group contracts on the CME, CBOT, COMEX, and NYMEX, spanning equity index, FX, interest rate, energy, metals, and agricultural products, with no equities, options, or spot forex anywhere in the lineup. Trading is day-trading only with no overnight holds. Since February 2026, full-size Gold, Silver, Copper, and Platinum are restricted across all accounts, and Micro Gold and Micro Silver are capped at 4 lots, which is a material limitation for metals specialists.