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Welcome to Part 4 of this series, where I am focusing solely on the “Instant Funding” products, available at only a few funding companies.
It’s typical to find standard evaluation accounts at each of the companies I cover on this site, but there has been a recent uptick in the number of direct/instant funding accounts as well. At least one company, FastTrackTrading, offers only this kind of account. It’s likely that more companies are on the way.
Do I recommend them? I personally consider them a bit overpriced, but I know some people who have found success with them. It depends on your situation.
In this installment, I compare all of the options so that you can make the best choice for you. Unlike the previous parts to this series, this time I’ve included all of the relevant information for each company on a single page. Since there is no evaluation period, costs and rules are a bit simpler with these accounts, and there’s less to explain overall.
Why Direct Funding?
As mentioned earlier, the direct funded accounts allow users to go straight to the funded phase, without being evaluated on their skills first. The accounts are more expensive, which serves as a barrier against the most undercapitalized traders. But if you’re not proving your skills, what does it really mean?
I suspect that these companies have discovered a market of wealthier traders, who are willing to pay a little extra money to save time by skipping the evaluation phase.
The issue I have is the cost, because I believe that passing an evaluation and getting funded is not difficult if you have a good strategy. Saving the money makes more sense for me.
If a trader is not experienced, they can expect to lose quite a lot of money by blowing multiple funded accounts in this way. But if they have a good strategy, and are confident, it might be quite a deal. Just a few years ago, you’d never get to trade 5 full contracts (or more) for a couple hundred dollars, without even proving your profitability first.
But like I’ve suggested in the past, don’t rush into this. Read the rules carefully, and review the general rules for funded accounts in previous posts if you aren’t familiar. Concepts like the Trailing Drawdown, Daily Loss Limit, Consistency, or others will be mentioned here, and I’m expecting you to have learned of them before.
FastTrackFunding
FastTrackFunding is a company that offers four instant funding options. Their site mentions that there are no evaluations.
Note that while it says you have 20 of each account, I believe you are only allowed to have 20 total accounts as a single user.
All positions must be closed by 4:15 PM EST. If not, positions will be automatically closed and you will be charged a $25 fee per contract, out of your balance.
FastTrackFunding | Cost | Contracts | Drawdown (EOD Trailing) | Daily Loss Limit | Maximum Accounts | Scaling | Account Reset | Withdraw Threshold (1st) | Withdraw Threshold (2nd+) |
$25,000 (Rally) | $179 | 2 (20 micros) | $1,500 | No | 20 | No | N/A | $1,500 | $1,500 |
$50,000 (Daytona) | $449 | 5 (50 micros) | $2,500 | No | 20 | No | N/A | $2,500 | $2,500 |
$150,000 (GT) | $599 | 15 (150 micros) | EOD Trailing | No | 20 | No | Yes | $7,500 | $ |
$300,000 (LeMans) | $799 | 30 (300 micros) | EOD Trailing | No | 20 | No | Yes | $15,000 |
Account Rules and Fees
Account Resets
Surprisingly, FastTrackTrading offers the ability to reset a funded account. This is typically not offered anywhere, and the system itself is unique. It is available only for the 2 largest accounts, the $150,000 and $300,000.
To be eligible for a reset, you must have already met the account buffer (Max Loss Limit) in one day. This means that it is only for those traders who had a horrible day and ruined their account in a short period of time, rather than a gradual burning of profits over several days.
This reset costs 10% of the previous day’s ending balance, and only resets your account to 50% of the previous day’s ending balance. It also resets your payout window count to day 1; this means if you were on the verge of withdrawing, you will have to acquire 5 trading days again before you can submit a payout request.
Let’s say you are on the $150,000 account with $10,000 in realized profits on Monday. On Tuesday, you blow your account by dropping from $165,000 to $149,500, hitting your max loss limit. Since you are eligible to reset it, you will be paying 10% of your $10,000 ($1,000), and your account will be reinstated with a balance of $155,000 (50% of $10,000 profits), and you will be back at 1 trading day with regards to payouts.
This kind of reset is done at the discretion of the FTT team, so don’t expect them to bail you out every time.
Platforms
Unlike most firms that offer an evaluation, FastTrack doesn’t seem to work with some of the familiar platforms. Rithmic compatible platforms are available, but TradingView, Tradovate, and NinjaTrader are not.
Commissions
On their site, FastTrack says there are no commissions on any accounts, until you have graduated to Live Trading.
Trading News
News trading is allowed. Copy trading is permitted here as well.
Profit Withdrawing
At FastTrack, there is a withdrawal threshold for your first payout request, which must be reached for eligibility. Then, there is a balance that must be maintained after the withdraw, which is a bit lower . Then, the amount you withdraw must not allow your balance to dip below a maintenance threshold, In other words, you must cross this threshold, and can only withdraw the profits above it.
On subsequent payout requests, the two smallest accounts keep the same threshold, while the larger accounts have a lower threshold.
Check out FastTrackTrading here.
Purdia Capital
Purdia Capital offers multiple account types, which you can read about in the other parts of this series. There are no monthly fees; you pay a single cost, get a Simulated Funded Account (SFA), and trade for as long as it takes to move to the Live Funded Account (LFA).
For their instant funded accounts, there are two options.
Purdia Capital Instant Funding | Cost | Contracts | Drawdown (EOD Trailing) | Withdraw Threshold (1st) | Withdraw Threshold (2nd+) |
$50,000 | $649 | 5 | $1,500 | $2,000 | |
$100,000 | $999 | 10 | $3,000 | $3,000 |
Account Rules and Fees
As mentioned before, you begin in the SFA phase. Here, you are expected to do the following:
- Earn $3,000 in total profits
- Trade for at least 10 days
- Have at least 5 days with profits of $200 or more
- Stay above the EOD Trailing Drawdown
Profits that you earn during this phase are transferred to your live account once you qualify for the move. However, any profits above $3,000 are not transferred; in other words, don’t bother overachieving in the SFA.
Once you are in the LFA, you are trading on an actual live account – the orders actually go to the market and fills are not guaranteed the way they are on simulated accounts. You are only allowed to have one of these live accounts at a time.
In the LFA, there is a new Daily Loss Limit enforced. Regardless of the balance, you are not allowed to lose more than 33% in a single day. Upon losing this amount, your account is locked until the next trading day.
Fees
There are no data fees, platform fees, or other fees whatsoever.
Profit Withdrawing
The withdraw process here is great. Once you get to LFA, Purdia Capital offers a 90/10 profit split, with no limits on withdraws whatsoever. You can withdraw everyday, as little or as much as you want. There are no consistency rules, and because the max drawdown is static, it’s as close to having your own personal account as it gets.
However, when you get to the LFA, the drawdown becomes the initial balance + $100. So on the $100,000 account, your LFA will start with a balance of $3,000 and a max loss of $2,900. This also means that if you withdraw enough of those initial profits to make your balance hit this drawdown, the account will be closed.
Profits are withdrawn through direct bank transfer.
Scaling
While you can only have one LFA at a time, you have the opportunity to scale to higher contract sizes and daily loss limits, as you grow your account. This is done at the discretion of Purdia, so it would be assessed case-by-case.
Check out Purdia Capital here.
TickTick Trader
TickTickTrader offers three levels of “Direct Accounts”.
Users are allowed to have only one active direct account per tier at a time. So you can have a maximum of three direct accounts. These accounts cannot be reset.
Recently, TickTick Trader also added the $100k, $150k, and $250k direct accounts (all are on sale at 50% off – use code DOJIDOJO to get the discount). These accounts are not counted toward the 3 account maximum limit, so you can have as many as you want (see Sunny’s message on the right).
TTTDirect Accounts | Contracts | Daily Loss Limit (Soft) | Drawdown (Static) | Cost |
$10,000 (Swing) | 5 (micros) | $350 | $1,000 | $229 |
$25,000 | 4 (40 micros) | $500 | $1,500 | $349 |
$50,000 | 10 (100 micros) | $1,250 | $2,500 | $699 |
$100,000 (Core) | 10 (100 micros) | $2,500 | $5,000 | $629 (on sale for $315) |
$150,000 (Prime) | 15 (150 micros) | $3,750 | $7,500 | $699 (on sale for $349.50) |
$250,000 (Zenith) | 25 (250 micros) | $6,250 | $12,500 | $999 (on sale for $499.50) |
Account Rules and Fees
There are two soft rules here that will shut your trading down for the day: violating the daily loss limit, and trading more size than you are allowed. The scaling system is as follows (no scaling system for the $10k micros-only account):
TTTDirect $25,000 Account | Profit Required |
2 Contracts | $0-$1,600 |
4 Contracts | $1,601+ |
TTTDirect $50,000 Account | Profit Required |
2 Contracts | $0-$1,600 |
5 Contracts | $1,601-$5,000 |
8 Contracts | $5,001-$8,500 |
10 Contracts | $8,500+ |
The current account balance is what is used, including unrealized profits. Upon violation of this rule (taking on too much size before you can afford it), there are two warnings given.
The first two times, your account is simply blocked from trading the rest of that market session. If you break the scaling rule a third time, you lose the account.
Overnight Positions
If you happen to leave a position overnight accidentally, you get one warning. Your account can be reinstated by reaching out to the Customer Support, and is subject to review.
Instrument Limitations
Another unique rule here is that you cannot trade the same instrument across multiple accounts. This indirectly bans you from copy trading. It seems TTT does not want you to use multiple accounts to increase the size of your positions.
TickTickTrader explicitly states that DCAing, copy trading, and flipping are allowed (though flipping carries no advantages when there’s no trading days requirement).
Profit Withdrawing
TickTickTrader offers a profit split of 90/10, with all profits in the first 3 months going toward the trader. Payouts can be requested at any time during the month, and are processed within 5 business days.
There are no trading days requirements, consistency rules, or caps on withdrawal amounts. You can earn as much as you want for 3 months, keep all of it, and then start paying TTT a 10% cut after. But the safety threshold amount must remain in the account after each withdrawal.
TTTDirect Account | Safety Threshold | Minimum Withdrawal |
$10,000 Swing | $1,100 | $250 |
$25,000 | $1,600 | $250 |
$50,000 | $2,600 | $500 |
New Direct Accounts
For the 3 new, larger TTTDirect accounts, you are allowed to withdraw from the Safety net. However, there is a 20% consistency rule, which is restrictive compared to the usual 30-50% consistency rules we see elsewhere.
Payments are made via Wire Transfer and Cryptocurrency (USDT TRC20).
For a deactivated account, 20% of the sum exceeding the safety threshold goes to the trader.
Check out TickTick Trader here.
Tradeify
Tradeify is a newer firm that features 3 levels of Direct Funded Accounts.
Unlike other firms with a true live account, these accounts are Simulate Funded accounts. They mention that after three successful payouts, Tradeify reserves the right to move you to a live funded account at any time.
Traders can have up to 7 total Simulated Funded Accounts at once, regardless of size. This includes non-direct funded accounts as well.
Positions must be closed by 4:59 PM EST. Opened positions are automatically closed by Tradeify, so you won’t fail your account if you forget.
TTTDirect Accounts | Contracts | Daily Loss Limit (Soft) | Drawdown (EOD Trailing) | Cost |
$50,000 | 5 (50 micros) | $1,250 | $2,500 | $549 |
$100,000 | 10 (100 micros) | $2,500 | $5,000 | $629 |
$150,000 | 15 (150 micros) | $3,750 | $7,5000 | $699 |
Account Rules and Fees
Outside of avoiding the EOD Trailing Drawdown, you have to worry about the Daily Loss Limit, and Consistency Rule. Because it’s a soft Daily Loss Limit, you are only blocked for the rest of the day if your losses reach the designated amount.
The EOD Trailing Drawdown stops moving up at initial balance +$100.
News trading is fully permitted.
Profit Withdrawing
Tradeify traders keep 100% of their first $15,000 in profits (per trader, not account), with a 90/10 profit split afterward.
To withdraw, you are expected to meet a few requirements. You must reach 10 trading days, following a consistency rule of 20%.
20% is much lower than the usual consistency threshold (30-50%) we find at other firms. This makes it more difficult to withdraw profits, if you are the type of trader who gets big runners once in a while.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there aren’t as many options available as there are for traditional evaluation accounts. However, it makes it a bit easier to compare them.
I do feel that there will be more options in the near future, but until then, this is your best bet for trading futures without an evaluation. You will still have your personal funds completely safe by using these accounts, as long as you can afford the steeper cost.
Did I miss a company or a feature of the ones presented here? Let me know (we are usually fastest to respond on Discord) and I will be sure to update this post accordingly.
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