The four StarTrading account types differ on five things: whether there is an evaluation, how the drawdown trails, whether a consistency ratio applies, whether a buffer is held back before payouts, and how payouts are gated. Clear has the fewest rules once funded, Stream pays every day, Direct skips the evaluation entirely, and Cycle is the cheapest way into a first account. This article compares the four on those five points, then matches each to the kind of trader it was built for.
Evaluation and funded accounts are simulated until the Live stage, and futures trading involves a substantial risk of loss.
What actually separates the four types?
Not the size and not the profit target. A 100K asks for $6,000 against a $3,000 Max Loss Limit on Cycle, Clear and Stream alike. What changes is everything around that arithmetic.
| Cycle | Clear | Stream | Direct | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation | yes | yes | yes | none, funded day one |
| Drawdown, funded | end of day | end of day | intraday | end of day |
| Consistency, evaluation | none | 50% | 50% | — |
| Consistency, funded | 40% | none | none | 20% |
| Buffer | $103,100 on a 100K | none | $103,100 on a 100K | none |
| Payout gate | cycle goal $750 | five days at $200+ | anything above the buffer, daily | cycle goal $6,000 |
| 100K price | $272 | $258 | $288 | $700 |
Read the table as a trade. Each type gives you one thing and charges for it somewhere else. Clear drops the funded consistency rule and the buffer, and in exchange makes you produce five separate qualifying days and caps every payout at half the cycle profit. Stream pays daily with no cap, and in exchange trails your drawdown against open equity and goes flat around red-folder news. Direct hands you a funded account immediately, and in exchange costs $700 on a 100K and applies the tightest ratio of the four.
What does each type ask of you week to week?
Cycle asks for patience in blocks. You reach the cycle goal, check that your best day sits under 40% of the cycle profit, keep the balance above $103,100 on a 100K, and request. The first payout is capped at $2,500; every one after it takes the whole cycle profit above the buffer.
Clear asks for regularity. Five separate days at or above $200 on a 100K, with a positive net for the cycle. No buffer, no funded ratio, but the cap stays at $2,500 forever and never grows. A trader who books $200 most days and rarely has a big one fits this shape exactly.
Stream asks for tight risk control. Funded Stream trails the drawdown intraday, so an open winner that reverses moves the limit against you inside the session. There is also a one-minute flat window either side of red-folder releases, and holding through it fails the account rather than pausing it. In return: request any day, everything above $103,100 on a 100K, no cap.
Direct asks for capital and discipline in equal measure. You start funded, the first cycle goal on a 100K is $6,000, and the 20% ratio means your best day may be at most $1,200 when you request. The drawdown is wider than its peers at $3,500 on a 100K, which is the compensation for having no evaluation to learn on.
Which type suits which trader?
You want the fewest rules once funded: Clear. No consistency ratio, no buffer to build, an end-of-day trail. The daily loss limit is there at every size, $1,800 on a 100K, and the five-day rule is the only pacing constraint. The evaluation applies the 50% consistency rule, so budget two profitable days minimum.
You want to be paid quickly and often: Stream. It is the only type with no payout goal and no cap. The price of that is the intraday trail and the news window. If you scale out of winners and use fixed targets, the intraday trail costs you little. If you let positions run, it will hurt, and the intraday versus end-of-day comparison shows a day where the same trades fail one and not the other.
You want to skip the evaluation: Direct. Nothing to pass, nothing to reset, no target. Note what you give up: no cheap practice run, no reset price, and a 20% ratio that quietly requires five or six meaningful days before a first payout. Buy it because you already trade this size elsewhere, not because you want to skip a step.
You are starting out: Cycle. No consistency check during the evaluation, end-of-day trailing so an open drawdown does not count, and $272 on a 100K with a $190 reset if it goes wrong. The funded rules add complexity, but you only meet them after you have proved you can reach a target. Start smaller if the number scares you: the 25K costs $108 and has no daily limit at all.
Which size goes with the type?
Pick the size from your stop, not your ambition. The maximum position is 4 minis on a 50K and 6 on a 100K, micros counting a tenth each. A ten-point ES stop on two contracts risks $1,000, which is over half the $1,200 daily limit of a 50K Cycle and under a third of the $1,800 on a 100K. If your normal trade does not leave room for two full stops in a day, the size is too small for how you trade.
| Size | Target | Max Loss Limit | Max position | Cycle price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25K | $1,250 | $1,000 | 2 minis | $108 |
| 50K | $3,000 | $2,000 | 4 minis | $172 |
| 100K | $6,000 | $3,000 | 6 minis | $272 |
| 150K | $9,000 | $4,500 | 10 minis | $365 |
What is the same whichever you pick?
The parts most traders assume are negotiable are not. You keep 90% of every payout, the minimum request is $500, the wire leaves within two business days of approval, and after five simulated payouts the account enters the Live review pool. Flat time is set by the platform you choose at checkout, 4:15 pm ET on Rithmic and 4:45 pm ET on Tradovate, and it applies to every type including Live. There is no monthly fee and no deadline on any evaluation.
So the choice is narrower than the catalogue suggests. Decide whether you want an evaluation, then decide whether you want to be paid in blocks or daily. That answers it. The account comparison page lays out all sixteen products side by side, and the Clear 100K page has the full rule set for the type most first-time buyers settle on.
Sources
- CME Group, E-mini and Micro E-mini equity index contract specifications.
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission, customer advisories on futures and derivatives trading.
- National Futures Association, investor resources on futures accounts.
Simulated accounts until Live. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.