A consistency rule caps the share of a cycle that can come from a single day: 40% on funded Cycle accounts, 50% during Clear and Stream evaluations, 20% on Direct. It never fails an account. It delays the pass or the payout until the rest of the cycle is large enough for the best day to fit.
One ratio, three thresholds
The rule compares your largest profitable day with the net profit of the cycle. The cycle is the evaluation for an evaluation account, and the period since the last payout for a funded account. The consistency rule page gives the definition; here is where the thresholds apply:
| Account | Evaluation | Funded |
|---|---|---|
| Cycle | none | 40% |
| Clear | 50% | none |
| Stream | 50% | none |
| Direct | no evaluation | 20% |
Only closed profit counts. Losing days reduce the cycle profit, which makes the ratio harder to meet, but a losing day is never “the largest day”. If you are still deciding between the four types, choosing your account type compares them on the rules that actually bind.
Why firms cap the largest day
A funded account is paid from real money. One large day proves less than five medium ones: it may be a real edge, or a single oversized bet that happened to work. The rule does not try to tell the two apart; it waits. If the trader has an edge, the following days will raise the cycle profit until the big day fits under the threshold. If the trader had one lucky day, the payout waits for skill that never arrives. This is why the rule never fails an account: it is a filter on payouts, not a penalty.
The arithmetic on each type
Funded Cycle, 40%. The best day may be at most 40% of the cycle profit, so the cycle must reach 2.5 times the best day. A $1,800 day on a 100K needs a cycle of at least $4,500. With a first-cycle goal of $750, most cycles clear the rule without noticing it; the rule bites when one day is larger than the goal itself.
Clear and Stream evaluation, 50%. The best day may be at most half the target, $6,000 ÷ 2 on a 100K. Two profitable days is the practical minimum. Once funded, both types drop the rule entirely.
Direct, 20%. The best day may be at most a fifth of the cycle profit: five comparable profitable days per cycle. On a 100K Direct with a first-cycle goal of $6,000, the largest day at the time of the request may be at most $1,200. The rule replaces the evaluation as the proof of skill, which is why it is the most common reason a Direct payout is declined.
Planning a cycle around the rule
Set a ceiling for your best day before the cycle starts, from the payout goal of your account:
- Cycle 100K, goal $750: ceiling $300 if you plan to request at the goal, or trade past the goal and let the total grow.
- Direct 100K, goal $6,000: ceiling $1,200.
When a day approaches the ceiling, stop trading for the day. The alternative, requesting the payout later with a bigger total, works too, but it means keeping the profit at risk on the account for longer, under a trailing drawdown that does not care about your ceiling.
Worked example, 50K Direct
Goal for the first cycle: $3,000. You reach $3,200 of cycle profit with a best day of $900. The ratio is 28%, above 20%; the payout is declined. Two options:
- Keep trading at normal size. At $4,500 of cycle profit the $900 day is exactly 20% and the payout can be requested.
- Try to fix it with one big day. A $1,500 day brings the cycle to $4,700 but the best day to $1,500: ratio 32%, worse than before, and $1,500 of room was risked to get there.
The first option is the rule working as intended.
The rule resets, so plan cycle by cycle
The ratio is computed over one cycle, not over the life of the account. After a payout is approved, the counter starts again from zero: the next cycle has its own profit total and its own largest day. A $2,000 day that blocked your last request has no effect on the next one.
Two things follow. First, a blocked payout is never permanent; it is a request made too early. Second, the cycle after a payout is the riskiest one for the rule, because the total starts at zero and any profitable day is, for a while, 100% of the cycle. Traders who request a payout and then take one large day immediately are the ones who see the rule twice in a row.
The practical habit is to decide the request date and the day ceiling at the same time, at the start of each cycle. What to expect from a first payout walks through the request itself, including the $500 minimum and the two-business-day wire.
Where consistency meets the buffer and the cap
On a funded Cycle, three things must be true at once for a payout: the balance is above the buffer, the cycle goal is reached, and the ratio is under 40%. The first payout is then capped at $2,500 on a 100K and later ones are uncapped. On Direct the caps are $2,500 for the first three payouts and $3,000 for the fourth and fifth. The payout policy lists every goal and cap by size; the Direct account page has the full set for a trader who wants to skip the evaluation and live with the 20%.
Sources
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission, customer advisories on futures trading risk.
- National Futures Association, investor resources on futures accounts.
- CME Group, E-mini and Micro E-mini equity index contract specifications: the contracts used in the worked examples.
Simulated accounts until Live. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.