Passing an evaluation activates a funded simulated account of the same type and size, usually within 5 to 30 minutes. The profit target disappears and a payout model replaces it. Cycle and Stream accounts start holding a buffer before anything can be withdrawn, Cycle gains a 40% consistency ratio while Clear loses the 50% one it had, and after five payouts the account enters the Live review pool. This article is about the rule swap, not the payout request itself.
Simulated accounts are used up to the Live stage, and futures trading involves a substantial risk of loss.
What arrives when you pass?
A new account, not an upgraded one. Same type, same size, same platform, new credentials. The evaluation account closes and its balance goes with it: a 100K Cycle that passed at $106,200 opens funded at $100,000, with a fresh Max Loss Limit of $3,000 that has never trailed. The cushion you built during the evaluation was proof, not capital.
That reset is worth sitting with before the first funded trade. Your drawdown room is back to its narrowest, which is exactly the situation that ends most evaluations in their first week. The sizing discipline that got you here applies again from zero, and the mistakes that end evaluations end funded accounts the same way.
Which rules disappear, and which arrive?
The profit target goes in every case. Everything else depends on the type.
| Cycle | Clear | Stream | Direct | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit target | gone | gone | gone | never had one |
| Consistency | arrives, 40% | gone, was 50% | gone, was 50% | 20% from day one |
| Buffer | arrives, $103,100 on a 100K | none | arrives, $103,100 on a 100K | none |
| Drawdown | end of day | end of day | becomes intraday | end of day |
| Daily Loss Limit | $1,800, then scales | $1,800, fixed | $1,800 if kept on | $2,100 on a 100K |
| News | allowed | allowed | flat one minute either side of red-folder releases | allowed |
Two rows deserve attention. Cycle gains a consistency check it never had during the evaluation, so a trader used to one big day per week meets the consistency rule for the first time at the worst possible moment: when requesting money. Stream moves from whatever drawdown mode was bought to an intraday trail that follows open equity, along with the news window, which is the only rule in the catalogue that fails an account outright rather than pausing it.
Direct is the exception to all of this because it has no before and after. It is funded from the first trade, with the 20% ratio and a wider $3,500 limit on a 100K from the start.
What is the buffer, and why does it feel like a delay?
On funded Cycle and Stream accounts, a balance stays in the account for as long as the account exists: the starting balance plus the initial Max Loss Limit plus $100. On a 100K Cycle that is $103,100; on a 50K, $52,100.
The arithmetic catches people out on the first funded run. A 100K Cycle balance of $104,000 looks like $4,000 of profit. Only $900 of it sits above the buffer. Add the $500 minimum request and the 40% ratio, and the first realistic request usually comes later than a trader expects. The buffer rule page lists the amount for every size, and Clear and Direct have none at all, which is the main reason traders who want a short first funded run choose them.
The buffer is fixed at purchase. It does not follow the trailing limit and it does not grow after a payout.
What does the first payout cycle look like?
Each type gates it differently. Cycle asks for $750 of cycle profit on a 100K with the balance above the buffer and the ratio under 40%, and caps the first request at $2,500. Clear asks for five separate days at or above $200 and pays half the cycle profit up to $2,500. Stream asks for nothing beyond a positive net since the last payout and a balance above $103,100. Direct asks for $6,000 on the first cycle with the 20% ratio.
What is identical everywhere: $500 minimum, 90% to you, wire within two business days of approval. The conditions, the decline reasons and a worked first request are covered in your first payout, step by step; the payout policy carries the goals and caps for every size.
What changes as the account matures?
One thing quietly improves. On funded Cycle and Direct accounts, once the balance passes the initial trail balance, the fixed Daily Loss Limit is replaced by 60% of your highest end-of-day profit, and it ratchets upward with each new peak. A 100K Cycle trader with a highest close of $106,500 trades with a $3,900 daily limit instead of $1,800. The scaling page has the worked numbers, and the maximum position stays at 6 minis on a 100K throughout.
The caps loosen too. On Cycle, only the first request is capped; from the second payout the whole cycle profit above the buffer is withdrawable against a $750 goal. On Direct the cap rises at the fourth payout, from $2,500 to $3,000 on a 100K. Clear keeps its cap unchanged, because its safeguard is the five-day rule instead.
What happens after five payouts?
The account enters the Live review pool. Funded accounts with at least one payout on record move to a Live account together; funded accounts with zero payouts are closed and the evaluation fee is refunded.
A Live account starts at $0 rather than at a balance. In place of a balance it gets a starting drawdown equal to the original Max Loss Limit of the size: $3,000 from a 100K, $4,500 from a 150K. There is no Daily Loss Limit, no consistency rule and no cap from the simulated rules, and payouts become daily. Once Live profit reaches $3,100 on a 100K origin, a one-time Live Bonus of $3,000 is paid; Stream accounts are not eligible for it. Flat time still applies every weekday, 4:15 pm ET on Rithmic and 4:45 pm ET on Tradovate.
Stream has a second route. A single day whose closed profit reaches $10,000 on a 100K moves the account to Live at once, with the simulated profit above the buffer paid up to $15,000.
So the shape of the whole path is a narrowing of rules, not a tightening. The evaluation measures whether you can reach a target; the funded stage measures whether you can do it repeatedly at a steady size; Live removes most of the scaffolding. Five ordinary cycles get there faster than one spectacular one. The Cycle account page has the full funded rule set, and the pricing page shows what each type costs at each size.
Sources
- CME Group, Globex trading hours, daily maintenance break and holiday calendar.
- CME Group, equity index contract specifications.
- National Futures Association, investor resources on futures accounts.
Simulated accounts until Live. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.