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Essential Trading Rules Overview

A quick overview of the most important trading rules every The Funding Futures trader should know before beginning to trade.

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Written by TheFunding Futures
Updated this week

Core Trading Rules by Account Type

Challenge Accounts (Advanced & Growth)

Daily Loss Limits

  • Advanced Accounts: No daily loss limit protection

  • Growth Accounts: Daily loss limit depends on account size:

    • $50K → $1,250

    • $100K → $2,500

    • $150K → $3,750


Drawdown Protection Types

What is a Trailing Drawdown?

A trailing drawdown is your account’s maximum loss limit that “trails” your highest achieved balance.
As your equity grows, the drawdown limit adjusts upward, locking in progress and protecting profits.
If your balance drops below this limit, the account fails.


Advanced Accounts – Real-Time Intraday Trailing Drawdown

  • Adjusts continuously throughout the trading day

  • Both realized profits and unrealized gains move the drawdown limit higher

  • If your account value drops below the adjusted drawdown limit at any moment, the account fails immediately


Growth Accounts – End-of-Day Trailing Drawdown

  • Recalculates only at market close based on the final balance

  • Locks in drawdown improvements only when you finish the day in profit

  • Offers flexibility during the trading day — temporary intraday losses don’t affect your limit


Simulated Funded Accounts

Daily Loss Limits

  • Advanced Accounts: No daily loss limit

  • Growth Accounts:

    • $50K → $1,250

    • $100K → $2,500

    • $150K → $3,750

  • Lightning Funded Accounts:

    • $50K → $1,250

    • $100K → $2,500

    • $150K → $3,750

    • ⚠️ 25K Lightning accounts do not include daily loss limit protection.


Drawdown Types

  • Advanced Accounts: Real-Time Intraday Trailing Drawdown

    • Adjusts continuously throughout the trading day

    • Both realized and unrealized gains move your drawdown limit higher

    • Falling below this limit at any point results in immediate account failure

  • Growth Accounts: End-of-Day Trailing Drawdown

    • Recalculates only at market close

    • Locks in progress only when you end the day profitable

    • Provides more flexibility throughout the day

  • Lightning Funded Accounts: End-of-Day Trailing Drawdown

    • Same mechanics as Growth

    • More flexibility and less intraday stress

    • Recalculated only once per day


Universal Rules (All Account Types)

Position Holding Requirements

All open positions must be closed before market close each day.
Swing trading and overnight holding are not allowed.


Daily Close Requirements

  • Regular Trading Days: Close all positions by 4:59 PM ET (Mon–Fri)

  • Holiday Early Close: Close all positions by 12:59 PM ET


Trading Hours

  • Market Opens: 6:00 PM ET (Sunday–Thursday evening)

  • Market Closes: 5:00 PM ET (Monday–Friday)


Automatic Position Closure

Any open positions at market close will be automatically liquidated by The Funding Futures.
This will not result in account failure or penalties.


Trading Day Definition

A trading day runs from 6:00 PM ET to 5:00 PM ET the following day.

Example: If you trade at 1:00 AM and again at 7:00 PM, those are counted as two separate trading days.


Position Limits

Account Size

Max Mini Contracts

Micro Equivalent

$25K

1 Mini

10 Micros

$50K

4 Minis

40 Micros

$100K

8 Minis

80 Micros

$150K

12 Minis

120 Micros

Note:

  • 10 Micro contracts = 1 Mini contract

  • You may trade micros OR minis, but not both simultaneously (hedging not allowed).


Position Scaling

  • No scaling restrictions — full position limits available from day one

  • No gradual build-up required


Prohibited Activities

🚫 Hedging — Not allowed
🚫 Exploiting platform errors — Strictly prohibited
🚫 HFT bots or latency arbitrage — Not allowed


Algorithmic Trading

Allowed if the following conditions are met:

  • You own the strategy exclusively

  • The strategy is not shared with other traders or firms

  • It is not high-frequency trading

  • You can prove ownership upon request


Microscalping Guidelines

50% Rule:
At least 50% of total profits must come from trades held longer than 10 seconds.

Failure to meet this requirement will make your account ineligible for payouts or challenge activation.


Account Activity

  • Minimum activity: 1 trade per week (Mon–Fri)

  • Inactive traders will receive a warning notice before any action is taken


Consistency Rule Quick Guide

This rule ensures stable, consistent performance — not a single oversized winning day.

Account Type

Consistency Limit

Advanced / Growth

35%

Lightning Funded

20%

Example:
If your biggest day’s profit is $2,000, and you follow the 20% rule, your total profit must be at least $10,000 to qualify for payouts.


Good Faith Trading Policy

Trade honestly. Don’t exploit system behavior or errors.

Violations Include:

  • Taking advantage of price display errors

  • Exploiting execution delays or slippage

  • Using strategies designed to trigger platform faults

Consequence: Immediate account termination.


News Trading Policy

  • Allowed: Yes — at your own risk

  • Restrictions: Certain major economic events may have trading limits

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