Elite Trader Funding

Elite Trader Funding is a futures prop firm: you buy an evaluation, hit a profit target inside the drawdown rules, pay a one-time activation fee, then trade a sim-funded account and request payouts. After you withdraw a cumulative $25,000, you graduate to a LIVE Elite account that trades real capital on an 80/20 split.

The defining feature is choice. Where most firms offer one or two evaluation types, ETF offers six — so you can match the rules to your style rather than the other way round. That flexibility, plus aggressive pricing, is the core of its appeal.

1-Step is the most popular: a monthly subscription with live (intraday) trailing drawdown and no daily loss limit, on $50K–$250K accounts. End of Day (EOD) uses a trailing drawdown that only moves at session close, but adds a daily loss limit. Static uses a fixed drawdown floor that never trails up — the easiest to manage, on smaller $10K–$50K accounts.

Fast Track is the cheap, fast entry: a low one-time fee, a 3-day minimum and no resets. Diamond Hands is the only model that allows overnight and weekend holds, aimed at swing traders. Direct to Funded (DTF) skips the evaluation entirely and drops you into a sim-funded account for a one-time fee.

Drawdown type depends on the model: trailing (1-Step), end-of-day trailing (EOD, Diamond Hands) or fixed/static (Static, Fast Track). Most models share a 5 trading-day minimum (3 on Fast Track) and a $47 reset. A useful detail: once you bank your drawdown amount plus $100 in realised profit, the drawdown is removed for payout eligibility.

The rule funded traders flag most is a consistency-style “loss limit” that kicks in around 20% profit and caps how large your losses can be relative to gains. It is less common in the industry and rewards steady trading over a single big day. Micro-scalping is allowed but trades must last at least ten seconds. As always, read the current rulebook — ETF iterates on its rules.

The split is generous early: 100% on your first $12,500 in sim-funded profits (per trader, not per account), then 90/10 after that. The catch is a $25,000 lifetime payout cap on the sim-funded stage — once you hit it, you move to a LIVE Elite account on an 80/20 split.

Your first payout requires 8 Active Trading Days (ATDs); later payouts require 10. An ATD counts only if you make at least $200 in realised profit and at least 23% of your best trading day’s P&L — a rule designed to stop a single lucky day from carrying a withdrawal. These are real hurdles, so plan your trading around them rather than discovering them at payout time.

Platform support is a genuine strength. The primary platforms are Tradovate, Rithmic (RTrader Pro), NinjaTrader and TradingView, covering CME futures such as ES, NQ, GC and CL. Through Rithmic you also get Quantower, Sierra Chart, ATAS, Bookmap and more.

A non-professional data feed is included in the evaluation plans at no extra cost; a professional feed costs around $128 per exchange. One quirk to know: TradingView connects via the Tradovate feed (not Rithmic), so pick your data feed with your platform in mind.

ETF is best for futures traders who want cheap, flexible entry and a model that fits their exact style — whether that is no daily loss limit (1-Step), a fixed floor (Static), a fast cheap shot (Fast Track) or overnight holds (Diamond Hands). With its frequent discounts, the upfront cost is among the lowest in the category.

It is a weaker fit if you dislike consistency rules or want to scale past $25,000 in withdrawals quickly, since that triggers the move to a live account. Risk note: evaluation and funded accounts are simulated until the LIVE Elite stage, the rules genuinely matter, and no prop firm fee is guaranteed income — treat the cost as a sunk fee, not an investment.