E8 Futures

E8 Futures is the futures side of E8 Markets, a Dallas prop firm that has sold evaluations since 2021. You trade CME Group futures (equity indexes, currencies, energy, metals, grains and micro bitcoin and ether contracts) on Tradovate, with TradingView available through the Tradovate connection. Every plan is a one-phase test with an end-of-day drawdown and a one-time fee, starting at $120.

There are two families. E8 Signature is the cheap one: an 80% split, a 2% daily pause once funded and payouts gated by a 35% consistency rule. E8 Zero costs more but drops consistency rules once you're funded, lets you request a payout every day and pays up to 100%. The catch on both is that each funded account pays out four times at most, and every payout has a cap. This review shows exactly what those caps mean in dollars.

The short version

• Best for: US-session index futures traders who trade steadily, close before 3:10 pm CT and want quick, frequent payouts.
• Not for: anyone who wants to run bots, hold overnight or build one account into a large, long-running payout stream.
• Biggest strength: E8 Zero's funded rules. No consistency rule, no minimum days and a $100 payout you can request daily.
• Biggest risk: the payout ceiling. A 50K Zero Starter can never pay out more than $4,000 in total before the account closes, and Signature's caps are lower still.
• Our score: 3.6 out of 5. Top marks for payouts and track record; poor value for money on most sizes.

Who runs E8 Futures

E8's terms of service, effective 3 November 2025, are an agreement with E8 Funding LLC, at 4101 McEwen Rd, Suite 205, Dallas, Texas. The terms are governed by Texas law. Disputes go to binding arbitration with the American Arbitration Association in Dallas County, and you give up class actions. You can opt out of arbitration by sending a signed notice within 30 days of first accepting the terms. The same terms name a Saint Lucia company, E8 Markets Ltd, which runs E8's MT5 service, and a Puerto Rico company that manages the website.

E8's help center says the company was founded in 2021 and has more than 300,000 registered clients. It describes itself as a simulated trading platform, not a broker, and says it doesn't take deposits or trade on anyone's behalf.

Every account is simulated, including funded "SimFi Performance" accounts. Prices come from CME market data. Your payouts are real money paid by E8.

Futures rules live in a dedicated futures help center, separate from the help center for E8's CFD products. It's detailed and well organized, but a few articles haven't caught up with the 1 October 2026 rule changes. We point those out below.

Programs and prices

Prices are list prices from the E8 Futures account configurator, checked on 28 October 2026. When we checked, the configurator showed 25% to 35% off with a code, so your checkout price will likely be lower. All are one-time fees with no activation fee.

E8 Signature

• Profit target: 6%.
• End-of-day drawdown: 4% on the 25K and 50K, 3% on the 100K, about 2.66% on the 150K. It trails your highest closing balance and locks at your starting balance.
• No daily limit and no consistency rule in the challenge, so you can pass in a day.
• Funded: 80% split, a 2% daily pause, a 35% best-day rule, 5 profitable days between payouts, a buffer and per-payout caps. Four payouts per account.

E8's own pages disagree on the 150K drawdown. The configurator shows $3,990; the Signature help article says $4,000 for accounts bought after 1 October 2026. Plan on $3,990.

Worked example, $50,000 Signature. Your floor starts at $48,000 and only moves when you close a day higher. Close a day at $51,000 and tomorrow's floor is $49,000. Once your closed profit reaches $2,000 (a $52,000 close), the floor locks at $50,000 for good. You pass at $53,000, and you can do it in one session.

Once funded, losing $1,000 in a day pauses you until the next day without failing the account. Your first payout is capped at $1,250, and you must leave a $2,000 buffer, so you need a balance of at least $53,250 to take the full amount. Your best day also has to be 35% or less of the profit in the cycle: with a $600 best day, you need at least $1,715 of profit before you can request. A $1,250 payout puts $1,000 in your pocket.

E8 Zero Max

• Profit target: 6% on the 25K and 50K, 6.5% on the 100K, 6.75% on the 200K.
• End-of-day drawdown: 4% on the 25K, 3% on the 50K, 100K and 200K. In the challenge it keeps trailing and never locks.
• Consistency: your best day can't be more than 40% of the profit target during the challenge. None once funded.
• Funded: no consistency rule, no minimum days, no daily profit cap, daily payouts from $100, larger per-payout caps. Four payouts per account.
• You choose an 80% or 100% split at checkout. The 100% option costs more.

Worked example, $100,000 Zero Max. Your floor starts at $97,000 and you pass at $106,500. To pass at exactly $6,500, no day can be above $2,600. A $3,000 day lifts your target to $7,500 ($3,000 ÷ 0.40). Because the challenge drawdown never locks, a close at $104,000 moves the floor to $101,000, above your starting balance.

Once funded, you start with 3 contracts, rising to 5 after you lock in $1,500 of profit and to 8 after $3,000. When your first payout is processed, the floor locks at $100,000. Say you're at $106,000 and request the $5,000 cap: you keep $5,000 on the 100% split ($4,000 on 80%), your balance drops to $101,000, and the $1,000 left over stays as a buffer that you can't request later.

E8 Zero Starter

Same rules as Zero Max, at a lower price, with much smaller payout caps and a 150K size instead of the 200K.

Worked example, $50,000 Zero Starter. Your floor starts at $48,500, and you pass at $53,000 with no day above $1,200. Once funded, each payout is capped at $1,000 and you get four of them, so the most this account can ever pay is $4,000 gross, or $3,200 on the 80% split. After the fourth payout the account closes and you get a free challenge of the same size.

Which E8 Futures plan should you pick?

Pick Signature if price matters most. The 100K Signature is the cheapest plan per dollar at $2.80 per $1K, and the 50K gives you the most drawdown per dollar: $170 for $2,000 of room, $8.50 per $100. The cost comes later: a 35% rule, five 0.3% profitable days between payouts, a buffer the size of your drawdown and caps that top out at $3,500.

Pick Zero Max if you want the most money out of one account. Four full payouts on a 100K add up to $20,000, and you keep all of it on the 100% split. You pay for that: $748 for the 100K at 100%, and only 3% of drawdown.

Zero Starter sits in between. It has Zero's relaxed funded rules but small caps. It suits a trader who wants daily payouts of a few hundred dollars rather than big withdrawals.

A better way to compare is the most each account can pay out before it closes, at the 80% split:

On that measure Zero Max gives you the highest ceiling, and Zero Starter the lowest.

Trading rules in practice

Drawdown and the daily pause

E8 calls its drawdown "EOD Dynamic". It only moves up when you close a day at a new high, based on closed profit, not open equity. On Signature and on funded Zero accounts, it locks at your starting balance once your closed profit equals the drawdown amount or you take your first payout. In the Zero challenge it never locks. Your open equity still can't touch the floor during the day, or the account is closed.

The daily pause applies only to funded Signature accounts. It's 2% of your starting balance as a fixed dollar figure, measured from each day's opening balance. Hit it and trading stops until 00:00 server time, which is 4:00 pm CT. E8 warns that positions aren't closed instantly at the line, and it won't make good a loss that runs past 2%, so use stops.

Trading hours: flat by 3:10 pm CT

You can trade from 5:15 pm CT to 3:10 pm CT, and every open position is force-closed at 3:10 pm CT. There's no overnight or weekend holding on any futures plan. The Signature help article gives a slightly different window (close by 23:00 server time, which is 3:00 pm CT right now), so aim to be flat by 3:00 pm CT.

Contracts, margin and fees

E8 caps position size by margin. Most minis use $10,000 of it and most micros $1,000, so the limits below read as mini contracts:

E8 publishes round-trip fees for every contract. With commission, exchange and NFA, and clearing fees added together:

What that costs you. Four NQ contracts in and out on a 50K Signature cost $23.04. Ten of those trades a day add up to $230.40, more than 11% of your $2,000 drawdown.

News, copy trading, bots and hedging

• News trading is allowed on Signature and Zero, in the challenge and once funded. E8 still recommends avoiding high-impact releases because of slippage.
• Copy trading is allowed across accounts you own, including personal accounts elsewhere. Copying other people, teams and signal services are banned.
• Bots, AI tools and semi-automated trading are banned, as is high-frequency trading of more than 300 trades a day.
• Hedging across accounts is banned, even between your own.
• Tick scalping: at least 50% of your profit must come from trades held 10 seconds or longer.
• You must trade the front-month contract, and you can't hold a position within 2% of a contract's price limit.

E8 also prohibits "all-or-nothing" trading. There's no hard limit per trade, but E8 says its most successful traders risk 1% to 1.5% per idea, and its risk team may contact you if your sizing looks reckless.

Consistency rules

E8 warns against splitting one big winner over several days to dodge the best-day rule. Profit from what it sees as a single trade idea can be counted on a single day.

Accounts and inactivity

You can buy as many challenges as you like. Funded accounts are limited per household: up to 3 on Zero, and on Signature up to 5 at the 50K size or 3 at 100K or 150K, with 5 as the overall ceiling.

The futures inactivity article says you must place and close at least one trade every 7 days, or the account is closed. The Signature article says 60 days, which is the rule for E8's CFD accounts. Plan on 7.

How payouts work

Payouts go through WorkMarket (bank transfers), Rise (bank or crypto) or Aeropay (direct to a US bank, US traders only). There's no direct crypto payout from E8. E8 charges no payout fee, though the processors may. You'll complete the processor's own onboarding, tax forms and possibly proof of address on your first payout.

E8's futures help center reports median times for 1 January to 1 May 2026 of 11 hours from request to approval and 24 hours to funds arriving in Rise or WorkMarket. It says the full process can take up to 5 business days, and payouts aren't processed at weekends. The minimum is $100 of your share, so $125 gross on an 80% split.

Signature payout caps (accounts bought after 1 October 2026)

Only profit made in the current cycle counts toward a Signature payout, and the profitable-day count resets to zero after each request. A profitable day is a closed gain of 0.3% or more: $75, $150, $300 or $450 depending on size. The first payout doesn't need them.

Zero payouts

Zero has no payout buffer requirement up front, but the moment your first payout is processed your floor locks at your starting balance, so every withdrawal eats into your room. E8's own advice is to leave at least $2,000 above the floor. Anything left over above a capped payout stays as buffer and can't be requested later.

After the fourth payout

On both families, the account closes after four payouts, however much buffer is left, and you get a free challenge of the same size. Accounts bought before 1 October 2026 keep a limit of five.

What each document says

Plan around the stricter number in each row.

Refunds, resets and KYC

The help center allows a refund if you haven't traded, are still in the challenge and bought within the last 30 days, except for crypto payments. The terms say fees are non-refundable. Assume no refund once you start trading. If you fail, you get a 10% discount on the same account for 7 days. There's no fee refund with your first payout.

KYC runs through Veriff, usually in minutes, with a passport, ID card, driving licence or residence permit. Without it you can't see every product, get your challenge login or receive a funded account. E8 rechecks your documents within 24 hours of passing.

Who can sign up

You must be 18 or the age of majority where you live. The futures restricted list is long: 87 countries, including China, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Iceland. That's longer than E8's list for CFD accounts. The futures homepage footer shows only ten restricted jurisdictions, so trust the help center list.

The US is not restricted. E8 is a US company, and US traders can use Aeropay for payouts. Rise doesn't serve every US state or territory, and E8 can't pay you if you can't pass the processors' KYC.

Reputation

E8 doesn't have a separate Trustpilot page for futures. On its main profile, Trustpilot has hidden E8's rating: when we checked on 28 October 2026, the page said the rating "is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines", and a notice said Trustpilot had removed a number of fake reviews. The profile shows 3,302 reviews, 545 of them in the last 12 months, with 84% five-star and 10% one-star. No reply rate was shown. See the Trustpilot page.

Positive reviews mostly mention the dashboard and website, community contact on Discord and social media, and support resolving complaints. Negative reviews mostly mention payout caps and buffers that cut into profits, platform lag, slow or missing support replies and denied payouts. None of the visible reviews were specifically about futures.

In the news, Finance Magnates reported on 24 February 2025 that a DDoS attack left E8's website and platform unreachable for about 48 hours. A 21 April 2026 Finance Magnates article noted that E8 doesn't publish a payout-conversion rate. We found no regulator actions against E8.

E8's site claims more than $80 million paid out across all its products and a 17.7% evaluation pass rate from January 2023 to March 2024. Those are firm-wide figures, not futures-only, and they aren't audited.

Mistakes to avoid at E8 Futures

1. Treating Zero as unlimited. Four payouts and the account closes. On a 50K Zero Starter, that's $4,000 gross at most. Pick the size and version for the total you want, not the sticker price.
2. Withdrawing down to the floor. After your first payout the floor locks at your starting balance. Pull out everything above it and one losing trade ends the account.
3. Trading after 3:00 pm CT. Positions are force-closed at 3:10 pm CT, and one article says 3:00 pm. Be flat before both.
4. Going a week without a trade. Futures accounts close after 7 days of inactivity, including new ones you haven't started.
5. Running a bot or copying a friend. Automation and copying anyone else's trades are banned. Copying between your own accounts is fine.
6. Holding last month's contract. You must trade the front month. Profits on the wrong contract can be deducted.

Before you buy: checklist

• Decide between Signature's low price and Zero's looser funded rules, then compare the total payout ceiling, not the price per $1K.
• On Zero, decide whether the 100% split is worth the extra $40 to $330.
• Check your country against the futures list in the help center, not the homepage footer.
• Complete Veriff KYC and make sure Rise, WorkMarket or Aeropay can pay you.
• Set an alarm to be flat by 3:00 pm CT.
• Use code SCOUT at checkout. See our E8 Futures coupon page for how to apply it.

Our verdict

E8 Futures is a reasonable choice for intraday futures traders who want quick payouts and clear, published rules. E8 Zero's funded account is about as relaxed as futures prop accounts get: no consistency rule, no minimum days and a payout every day if you want one. Signature is the budget way in. E8 has been around since 2021 and publishes median payout times.

The trade-offs are real. Every account stops paying after four payouts, the caps on Signature and Zero Starter are low, bots are banned and Trustpilot has hidden E8's rating after removing fake reviews. Work out the most each account can pay you before you buy, and size your first purchase to that number.