Elite Trader Funding Review

Elite Trader Funding (ETF) is a US futures prop firm that has sold evaluations since February 2022. You trade CME, CBOT, COMEX and NYMEX futures on simulated accounts through Tradovate, TradingView, NinjaTrader, Rithmic-based platforms or Tickblaze. Its flagship 1-Step plan asks for a 6% profit target, has no daily loss limit and no deadline, and lets you keep up to 100% of simulated profits until ETF moves you to a live account.

The catch is how much happens after you pass. The 1-Step drawdown trails your highest open profit in real time, the evaluation is a monthly subscription, activation costs extra, and payouts come in capped cycles that need 8 to 10 qualifying days each. Most important of all, ETF's terms say you can be moved to its live program after a single payout, 5 qualifying days or $1,000 in payouts, and the live account you get is much smaller than the sim account you passed. This review walks through all of it with dollar examples.

The short version

• Best for: disciplined intraday futures traders who bank profit quickly and want the chance to trade real capital rather than stay on sim payouts.
• Not for: traders who let open winners breathe, anyone who needs to hold overnight on this plan, and anyone counting on $25,000 of sim payouts before going live.
• Biggest strength: no daily loss limit, no time limit to pass, $47 resets and a published 48-hour payout approval guarantee.
• Biggest risk: the live trailing drawdown on the evaluation, followed by an early, discretionary move to LIVE ELITE on a small starting balance.
• Our score: 2.7 out of 5. Strong track record and clear help center, but poor value once activation is included and a payout path full of conditions.

Who runs Elite Trader Funding

ETF's About page gives its founding date as 14 February 2022 and names Kanwal Singh as founder. The terms of service, last updated 11 October 2026, are a contract with Elite Trader Funding LLC, with a mailing address at 2810 N. Church St, PMB 53832, Wilmington, Delaware. A PMB is a private mailbox, so that's a mail address rather than an office.

The terms are governed by Delaware law. Disputes go to individual arbitration under the American Arbitration Association's consumer rules, held in King County, Washington. Claims under $100,000 are decided on documents only, with no hearing, and class actions are waived.

Every evaluation and Elite Sim-Funded account is simulated. ETF says it pays real money for simulated profits, then invites traders into LIVE ELITE, where it puts its own capital in a live broker account. ETF claims more than $13 million paid to more than 13,000 funded traders since 2022. That's the firm's own figure, not one we could check.

You can trade on Tradovate, TradingView, NinjaTrader, Tickblaze or Rithmic-connected platforms such as R | Trader, ATAS, Bookmap, Quantower, Sierra Chart and MotiveWave. Platform subscriptions are your cost. LIVE ELITE runs on Rithmic-compatible platforms only, so Tradovate and NinjaTrader users would have to switch if they go live.

The rules live in a large public help center plus the terms. The terms say they override everything else, then the pages they incorporate, then your dashboard, then help articles, FAQs and support replies. That order matters, because several ETF pages disagree, as you'll see below.

Programs and prices

ETF sells six plans: 1-Step, Static Drawdown, End of Day, Diamond Hands, Fast Track and Direct to Funded. We track the 1-Step, which ETF calls its most popular plan. Prices on the other plans load in the browser and we couldn't read them, so they're left out here.

1-Step (Live Trailing)

• One phase: hit a 6% profit target without touching the trailing drawdown.
• Live trailing drawdown that follows your highest equity, including open profit.
• No daily loss limit.
• 5 trading day minimum to pass. The One Day to Pass add-on, bought at checkout, removes it.
• No time limit. The evaluation renews every 30 days until you pass or cancel.
• $47 reset whenever you fail, as many times as you like. A failed evaluation also resets for free when the monthly renewal goes through.
• All positions closed one minute before the market closes.

These are the list prices on ETF's site on 28 October 2026, $40 to $50 a month higher than its May 2026 pricing snapshot. ETF runs frequent promotions, so the checkout price may be lower.

The 1-Step plan page still shows a $250,000 size with a $6,500 drawdown and $15,000 target. ETF's contract-limits article says the 250K is "no longer sold, existing accounts only", so don't plan around it.

Worked example, $50,000 1-Step. You start with a floor of $48,000. Say a trade runs to +$1,500 open profit. Your equity peak is now $51,500, so your floor jumps to $49,500, even if you never close the trade. If the trade then falls back to +$500, you're at $50,500 with only $1,000 of room left. There's no daily cap, so a single bad session can take the whole $2,000. You pass once your balance reaches $53,000 and you've traded on at least 5 days.

What you pay after you pass

Passing doesn't give you a funded account on its own. You pay an activation fee to switch on the Elite Sim-Funded account, choosing one of:

• a one-time fee: $177 for accounts up to 75K and $247 for 100K to 150K on the 1-Step, or
• $87 a month, or
• the Double Down Deal (3D): $47 at checkout covers your first month on the monthly plan, or $174 buys three months for the price of two.

ETF's pages don't agree on the one-time fee. The fees help article lists $177 and $247, while the homepage comparison table says "as low as $157" and the cost calculator uses $157 and $227. Your evaluation subscription keeps billing every 30 days until you activate or cancel. So if you pass a $100,000 1-Step on day 25 and wait two weeks to activate, you'll pay a second $257 month.

All-in cost of a first-try pass, with one-time activation:

Each extra month in evaluation adds the monthly price again. A $50,000 account that takes three months costs $621 before activation, and $798 after it.

If a funded account fails, ETF lets you reset it without re-passing: $147 (50K), $187 (100K) or $257 (150K). How many times is unclear. The reset help article says up to 10, the Elite page says up to 3 before renewal, and the homepage comparison table advertises unlimited resets "for a limited time".

Which Elite Trader Funding plan should you pick?

Inside the 1-Step, the $150,000 is the best value: $3.96 per $1K all-in on a first-try pass, against $7.68 on the 50K. Its drawdown, 3.33% of the account, is also roomier than the 100K's 3%.

The $50,000 has the biggest drawdown relative to size (4%) and the cheapest monthly bill, which makes it the gentlest place to learn how live trailing feels. It's also the most expensive per $1K once activation is added.

The $100,000 sits in the middle on price but has the tightest drawdown ratio: $3,000 of room against a $6,000 target.

Now the honest part. ETF itself calls the 1-Step an "Expert" plan and suggests newer traders start on End of Day or Static instead, because those drawdowns don't chase open profit. If you often watch a winner run and then give half of it back, take that advice. The 1-Step suits traders who scale out fast and rarely let open profit evaporate.

Size also matters less than you'd think. Payouts are capped per cycle and, as covered below, your first live account after LIVE ELITE conversion is between $1,250 and $2,000 whatever size you passed. A bigger sim account mostly buys you a larger per-cycle cap and more contracts.

Trading rules in practice

Live trailing drawdown and the safety net

On the evaluation, the drawdown trails your highest equity the whole way, open profit included. There's no buffer: you either reach the target or the trailing floor first.

On the Elite Sim-Funded account the drawdown keeps trailing until your realized profit equals the drawdown plus $100. That's the safety net:

Once you hit the safety net, the floor locks at your starting balance plus $100 for good. You can't withdraw from the safety net itself, so every payout has to leave your balance at or above that line.

Because there's no daily loss limit, there's no daily reset time to track. The trading day follows the CME session: Sunday evening and Monday count as one day, and ES positions must be flat before 3:59pm Central Time on a normal day, with new trades allowed from 5:00pm Central.

The loss limit rule

There's one more drawdown-style rule on funded accounts. Once an Elite account is up 20%, you can't give back more than 35% of the profit from its peak, open profit included. On a $50,000 account that's up $10,000, the line sits at $56,500. Break it and ETF can remove the account from the sim program and disqualify you from LIVE ELITE. In practice this only bites on accounts that have grown a lot without withdrawing.

Commissions and platform costs

ETF publishes commissions per side, per contract. A round turn is double:

At the 50K's full size of 8 ES contracts, one round trip costs $32.64. Ten of those in a day is $326.40, about 16% of the account's entire $2,000 drawdown. Scalpers on minis should build that into their numbers.

Evaluations include Level 1 data. Level 2 is a paid add-on, valid only for the calendar month you buy it. Accounts on a Rithmic data feed opened from 28 January 2026 pay an extra monthly connection fee. If you declare yourself a professional data user, ETF charges $128 per exchange.

News, overnight and weekend

This is where ETF's documents disagree most. The help article on economic releases says ETF imposes no restrictions on news trading. The terms of service say Elite accounts must be flat from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the major events ETF lists, and that evaluations are exempt. The terms rank above help articles, so on a funded account, plan to be flat around major releases and ask support which events count.

No overnight or weekend holding on the 1-Step. Every position must be closed one minute before the instrument's close, and leaving one open fails the account. ETF's Diamond Hands and Direct to Funded plans are the exceptions.

Copiers, EAs and hedging

• Trade copiers: allowed only from ETF's approved list: Tradesyncer, Tradecopia, Affordable Indicators' Duplicate Account Actions, the compliance edition of Replikanto, and copy features built into your platform.
• EAs, bots, AI and algos: need written authorization from ETF. Anything not on the approved list counts as unauthorized, and ETF says it checks at reward time.
• Hedging: banned, including across accounts and across correlated instruments. Long ES in one account and short NQ or MES in another counts.

Active Trade Days instead of a classic consistency rule

The 1-Step has no "best day can't exceed X%" rule. Instead, a payout cycle only counts days that meet the Active Trade Day (ATD) standard. The rule depends on when you bought the evaluation:

Your best day only resets if you beat it. So if your best day was $1,500, every later day needs at least $450 of realized profit to count. One huge day makes every following ATD harder to earn.

Contract limits and trade-level rules

• Contract caps: 8, 14 or 18 minis by size. One mini counts as one position and 10 micros as one. Going over fails an evaluation, and on a funded account it means forfeited profit and permanent closure.
• Minimum trade length: the terms require every trade to last at least 10 seconds. A "Trade How You Want" promotion lifts that rule, and the ban on martingale and averaging down, until 1 November 2026. After that, both rules apply again.
• Size consistency: the terms ask you to keep position sizes uniform and warn against shrinking from minis to micros across several days, or flipping tiny trades to log an ATD.

Activity requirements and deadlines

• One genuine trade per account every calendar week, plus a platform login at least every 30 days. Missing a week closes the account and voids pending rewards. Scratch trades placed only to tick the box don't count. You can request one trading break per quarter.
• Safety net deadline. The terms say a funded account must reach its safety net within 45 calendar days of paying the activation fee or it's closed. Accounts bought with a one-time fee get 25 days plus a 3-day cure period. The help center doesn't mention either deadline, so ask support in writing which one applies to your activation before you pay.
• Account limit: up to 20 active Elite Sim-Funded accounts per trader.

How payouts work

ETF calls payouts "rewards", and our Elite Trader Funding payouts page tracks the headline terms. To request one you need two things: the safety net reached, and the cycle's ATDs completed (8 for the first cycle, 10 after). Each cycle has a minimum and a maximum. For 1-Step accounts bought on or after 28 July 2026, per ETF's rewards article:

You can take the maximum in several $250-plus requests, but you only move to the next cycle once you've withdrawn the full maximum. Per the terms, anything you don't claim before the next cycle starts is forfeited.

Worked example, $100,000 funded. Your floor starts at $97,000. Reach $103,100 in realized profit terms and the floor locks at $100,100. To withdraw the full $1,250 first-cycle maximum, your balance needs to be at least $104,350, so it stays above the $103,100 safety net afterwards. You also need 8 days that each made at least $250 and at least 30% of your best day.

Split and caps. You keep up to 100% of sim profits, capped at $25,000 per trader per sim round and $150,000 across your lifetime. LIVE ELITE pays 80%.

Timing. Rewards are approved Monday to Friday from 3pm Eastern, then paid in two batches a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. Requests approved by Friday 5pm Eastern go in Monday's batch, and by Tuesday 5pm in Wednesday's. ETF guarantees approval within 48 business hours or it adds $1,000, provided you've passed KYC and Rise verification and the delay isn't caused by a third party.

Methods. Rewards go through Rise, from where you can withdraw to a bank account, a crypto wallet (for example USDC or USDT) or an exchange account. Accounts must be in your own name.

KYC. Identity checks run through SumSub before your first reward. Your ETF details must match Rise and SumSub exactly, and your email can never be changed after sign-up.

Fee refund. None. Evaluation and activation fees aren't returned with a payout.

The LIVE ELITE move

This is the part to understand before you buy. ETF's terms say traders are limited to one reward, 5 ATDs or $1,000 in rewards, whichever comes first, before being "automatically considered" for LIVE ELITE. ETF can convert you at any point, including while a reward request is pending.

When that happens:

• Your sim accounts and evaluation subscriptions are closed. Your last payment on an active evaluation is added to your live starting balance.
• Your live starting balance is $1,250 if your best account was 50K or smaller, $1,500 for 100K and $2,000 for 150K or larger. Your sim balance doesn't carry over.
• Pending reward requests may be paid, applied to your live account or held in a "LIVE ELITE Vault", at ETF's discretion. The Vault isn't cash. It funds 10% matches on your live withdrawals, released at most $5,000 every 90 days if you keep the required balance.
• ETF deducts $197 a month per exchange for data and clearing, starting the day the account opens. Commissions are $2.00 per mini and $0.62 per micro. Contract limits start at 5 micros (starting balance of $1,500 or less) or 10 micros ($2,000 and up).
• Live withdrawals are daily on business days, $250 minimum, no maximum, as long as you stay above your onboarding balance.

You can decline within 3 business days. You then get 5% of your sim earnings up to $12,500 plus 2% above that, and you're barred from ETF for two years. On $10,000 of sim earnings, declining pays $500.

What each ETF page says

Plan on the stricter column every time. The terms win any dispute.

Who can sign up

ETF bases eligibility on where you live, not your passport. You can't buy, get funded or receive rewards if you live in a country Rise restricts: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen. Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands aren't supported either. See restricted countries for why firms keep these lists.

Your country also has to be served by both Rise and Stripe. ETF's list, last checked against Rise and Stripe on 30 July 2026, shows Stripe support across the US, UK, EU and several Asian markets, with Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa supported "with limitations". If ETF's live broker can't accept you, ETF says you get a partial refund on Elite Sim-Funded accounts instead of a LIVE ELITE move.

US traders are accepted. You must be at least 18, or the age of majority where you live. One account per person, and nobody else in your household may trade with ETF.

Reputation

On Trustpilot, Elite Trader Funding scores 3.8 out of 5 from 1,166 reviews, checked on 28 October 2026, with 320 reviews in the past 12 months. The split is polarized: 62% five-star and 24% one-star, with 7% four-star, 4% three-star and 3% two-star. ETF claimed the profile in February 2022, pays for a Trustpilot subscription and had replied to 93% of negative reviews, typically within 48 hours. See the Trustpilot page.

Positive reviews mostly praise clear rules, the dashboard, quick support and payouts that arrive. Recent negative reviews describe reward requests that weren't paid or were replaced by a LIVE ELITE conversion with slow setup, accounts closed after a missed trading week, and disputes over buffers and trade-copier rules. That lines up closely with the rules above: the friction sits at the reward and conversion stage, not at checkout.

We didn't find any regulator actions or reports about ETF in Finance Magnates, FX News Group or FinanceFeeds. ETF points to a payout feed on its site and a payout channel in its Discord as proof of payment.

Mistakes to avoid at Elite Trader Funding

1. Treating open profit as safe. On the 1-Step evaluation the floor follows your best open equity. Take partials or trail your stop, or a reversal can fail an account that was well in profit.
2. Forgetting the subscription. The evaluation renews every 30 days, including after you pass and before you activate. Activate promptly or cancel.
3. Missing a trading week. One genuine trade per account every calendar week. Use the trading-break form before you travel.
4. Letting one big day set the bar. With the 30% ATD rule, a $2,000 day means every later day needs $600 to count.
5. Ignoring the safety net deadline. The terms give funded accounts 45 days (25 plus a 3-day cure for one-time fee accounts) to reach the safety net. Know your date.
6. Assuming $25,000 of sim payouts. ETF can convert you after one reward. Size your expectations around a $1,250 to $2,000 live start.

Before you buy: checklist

• Read the 1-Step challenge details and the terms of service, not just the plan page.
• Confirm the live price at checkout. Our figures are ETF's list prices on 28 October 2026.
• Budget for activation ($177 or $247 one-time, or $87 a month) on top of the evaluation.
• Make sure your platform is supported and check any Rithmic data fee.
• Ask support which safety net deadline applies to your account and which news events require you to be flat.
• Decide now if you'd accept a LIVE ELITE offer on a $1,250 to $2,000 account.
• Check your country is supported by both Rise and Stripe.
• Use code SCOUT at checkout. Our Elite Trader Funding coupon page shows how to apply it.

Our verdict

Elite Trader Funding is an established firm with a detailed help center, cheap resets and a real route to trading live capital. If you're a disciplined day trader who takes profit quickly and actually wants to go live, the 1-Step with no daily loss limit and no deadline can work for you.

It's a weak deal if you're buying it for sim payouts. Activation fees push the real cost of a 50K to about $384, payouts come in small capped cycles with demanding ATD rules, and the terms let ETF move you to a small live account early. Read the terms, not the marketing, and take the stricter version of every rule.