Elite Account Rules
Below is an explanation of elite account rules. View our Elite Account Payouts page for more information on how payouts work for our Elite traders. You must pass one of our evaluations to qualify for an elite account. Once you pass your evaluation phase and have moved to an Elite Account, you start with the same capital and drawdowns as the evaluation account. For example, a 1 step 50K will be 50K Elite with the drawdown of $2,000 until you hit that threshold.
Max Trailing Drawdown
How does the trailing drawdown work in 1 step Elite (qualified) accounts?
A In your Elite account your drawdown trails your unrealized profit until you reach your beginning balance +$100. Once you have earned realized profits equaling drawdown +$100 then you will no longer have a trailing drawdown as it will be removed permanently. Starting balance +$100 becomes your minimum allowable balance in your Elite account, do not let your account balance fall beneath this level or you will fail.
Example: You start with an account balance $50,000 and your max drawdown is $2,000 (minimum account balance of $48,000). If you make a trade and it goes to +$1,000, but you don't close and your trade is now only +$500 your minimum account balance moves up to $49,000 because your highest unrealized profit was $1,000. Once you make $2,100 in realized profits (drawdown + 100) the drawdown stops trailing.
If at any time you hit your drawdown your Elite account is blown and no payouts are made. You can feel free to start a new evaluation and try again if that happens.
Trailing Drawdown Elite (qualified) Example
50k Elite with $2,000 trailing drawdown.
Holding trades overnight
Am I allowed to hold trades overnight?
A No. You are not allowed to hold trades overnight.
All trades MUST be closed 1 minute before the close of the market. Different instruments have different market closing times. It is your responsibility to know these and close your positions before the respective market closes. Holding a position past market closing time will result in the failure of your evaluation or Elite account. Holding a position past market close in your Elite account will result in a forfeit of profits with account closure.
Example: ES traders must close all positions before 3:59pm Central Standard time on a normal market hours trading day. New trades may be opened at 5pm Central Standard time.
It is the traders responsibility to know holiday trading hours that may vary.
Details on trading days
What qualifies as a trading day?
A Any day you place a trade qualifies. Sunday and Monday are counted as the same trading day.
Does Sunday count as a trading day?
A No. Sunday evening and Monday are counted as the same trading day.
Can I trade on holidays and during news?
A Yes. Just know during these events volatility can be very low or extremely high and can wipe an account out quickly if risk management is not applied.
Maximum Account Positions
How do the maximum account positions work?
A You are not allowed to have more than the maximum allowed positions open at any time. Doing so will result in a failure of your evaluation or Elite account. Going over your max allowed positions in your Elite account will result in a forfeit of profits with account closure. 10 micros counts as 1 small or 1 mini.
Legend:
1 mini = 1 "position"
1 small = 1 "position"
10 micro = 1 "position"
Example: An account with a maximum open positions of 3 minis, 30 micros or 3 small will be used for this example.
Allowed: 1 mini, 1 small and 10 micros
Allowed: 2 mini, 1 small
Allowed: 2 mini, 10 micro
Allowed: 2 small, 10 micro
Not Allowed: 1 mini, 1 small and 20 micros (20 micros is equivalent to 2 "positions" putting this at 4 total positions. 1 more than the 3 allowed.).
Not Allowed: 2 mini, 2 small (4 total "positions")
Not Allowed: 3 mini, 3 small, 30 micro (9 total "positions")
What contract expiration can I trade?
A You agree to trade the highest volume, most current contract for the instrument you are trading. Trading low liquidity and low volume contracts is not allowed.
The 40% Rule
What is the 40% rule?
A ETF wishes to empower traders with knowledge and tools that allow them to make prudent investment decisions and build and invest according to long-term, consistent trading strategies. ETF is not a gambling website, nor is it the intention of ETF to empower those who treat trading as a gambling enterprise. Because of this, it is the policy of ETF that, at the time of any withdrawal request, the total balance in the requesting traders’ Elite account must not consist of greater than forty (40) percent of the total balance being derived from a single trading day. This policy is uniformly applied to all Elite traders using our Services, without exception.
Example: In the table below we are showing the highest single day gain (PNL) as $10,000 on day 5. This means 10,000 can not be more than 40% of your total profit at time of requesting a withdrawal.
QWhat happens after I receive a payout?
A Nothing changes, you keep trading!
QDoes going over 40% fail my account?
A NO. You simply must keep trading to gain more profit to bring your best day % of Total PNL below 40%.
| Trade Day | PNL | Total PNL | % of Total PNL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 100% |
| 2 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 50% |
| 3 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 33.33% |
| 4 | 1,000 | 4,000 | 25% |
| 5 | 10,000 | 14,000 | 71.42% |
| 6 | -5,000 | 9,000 | 111% |
| 7 | 8,000 | 17,000 | 58% |
| 8 | 5,000 | 22,000 | 45% |
| 9 | 3,000 | 25,000 | 40% |
| 10 | 3,000 | 28,000 | 35% |
| 11 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 33% |
| 12 | 2,000 | 32,000 | 31.25% |
| 13 | 2,000 | 34,000 | 29% |
| 14 | 500 | 34,500 | 28.9% |
| 15 | 2500 | 37,000 | 27% |
| 16 | -1500 | 35,500 | 28.1% |
| 17 | -3000 | 32,500 | 30.7% |
| 18 | 1 | 32,501 | 30.7% |
| 19 | 1 | 32,502 | 30.7% |
| 20 | 900 | 33,402 | 29.93% (Can request first payout) |
No news trading rule
What is the no news trading rule?
A ETF wishes to empower traders with knowledge and tools that allow them to make prudent investment decisions and build and invest according to long-term, consistent trading strategies. ETF is not a gambling website, nor is it the intention of ETF to empower those who treat trading as a gambling enterprise. Because of this, ETF's policy is that at the time of only the major news or economic events listed below, all Elite accounts must be flat 5 minutes before the event to 5 minutes after the event starts. Traders still in evaluation phase do not have this rule.
You will receive one warning if you trade during one of the events listed that are NOT allowed. Any profitable trade through a news event results in the account balance being reverted prior to the start of the event. Any unprofitable trade through a news event results in you keeping the loss and the trading day. You will NOT receive any additional warnings; repeat behavior will result in account termination and no payouts.
Here is a helpful link to keep track of all market news events: https://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendar
The events listed below are the ONLY events traders with Elite accounts are NOT allowed to trade.
| Event | Time | No Trade Window |
|---|---|---|
| FOMC Minutes | 1:00PM CST | 12:55PM - 1:05PM |
| FOMC Statement | 1:00PM CST | 12:55PM - 1:05PM |
| FOMC Conference | 1:30PM CST | 1:25PM - 1:35PM |
| CPI | 7:30AM CST | 7:25AM - 7:35AM |
| PPI | 7:30AM CST | 7:25AM - 7:35AM |
| NFP (Non-Farm Payrolls) | 7:30AM CST | 7:25AM - 7:35AM |
