Evaluation preparation
Futures prop firm evaluation checklist: before your first trade
Passing a futures evaluation requires meeting its profit target and any applicable consistency conditions while staying within its loss and trading rules. Use this checklist to turn those conditions into checks you can make before placing an order; it cannot guarantee a pass.
Make one rule sheet for the account you will trade
Record the firm, program, account size, evaluation stage and date checked at the top of your sheet. Use the current rules for that exact account: a funded-stage restriction or another plan's limit may not apply to your evaluation.
| Record | Question to answer before trading |
|---|---|
| Completion conditions | What profit must be closed and retained? Does consistency or a minimum-day condition apply, and how is a day counted? |
| Loss boundaries | What is the current failure threshold? Does it trail open equity or end-of-day balance? Does touching it fail the account? |
| Daily limit | Is there a separate daily loss limit, what resets it, and does reaching it end only the session or the account? |
| Orders and positions | Which contracts are permitted, how are minis and micros counted, and what is the combined position cap? |
| Session and conduct | When must positions be flat, in which time zone? Which holiday, news, copier, automation and hedging restrictions apply? |
Sources: Boxcar evaluation targets and completion · Boxcar drawdown and daily loss limits · Boxcar trading hours and conduct · Topstep Trading Combine parameters
Check the remaining loss room before sizing an order
Use the account's current equity and current failure threshold, including open-position losses where the rules count them. The original loss allowance and maximum contract count do not tell you how much room remains today.
Hypothetical example: equity is $48,120 and touching $48,000 fails the account. The distance is $120. A planned $150 trading loss would leave $47,970 before any additional fees: $30 below the floor. Even a one-contract order would be incompatible with that planned exit. A loss of exactly $120 would also fail under the stated touch rule.
Recheck this distance after trades and after any event that moves the floor. Allow for costs and execution uncertainty; a stop price is not a guaranteed loss amount.
Sources: Boxcar drawdown and daily loss limits · CME futures order types
Count trading sessions, not calendar dates
Write the provider's session start, close and time zone on your rule sheet. Check any earlier holiday close and convert the times to the clock you actually use. An exchange being open does not mean your prop account permits holding a position.
For example, Topstep defines its Trading Combine day as 5:00 PM CT through 3:10 PM CT the next calendar day. A hypothetical trade at 6:30 PM Tuesday and another at 9:00 AM Wednesday therefore fall in the same Wednesday trading day. Crossing midnight has not created two evaluation days.
Check news permissions again when the account stage changes. BoxcarPayout permits news trading during evaluation but imposes its high-impact USD flat window in the simulated-funded stage. Copying one stage's checklist into the next can miss that change.
Sources: Topstep Trading Combine parameters · Boxcar trading hours and conduct · Boxcar news rules by stage
Rehearse the order controls before using the evaluation
Use a practice environment to verify the controls you will rely on. Topstep specifically advises testing automated strategies in its Practice Account and does not make exceptions for errant trades or malfunctions.
- Confirm the selected account, contract month and quantity before submitting an order.
- Check the exit order's type and duration. A stop-limit order may remain unfilled if the market moves beyond its limit; a good-till-cancelled order can remain active until filled or cancelled.
- Practice closing a position and checking for remaining working orders. If you use a copier or automated strategy, identify how to stop it from submitting another order.
Sources: Topstep Trading Combine parameters · CME futures order types
Confirm the pass and read the next stage's rules
After meeting the target, check closed results, applicable consistency conditions and the provider's account status. Follow its completion process instead of assuming an open-profit display means the evaluation has passed. Boxcar's evaluation support page lists its current targets and completion steps.
A passed evaluation is not a withdrawal balance. Topstep states that Trading Combine profits do not transfer to its Express Funded Account, which is simulated-funded. Boxcar likewise distinguishes simulated evaluation, simulated-funded trading with approved real payouts, and separately approved live access. Before the next order, confirm the new account identifier and its loss, position, news and payout rules.
Sources: Boxcar evaluation targets and completion · Topstep Trading Combine parameters · Topstep Express Funded Account parameters · Boxcar account stages