Payouts
Futures prop firm payouts: buffers, qualifying days and limits
Payout eligibility depends on your account stage, qualifying days and profit, retained buffer and request limits. Calculate the permitted request first, then apply the profit split and payment fees. Eligibility, approval and delivery are separate steps.
Use the policy for your exact account
Match the payout policy to your program, account size, purchase version and payout number. Check whether the account is simulated-funded or live: the same firm can apply different conditions to each stage.
Boxcar’s Eval and sim-funded trading are simulated; approved funded payouts are real money. Topstep likewise describes its Express Funded Account as simulated funded-level trading with real payouts. An advertised account size does not establish a cash amount available to withdraw, and a live account has its own terms.
Sources: Boxcar: evaluation, sim-funded and live stages · Topstep: Express Funded Account parameters
Calculate the request before the profit split
A retained buffer is an amount the plan requires you to leave in the account. A percentage limit restricts the share you may request; a dollar cap can restrict it further. Some plans omit one of these limits, so apply only the conditions in your own policy.
Suppose a hypothetical simulated-funded plan has $4,000 of eligible net profit, a $1,500 retained buffer, a 50%-of-profit request limit, a $1,000 per-request cap and a $500 minimum request. Assume every qualifying-day, consistency and other eligibility condition is already met. These combined rules illustrate the arithmetic; they do not describe a particular firm.
| Calculation | Result |
|---|---|
| Profit above the retained buffer | $4,000 − $1,500 = $2,500 |
| Permitted share of eligible profit | 50% × $4,000 = $2,000 |
| Per-request dollar cap | $1,000 |
| Maximum request under all three limits | Smallest of $2,500, $2,000 and $1,000 = $1,000 |
| Minimum-request check | $1,000 meets the $500 minimum |
Sources: Boxcar: payout eligibility by plan · MyFundedFutures: payout policy overview
Separate cash received from the account deduction
If that hypothetical $1,000 request is approved with a 90% trader share, the trader receives $900 before payment fees. A separate hypothetical $25 fee deducted from that share leaves $875. The split applies to the approved amount, not all $4,000 of profit.
If the account is debited by the full $1,000 request, $3,000 of profit remains, including the $1,500 retained buffer. Do not assume the account falls by only the $900 trader share; verify the provider’s deduction method.
Recheck the loss boundary and position limit after a payout. A retained payout buffer is not automatically the same as the distance to a loss-limit breach. For example, Topstep’s policy explains that payouts can reduce a trader’s scaling tier and change its Maximum Loss Limit treatment.
Sources: Topstep: payout policy · Boxcar: payout eligibility by plan
Count qualifying days within the correct cycle
A trading day may need a minimum net profit to count. Under a hypothetical $100-per-day threshold, results of +$160, +$95, −$40, +$125 and +$100 produce three qualifying days and $440 of net profit. Trading on five dates would not meet a five-qualifying-day requirement.
Topstep’s Express Funded Account Standard requires five winning days of at least $150 net profit, while its Consistency path uses three traded days and a 40% consistency target. Those are different payout paths within its simulated-funded stage, not conditions to combine.
Check when the cycle restarts and which session a request belongs to. Boxcar starts a new payout cycle after an approved payout. Topstep excludes the request day from the next required-day count. Prior-cycle days or profits should count only when the applicable policy allows them.
Sources: Topstep: payout policy · Topstep: Express Funded Account parameters · Boxcar: payout eligibility by plan
Distinguish eligibility, approval and payment
Daily eligibility describes how often a qualifying account can request a payout. It does not establish same-day payment. Track these three stages separately:
- Eligible: the account meets the current policy’s profit, day-count, consistency and amount conditions.
- Approved: the firm has reviewed and accepted the request, including any required identity or payee checks.
- Delivered: the payment has reached the destination. Payment method, country, bank processing and fees can affect timing and the amount received.
Sources: Boxcar: payout requests and processing · Topstep: payout policy