Prop firm rules don't stay still. In our latest verification pass across the 36 firms we track, we confirmed 54 rule, pricing, platform, and payout changes at 25 different firms — the biggest change wave since we started tracking. Every item below was read directly on the firm's own website or help center, not scraped from coupon sites or forum posts.
If you bought a challenge — or read a review — more than a few weeks ago, some of what you think you know is now wrong. Here's what changed, what it costs you, and what to re-check before your next evaluation.
The five biggest structural changes
1. Topstep is now TopstepX-only
The change most traders will feel: Topstep no longer supports NinjaTrader or Tradovate. Per Topstep's help center, "TopstepX™ is the only available trading platform." If your entire workflow lives in NinjaTrader, that's no longer a Topstep decision — it's a different-firm decision.
Payouts also work differently than most older reviews describe: on the Express Funded Account you can request a payout after every 5 winning days of $150+ net P&L, with caps of $2,000–$3,000 per request on a 50K (doubled if you trade with a voluntary daily loss limit). After 30 winning days, the Live Funded Account unlocks daily, uncapped withdrawals. New traders get a flat 90/10 split (the old "100% of your first $10K" applies only to legacy accounts).
2. TradeDay relaunched as "TradeDay 2.0"
TradeDay rebuilt its program lineup. The Intraday 50K account now lists at $125/month — with the site-wide 50% promotion bringing it to $62.50/month at checkout. If you saw "$50 evaluations" quoted somewhere, that's the old program. The firm remains NinjaTrader-first with end-of-day drawdown on its core accounts.
3. Apex split its lineup: Legacy vs new one-time-fee accounts
Apex Trader Funding now sells two distinct product families: the Legacy monthly-subscription evaluations and a new line of one-time-fee, end-of-day-drawdown accounts. On the new EOD accounts, Apex advertises up to weekly payouts with a 100% payout split — with real conditions attached: payouts every 5 qualifying trading days, $500 minimum, a 50% consistency rule, and a maximum of 6 payouts per account before it closes. Read that last clause twice before you build a long-term plan around one account.
4. MyFundedFutures replaced its entire plan lineup
MyFundedFutures retired its old structure and now sells four plans: Rapid, Builder, Flex, and Pro. The headline is Rapid's payout speed — "every 24 hours" per the firm's help center — but note the drawdown fine print: the Rapid evaluation uses a $2,000 end-of-day trailing drawdown, while the sim-funded stage switches to intraday trailing that locks at $100 above starting balance. Same firm, very different risk math between stages.
5. FTMO added a 1-Step Challenge
FTMO — long the definition of a two-phase forex evaluation — now offers a 1-Step Challenge with a 90% profit split. The classic two-step remains (80% base split, up to 90% via scaling). For traders who priced FTMO out on time-to-funding, the one-step route changes that calculation.
Payout rule changes
- The5ers moved High Stakes payouts from monthly to bi-weekly ("every 14 days").
- Elite Trader Funding now processes sim payouts twice weekly (Mondays and Wednesdays).
- FuturesElite switched to payouts per 5 winning days, with calendar time no longer separately enforced (rules effective June 25, 2026).
- FundingPips made cadence a checkout choice: weekly at 60%, bi-weekly at 80%, monthly at 100%, or on-demand at 90%.
- FunderPro Pro accounts let you pick daily rewards at a 60% split or weekly at 90%.
- Instant Funding two-phase accounts now pay on-demand.
- FXIFY pays the first withdrawal on-demand (min $50 after 5 trading days), then monthly.
- Leeloo Trading accepts payout requests only during a window on the last Saturday of each month — first after 30 traded days, then every 10.
- PropShopTrader futures accounts now earn automatic sim payouts as benchmarks are reached.
Drawdown rule changes
- Take Profit Trader: funded PRO accounts trail intraday on peak balance, including unrealized profit — and new PRO+ live accounts moved to end-of-day trailing as of June 30, 2026.
- Leeloo Trading confirmed its drawdown trails open equity intraday and never stops trailing — one of the strictest versions in futures.
- The5ers High Stakes is static: 10% absolute drawdown from initial balance plus a 5% daily limit.
- FXIFY's flagship two-phase now runs a 10% trailing max drawdown (static only on Pro/Classic and 3-Phase variants).
- Instant Funding's two-step uses static 10% drawdown; the "Smart Drawdown" applies only to its separate no-evaluation product.
- PropShopTrader sells Gladiator accounts in both end-of-day and intraday-trailing variants — the EOD version costs more, and is usually worth it.
Drawdown type is the #1 driver of reset costs. If any firm above is on your shortlist, re-read our drawdown guide before buying.
Platform changes
- Bulenox runs a Rithmic-only connection stack (NinjaTrader 8, R|Trader Pro, Quantower, ATAS, Sierra Chart, Bookmap and more) — Tradovate is gone.
- GoatFundedTrader dropped MT4; it now offers cTrader, TradeLocker, MatchTrader, Volumetrica, and MT5 (MT5/cTrader not available to US clients).
- The5ers is MT5 (Hedge) only — cTrader no longer appears anywhere on its program pages.
- Maven Trading brought MetaTrader 5 back, alongside MatchTrader and cTrader (MT not available in US/Canada).
- E8 Markets added MT5 (TradeLocker, MatchTrader, cTrader, MT5 — US clients limited to TradeLocker and MatchTrader).
- Take Profit Trader and OneStopProp both added TradingView support.
Pricing and allocation changes
- Earn2Trade's Trader Career Path now starts at $150/month.
- Leeloo's cheapest evaluation is the Aspire at $250/month for a $25K account.
- Lucid Trading moved to one-time pricing — "no subscription and no automatic rebilling."
- Elite Trader Funding evaluations auto-renew every 30 days (only Fast Track is one-time) — and a new $300K evaluation exists.
- E8 Markets raised its max allocation to $500K; BluSky now goes to $300K (and added stock accounts); Instant Funding caps at $200K per account ($400K combined).
- FunderPro's $5K Classic Challenge lists at $69; FXIFY's Lightning starts at $59; Maven's $2K two-step at $19; PropShopTrader's Gladiator 25K at a one-time $229.
What this means before you buy
Three practical takeaways from this wave:
Re-verify the platform before anything else. Two major futures firms (Topstep, Bulenox) changed what you can even trade on. A discount is worthless if your platform isn't supported.
Payout marketing got faster; payout fine print got denser. "Daily" and "on-demand" headlines usually carry winning-day definitions, minimums, consistency rules, or payout caps underneath. The Apex 6-payout lifecycle and Topstep's 5-winning-day cadence are the clearest examples.
Price the rule set, not the sticker. Several firms moved prices up (TradeDay, Leeloo, Earn2Trade) while others got cheaper to enter. What actually matters is cost per $1,000 of funding after realistic attempts and resets — run it through our True Cost Calculator and see every firm side by side on the comparison table.
How we verify these changes
Every change above was confirmed by reading the firm's own website, help center, or published terms during our July 4, 2026 verification pass — with the exact wording captured at the source. Items we could only see second-hand were excluded from this report and queued for re-verification. Affiliate status has 0% influence on what we publish; several firms in this report pay us nothing. Full details in our methodology.
FAQ
Does Topstep still support NinjaTrader or Tradovate?
No. Per Topstep's help center, TopstepX is the only available trading platform. Traders who need NinjaTrader should compare firms like TradeDay, Bulenox, or MyFundedFutures instead.
What is TradeDay 2.0?
TradeDay 2.0 is TradeDay's relaunched program lineup. The Intraday 50K evaluation lists at $125/month, with the current site-wide 50% promotion reducing it to $62.50/month at checkout.
What are MyFundedFutures' new plans?
MyFundedFutures replaced its old lineup with four plans: Rapid (daily payouts), Builder, Flex (payouts after 5 winning days), and Pro (payouts every 14 days). Drawdown rules differ between the evaluation and funded stages — check both before buying.
How often do prop firms change their rules?
Constantly. In this single verification pass we confirmed 54 changes across 25 of the 36 firms we track — covering payouts, drawdown mechanics, platforms, and pricing. Always confirm rules on the firm's own site before paying, no matter where you read a review.
Where can I see all current rules side by side?
The PropFirmV comparison table shows every tracked firm's drawdown type, payout terms, pricing, and platforms, re-verified on a weekly cadence.