Take Profit Trader, a futures proprietary trading firm, has reduced the minimum number of trading days required to pass its evaluation from five to three.

For traders already familiar with the funded trading world, the change means it now takes two fewer days to qualify for a payout. For everyone else, the program update is a useful opportunity to explain what a prop firm is, what an evaluation measures, and why a three-day minimum matters.

What a prop firm is, and why evaluations exist

Anyone interested in learning to trade futures quickly discovers that it requires a personal bank account with substantial available capital — enough to cover margin requirements and the losses that can come with learning how to trade.

Proprietary trading firms, commonly called prop firms, are designed to lower that barrier to entry. Traders at prop firms trade futures up to 23 hours a day using the firm's capital instead of their own, and they keep most of the profits they earn, usually 80% to 90%, while the firm takes the remainder. That means a trader's personal risk is limited to the fee paid to participate in the evaluation phase of the program. After the evaluation is passed, the firm pays out trading profits and absorbs all trading losses. In return, the firm sets rules intended to protect its capital and approves funded accounts only for traders who have shown, through the evaluation, that they have the skill and discipline to trade responsibly.

That is why the evaluation is the first step in a prop firm's program. A trader pays a fee to open a test account, typically $150 to $360 per month depending on the account size. Test accounts operate in a simulated environment with realistic market data, so no real capital is at risk on either side. During this stage, the trader's task is to reach a defined profit target while staying within the firm's evaluation rules. If they pass, they move to a funded account. This fee-for-test, simulated-account structure is now the standard model across the retail futures prop industry, a crowded field — rivals include firms such as Topstep and Apex Trader Funding — where companies compete on price, payout terms, and how quickly an evaluation can be completed.

At Take Profit Trader, once a trader is funded, the monthly fee goes away, and with the new three-day evaluations, it is possible to pass the test quickly and avoid paying for a second month.

At Take Profit Trader, a funded account is called PRO. PRO is still a simulated trading environment, but the trader can request real payouts. A trader can take profits from the prop firm even though they are not earning for the firm in the live market or paying the firm any fees. In PRO, payouts can be taken from the first day and on a daily basis. The goal in PRO is for a trader to continue improving and to be invited by TPT to a PRO+ account, where trading takes place in the live market and the data, trades, and capital are real.

If that sounds confusing, the key points of the TPT program are:

• Pay a fee to take a trading test in a simulator.
• Pass the test and you are funded.
• Funded accounts are still simulated, but the profits are real and can be withdrawn.
• Perform well and you may be invited into a live-market account.
• In the live-market, you trade TPT's money, not your own, and TPT covers any losses.

The bottom line is that, for the cost of a $150 to $360 test account, funded traders can access $25,000 to $150,000 of leverage per account and withdraw profits they earn.

The rules, in plain language

Take Profit Trader's evaluation is built around a set of test rules.

The first is the profit target, a fixed dollar amount based on account size. For example, a $50,000 evaluation account carries a $3,000 profit target, with larger accounts scaling up from there. This rule is meant to answer a simple question: can you trade profitably?

The remaining rules are designed to answer a different question: can you protect profit?

Position size is capped according to account size, ranging from three to 15 contracts per account, so a trader cannot take oversized risks to reach the target. A trailing drawdown sets a maximum loss buffer that is calculated at the end of each trading day, meaning it adjusts once per day at the close rather than tightening with every intraday gain. For example, on a $75,000 account with a $4,500 profit target, the maximum amount a trader is allowed to lose in one day is $2,500. Trading is limited to approved futures products on major exchanges, within a defined daily window, and all positions must be closed by the end of each day.

Then there is the consistency rule, which has two parts. Traders must complete a minimum number of trading days to pass their test. At Take Profit Trader, that minimum used to be 10 days, then fell to five days, and now stands at three days. The days do not need to be consecutive, and there is no deadline to finish.

The second part of the consistency rule has not changed. No single day can account for more than half of the total profit target. The idea is that if a trader reaches the target in one large session, that may reflect luck rather than skill. Smaller, steadier gains suggest a trader is following a more disciplined trading plan with real risk management habits.

The final rule in the TPT evaluation is no counter positions. Holding opposite positions in related products across multiple accounts is prohibited for compliance reasons. In practical terms, a trader cannot go long in one account on a product while going short in another account on a similar product.

How traders tend to approach passing

None of the following is financial advice, and no approach guarantees a pass. But traders who successfully move through evaluations often share a few habits.

The most common is breaking the profit target into daily pieces instead of trying to hit it all at once. On a $50,000 account with a $3,000 target, a trader might aim for something like $1,200 on one day, $1,000 on the next, and $800 on a third. Those numbers are only illustrative, but they show the shape of a clean three-day pass.

• The daily minimum is met.
• The best day is around 40% of the total.

Sizing is the second habit. The contract cap is a ceiling, not a goal. Many experienced traders operate well below the cap and often begin with micro contracts, which are smaller versions of standard futures. CME Group introduced its first micro equity-index futures in 2019 at one-tenth the size of the classic E-mini contracts, and micro versions now exist for several major products, giving traders finer control over position size. Trading smaller may limit how much a single loss can take from the drawdown buffer, and it gives newer traders room to learn the mechanics without large swings or blowing the test.

Risk definition is the third habit. Because the drawdown is measured at the close of each day, traders often decide in advance how much they are willing to lose on a trade and keep that amount small relative to the buffer. Handled this way, a bad trade can remain a bad trade rather than turning into a failed account.

The final habit is respecting the clock. Positions cannot be carried overnight, and anything still open is automatically flattened at 4:55 p.m. Eastern, five minutes before the 5:00 p.m. Eastern futures market close and daily maintenance break. Traders who close positions on their own terms — and who know the specific hours of the products they trade — reduce the risk of being auto-closed in a fast market at a price they did not choose.

A shorter timeline, not a lower bar

It is tempting to treat an evaluation as a hurdle to clear by taking bigger risks just to finish quickly. That approach may occasionally work, but it tends to end accounts more often than it funds them. A more productive approach is to view the eval as a learning tool and build habits that carry into funded trading.

A trader who passes by working within the rules, trading small, and staying consistent arrives at a funded account already practicing the habits that help accounts survive.

At Take Profit Trader, the rules did not get easier — the timeline simply got shorter. Some traders may pass in three days, while others may take three weeks, and the program treats both paths the same.

To mark the launch of three-day evaluations, Take Profit Trader is running a flash sale with 50% off all evaluations and no activation fee using the code 50AND3. The sale runs from 8/17 to 8/24, 2026. With the discount, a first evaluation month costs $75 to $180 rather than $150 to $360. Full details are available at takeprofittrader.com. It is also worth noting that Take Profit Trader has cut its trading-day minimum twice, from 10 days to five and then to three — prop-firm terms change frequently, so confirming current rules and pricing before purchasing is a reasonable step.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Past performance of any trader or strategy does not indicate future results.