Choosing a
Funded Account
​
Real accounts vs 'Payable Sim' accounts
The first thing to understand is whether you will be given a real account, or a 'funded sim' account, when you pass the evaluation.
​
Let's imagine you pass the combine and make $5000 on your first day. With a real account this money comes out of the market. Everybody is happy - you get your %, and the funding company gets their %.
​
With a Payable Sim account, this is not the case. The funding provider has to pay your share out of their own pocket - your wins do not come out of the market. Your funding provider is betting against you!
​
For this reason, I will only discuss funding providers that will open a real account for you after you pass the evaluation.
​
The correct way to compare evaluations is to look at max daily loss and trailing drawdown as a percentage of the profit target. For example, reaching a profit target of $10,000 with a drawdown of $5000 is a lot easier than reaching a profit target of $1000 with a drawdown of $250! The actual profit target doesn't matter; what matters is how much risk you are allowed to get there.
​
Earn2Trade vs TopStep
The two most popular and established funding providers are Earn2Trade and TopStep. A big difference between these two evaluations is Earn2Trade only has one stage, whereas TopStep has two stages with slightly different rules for each stage.
​
Earn2Trade vs TopStep Risk Allowance
Earn2Trade lets you risk $1500 to make $1750. You need to do this once.
TopStep lets you risk $2000 to make $3000. You need to do this twice.
​
In my opinion, this makes Earn2Trade much easier to pass. Not only are you allowed more risk, you only need to do it once!
​
Earn2Trade vs TopStep Consistency Rules
Earn2Trade has a consistency rule that means the minimum possible number of days to reach the profit target is 4: 30% + 30% + 30% + 10%.
TopStep stage 1 does not have a consistency rule.
TopStep stage 2 allows the profit target to be reached in 3 days: 40% + 40% + 20%
Once you have reached the profit target, you can take 'dummy' trades with a single MES contract just to meet the minimum trading days.
​
Earn2Trade vs TopStep Fastest Time to Complete
Earn2Trade: mandatory 15 trading days
TopStep: mandatory 8 trading days (5 trading days in stage 1, 3 in stage 2)
​
Example of a Fast Pass Strategy
-
This assumes you have a high win-rate strategy that does not typically expect more than 1 consecutive losing day.
-
You can consistently capture 41 ticks a day while risking 40 ticks.
-
A losing day must be followed by a winning day. For multiple losing days, it is generally easier to reset than to try and recover.
​
Earn2Trade
Day 1: 1ES x41t
Day 2: 1ES x41t
Day 3: 1ES x41t
Day 4: 1ES x21t
Day 5: 1MES x2t
Day 6: 1MES x2t
Day 7: 1MES x2t
Day 8: 1MES x2t
Day 9: 1MES x2t
Day 10: 1MES x2t
Day 11: 1MES x2t
Day 12: 1MES x2t
Day 13: 1MES x2t
Day 14: 1MES x2t
Day 15: 1MES x2t
​
TopStep
Day 1: 2ES x41t
Day 2: 2ES x41t
Day 3: 2ES x41t
Day 4: 1MES x 2t
Day 5: 1MES x 2t
Day 6: 2ES x41t
Day 7: 2ES x41t
Day 8: 2ES x41t
​
Note: with this strategy, a losing day on TopStep will bring you over 50% of your total trailing drawdown. This makes the subsequent recovery day difficult. With Earn2Trade, a losing day uses approx 1/3 of your total trailing drawdown. This gives ample room on the subsequent recovery day.
​
Other differences
TopStep does not allow you to trade news and you must trade the front-month contract based on volume. Earn2Trade allows you to trade news and there is no mention of when you must rollover.
​
If you buy two evaluations and take a 2-way bet on day 1, Earn2Trade only requires a further 2.5 winning days. TopStep requires 5 winning days.
​
Summary
My recommendation is that the Earn2Trade Trader Career Path is a much easier evaluation to pass than TopStep.