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Essential Trading Rules Overview

Quick overview of the most important trading rules every Tradeify trader needs to know before starting to trade.

Updated over 2 weeks ago

Core Trading Rules by Account Type:

Challenge Accounts (Advanced & Growth)

Daily Loss Limits

  • Advanced Accounts: No daily loss limit protection

  • Growth Accounts: Daily loss limit varies by account size ($1,250 for $50k, $2,500 for $100k, $3,750 for $150k)

Drawdown Protection Types

What is a Trailing Drawdown?

A trailing drawdown is your account's maximum loss limit that "trails" or follows your account's peak value. As your account grows, the drawdown limit moves up with it, protecting your gains. If your account balance falls below this limit, the account fails.

Advanced Accounts - Real-Time Intraday Trailing Drawdown:

  • Adjusts continuously throughout the trading day

  • Both realized profits AND unrealized gains move your drawdown limit higher

  • If your account value drops below the adjusted drawdown limit at any point during trading, the account fails immediately

Growth Accounts - End-of-Day Trailing Drawdown:

  • Recalculates only at market close based on your final daily balance

  • Only locks in drawdown improvements when you end the day profitable

  • Provides flexibility during the trading day - temporary intraday losses won't affect your drawdown limit

Simulated Funded Accounts

Daily Loss Limits

  • Advanced Accounts: No daily loss limit protection.

  • Growth Accounts: Daily loss limit varies by account size ($1,250 for $50k, $2,500 for $100k, $3,750 for $150k)

  • Lightning accounts: Daily loss limit varies by account size ($1,250 for $50k, $2,500 for $100k, $3,750 for $150k)

  • Note: 25k Lightning funded does not have Daily Loss Limit protection.


Drawdown Types:

Advanced Accounts - Real-Time Intraday Trailing Drawdown:

  • Adjusts continuously throughout the trading day

  • Both realized profits AND unrealized gains move your drawdown limit higher

  • If your account value drops below the adjusted drawdown limit at any point during trading, the account fails immediately

Growth Accounts - End-of-Day Trailing Drawdown:

  • Recalculates only at market close based on your final daily balance

  • Only locks in drawdown improvements when you end the day profitable

  • Provides flexibility during the trading day - temporary intraday losses won't affect your drawdown limit

Lightning Funded - End-of-Day Trailing Drawdown:

  • Recalculates only at market close based on your final daily balance

  • Only locks in drawdown improvements when you end the day profitable

  • Provides flexibility during the trading day - temporary intraday losses won't affect your drawdown limit


Universal Rules (All Account Types)

Position Holding Requirements

All positions must be closed before the market closes each day. No swing trading or holding positions overnight is allowed.

Daily Close Requirements

  • Regular Trading Days: Close all positions by 4:59 PM Eastern Time (Monday-Friday)

  • Holiday Early Close Days: Close all positions by 12:59 PM Eastern Time

Trading Hours

  • Market Open: 6:00 PM Eastern Time (Sunday to Thursday evenings)

  • Market Close: 5:00 PM Eastern Time (Monday to Friday)


Automatic Position Closure

Any positions left open when the market closes will be automatically closed by Tradeify. This will not result in account failure or penalties.


Trading Day Definition

A trading day runs from 6:00 PM EST/EDT to 5:00 PM EST/EDT the next calendar day.

Important: If you trade during different market sessions on the same calendar day (for example, at 1:00 AM and again at 7:00 PM), these count as two separate trading days for rule compliance purposes.


Position Limits

Maximum Contract Limits

Account Size

Mini Contracts

Micro Equivalent

$25k

1 contract

10 micros

$50k

4 contracts

40 micros

$100k

8 contracts

80 micros

$150k

12 contracts

120 micros

Contract Size Conversion

  • 10 Micro contracts = 1 Mini contract

  • You can trade either micros OR minis, but not both simultaneously as this is considered hedging.


Position Scaling

  • No scaling restrictions - Use your maximum position size from day one

  • Full limits available immediately - No need to build up gradually


Prohibited Activities

  • Hedging: Not allowed

  • Exploiting Platform Errors: Strictly forbidden

  • HFT Bots: High-frequency trading bots not allowed


Algorithmic Trading

Allowed if:
- You own the strategy exclusively
- Not shared with other traders/firms
- Not high-frequency trading
- Can prove ownership if requested


Microscalping Guidelines

  • 50% Rule: At least 50% of profits must come from trades held longer than 10 seconds

  • If you do not meet this Criteria then you won't be able to request a payout or activate your passed Challenges.


Account Activity

  • Minimum Activity: At least 1 trade per week (Monday-Friday)

  • Idle Time Warning: We'll contact you before taking action


Consistency Rule Quick Guide:

What it means: No single day's profit should be too large compared to your total profits.

Advanced/Growth: 35% limit
Lightning Funded: 20% limit

Example: If your biggest day was $2,000 profit and you follow the 20% rule, you need at least $10,000 total profit to be eligible for payouts.


Good Faith Trading

Core Principle: Trade honestly and don't exploit platform errors.

Violations Include:
- Taking advantage of price display errors
- Exploiting system delays
- Any strategy designed to create platform errors

Consequences: Account termination for violations


News Trading Policy

Allowed: Yes, but at your own risk.
Restrictions: Specific rules around major economic events
Details: See full news trading policy for complete guidelines

Need Clarification?

Have questions about specific rules?
- Check our detailed rule articles
- Ask in our Discord community
- Contact support for clarification

Remember: These rules exist to help you become a consistently profitable trader. Following them closely will set you up for long-term success with Tradeify!

Detailed Rule Articles:
- Consistency Rule Details
- Trailing Max Drawdowns
- Daily Loss Limits
- News Trading Policy
- Complete Guidelines for Traders



👉 Ready for the next step? Continue to Guidelines for Traders

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