TradeDay is a prop trading firm that provides traders with the opportunity to engage in profitable futures trading. The company offers funds to traders who pass its Evaluation challenge, which is designed to identify traders who are qualified to access a funded account and trade the live futures market. TradeDay’s founders, James Thorpe, Steve Miley, and Tera Vicker, are experienced traders with extensive knowledge of the futures market. The company also partners with other professionals to offer market commentary and fundamental analysis. This article provides a comprehensive review of TradeDay’s services, including the evaluation challenge, the pricing for its programs, and the resources and support offered to traders. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced trader, TradeDay offers the tools and support you need to succeed in the futures market.
What is TradeDay?
TradeDay is a prop trading firm providing a platform for traders to engage in profitable futures trading. This is achieved by making funding available to traders once they pass the Evaluation challenge. The Evaluation challenge is how the firm selects traders qualified for access to a funded account which can then be used to trade the live futures market.
TradeDay is specialized and knowledgeable in trading, especially the futures market. The company is aware of the challenges traders face in their quest to achieve success, which is why it makes coaching, webinars, and educational tools available. This will help eliminate the trial-and-error cycle that traders sometimes go through trading. Also, this will position them to be ready to recognize and take advantage of the trading opportunities available in the futures market.
TradeDay has simple and transparent rules while also being easy to follow. Once a trader does not break any rule and passes the evaluation challenge, such a trader is guaranteed funding. TradeDay also offers excellent payouts as traders get to keep the first $5,000 in profits and 80% of subsequent profits.
Who are TradeDay founders?
TradeDay was founded by a group of traders with vast experience in trading with an emphasis on the futures market. The founders have mentored and managed trading teams and educated many traders in the art of trading while also building professional trading groups.
The founders are three, according to TradeDay’s website, and here they are, as well as some of the highlights of the achievements in their careers. The first is James Thorpe, with the following highlights:
James Thorpe
James Thorpe is an experienced trader with over 15 years of full-time trading experience. He has also served as CEO of several companies in the futures industry, including Mercury Derivatives/Futures First, Clear Capital Group LLC, and Lakeside Trading LLC. In addition, he has held executive positions in exchange and worked as a futures broker. James has built and managed trading teams in multiple regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. He is based in Chicago.
Steve Miley
Steve Miley is an experienced trader with over 10 years of experience in futures, forex, and CFDs. He is the founder of the multi-award-winning Market Chartist research group and has 13 years of experience as the head of technical analysis research at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse. Steve is also an academic dean at the London School of Wealth Management and has 8 years of experience as a senior futures broker. He is based in London.
Tera Vicker
Tera Vicker is an experienced trader with over 10 years of full-time European bond futures trading experience and an additional 10 years of part-time trading and investing. She has held several positions in the trading industry, including trading lead and mentor at Advanced Trading Ltd., arbitrage trader at Faltech Ltd., and partner in CBC Futures Brokerage, London. Tera has also worked as a currencies broker at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for 4 years. She is based in Chicago.
Partners
Apart from the founders with their wealth of experience, the company also partners with other incredible professionals that help provide insightful market commentary and fundamental analysis. This ensures that the company offers its traders with the highest level of tools and support that will enhance the possibility of trading success.
Is TradeDay a scam?
This is always a legitimate question when dealing with prop firms, as traders want to be sure that a prop firm will deliver on what it has promised. To answer this question about TradeDay, this firm is legitimate and is not a scam. The confirmation comes from the customer reviews available on Trustpilot, one of the most trusted sites for reviewing many companies including prop firms.
Based on some of the reviews available, people allude to the funded trader program from TradeDay as an excellent program that ensures traders have the latest information. In addition, some users commended the company’s response to inquiries and the dedication to ensure traders are well-equipped to pass the challenge and handle a funded account.
Other users praise the company’s acceptable parameters and trader-friendly structure also mentioning that the live account from TradeDay is funded with real money rather than being a demo account like other prop firms tend to have. This led to many users concluding that TradeDay is highly interested in and committed to the success of its traders.
TradeDay Offers and Prices for Futures Traders
As mentioned earlier, to qualify for a funded account at TradeDay, a trader has to pass the Evaluation challenge, which comes in two major forms: the Beginner program and the Advanced program. However, there is also a free trial that traders can take advantage of to gain access to the structure of the challenge and how it works. It should be noted that it does not count toward the challenge.
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This is available for only 14 calendar days from the day a trader signs up to use it, and it cannot be extended beyond 14 days. So, the trader has to use it quickly to gain the necessary familiarity and understanding of the program’s structure.
The goal of the free trial is to allow traders to have a chance to experience the TradeDay community and have a look at the resources being offered by the firm. This also allows traders to practice using the TradeDay trading software in the simulated market. Furthermore, there are no restrictions on trading while using the free trial since the trading is not being evaluated.
Beginner program
This provides traders full access to the members’ area at TradeDay and all the resources offered. Some of the resources that traders will gain access to include the trading platform, educational resources, the Trader Development section, and research. Also, once trading starts, traders’ trading performance also commences. The Beginner program has the following features:
- Profit target of $2000
- Trailing maximum drawdown of $1500
- Daily stop of $500
- Position limit is 2 lots (20 micros), which scales as the trader’s account grows
It should be noted that the max drawdown, daily stop, and position limits carry over to the funded account once the trader passes the evaluation. The pricing to sign up for the Beginner program is $165 per month.
Advanced program
The Advanced program provides full access to the same resources as the Beginner program but also includes a one-to-one monthly coaching session that traders can take advantage of if they are interested. Also, the Advanced program comes with a larger profit target as well as more significant risk limits for the trader to get funded, but with more contracts. It has the following features:
- Profit target of $4000
- Trailing maximum drawdown of $3000
- Daily stop of $1000
- Position limit is 4 lots (40 micros), which scales as the trader’s account grows
Also, the max drawdown, daily stop, and position limits carry over to the funded account once the trader passes the evaluation, just like in the Beginner program. The pricing for the Advanced program is $350 per month.
What are TradeDay Rules and Objectives?
The rules and objectives are transparent and are the same for every trader; the rules are five, while the objectives are three. Therefore, traders will be considered to have passed the evaluation challenge when they do not break any of the five rules while achieving the three objectives.
TradeDay objectives
The goal here is for traders to display a consistently winning strategy by achieving the objectives listed below:
Trading should be done for a minimum of 15 trading days
There is no time restriction on when traders can complete the Evaluation challenge, but traders must trade for at least 15 trading days. The days do not have to be consecutive, meaning each day that trading is done will count towards the required minimum number of trading days.
The purpose of this objective is to evaluate the trading skills of traders and determine if they are capable of showing consistent and profitable trading over a specific period. This means that even if the profit target is achieved in less than 15 trading days, the trader will not be deemed to have passed the evaluation, as TradeDay wants to see 15 days of trading data to make a final decision.
Achieve the trading account’s profit target
The profit target is the amount of money that traders have to make while trading, which will be reflected in the account balance. For instance, the Beginner account balance starts from $50,000 and has a profit target of $2000. Therefore, to reach the profit target on this account, the trader must continue trading until the account balance equals or exceeds $52,000.
If it is the Advanced account, the balance starts at $100,000 with a profit target of $4000. To achieve this profit target, trading must continue until the account balance equals or exceeds $104,000.
It should be noted that simulated commission is included in the profit and loss calculation to make the whole experience as similar as possible to the conditions of a live market. The aim of this objective is for traders to show that they have the potential to be profitable in live markets while also developing winning trading strategies.
Be consistent in your profitability
This is also known as the consistency objective, and traders are not allowed to have a day’s profit exceeding 30% of the total profits earned. It is known as the inconsistency rule, and it is calculated by taking the PnL for each day as a percentage of the total PnL earned to date.
If a trader happens to have a day where the profit exceeds 30% of the total profits, it does not necessarily signify that the trader has failed the evaluation challenge. It just means such a trader needs to keep building his/her total profits until that particular day accounts for 30% or less of the total profits.
For instance, if a trader using the beginner account achieves the profit target of $2000 but then makes $800 of it in a single day, then the Evaluation challenge still needs to be completed as that profit accounts for 40% of the total. Therefore, the trader needs to continue trading until the total profits become $2667, which is when $800 will be less than 30% of the total profits.
It should be noted that the consistency objective is only part of the Evaluation challenge and does not carry over to the live funded trading accounts since the traders will have already proven their consistency by the time they get a funded account. For traders, the Evaluation challenge is their path to getting funded as a trader. But for TradeDay, is a means of examining a trader’s potential to be profitable while also getting an overview of the trader’s style and approach.
TradeDay rules
Avoid hitting or exceeding the daily stop loss
This rule refers to the maximum amount that a trader is allowed to lose in any one day. It is set to $500 for the Beginner program and $1000 for the Advanced program. It should be remembered that a trader’s PnL (profit and loss) takes into account simulated commission which means that the total losses will include lost ticks and simulated commission. This is referred to as the net PnL.
Hitting or exceeding the stop loss amount (even before closing a trading position) signifies that this rule has been broken, which means that such a trader has failed the Evaluation challenge, thus making him/her ineligible for funding. However, the reset option is available, which involves buying a reset token to restart the challenge.
If this were to happen while trading the live markets, the trader would lose the funded account and have to sign up again for the Evaluation challenge to get another funded account.
Avoid hitting or exceeding the trailing maximum drawdown
A maximum drawdown refers to the maximum amount of money a trader can lose. The trailing maximum drawdown (TMD) is a drawdown that trails the account as it experiences growth. This means that as the account makes profits, the TMD trails up, but the trailing maximum drawdown remains unchanged when the account experiences losses causing the account balance to reduce. This is because it is connected to the highest balance attained in the account.
TradeDay uses the end-of-day balance to assess whether the TMD has moved, and this rule is present on both the evaluation and live funded accounts. The TMD amount is determined by the program that the trader signs up for. It is $1500 for the Beginner program and $3000 for the Advanced program. Once the TMD reaches the starting account balance, it stops trailing.
Let us see how this applies to the two programs: for the Beginner program with a starting balance of $50,000, the TMD will be set at $48,500. Then, as the trader keeps trading and gets to an account balance of $51,500, the TMD becomes $50,000 and freezes, while the trader must always stay above this new TMD value.
If it is the Advanced program with a starting balance of $100,000, the TMD gets set at $97,000. When the trader’s account balance reaches $103,000, the TMD will become $100,000, which is where it freezes, and the trader must not go below this new TMD value.
Hitting or exceeding the trailing maximum drawdown in the Evaluation challenge will lead to failure. But if it happens in a live account, the penalty is a loss of the funded account.
Do not exceed the maximum position limits according to the position limit rules
The position limit refers to the maximum number of futures contracts a trader can open simultaneously. This does not affect the number of times a trader can trade within a day but rather the position size that can remain open when making a trade.
For the Beginner program, the maximum position limit is 2 mini futures contracts (or 20 micros), while it is 4 mini futures contracts (or 40 micros) for the Advanced program. In addition, traders are allowed to add more contracts for every $1,000 of profit made, which applies to both programs. This is applicable for both the simulated and live accounts.
Traders must always remain aware of their position limit because breaching this rule while going through the Evaluation challenge will lead to automatic disqualification from the challenge while also becoming ineligible for funding. However, the trader will lose that funded account if it happens while trading the live markets. It should be noted that position limits and modifications happen at the end of the day, and the calculation is done from the trader’s end-of-day trading balance.
The purpose of this rule is to prevent traders from taking on too much risk, which could cause them to suffer immense losses on their trading accounts. This way, traders will develop the discipline needed for adequate risk management on their trading accounts while growing themselves.
Close all positions 10 minutes before the close of the CME Globex trading day
This rule addresses the restrictions that pertain to the allowed trading time. Due to TradeDay being a day trading company, traders must close any open trading positions ten minutes before the market closure. Therefore, traders that maintain open positions by the time the market closes will fail the Evaluation challenge.
This is why traders are advised to close all open positions and delete all orders in the order book at least 10 minutes before the market closes. This will ensure they are safe from violating this rule. For instance, if a trader is trading crude oil whose market closes by 4 pm CT, then the trader must close all positions and delete all orders in their order book on or before 3.50 pm CT. Note that different products have varying closing times, and the trader must know when the product being traded will close.
The trader should also stay informed about shortened sessions due to trading holiday market closures. While TradeDay will do its best to warn traders, traders must take responsibility and constantly endeavor to stay informed.
Only trade the products permitted by TradeDay
Only the products permitted by TradeDay should be traded, and the company endeavors to provide a selection of products that are as broad as possible. High-margin products are not available, or very illiquid products that are difficult to trade or pose a challenge in managing their risks. Traders are advised to comply with this and respect the company’s rules.
Questions and Answers about TradeDay
What is the profit split?
The profit split is quite simple at TradeDay. Traders get to keep the first $5000 they make in profits; for subsequent profits, 80% is theirs, while the company keeps the remaining 20%. This means the company has no share in the first $5000 in profits made by the trader but only in the subsequent ones.
How to move to a funded account
It starts with passing the Evaluation challenge, and the TradeDay system will detect this. The trade logs of the trader will then be checked to ensure everything is in order. Finally, the monthly billing will be stopped while the trader will be emailed the account opening forms and the TradeDay funded trader agreement form.
Once the trader completes the forms and sends them back, opening a trading account with the company’s broker will commence. It is estimated that this should not take more than five days. After this, the trader is advised to review the rules of the funded account before trading, as they are measured differently from those of the Evaluation account. The trader can then begin to trade.
It should be noted that the trader must send back the completed forms within 60 days, or the account will be considered closed, thus making it ineligible for use even later.
What are the fees of a funded account?
A funded account incurs two main fees: CME Market Data fees and trading commissions. The market data fee is a monthly charge of $122 per exchange. The trading commissions are taken from the trader’s account balance as trades are executed.
What are the rules in the funded account?
The rules in the funded account are the same as those of the Evaluation challenge.
TradeDay Pros and Cons
What are TradeDay’s advantages?
- Traders get actual funding in real trading accounts rather than simulated funded accounts which means traders will get the necessary support for success.
- There are no restrictions on withdrawals.
- The one-evaluation is straightforward, with traders having room to grow.
- There are coaching, mentorship, and educational tools to help traders achieve success.
- The TradeDay community allows traders to communicate with and learn from one another, which is bound to benefit new traders.
What are TradeDay’s disadvantages?
- TradeDay offers limited account sizes (just two).
- Traders cannot operate multiple accounts simultaneously.
