Perps Prop Firms With No Activation Fee, and What They Still Charge

TL;DR: Of the six perps prop firms BestProps tracks, only one program charges an activation fee after you pass: Crypto Fund Trader’s Break plan, at $138, $198 or $328 depending on account size. Break showed “SOLD OUT” on October 26, 2026. My Funded Perps, Vest Markets, E8 Markets (perpetuals), Kraken Prop, Propr and Crypto Fund Trader’s standard plans all sell a one-time evaluation fee and publish no post-pass fee. “No activation fee” still doesn’t mean “no more costs”. You can still pay for profit-split upgrades and add-ons at checkout. Commissions and swap or funding come out of the same balance your drawdown is measured on. Crypto Fund Trader sells a paid final-stage reset, E8 offers a 10% retry discount, and the other four have no resets. One firm deducts a liquidation penalty, and payout processors can charge their own fees.

Checked October 26, 2026 against each firm’s own pricing pages, help centre, docs and terms. BestProps did not buy an account, pass an evaluation, pay an activation fee or request a payout at any of these firms. Fees are read from the firms’ public pages on October 26, 2026 and were not verified by purchase.

Perps activation fees at a glance

Each row covers the firm’s perpetual futures program only. “Activation fee” means a separate charge you pay after passing, before the funded-stage account is issued. “None published” means the firm’s pricing pages, help centre and terms name no such fee. It does not mean BestProps paid nothing to test it.

Firm (perps program)	Activation fee after passing	How the evaluation is priced	Other costs after you buy	Resets	Refund window
My Funded Perps	None published	One-time challenge fee (“one-time charges, not trading deposits”)	Commission per fill, daily swap, 0.1% liquidation penalty; optional 90/10 split and Reduced Fees add-on at checkout	No self-service reset; buy a new challenge	48 hours, no trading or market-data access, minus a $25 fee
Vest Markets	None published; a Live Funded Account is “created instantly” on passing	One-time fee; “no subscription and no recurring charge”	Taker fees (maker 0%), hourly funding; optional 90/10 split and loss-limit options priced into the plan	None; “purchase a new Funded Account”	3 days, no trades placed (homepage FAQ says 28 days, see conflicts)
Crypto Fund Trader (Bybit option)	Break plan: $138 / $198 / $328 ($25K / $50K / $100K). Standard 1-Phase, 2-Phase and Instant: none published	One-time fee; Break adds the activation fee after passing	Bybit’s native trading fees and funding rates (no CFT markup); paid add-ons at checkout	Paid final-stage reset for eligible traders, $180 to $3,980	14 days, lost once you open a position
E8 Markets (Perpetuals market)	None. Both configurators show “No Activation Fee”	One-time challenge fee	Hyperliquid-based maker/taker fees and funding; paid 90% or 100% split at checkout	No paid reset; 10% retry discount for 7 days	Help centre: 30 days, no trading, card only. Terms: non-refundable (conflict)
Kraken Prop	None listed. Lite page: “No activation fee and no subscription”	“One-time cost (per evaluation)”	0.04% commission per side, 0.033% daily swap; paid 90/10 split (+20%)	None; buy another evaluation	Non-refundable once trading begins; one passed evaluation refunded if KYC is rejected
Propr	None. “The evaluation fee and standard trading costs are the only charges”	One-time evaluation fee; “no monthly fees”	Hyperliquid maker/taker fees at cost, Hyperliquid funding	None; “Breaches are permanent”	Non-refundable once the account is activated

Sources for every row are listed in Sources and method. Crypto Fund Trader’s Break prices are for all platform variants, including BYBIT, which costs the same as MT5 and Match-Trader.

What an activation fee is, and what it isn’t

An activation fee is a second payment that falls due only after you pass, before the firm issues the funded-stage account. Futures prop firms made it common, usually pairing it with a monthly evaluation subscription. A trader who passes pays the subscription months plus the activation fee. A trader who fails pays only the subscription.

None of the six perps programs here runs on a monthly subscription. All of them sell the evaluation as a one-time fee:

• My Funded Perps: “Challenge fees are one-time charges, not trading deposits.”
• Vest Markets: “One-time payment through Stripe checkout. There is no subscription and no recurring charge.”
• Crypto Fund Trader: its plan cards read “ONE TIME FEE”.
• E8 Markets: a one-time challenge fee, with “No Activation Fee” printed on both the E8 One and E8 Pro perpetual configurators.
• Kraken Prop: “It’s a one-time cost (per evaluation)”.
• Propr: “There are no monthly fees, inactivity fees, data fees, platform fees, or withdrawal fees.”

Watch the wording. Propr’s rulebook calls the evaluation fee “a one-time, non-refundable fee paid to activate an evaluation account”. That “activate” refers to opening the evaluation you just bought, not to a post-pass charge. My Funded Perps’ refund policy works the same way: a challenge counts as “activated” once any trading activity happens, and that ends the refund window.

An activation fee is also different from the other charges below: checkout upgrades, trading commissions, swap and funding, resets, and payout processing. A firm can truthfully say “no activation fee” and still charge all of those.

The exception: Crypto Fund Trader Break

Crypto Fund Trader’s Break plan is a one-phase evaluation with a low entry price and a fee you pay only if you pass. The FAQ: “The Break Activation Fee is paid after successfully completing the Break Evaluation in order to proceed to the Break Final Stage.” The Break page labels the plan “LIMITED TIME ONLY”. On October 26, 2026 its purchase block read “SOLD OUT”, and the homepage plan selector no longer showed a Break tab.

Break account	Evaluation fee	Activation fee after passing	Total if you pass	Profit target	Trailing loss limit
$25,000	$70	$138	$208	$1,250	$1,000
$50,000	$139	$198	$337	$3,000	$2,000
$100,000	$199	$328	$527	$6,000	$3,000

Evaluation fees are from the Crypto Fund Trader homepage product data, and activation fees from its FAQ and Break page (“Pay only when you pass”). Totals are BestProps’ sum of the two.

How the Break activation step works, per the FAQ and terms:

• The option to pay appears in your dashboard only “if all applicable conditions and rules have been met”. The terms say this follows a manual review.
• You then have 30 days to pay. After that, “the option may expire and access to the Break Final Stage may no longer be available.”
• Once you’ve paid, Break offers payouts on demand with no minimum traded days. A 40% best-day consistency rule is checked each time you request a payout.
• Break has no daily loss limit. Leverage is listed as 1:100, and the 80% split has no upgrade.

What the fee structure means for cost. If you fail, Break costs only the evaluation fee: $70 for $25,000. If you pass, the $25,000 total of $208 is close to Crypto Fund Trader’s standard 1-Phase $25,000 price of $219, which has no activation fee. The two plans differ in more than price. 1-Phase pays after 15 traded days or every 30 calendar days, uses a 4% daily loss limit and a 6% trailing drawdown, and lets you buy a 90% split. Break pays on demand under a 40% consistency rule. Compare the rules as well as the fees.

Because Break is sold out and its tab is hidden, treat it as unavailable until Crypto Fund Trader’s page says otherwise. Its WooCommerce product data still marked Break variants in stock on the same day, so the sold-out banner on the Break page is the signal to follow.

What happens after you pass at each firm

Even without a fee, every firm has a post-pass step. These steps cost time, and for KYC they can block a payout entirely, so check them before you buy.

Firm	Steps between passing and a funded-stage account	Account type after passing (firm’s terms)
My Funded Perps	Four-step path in the docs: Challenge Passed, Identity Verification (Sumsub ID and liveness check), Customer Agreement, Funded Account. Passes above the allocation limits ($100K per plan type, $300K in total) go to a Funding Review.	Simulated; the terms say there is no pathway to live capital
Vest Markets	“Your Evaluation Phase closes and a Live Funded Account of the same size is created instantly.” The terms reserve verification “before purchase, access, or payment of compensation”.	Prop terms: “All Accounts, including Instant Funded Accounts, are simulated.” The docs and FAQ call Live accounts “real capital” (conflict)
Crypto Fund Trader	Standard plans: KYC (ID, proof of address and a signed contract) before any reward is processed. Bybit evaluations need a dedicated Bybit API key and sub-account. Break: manual review, then the activation fee within 30 days.	Demo (“It’s all demo, no real capital involved”)
E8 Markets	Veriff KYC for performance-account access. Payouts need onboarding with Rise or WorkMarket (tax forms, sometimes proof of address).	Simulated (“the data is real, the capital is not”)
Kraken Prop	“Sign the Funded Trader Agreement, verify your identity, and pass a manual review.”	Simulated; Kraken describes it as an unregulated service
Propr	“KYC is required before you can access a funded account” (government ID and a live selfie; no proof of address).	“All Propr accounts, including ‘Funded Accounts’, are 100% simulated.”

Costs you choose at checkout: split upgrades and add-ons

Most perps firms move cost into the checkout rather than charging after the pass. A higher profit split, looser loss limits or faster payouts cost extra up front, and you usually can’t add them later. All prices are list prices before codes.

Firm	Profit-split upgrade	Other paid options	Example
My Funded Perps	80/20 standard; 90/10 is a checkout-only upgrade	Reduced Fees add-on: halves commission and swap for the account’s life on Select, Prime and Signature. It costs 10% of the price after discounts, with a $10 minimum, and isn’t available on Elite.	Elite 3% DLL $25K: $249 at 80/20, $299 with 90/10
Vest Markets	80/20 or 90/10 on evaluations (chosen at purchase, fixed through Live); Instant is 95% flat	Bespoke builder: a 10% or 20% target and a 3%, 4% or no daily loss limit, each priced differently	$5K, 10% target, 3% DLL: $40 at 80/20, $48 at 90/10. $25K: $210 vs $252
Crypto Fund Trader	“90% Bonus Performance” add-on: +20% of the evaluation price (1-Phase and 2-Phase). Instant starts at 50% and rises by level. Break is fixed at 80%.	Weekly Scholarship Request +20% (payout every 7 traded days). 2-Phase only: Daily Drawdown 6% +15%, Max Drawdown 12% +25%	1-Phase $25K: $219 list; each 20% add-on adds about $44 (BestProps arithmetic)
E8 Markets	E8 One: 80%, 90% or 100% at checkout. E8 Pro: 80% or 100% (“available as a paid add-on at a higher price”)	Drawdown size is a priced setting (E8 One 4% to 14%; E8 Pro 6%, 8% or 10%)	E8 One $100K, 14% drawdown: $879 / $984 / $1,090. E8 Pro $100K, 8%: $488 vs $586 with 100%
Kraken Prop	90/10 “for an additional 20% of the base plan price”, only at purchase	None published	Advanced $5K: $20, or $24 with 90/10. Intermediate $100K: $545 vs $654
Propr	None; 80% flat on every plan	None published	Turbo 1-Step $5K: $25, no upgrades

A 20% split surcharge pays for itself only if you withdraw enough profit. For example, a $50 upgrade needs $500 of gross profit at the extra 10 percentage points just to break even (BestProps arithmetic). If you’re unsure you’ll get paid at all, the base split keeps your upfront cost lower.

Trading costs that come out of your drawdown

This is where perps programs differ most from futures programs. Commissions, swap and funding come out of the same simulated balance your daily loss limit and maximum drawdown are measured on. Kraken says it directly: commission and swap “reduce your account balance. This means they count toward your Daily loss limit and Drawdown limit.” Propr says trading fees “affect your equity limits”. Vest’s FAQ says simulated fees “count toward Max. Drawdown and the Daily Loss Limit”. A position that is flat on price can still breach a tight account if it’s held long enough or turned over often.

Firm	Crypto commission (firm’s figure)	Round trip on $100,000 notional, market orders	Holding cost	Liquidation
My Funded Perps	0.03% per fill, maker and taker alike (FX 0.0025%; stocks, indices and commodities 0.005%)	$60 ($30 with Reduced Fees)	Swap 0.03% a day on crypto, charged hourly, on longs and shorts (about $30 a day on $100,000). Venue funding rates are informational only and don’t touch your balance.	A 0.1% penalty on top of the taker fee; Reduced Fees doesn’t lower it
Vest Markets	Maker 0%; taker 0.01% on crypto and most markets, 0.0025% on index and commodity markets	$20 (taker); $0 with limit orders	Funding settled hourly; the docs set a 10.95% annual base interest component for crypto markets	At maintenance margin (half of initial margin), using Mark Price. The 6% maximum drawdown normally closes the account first.
Crypto Fund Trader (Bybit)	Bybit’s native fee schedule, which varies by pair, maker/taker and volume tier; no CFT markup	Depends on your Bybit fee tier (not published by CFT)	Bybit funding rates; “Crypto Fund Trader does not control or add any markup”	Under Bybit’s own rules on the connected sub-account
E8 Markets	0.045% taker, 0.015% maker (stocks, indices, metals and oil: 0.009% / 0.003%)	$90 (taker); $30 with maker orders	Hyperliquid funding rates, which “behave as they would in a live environment”	No penalty listed in E8’s perps fee article
Kraken Prop	0.04% per side (“8 basis points (0.08%)” round trip)	$80	Swap (margin funding) of 0.033% a day, charged every 4 hours (about $33 a day on $100,000). Lite: 0.013% a day.	None on Kraken’s fee page, which lists only commission and swap
Propr	Hyperliquid maker/taker fees at cost (FAQ: 0.015% maker / 0.045% taker on crypto)	$90 (taker)	Hyperliquid funding, “deducted or credited to your account automatically”	None listed; the rulebook names the evaluation fee and trading costs as the only charges

Round-trip and daily dollar figures are BestProps arithmetic from each firm’s published rates. They assume one $100,000 position opened and closed with taker orders, with no slippage. Funding can be paid or received depending on the side you hold, so it’s left as a rate rather than a dollar amount.

To put that in drawdown terms: a $5,000 account with a 3% daily loss limit can lose $150 in a day. At Kraken’s rate, two round trips of $100,000 notional cost $160 in commission alone. Leverage makes trading costs grow faster than the account does. Vest’s FAQ adds one more twist: trading fees are simulated during the evaluation, and once the account goes Live, “Fees stop being simulated.”

If you fail: resets, retries and re-buys

A reset is a cost you only pay after a breach, so it doesn’t appear in the headline price. Four of the six firms have no reset at all.

Firm	What happens after a breach	Cost to try again
My Funded Perps	“Regular funding evaluations do not have a self-service balance reset.”	Buy a new challenge at the current price
Vest Markets	“Immediate, permanent account closure … You would need to purchase a new Funded Account.”	Buy a new account
Crypto Fund Trader	A final-stage account can be replaced with a paid “reset account” only if every final-stage trade had a stop loss and no trade risked more than 2%. You have 30 days from the violation, and it applies to 1-Phase and 2-Phase only.	2-Phase: $180 ($5K) to $3,620 ($200K). 1-Phase: $198 ($5K) to $3,980 ($200K). $100K: $1,880 / $2,079
E8 Markets	No paid reset. A “retry” button on a failed account creates a new order at a 10% discount, for the same size and settings.	90% of the price; “only valid for 7 days following the account failure”
Kraken Prop	“The account is permanently disabled, and you must purchase another Kraken Prop Evaluation.”	Full price
Propr	“Breaches are permanent. There are no resets, appeals, or exceptions.”	Full price

Crypto Fund Trader’s final-stage reset can cost more than a new evaluation. At $25,000, the 1-Phase reset is $840 against a $219 list price for a new 1-Phase evaluation. What the reset buys is a return to the final stage without passing again.

Payout and withdrawal costs

None of the six firms publishes a fee of its own on profit payouts. The costs sit with the payment rail, and with payout mechanics that keep part of your profit in the account.

Firm	Firm payout fee	Rail	Mechanics that affect what you take home
My Funded Perps	None published	Cash through Rise, store credit, or a split of the two	The full gross amount is deducted from the account. Store credit carries a boost (5% per the docs, 10% per the FAQ), can’t be withdrawn and expires after 45 days. There is a $100,000 lifetime payout cap per user, counted after the split.
Vest Markets	None: the split is applied “with no further fees or deductions”	Claimed profit goes to your Vest Primary Account; you then withdraw USDC to a wallet (Base or Arbitrum One for email or Google accounts)	Minimum withdrawal 1 USDC. The withdrawals doc says there is “currently a 24 hour processing period for all platform withdrawals”.
Crypto Fund Trader	None stated in the FAQ	Bank transfer in EUR or USD; USDT (ERC20 or TRC20), BTC or ETH	Standard plans pay after 15 traded days or every 30 calendar days; weekly only with the paid add-on
E8 Markets	“We don’t charge any commissions or fees for payouts, but the processor of the payouts may charge”	Rise, WorkMarket, or Aeropay (US only)	Each E8 Pro request pays 50% of profit; the other 50% stays in the account as a buffer
Kraken Prop	None published	Internal transfer to your main Kraken account in USD or USDG	Moving the money off Kraken is a normal Kraken withdrawal under Kraken’s own withdrawal terms
Propr	“Propr does not charge any withdrawal or payout fees.”	USDC on-chain only	Each payout sweeps all profit and resets the balance to the starting amount; minimum $20

Refund windows

If you change your mind, the refund rules are the last cost to check. Every firm ties its refund to not having traded, and most windows are short.

• My Funded Perps: within 48 hours, only if there has been no trading activity, “including placing trades, opening positions, or accessing market data”. Refunds are “the amount paid minus a non-refundable USD $25 fee”.
• Vest Markets: “within 3 days of purchase, provided no trades have been placed” (docs and prop terms). The homepage FAQ says 28 days.
• Crypto Fund Trader: a 14-day withdrawal right that you “AUTOMATICALLY LOSE … IF YOU HAVE ALREADY OPENED A POSITION ON YOUR DEMO ACCOUNT”. The policy also says it discourages “a mere change of mind” as a reason.
• E8 Markets: the help centre allows a refund within 30 days if there has been no trading, but not on crypto payments. The terms say “All fees paid to E8 are non-refundable under any circumstance.”
• Kraken Prop: non-refundable once trading begins, except a refund of one passed evaluation if KYC is rejected.
• Propr: “All evaluation fees are non-refundable once the account is activated, regardless of outcome.”

Where the firms’ own pages disagree

These conflicts change what you pay or can get back. Where the firm’s pages disagree, rely on the product page or policy for the exact plan you’re buying, and save a copy at purchase.

• Crypto Fund Trader Break availability: the Break page shows “LIMITED TIME ONLY” and “SOLD OUT”, while the site’s product data still lists Break variants in stock.
• Crypto Fund Trader add-on pricing: the FAQ and terms price the weekly-payout add-on at 20% of the evaluation price. Older product pages sell “Bi Weekly Payouts (15%)” and “Weekly Payouts (20%)” as fixed-price items.
• Vest Markets refund window: 3 days in the docs, refund policy and prop terms; 28 days in the homepage FAQ.
• Vest Markets account type: the prop terms say every account is simulated; the docs and FAQ say Live Funded Accounts are backed by “real” capital and that fees “stop being simulated”.
• E8 Markets refunds: the help centre allows a 30-day refund before trading; the terms say fees are non-refundable “under any circumstance”.
• My Funded Perps store-credit boost: 5% in the docs, 10% in the FAQ and the October 15 blog post.
• Kraken Prop refunds: the marketing pages say non-refundable once trading begins, while the program rules add the KYC-rejection refund. The FAQ links to a “Refund & Cancellation” article that BestProps could not locate.

Other crypto prop firms that trade perps

HyroTrader and Breakout are crypto prop firms whose evaluations trade perpetual contracts. Kraken bought Breakout in September 2025, and Kraken’s evaluation agreement says Kraken Pro Prop uses “the same … Evaluation Fees as the standard Breakout Evaluation”. BestProps covers both firms separately: see the HyroTrader review, the Breakout review and Breakout payouts. For the wider list, browse crypto prop firms.

No activation fee checklist for perps traders

• Find the exact plan name. Crypto Fund Trader sells both an activation-fee plan (Break) and plans without one.
• Read the “after you pass” steps: KYC provider, agreement, manual review, and any deadline (Break: 30 days to pay).
• Price every checkout option you want, such as the 90% or 100% split, weekly payouts or looser loss limits. You usually can’t add them later.
• Work out the cost of your normal trading day in commission and swap or funding, and compare it with the daily loss limit in dollars.
• Check whether a liquidation adds a penalty (My Funded Perps: 0.1%).
• Know the reset rule before you trade: no reset, a retry discount, or a paid final-stage reset.
• Check the payout rail and who charges for it (Rise, WorkMarket, USDC on-chain, an exchange wallet).
• Note the refund window, and whether opening the platform or market data ends it.
• Save the plan page and terms on the day you buy. Several firms here changed prices or rules in October 2026.

More perps research on BestProps

Also on BestProps: Vest Markets rules, My Funded Perps vs Vest Markets, Crypto Fund Trader rules, Crypto Fund Trader payouts, E8 Markets rules, E8 Markets payouts and, for futures accounts, no activation fee futures prop firms.

No activation fee questions

Sources and method

BestProps read each firm’s own pages on October 26, 2026. Where a firm’s pages disagree, both versions are shown above. Dollar examples labelled “BestProps arithmetic” are calculated from the firms’ published rates. BestProps has no commercial relationship with any firm on this page.

• My Funded Perps: plans, FAQ, refund policy, becoming funded, commissions and fees, buying a challenge, payouts
• Vest Markets: FAQ, prop terms, refund policy, loss limits, markets and fees, funding mechanism, claiming profit, withdrawals
• Crypto Fund Trader: plans, Break challenge, FAQ, terms, refund policy
• E8 Markets: E8 One perpetual, E8 Pro perpetual, account reset, perpetual futures, payouts, refund policy, terms
• Kraken Prop: program page, Lite<