TL;DR: The Futures Desk (TFD) is a Chicago futures prop firm that Topstep acquired on April 1, 2026. Its company is now TS TFD Buyer, LLC, and on October 11, 2026 its website no longer showed any public way to buy a new evaluation: the old pricing pages are gone or empty, the only buttons are Sign In and Knowledge Base, and the firm’s own Trustpilot description reads “Now a part of Topstep.” The program it documents is unusual: one customisable test (you pick drawdown size, end-of-day or static drawdown, daily loss limit, contracts and minimum days), then a simulated “Sim-Brokerage” stage where you build a buffer equal to your drawdown, then a real-money brokerage account with an 80/20 split, daily uncapped payouts (Monday to Friday, $100 minimum) and no activation fee. Published add-on costs are a $29 or $49 renewal every 31 days and resets of $75 to $229. Trustpilot shows 4.6 from 453 reviews, but most 2026 reviews are about the Topstep sale. If you are new, treat TFD as a firm to research, not one to buy from, until it publishes a current offer.
Research status: Checked October 11, 2026. That day we read The Futures Desk’s homepage, terms and conditions (effective April 1, 2026), the member sign-in page, and all 61 articles of its public knowledge base, plus the Topstep acquisition press release, Topstep’s Live Funded Account rules page, archived copies of TFD’s homepage and pricing pages from December 2025 to June 2026, Trustpilot, and seven Reddit threads. We did not buy or register for an account. Anything that is only visible after sign-in, such as current evaluation prices, is marked as not published or as reported by third parties.
The Futures Desk review verdict: is it legit?
Yes, The Futures Desk is a real futures prop firm, not an anonymous website. It names its company in its terms, publishes a Chicago office address, a phone number and a support email, keeps a detailed public knowledge base, and was bought by Topstep, one of the oldest futures evaluation firms, in a deal announced through a GlobeNewswire press release on April 1, 2026. Reddit traders describe passing its test, reaching its live brokerage stage and receiving withdrawals. One trader wrote that a $500 withdrawal from his buffer arrived as $400 (after the 20% firm share) “within an hour”.
Whether it is a good place to spend money today is a different question. Since the acquisition, the public website has stopped selling. The “Get Funded” buttons and the “All Pricing” and “Static Pricing” menu items that were on the homepage in March 2026 were gone by April 21, 2026, and on October 11, 2026 the old pricing address returned a “Page Not Found” error. Existing members can still sign in, and the rules below are what the firm’s knowledge base says today. But nothing on the public site tells a new trader what an evaluation costs or confirms that one can be bought.
Our read: TFD built one of the more trader-friendly rule sets in futures prop trading on paper (static drawdown as an option, no activation fee, no funded consistency rule, daily uncapped payouts from a real brokerage account). It also asked more of traders than most firms do (a profit-target rule that pushes your goal up when you overshoot, a second simulated stage before live, a live account that starts with only your buffer). Read this page as a record of how the firm works and where it stands, and confirm the current offer with the firm or with Topstep before paying anyone.
The Topstep acquisition and whether you can still sign up
The acquisition was announced on April 1, 2026. The press release says Topstep “has officially acquired The Futures Desk (TFD)”, that TFD’s technology will be integrated into the TopstepX platform, and that TFD’s co-founders, Schwartzberg and Brian Ford, are joining Topstep. Topstep’s founder and CEO Michael Patak is quoted saying: “When you look around the prop industry, you can’t help but notice what The Futures Desk created.” The release does not say what happens to TFD’s own evaluations.
What the firm’s own pages show since then:
| Date | What the record shows | Source |
|---|---|---|
| December 10, 2025 | Pricing page banner: “55% OFF with code FIFTYFIVE” | Archived TFD pricing page |
| February 14 and March 6, 2026 | Homepage and static pricing page: “60% OFF, use code EDGE”, “75% OFF” on static accounts, “Get Funded” buttons, “New! Optional Daily Loss Limit” and “New! 4 Accounts” | Archived TFD homepage and static pricing page |
| April 1, 2026 | Topstep announces the acquisition. New terms and conditions take effect in the name of TS TFD Buyer, LLC | Press release; TFD terms |
| April 21, 2026 | Homepage no longer shows pricing links or “Get Funded” buttons; a Topstep Brokerage disclaimer is added to the footer | Archived TFD homepage |
| June 13, 2026 | The static pricing page shows only “Knowledge Base” and “Sign In” | Archived TFD static pricing page |
| October 11, 2026 | Homepage still describes the program and FAQ, with only “Knowledge Base” and “Sign In” links. /pricing returns “Page Not Found”. The knowledge base is live. Trustpilot company description: “Now a part of Topstep. Follow us there for more updates.” | Live TFD site; Trustpilot |
Topstep’s own Live Funded Account rules page still lists The Futures Desk as “an online proprietary trading firm that evaluates and funds retail futures traders owned by TS TFD Buyer, LLC” and links to TFD’s terms. So the business and its legal terms still exist; what has disappeared is the public sales path.
Can you still sign up? We could not find a public checkout on October 11, 2026. The member portal asks for an email address and a one-time password; whether a new account can buy an Assessment Desk from inside it is not shown publicly, and we did not register to test it. Reddit posts from April 1, 2026 say TFD emailed members with active accounts a code for 50% off a Topstep 150K No Activation Fee Combine. One commenter quoted support saying the code “was supplied and emailed to those with active TFD accounts going into the acquisition”; another warned that using it without a TFD account could break Topstep’s terms. We did not see that code on any official page, so it is not printed here.
Who runs The Futures Desk
| Item | What the firm publishes |
|---|---|
| Company | TS TFD Buyer, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (terms effective April 1, 2026) |
| Owner | Topstep (acquisition announced April 1, 2026) |
| Related broker | Topstep Brokerage LLC, described on the TFD site as part of the same group, registered with the CFTC as an introducing broker, NFA ID 0567079 |
| Clearing firms for live accounts | Dorman (Rithmic live accounts) and Plus500 (ProjectX live accounts). TFD says it is not itself a broker |
| Address | 1 East Erie St, Suite 525 #4200, Chicago, IL 60611 |
| Support | In-dashboard chat, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern; support@thefuturesdesk.com; phone listed on Trustpilot as 1-833-411-3375 |
| Founded | Not stated on TFD’s own pages. A February 2026 TradersPost guide says it was founded in 2024; its Trustpilot profile was claimed in July 2024 |
| Exchange access | Says it holds a CME Rule 106.R electronic corporate membership, which it uses to offer lower exchange fees |
One brand look-alike to avoid: “The Trade Desk” (an advertising company) shows up in searches for this firm, and so does an unrelated education site with “traders desk” in its name. The firm’s domain is thefuturesdesk.com.
How The Futures Desk prop firm works
TFD calls its accounts “desks”. There are three stages, and only the last one uses real money.
- Assessment Desk (simulated, minimum 5 trading days). One test. You reach a profit target without hitting your maximum drawdown. Hitting the drawdown is the only way to fail. A daily loss limit pauses you for the day but does not fail you. A “Daily Base Hit” rule decides how fast the target can be reached (explained below). Once you hit the goal and the minimum days, the next stage opens at the end of that trading day.
- Sim-Brokerage (simulated, no minimum days). Same drawdown and daily loss limit as the assessment, but no minimum days and no Daily Base Hit. Your job is to earn a “buffer” equal to the maximum drawdown you chose: pick $2,000 of drawdown and the buffer goal is $2,000. TFD says this is “not a second evaluation step”, but in practice it is a second profit target. Money earned above the buffer is not carried to the live account. Rarely, the firm may skip this stage for an exceptional assessment record, at its discretion.
- Live Brokerage (real money). Once the buffer is built, TFD opens a real account at one of its clearing firms. Your starting balance equals the buffer, and the minimum balance is a static $0. You can withdraw any weekday, uncapped, with an 80/20 split. TFD says most live accounts are set up in under a week; one Reddit trader said it looked more like three weeks for him in January 2026.
TFD says the fastest path from purchase to uncapped live payouts is six trading days. The homepage footer also states that the assessment has “a historically low candidate pass rate, estimated at 25%”. That figure comes from the firm and is not audited.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Build-your-own test: drawdown size, EOD or static drawdown, daily loss limit, contracts and minimum days | No public way to buy a new evaluation on October 11, 2026, and no public price list |
| Static drawdown option, and the drawdown never counts open (unrealised) losses intraday | The Daily Base Hit raises your profit target whenever you beat the daily goal, so a big day does not get you closer |
| No activation fee; data covered in Sim-Brokerage and one pro data feed covered live | A second simulated stage (the buffer) sits between passing and the live account |
| Payouts come from a real brokerage account, daily and uncapped, from $100 | The live account starts with only your buffer ($2,000 buffer, $2,000 starting balance) and a $0 floor |
| No funded consistency rule or minimum days between payouts | 80% split is fixed; it never rises |
| Microscalping, bots, DCA, copy trading and news trading allowed in the assessment | Live news trading capped at 5 micros a minute either side of a release; 14 days of live inactivity can close the account |
| Low published execution fees ($1.20 per side for minis, $0.40 for micros) | All fees non-refundable; VPN and VPS use not allowed |
| 4.6 Trustpilot score from 453 reviews, with praise for support and the journal dashboard | 2026 reviews are dominated by members unhappy with the Topstep sale |
The Futures Desk plans and accounts: the plan builder
TFD never sold fixed “50K” or “100K” plans in the usual way. Its knowledge base describes a plan builder inside the member area where you set each part of the test yourself, and the price changes as you move the sliders. These are the options the firm documents:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Template | Preset plans designed by TFD as a starting point |
| Connection type | TFD-X (TFD’s browser platform built on ProjectX) or Rithmic. The choice also decides your live clearing firm and which countries are served |
| Drawdown type | End of Day (trails your highest end-of-day balance until it locks at your starting balance) or Static (fixed from day one) |
| Max loss / daily loss | One slider sets your maximum drawdown and daily loss limit. The knowledge base gives a $100 to $6,000 drawdown range in its reset price table |
| Contracts | Your maximum position size in minis; 1 mini counts as 10 micros, across all products combined |
| Minimum trading days | Sets the number of days needed to pass and, with the profit target, your Daily Base Hit |
| Plan milestones | Shows your assessment goal, your Sim-Brokerage buffer target and your live starting balance before you pay |
| Upfront-cost slider | Optional: pay less upfront and a small fee after passing, or pay in full and owe nothing after passing |
The firm did not publish its account sizes as a table on its public pages. A February 10, 2026 guide from TradersPost reported these preset parameters. They are a third-party report, not read on TFD’s site, and they predate the acquisition:
| Preset (as reported) | EOD target | Static target | Max drawdown | Daily loss limit | Max size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25K | $1,750 | $2,000 | $1,000 | $400 | 1 mini / 10 micros |
| 50K | $3,500 | $4,000 | $2,000 | $800 | 3 minis / 30 micros |
| 100K | $5,250 | $6,000 | $3,000 | $1,200 | 5 minis / 50 micros |
| 150K | $7,900 | $9,000 | $4,500 | $1,800 | 10 minis / 100 micros |
Two patterns are worth noticing. The static versions carry a higher target than the EOD versions for the same drawdown, and the daily loss limit in every reported preset is 40% of the drawdown, which matches the knowledge base. The “50K” or “100K” label matters less than the drawdown, because the drawdown becomes your Sim-Brokerage buffer goal and your live starting balance.
The Futures Desk pricing, fees and past discount codes
On October 11, 2026, The Futures Desk published no evaluation prices on its public pages. The final price was always set in the plan builder after sign-in, and the terms say the fee “varies depending on the options you choose”. These are the costs the firm does publish:
| Cost | Published amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation (Assessment Desk) | Not published publicly | Shown in the plan builder after sign-in |
| 31-day renewal (“extension”) | $29 (TFD-X) or $49 (Rithmic) | Billed automatically every 31 days until you pass or cancel; stops when you pass |
| Reset | $75 (drawdown $100 to $3,000), $150 ($3,000 to $5,750), $229 ($6,000) | Starts a fresh account at $0 and 0 days, and adds a free 31-day extension |
| Activation fee after passing | $0 | None charged |
| Market data | Covered in Sim-Brokerage; one professional feed covered live (about $140 a month value); extra exchanges $135 a month each (CME, CBOT, COMEX, NYMEX) or $80 (EUREX) | Extra live feeds are deducted from your trading account |
| Execution (commissions and exchange fees) | $1.20 per side for minis, $0.40 per side for micros, all-in (NQ or ES about $2.40 a round turn) | Applied in the assessment and Sim-Brokerage to match live costs |
Reported evaluation prices (not verified by purchase). Before the acquisition, third parties reported prices for TFD’s static presets of $99 (Static Mini), $139 (Static Core) and $179 (Static Pro). Traders on Reddit described custom builds costing $389 (November 2025) and about $380 for a $3,000 static, Rithmic, no-daily-loss-limit, 12-contract, 5-day plan before mid-January 2026. One trader in March 2025 paid $39 for a “practice” account that came with Rithmic level 2 data. Treat all of these as history, not as a current quote.
Discount codes. The homepage FAQ still says: “Do you offer discounts? Yes, please reach out to our support chat to ask about any current promotions.” No current code was shown on any official page we read. Codes the firm itself displayed in the past, on archived copies of its own pages:
- FIFTYFIVE: 55% off, on the pricing page archived December 10, 2025.
- EDGE: 60% off, on the static pricing page and homepage archived February 14 and March 6, 2026, alongside a “75% OFF” static-account banner.
- An official TFD social profile, as indexed by search engines, advertised a “Spring Trading Sale” with 70% off customisable assessments, 75% off static accounts and a $39 starting price. We could not open the post itself, so we cannot date it.
The pattern was frequent, large percentage sales. There has been no published sale since the pricing pages were removed in April 2026. Coupon sites may still list TFD codes; we could not confirm any of them with the firm.
What it costs: worked examples
Because the evaluation price is not public, these examples use only the published fees and show how the total changes with your choices.
| Scenario | Published fees involved | Added to your evaluation price |
|---|---|---|
| Rithmic plan, pass inside the first 31 days | No renewal, no activation fee | $0 |
| Rithmic plan, takes 70 days to pass | Two automatic $49 renewals (day 31 and day 62) | $98 |
| TFD-X plan, takes 70 days to pass | Two $29 renewals | $58 |
| $2,000-drawdown plan, fail once and reset | One $75 reset, which also extends billing 31 days | $75 |
| $4,500-drawdown plan, fail twice | Two $150 resets | $300 |
| $6,000-drawdown plan, fail once | One $229 reset | $229 |
| Live account trading ES and also ZN (treasuries) | One feed covered; a second exchange (CBOT) costs $135 a month | $135 a month, taken from the account balance |
Execution cost example. A day of 10 round turns with 2 NQ contracts is 20 contracts traded in and out. At $2.40 per contract round turn, that is $48 for the day. The same day in MNQ (micros, $0.40 per side or $0.80 a round turn) with 20 micros per trade would be 200 contracts and $160, which is why sizing in minis is cheaper per dollar of exposure at this firm.
The live account and your buffer. With a $2,000 drawdown, you need $2,000 of Sim-Brokerage profit to go live. That $2,000 is your live starting balance, and you may withdraw into it. Withdraw $500 and you receive $400 (80%), while your live balance drops to $1,500 against a $0 floor. You are then trading real money with $1,500 of room. Taking less out early leaves more room to trade.
Trading rules: drawdown, daily loss limit and the Daily Base Hit
TFD’s knowledge base says: “There is only one way to fail your assessment; hitting your max drawdown.” Everything else either pauses you or slows you down.
Max drawdown: end of day or static
Neither type counts open, unrealised losses intraday. Your drawdown type follows you into Sim-Brokerage. TFD’s own example, with a $2,000 drawdown on an account that starts at $0 profit:
| Day | End-of-day profit | EOD minimum balance | Static minimum balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $0 | -$2,000 | -$2,000 |
| 2 | $500 | -$1,500 | -$2,000 |
| 3 | $1,000 | -$1,000 | -$2,000 |
| 4 | $400 | -$1,000 (does not move down) | -$2,000 |
| 5 | $2,500 | $0 (locks at the starting balance) | -$2,000 |
| 6 to 10 | Any | $0, fixed from here on | -$2,000 |
The trap with EOD: a strong close raises the floor overnight. In the table, a trader who finishes day 3 at +$1,000 and then loses $1,001 on day 4 fails, even though the account is still above its opening balance. With static, the same trader still has $1,999 of room.
Daily loss limit
You choose it at checkout. When your combined open and closed P&L for the day reaches the limit, you are locked out until the next trading day; the account stays active. In the assessment the knowledge base says the limit is 40% of your max drawdown, and the homepage advertised an optional daily loss limit from early 2026 (Reddit traders mention 20%, 40% and “no daily loss limit” builds, with the last one costing more). The limit is measured from your day’s P&L, so profits widen it: TFD’s example is a $500 limit, a $1,000 gain, and a new lockout point $1,500 below the high. In live accounts TFD says it raises the limit as your performance improves.
The Daily Base Hit (TFD’s consistency rule), with a calculator
This applies in the assessment only and is removed after you pass. The formula is simple:
Daily Base Hit = profit target ÷ minimum trading days. If you make more than the Daily Base Hit in a day, your profit target rises by the excess, one for one. You are never penalised and never fail for it, but the extra profit does not bring you closer to passing.
| Plan | Daily Base Hit | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| $2,000 target, 5 days | $400 | Make $400 five days in a row: pass on day 5 at $2,000 |
| $2,000 target, 5 days | $400 | Make $1,000 five days in a row: pass on day 5, but the target has risen to $5,000 along with your balance |
| $2,000 target, 5 days | $400 | Make $200 a day for 10 days: pass on day 10 at $2,000 |
| $3,000 target, 8 days | $375 | Firm’s own example of the formula |
| $3,500 target, 5 days | $700 | A $1,200 day adds $500 to the target; you are still 4 days of $700 from passing |
| $6,000 target, 9 days | $666.67 | A Reddit trader’s plan: about $667 a day to pass in 9 days |
The Boosted Base Hit. When your end-of-day balance is below the highest end-of-day balance you have reached, the Daily Base Hit rises by up to 150% until you are back at the peak. The firm’s example: a $500 Daily Base Hit, a peak of $1,000, a losing day down to $500. The next day you can make up to $750 without the target moving.
What it means in practice. The fastest pass is hitting exactly your Daily Base Hit every day. A losing day costs more than one day: a Reddit trader with a $150 daily goal noted that a $300 loss “set yourself back 2 days”. Fewer minimum days means a bigger daily goal and, according to traders, a higher price. Several traders called these assessments harder to pass than most. Some third-party sites call this a “20% consistency rule”; TFD itself says it avoids the word consistency because its rule works differently, and there is no consistency rule in Sim-Brokerage or live.
Trading hours, holidays and news
- No positions may be held while the market is closed. Each trade day runs 6 PM ET to 4:45 PM ET the next day; the platform flattens open positions at 4:45 PM ET, but TFD warns not to rely on it and to close 15 minutes before the official close. No overnight-weekend holding: the market is closed from Friday 4:45 PM ET to Sunday 6 PM ET.
- Around CME holidays with early closes, the evening before, the holiday and the next evening count as one trading day on Rithmic, while ProjectX treats each calendar date separately.
- News trading: no restriction in the assessment. In live accounts, a maximum of 5 micros from one minute before to one minute after a release, with “reasonable stops” required. TFD says it will flatten violations.
Allowed and banned strategies
| Behaviour | TFD’s rule |
|---|---|
| Microscalping | Allowed, no minimum hold time |
| Bots and algorithmic trading | Allowed when solely controlled by you; no tech support from TFD |
| Copy trading / trade copiers | Allowed in assessment and funded desks, “with extreme caution”; TFD will not help fix copier losses. TFD offers an ETP copier licence for Rithmic accounts |
| Dollar-cost averaging | Allowed |
| Hedging | Only across different products or expirations within an account |
| Dynamic contract sizing | Allowed, up to your max position |
| VPN or VPS | Not allowed |
| Multiple usernames | Banned; one username per person |
| Gambling or exploiting the simulation | Prohibited conduct; TFD may delete the day’s profits, restart or close the account |
| More than 3 resets in 24 hours | Can suspend your ability to order, under the terms |
The Futures Desk payouts: split, timing and methods
TFD does not pay from simulated money. Payouts start once you reach live brokerage, though you can request your first withdrawal while the live account is being set up.
| Payout term | What TFD publishes |
|---|---|
| Unlocks | When you hit the Sim-Brokerage buffer goal (equal to your max drawdown) |
| Profit split | 80% to you, 20% to the firm, on every dollar withdrawn; “never changes” |
| Frequency | Any business day, Monday to Friday |
| Minimum and maximum | $100 minimum per withdrawal; no upper limit |
| Timing | Requests before 11 AM Eastern usually arrive the same day; later requests are processed the next business morning |
| Methods | Rise (identity check on invitation) or ACH bank transfer |
| Withdrawing into the buffer | Allowed “without penalty” at your discretion; your balance and room to trade fall accordingly |
| Consistency or minimum days in live | None |
| Payment status | You trade as a contractor under power of attorney over TFD’s sub-accounts |
Payout proof. TFD does not publish a payout total or payout dashboard. The evidence is first-hand: a Reddit trader reported a $500 buffer withdrawal paid as $400 within an hour in January 2026, and several Trustpilot reviews say they reached live and were paid. One Trustpilot reviewer (June 2026) says a passed account was never credited because trades were attributed to a cancelled account. We could not verify individual cases.
Your first payout, step by step
- Pass the Assessment Desk: reach the profit target (adjusted by any Daily Base Hit overage) in at least the minimum days without hitting max drawdown.
- Sim-Brokerage opens at the end of that trading day, with the same drawdown and daily loss limit and no minimum days.
- Earn the buffer, which equals your max drawdown. Profit above the buffer is not carried over, so there is no point overshooting.
- TFD sets up your live account at Dorman (Rithmic) or Plus500 (ProjectX). You receive a Rise invitation and complete the identity check, or link a bank account for ACH.
- Request a withdrawal before 11 AM ET on a weekday. Minimum $100; you keep 80%.
- Keep trading at least every two weeks: 14 days of inactivity on a live account, if TFD cannot reach you, ends the account and forfeits earlier gains.
Worked example ($2,000 drawdown, static). Assessment target about $4,000 by the reported preset table. Then $2,000 of Sim-Brokerage profit. Live starting balance $2,000, floor $0. First request: $1,000 withdrawn, $800 received, $1,000 left to trade with. A $1,000 live loss after that would end the account, so most traders take less early.
The live brokerage account
- Real money at CFTC-registered, NFA-compliant futures commission merchants (Dorman or Plus500); TFD says every profit and loss is “backed by firm capital”.
- Starting balance equals your buffer; the minimum is a static $0 for all live accounts.
- Strategies: DCA, algorithms, micro-scalping, bonds and news plays allowed, within CME and CFTC rules and the 5-micro news limit.
- Scaling: no scaling during the assessment; in live, you can request higher contract limits and daily loss thresholds from support or your risk manager, and TFD offers one-on-one coaching calls.
- Platform or connectivity losses: TFD reviews simulated accounts case by case, but says it “cannot guarantee any fixes for live funded accounts”.
- Traders on Reddit report that after a run of blown live accounts in early 2026 TFD’s risk team became more cautious, and that blowing a live account can bring a waiting period (one trader cited six months) before a new assessment. These are individual accounts we could not verify.
How many accounts you can hold
The knowledge base (updated December 18, 2025) allows up to four active assessments, as long as the total max drawdown across all your accounts is $6,000 or lower. That cap counts assessments, Sim-Brokerage and live acc