The Futures Desk Rules: Drawdown, Consistency Rule (Daily Base Hit), Scaling Plan and Live Account Rules
Review the documented rules, source notes, tools, and account checks recorded for The Futures Desk Rules: Drawdown, Consistency Rule (Daily Base Hit), Scaling Plan and Live Account Rules.
Rules can change: The firm or platform controls the current wording. Confirm the linked source and your dashboard before you trade or request a payout.
The Futures Desk rules for all three stages of its program: the one-step Assessment, the Sim-Brokerage buffer stage and the Live Brokerage account. The Futures Desk (TFD) is a Chicago futures prop firm, now owned by TS TFD Buyer, LLC after Topstep bought it on April 1, 2026. It sells CME Group futures only, on its own TFD-X platform (built on ProjectX) or through Rithmic. The headline rule is short: in the Assessment there is only one way to fail, hitting your maximum drawdown. You choose an end-of-day (EOD) or a static drawdown, there is no intraday trailing, and the daily loss limit only locks you out for the rest of the day. The rules that cost traders time and money sit underneath: the Daily Base Hit, TFD’s version of a consistency rule, which raises your profit target by every dollar you earn above it; profits above the buffer in Sim-Brokerage that never reach the live account; a 5-micro cap around news on live accounts; a 14-day inactivity rule; a $6,000 cap on total drawdown across all your accounts; and a list of prohibited conduct in the Terms that can forfeit withdrawals from every account you hold. This page sets out each rule with official numbers, worked examples and two calculators, answers whether TFD has a scaling plan, shows where TFD’s own pages disagree, and starts with the question that matters most in October 2026: whether you can still buy an account at all.
Stage and Plan Picker
Choose the account stage or plan you hold. The result lists the published rule values and the rule most likely to catch you out at that stage.
What can trip you up
Rows To Inspect First
These are the rules TFD’s own pages say end accounts, cost money or slow you down, and the ones traders who only read the homepage tend to miss. The labels explain why each row is surfaced; they are not a recommendation to buy or avoid the firm.
Big days move the target
Every dollar above your Daily Base Hit is added to the profit target the next day. A $1,000 day on a $2,000, 5-day plan leaves you exactly as far from passing as a $400 day.
Profit over the buffer is lost
In Sim-Brokerage you build a buffer equal to your drawdown. “Any amount earned over your buffer will not be transferred to your live account.” Stop pushing once the buffer is full.
One breach can cost every account
The Terms say prohibited conduct found at any point, even after you graduate, forfeits withdrawals from your other TFD accounts and closes them. Hedging across accounts and coordinated trading are on the list.
Can You Still Buy a The Futures Desk Account?
Probably not as a new trader, and that changes how you should read every rule below.
- Topstep bought TFD on April 1, 2026. The announcement says TFD’s two co-founders joined Topstep and that TFD’s technology would be built into TopstepX. TFD’s own Terms, effective the same day, name the operator as TS TFD Buyer, LLC, a Delaware company, and Topstep’s live funded account rules page now describes The Futures Desk as a firm “owned by TS TFD Buyer, LLC”.
- The sales pages are switched off. On October 11, 2026 the homepage showed only “Knowledge Base” and “Sign In” links, with no pricing or “Get Funded” button. The March 6, 2026 archived homepage still had “All Pricing”, “Static Pricing”, “Get Funded” and a “60% OFF” code banner; by the April 21, 2026 archive those links were gone.
- The static plans page says “Purchases Disabled”. The member-portal page that lists the Static Mini, Core and Pro plans still loads with full rule tables, but the button under each plan is greyed out and labelled “Purchases Disabled”. The same label is in the copy archived on July 12, 2026.
- The rules still matter if you already hold an account. The Knowledge Base, which TFD calls the place for its “Trading Rules”, is still online and is the rulebook for open Assessments, Sim-Brokerage and Live Brokerage accounts. The homepage FAQ still answers “Do you offer discounts?” with “reach out to our support chat”.
- If you want to keep trading with the same team, the acquisition points to Topstep, which has its own, different rules. See Topstep rules and the Topstep review rather than assuming TFD’s rules carry over.
Sources: Topstep acquisition press release, April 1, 2026 (GlobeNewswire via Yahoo Finance), Terms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026), Topstep Live Funded Account rules page, The Futures Desk homepage and FAQ, homepage archived March 6, 2026 (Wayback Machine), homepage archived April 21, 2026 (Wayback Machine), Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com), static plans page, archived July 12, 2026 (Wayback Machine), checked October 11, 2026.
The Futures Desk Rule Checks
| Rule area | Official-source snapshot | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum drawdown EOD or static, the only fail rule | “There is only one way to fail your assessment; hitting your max drawdown.” EOD drawdown trails the highest end-of-day balance and locks once the floor reaches the starting balance. Static drawdown is fixed at the starting balance minus the drawdown value. “We NEVER have any intraday unrealized drawdowns.” | The drawdown type you choose “follows you into the funded account”. On a live account the floor is the starting balance itself (“zero as the static minimum for all accounts”). Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Trading Guidelines; Knowledge Base: Max Drawdown; Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage – Trading Guidelines, Max Drawdown and Live-Brokerage articles – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsKnowledge Base: Trading Guidelines and Knowledge Base: Max Drawdown and Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage |
| Daily loss limit 40% of max drawdown, soft lockout | “You pick your Daily Loss Limit at checkout. If you hit that loss, you’re locked out for the rest of the day, but your account stays active.” P&L is open plus closed, reset to zero each trading day. “During assessment, your Daily Loss Limit is 40 percent of your Max Drawdown.” | Profits made earlier in the day are added to the limit: +$1,000 with a $500 limit means you can give back $1,500 before the lockout. Live accounts start with the same limit, raised as performance improves. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Daily Loss Limit; Knowledge Base: Rules Overview FAQ; Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com) – Daily Loss Limit article and static plan tables – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Profit target and Daily Base Hit target / minimum days | Daily Base Hit (DBH) = profit target / minimum trading days. Earning above the DBH “moves your profit target by the same amount you already earned over the DBH”. Earning less “does not penalize you”. Below your peak end-of-day balance the base hit rises to 150% (Boosted Base Hit). | “Assessment Only. This is removed after passing.” Static plans list it as “$286 Base Hits” (Mini), “$572” (Core) and “$858” (Pro). Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Daily Base Hit (Consistency); Knowledge Base: Minimum Trading Days FAQ; Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com) – Daily Base Hit and Minimum Trading Days articles – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Minimum trading days chosen in the plan builder | You set the minimum days when you build the plan. The overview says “Minimum 5 Days”; the static plans use 7. Sim-Brokerage and Live have “No Minimum Days”. | The minimum days only feed the DBH formula: “This is the only way we use the minimum days number you select.” Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: TFD at a Glance; Knowledge Base: Creating a New Plan; Knowledge Base: Daily Base Hit (Consistency); Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com) – TFD at a Glance, Creating a New Plan, static plans page – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Sim-Brokerage buffer buffer = max drawdown | After passing you trade under the same drawdown and daily loss limit until you earn a buffer equal to your max drawdown. Then you move to a live brokerage account and payouts unlock. “Any amount earned over your buffer will not be transferred to your live account.” | No minimum days and no DBH in this stage. Exceptional Assessment results can sometimes skip the stage at TFD’s discretion. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Sim-Brokerage; Knowledge Base: TFD at a Glance; Knowledge Base: Payouts – Sim-Brokerage, TFD at a Glance and Payouts articles – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsKnowledge Base: Sim-Brokerage and Knowledge Base: TFD at a Glance and Knowledge Base: Payouts |
| News trading free in Assessment, 5 micros live | “You can trade the news with no restrictions during the Assessment.” On a live account, from one minute before to one minute after a news event you are limited to 5 micros, and “reasonable stops MUST be placed”. | TFD says it monitors and “will flatten” positions that break the live news rule. The Knowledge Base does not define which events count; the dashboard has a news calendar. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: News Trading; Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage Guidelines – News Trading and Live-Brokerage Guidelines articles – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsKnowledge Base: News Trading and Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage Guidelines |
| Overnight and weekend not allowed | “No positions may be held when the market is closed.” Close at least 15 minutes before the close; the platform shuts at 4:45 PM ET and auto-closes open positions, but “This is NOT guaranteed.” The static plans FAQ: “Swing trading and holding positions beyond the trading session are not permitted.” | The Terms give a different cut-off, 3:10 PM CT (4:10 PM ET), “unless the account has Swing Trading enabled”. See the conflicts section. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Trading Hours; Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com); Terms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026) – Trading Hours article, static plans FAQ, Terms – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Strategies allowed scalping, bots, DCA, copy trading | Allowed: microscalping with no minimum hold time, bots “when solely controlled by you”, dollar-cost averaging, news trading, dynamic contract sizing, and hedging within an account in different products or expirations. Copy traders are allowed in Assessment and funded desks, without technical support. | The Terms still list high-frequency trading, “simultaneously entering opposite positions” and abusive automated tools as prohibited conduct. Allowed styles can still be reviewed. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Trading Guidelines; Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage; Terms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026) – Trading Guidelines article and Terms conduct list – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Prohibited conduct trades removed, accounts closed | Terms list: exploiting errors, spoofing, excessive or unrealistic trading, trading outside quotes, slow data feeds, market manipulation, coordinated trading or hedging across accounts, circumventing geographic restrictions, holding within 2% of a lock limit, trading for others. | Penalties include failing the Assessment, removing trades, deleting the trading day and its profits, closing the account and a ban. Conduct found after you graduate forfeits withdrawals from your other TFD accounts. Source: The Futures Desk Terms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026); The Futures Desk homepage and FAQ – Terms Conduct Violations and homepage disclaimer – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsTerms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026) and The Futures Desk homepage and FAQ |
| Scaling none in Assessment; raises when live | “There is no scaling of contracts or daily loss limit during the assessment.” On a live account “you can increase your contract limits and daily drawdown thresholds. Just reach out to support or your risk manager to request a raise.” | No published tiers, profit milestones or schedule for live raises. Raises are discretionary. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Scaling; Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage; Knowledge Base: TFD at a Glance – Scaling and Live-Brokerage articles – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsKnowledge Base: Scaling and Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage and Knowledge Base: TFD at a Glance |
| Contract limit chosen in plan; 1 mini = 10 micros | The plan builder sets the maximum position. It is one overall limit across all products, counted in minis with “one mini equals 10 micros”. Static plans: 1, 2 or 3 minis. | At 35 micros on a 4-mini plan you cannot add a mini, because only 5 micros of room remain. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Maximum Position Size; Knowledge Base: Creating a New Plan; Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com) – Maximum Position Size article and static plans page – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Account limits 4 accounts, $6,000 total drawdown | Up to four active Assessments “as long as the max total drawdown is $6000 or lower”, counting Assessments, Sim-Brokerage and Live accounts together. At live stage TFD suggests merging to one account, 2 at most. One username per person; extra usernames are “a bannable offense”. | The homepage FAQ says “a max of 2 accounts per trader”. The Knowledge Base and static plans page say 4 (2 live). Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Max Accounts; Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com); The Futures Desk homepage and FAQ – Max Accounts article, static plans FAQ, homepage FAQ – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Inactivity (live) 14 days, unreachable = terminated | “If a brokerage account stays inactive for 14 consecutive days and we are unable to get a hold of you, the account will be terminated, and any gains earned before the inactivity period will be lost.” | Tell support before an extended break. The Assessment itself has no inactivity rule, but it auto-bills every 31 days until you pass or cancel. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage Guidelines; Knowledge Base: Extensions – Live-Brokerage Guidelines and Extensions articles – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsKnowledge Base: Live-Brokerage Guidelines and Knowledge Base: Extensions |
| VPN, VPS and devices not allowed | “We do not allow the use of a VPN or VPS in the system due to security concerns.” The Terms call it “strictly forbidden” and say it “can lead to account termination and profit forfeiture”. | This also affects anyone who planned to run a bot on a cloud server. TFD does not say how it detects a VPS. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Can I use a VPN or VPS?; Terms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026) – VPN article and Terms prohibited uses – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Resets and extensions $75 to $229; $29 or $49 every 31 days | Resets: $75 ($100 to $3,000 drawdown), $150 ($3,000 to $5,750), $229 ($6,000), each with a free 31-day extension. Extensions bill every 31 days: $29 on TFD-X, $49 on Rithmic, cancelled when you pass. | The static plans page prices “Reset + 31-Day Extension” at $99 for all three static plans. More than 3 resets in 24 hours can suspend ordering under the Terms. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Resets; Knowledge Base: Extensions; Static plans page (members.thefuturesdesk.com); Terms and Conditions (effective April 1, 2026) – Resets and Extensions articles, static plans page, Terms – checked October 11, 2026. |
| Payout gates (live) daily, $100 minimum, 80% | Payouts unlock once the buffer is built. Live: Monday to Friday, $100 minimum, no maximum, 80/20 split, Rise or ACH, same day if requested before 11 AM ET. No consistency rule or minimum days between payouts. | Full payout rules and worked examples are on the The Futures Desk payouts page. Source: The Futures Desk Knowledge Base: Payouts; Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage; The Futures Desk homepage and FAQ – Payouts and Live-Brokerage articles, homepage – checked October 11, 2026. Full source URLsKnowledge Base: Payouts and Knowledge Base: Live-Brokerage and The Futures Desk homepage and FAQ |
The Futures Desk Rules at Each Stage: Assessment, Sim-Brokerage and Live
TFD calls its accounts “desks”. You pass one Assessment, build a buffer in a simulated brokerage account, then trade a real brokerage account held at a futures commission merchant (Dorman for Rithmic, Plus500 for ProjectX). The rules change at each step, and the table shows which ones carry over.
| Rule | 1. Assessment | 2. Sim-Brokerage | 3. Live Brokerage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money | Simulated, live market data | Simulated | Real capital at a regulated FCM |
| Goal | Reach the profit target | Earn a buffer equal to your max drawdown | No target; withdraw profit |
| Maximum drawdown | EOD or static, your choice; the only fail rule | Same drawdown and type | Starting balance = buffer; floor is $0 (the starting balance is your whole room) |
| Daily loss limit | 40% of max drawdown; soft lockout | Same limit “(for now)” | Starts at your limit, raised on request as you perform |
| Consistency | Daily Base Hit (target rises by overage) | None | None |
| Minimum days | Chosen in plan (5 in the overview, 7 on static plans) | None | None |
| News | No restrictions | Knowledge Base gives no separate rule | Max 5 micros from 1 minute before to 1 minute after; stops required |
| Payouts | None | Unlocked once the buffer is full; first withdrawal can be sent while the live account is set up | Daily Mon-Fri, $100 minimum, no cap, 80% split |
| Fees | Plan price, 31-day extensions ($29 / $49), resets | Data covered, no extensions | No activation fee; one pro data feed covered; extra exchanges deducted |
| Inactivity | None (auto-billing every 31 days) | Not stated | 14 days and unreachable = terminated |
What “profit over the buffer is lost” means in practice. On a $2,000 drawdown plan, the Sim-Brokerage target is $2,000. If you finish the stage at $2,600, your live account still opens at $2,000; the extra $600 of simulated profit is not carried. Once you are close to the buffer, a smaller position that just finishes the job is worth more than a big day.
Skipping Sim-Brokerage. “If your performance during the Assessment is exceptional you can submit your results for review.” TFD does not publish the criteria and calls it “Not common”.
Sources: Knowledge Base: TFD at a Glance, Knowledge Base: Sim-Brokerage,