Prop firm rules that can reduce or block a payout
Passing is not the same as getting paid. These are the terms that can shrink, delay or cancel a withdrawal after the profit is made, from minimum amounts to review periods. Every rule below is quoted from the firm’s own pages, with a link to where we read it.
What can this rule do to you?
Kind of rule
Payout
What can reduce, delay or void money you have already made.
Five strikes and the account is closed permanently
Most rule breaks at Finotive are not instant failures. Each confirmed breach records one Strike and cuts your Reward Payment to 10% for that entire Payout Cycle. Five cumulative Strikes close the account permanently. The consequence is therefore cumulative across your whole time with the firm. A Strike you took months ago still counts toward the fifth.
Withdrawing all profit closes an Instant account
On Stellar Instant the 6% trailing drawdown resets to the initial balance once you are 6% or more in profit. You must then leave a profit buffer in the account: withdrawing everything you have made results in the account being closed.
A payout request past the daily drawdown is a hard breach
If a payout request would take the account past its daily drawdown limit it counts as breaking the daily drawdown rule. The account is terminated so an equity cushion must be left when withdrawing.
Futures: a full withdrawal on Pro can breach the drawdown
A payout request closes all open positions and is taken off the balance straight away. Withdrawing 100% on a Pro funded account pulls the balance back towards the locked drawdown limit, and FTMO warns this can breach it.
Small withdrawals are paid at a 50% split
The split is set by the size of each single withdrawal, not your total profit. On a TCP 25 account a withdrawal under $1,500 is paid at 50% instead of 80%.
Profit you do not request at payout is forfeited
Requesting any payout resets the account to its starting balance whatever the amount. Profit left in the account is lost for good so request the full available amount each time.
Daily profit above $3,000 does not count on funded accounts
On every funded account profit above $3,000 in one day is removed from the payout calculation. The account is not breached but the extra profit is not paid.
Pro Plan profits above the live cap are lost on transfer to live
When the risk team moves a Pro sim funded trader to live, profit is carried over only up to the plan maximum. Anything above that is forfeited.
Profit inside the PRO buffer only pays out when the account closes
Money below the buffer (starting balance plus max drawdown) can only be withdrawn by terminating the PRO account. It is paid at 50% if the account traded 60 days or fewer.
Five trading days before your first payout
The first withdrawal needs at least $100 profit and a minimum of five trading days. Passing quickly does not mean being paid quickly.
Two payouts per 30 days, per challenge
You may request up to two payouts every 30 days on the same challenge. Profits made after the second request wait for the next window.
A payout can be refused for poor risk management alone
Blue Guardian reserves the right to terminate an account or deny a withdrawal request where it considers that a customer has abused margin availability or has not applied an appropriate risk management strategy. No threshold is given for what counts as appropriate, so this is judgement exercised after the profit has been made.
1-Step only: the Best Day Rule can hold up your pass or your payout
On the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step and the 1-Step FTMO Account, your best day may not be more than 50% of your positive days' profit. FTMO lists it as a Trading Objective, not a consistency rule, and going over it is not a breach: you keep trading until your best day is 50% or less before you can pass or be paid. The 2-Step has no Best Day Rule.
The 90% profit split is a paid extra; the account pays 80%
The pricing page advertises a split of "up to 90%". The help centre gives the Instant account's split as "80% (Optional 90% add-on available)". The higher number is a purchase, not a term of the account.
A trading day only counts if you make money that day
Five minimum trading days sounds like five days at the screen. Their definition: "A trading day is counted on any day where at least 0.5% profit is achieved." Days you trade and lose, or trade and break even, do not count toward the five you need before you can request a payout.
FundingPips Zero: the first 3% of profit is not yours to withdraw
Zero holds a safety cushion. The first 3% of profit made on the Master account can never be requested as a reward. The trailing drawdown locks at the initial balance once 5% profit is reached, and does not reset after a payout.
The 1-Step drawdown stops trailing at 6%
On the 1-Step account the trailing limit follows equity until you are 6% above the initial balance, at which point it locks at the original balance and stops moving. Everything made after that is yours to lose without breaching.
The 15% evaluation bonus has to be asked for
Reach 10% growth on funded accounts and you are issued a new account whose starting balance includes a 15% bonus calculated from your Phase 1 and Phase 2 profit. Growth can be combined only within the same linked chain, not across separate funded accounts, and the bonus is not applied automatically: you must contact support to request it.
Instant funding does not mean an instant payout
The Funded Trader Programme hands you a live account with no evaluation, but the money is still gated: "Payouts eligibility and progression are based on reaching a 10% profit mark." Until the account is 10% up, there is nothing to withdraw. Their own guide is explicit that the 10% here is not an evaluation target, it is the payout gate, which is a distinction most instant-funding marketing does not draw.
Trading is frozen for one to three days while they review you
Reaching the milestone triggers a risk review, listed as 1-3 working days, and their guide records the state of the account during it as "Trading during review: Paused." So the reward for a good run is a closed platform for up to three working days. Approval moves the profit into a dashboard wallet and issues a scaled account; the external withdrawal then follows the platform payout schedule, which is a further step again.
First two payouts on $100k+ accounts capped at $10,000
On accounts of $100K or more each of the first two reward requests can withdraw at most $10,000. The cap is lifted after the second withdrawal.
Miss the Friday cutoff and your payout waits another week
Requests must reach the prop firm by email by 2:00 PM CT on Friday to be paid the following Wednesday. A later request rolls to the next weekly run.
Next payout date only moves once you trade again
The next withdrawal date is calculated from the day a trade is executed. If you place no trade after a payout request the system does not update the date so your next payout waits.
LucidFlex pays at most 50% of profit and moves you live after 5 payouts
Each LucidFlex payout is capped at 50% of profit up to a fixed dollar amount by account size. After 5 payouts the account is moved to live.
Only profit above a fixed threshold can be withdrawn
Each account size has a profit buffer you cannot withdraw, for example $3,500 on a $100,000 account. The trader share of each withdrawal must also be at least $1,000.
Crypto payouts capped at one a week and $3,000
Crypto withdrawals are limited to one request per calendar week of up to $3,000 and can take up to 14 business days. Anything larger has to go by bank wire.
Instant Funding profitable days reset after every payout
On Instant Funding accounts you must complete a set of profitable trading days before each payout request. The count goes back to zero after every payout.
Half your trades flagged means the payout is declined
Profit from each trade that breaks a funded rule is removed at payout and 20 soft breaches close the account. If half or more of your trades are flagged the payout is declined and a second declined payout closes the account.
Futures: payout days only count above a minimum profit
A futures payout needs 4 qualifying days on Growth or 5 on Pro in the cycle, and a day only qualifies if it closes $150 to $500 in profit, depending on plan and size. Small winning days and losing days do not count.
Futures: half of every payout must be new profit
At least 50% of each futures payout request must be profit made in the current cycle, so profit you left in the account can only come out alongside an equal amount of new profit. Growth accounts can also withdraw only 50% of profit, and every request is capped.
Turbo's real price is due after you pass
Turbo costs $22.84 at any size, but passing Phase 2 triggers an activation fee equal to the full 2 Step price, from $42.99 at $5K to $1,097.99 at $200K, due within 7 days. Add-ons bought with Turbo are charged again when the account is funded.
The first payout is capped at $5,000
The first reward on Standard, Gen Z and Turbo accounts is capped at $5,000, and the rest waits for the next cycle. Instant Live caps every request at 3% of the initial balance.
On the 1-Step, taking a payout resets your loss limit downward
Their own wording: the trailing limit can only increase, never decrease, but when a Reward is withdrawn and a new FTMO Account is provided, the Maximum Loss Limit fully resets, returning the first-day limit to 90% of the initial capital. A trader who has built a cushion of profit gives that cushion up by taking money out.
Every payout resets the account to starting balance
After each approved payout the account goes back to its starting balance. You start every cycle with no profit cushion above your drawdown limits.
Futures: the evaluation keeps billing monthly after a breach
FTMO Futures evaluations are a monthly subscription, not a one-time fee. If you breach, the subscription stays active and you get a new account on the next billing date unless you cancel or pay a reset fee. Billing only stops when you pass or cancel.
This list is only as complete as our reading. 33 of the 83 firms we track have been through a rulebook pass; the rest are still to do, and a firm missing from here has not been cleared. It has not been checked. See which firms are next.