Q: Option 1 or Option 2 — what’s the difference?

Option 1 (No Scaling): your drawdown trails your highest balance in real time, including open positions, and you trade full contract size from day one. Option 2 (EOD): your drawdown updates once a day at the close on realised profit, contract size scales with your Cash On Hand, and a daily loss limit pauses your day instead of ending the account. The choice is locked for the life of the account.

Question 1

What can I trade?

Accepted Answer

41 futures contracts on all four CME Group exchanges — CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. Equity indices (ES, NQ, YM, RTY, EMD), energies (CL, NG, RB), metals (GC, SI, HG, PL), FX (6E, 6B, 6J and more), grains and livestock, plus Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether.

Every major product also has a micro version, and you can trade standard and micro contracts side by side — 1 standard = 10 micros.

See the full rate sheet (PDF)

Question 2

Can I trade the news?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Trade straight through the economic calendar — CPI, FOMC, NFP and every other release. No blackout windows, no forced position closing, no penalties. The only limits are your drawdown and your contract limit. The trading day runs from 5:00 pm to 4:00 pm CT, and all positions must be closed by 3:59 pm CT.

Question 3

How long does the Qualification take?

Accepted Answer

As long as you need. There is no minimum and no maximum number of trading days — reach the profit target within the drawdown rules and you’re through. You don’t have to trade every day.

Question 4

Option 1 or Option 2 — what’s the difference?

Accepted Answer

Option 1 (No Scaling): your drawdown trails your highest balance in real time, including open positions, and you trade full contract size from day one. Option 2 (EOD): your drawdown updates once a day at the close on realised profit, contract size scales with your Cash On Hand, and a daily loss limit pauses your day instead of ending the account. The choice is locked for the life of the account.

Question 5

What if I break a rule?

Accepted Answer

Hitting your maximum drawdown suspends the account — but you are not out. On a Qualification account a reset costs $78: your balance returns to its starting value and you keep going on the same account. Resets are processed instantly and confirmed by email, and your completed trading days start over.

Question 6

Can I use bots, algos or trade copiers?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Bots, algorithms and trade copiers are permitted. If you connect to Rithmic through a third-party API or composite software, an additional $100 per month applies. Only user-built tools intended solely for the account owner’s personal use are permitted. Commercial, shared, rented or publicly distributed automation tools are not allowed. These tools are developed and maintained independently by their users, so their uptime, reliability and performance are outside our control, and we cannot provide support or accept responsibility for any issues arising from their use.

Question 7

What happens right after I pass?

Accepted Answer

Your account is submitted for review automatically. Verification takes a short period of time, after which you receive your certificate, a questionnaire and the agreement by email. A Master Account has no monthly fee — only a one-time activation, depending on account size. If you passed a Momentum account, your Momentum Master has no fee at all: it is activated free of charge.

Question 8

What is Fast Track?

Accepted Answer

Fast Track skips the qualification stage completely. There is a one-time fee. Start trading in a simulated funded environment from day one — no profit target, no minimum trading days, payout requests processed the same day. After 3 payouts and 30 trading days the account is reviewed for a Funded Account.

Question 9

What is Momentum?

Accepted Answer

Momentum is a qualification that is paid only once. Reach the profit target at your own pace and your Momentum Master is activated free of charge — there is no fee for the Master stage. From there the path is the same: trade, request payouts the same day.

Question 10

How many accounts can I have?

Accepted Answer

You can have up to 5 accounts in total — Master, Fast Track and Momentum Master in any combination. Qualification Accounts stay unlimited, and all of your accounts run under one Rithmic User ID.

Question 11

How do payouts work?

Accepted Answer

The first $10,000 in payouts is 100% yours. After that the split is 90/10 in your favour. Payout requests on Fast Track and Momentum accounts are processed every day; on a regular Master Account payouts are processed every Wednesday.

Question 12

How fast are payouts processed?

Accepted Answer

You can request a payout any day of the week. On Fast Track and Momentum requests are processed the same day; on a regular Master Account they are processed every Wednesday.

Question 13

What payout methods do you support?

Accepted Answer

Payouts are sent by ACH or wire transfer and by PayPal. The full payout rules are in the Help Center.

Question 14

What is the consistency rule?

Accepted Answer

The consistency rule keeps your results balanced — your best single trading day should not make up too large a share of your total profit for the payout period. If a request does not meet it, nothing is violated and your account stays open: just keep trading with your usual position size until the balance evens out. The exact figure for your account type is in the Help Center — Fast Track, Momentum or Master.

Question 15

How am I taxed?

Accepted Answer

Funded traders are independent contractors responsible for filing their own taxes. U.S. citizens receive Form 1099-NEC, while non-U.S. citizens receive Form W-8BEN.

Question 16

What platforms do you support?

Accepted Answer

More than 20, including NinjaTrader, R|Trader Pro, Quantower, Sierra Chart, MultiCharts and ATAS. NinjaTrader 8 comes with a free licence on the Master Account. See every supported platform

Question 17

Is my country supported?

Accepted Answer

We are proud to support traders in over 100 countries worldwide. However, due to regulatory restrictions, we are prohibited from conducting business with residents of certain countries. The current list of restricted countries is provided below: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Burma (Myanmar), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guinea, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macau, Macedonia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Martin, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British), Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Please note that this list is subject to change at any time, based on updates from brokerages and other regulatory developments.

Question 18

Can I cancel or get a refund?

Accepted Answer

If you need to cancel an account, no worries. Qualification accounts have no recurring payment — access simply expires at the end of the subscription cycle and nothing is charged again. Payments are non-refundable once the service has been used.

Answers before you ask

Trading & rules

Getting funded

Payouts

Account & access