Earn2Trade is the only major prop firm in this cluster where the activation fee is deducted from your first withdrawal — not paid upfront — so your total cost to attempt funding is just the monthly subscription. It's also the only firm in this dataset that fully releases the 30% consistency rule once you pass the eval, and the only one where 94.77% of 2025 passers chose to stay on simulated capital (LiveSim) forever rather than convert to real capital. Different mechanics, different mental model. This is the 2026 guide to GAU vs TCP, the EOD-only trail, the consistency-dies-at-the-funded-gate scope, the LiveSim-vs-Live choice, and the structural wedges most explainers miss.
Most Earn2Trade explainers walk through account sizes and profit targets and stop there. The interesting parts of this firm are structural — they change the math, the lifecycle, and the risk profile vs every other firm in this cluster.
$139 activation fee is taken from your first payout — not paid upfront. Your only cash-out-of-pocket to attempt funding is the monthly subscription ($150–$550). If you never pass, you never owe the activation. Lowest-friction sign-up in this dataset.
30% consistency rule applies ONLY during the eval — "at the point of passing." It is explicitly dropped on the funded account. Apex, MFFU, and Bulenox keep consistency on the funded side. Earn2Trade doesn't. Once you're funded, biggest-day math no longer constrains you.
After passing, you're funded on LiveSim (simulated capital, real 80/20 payouts). You can stay there indefinitely. In 2025, 94.77% of passers never converted to Live capital — and withdrawal participation was roughly equal across both states. You're not pushed to the real account.
Each of those three changes one of the load-bearing questions you ask before signing up: "how much does this cost me up front?", "what rules survive after I pass?", and "what does funded actually look like?". Three answers different from every other firm in this cluster.
Earn2Trade runs two distinct futures products. Same firm, same lock mechanic, same trail, same payout — but very different lifecycles. Picking the wrong one for your trading style is a common signup mistake because both share the "Earn2Trade" name.
The lifecycle question: If you want to start small and grow into more size as you prove the strategy, TCP. If you want max contracts day one and you already know your size, GAU. The trail mechanic and payout structure are identical between the two — the difference is the scaling ladder and the reset economics.
All numbers below are EOD trailing drawdown values. Same trail family as Topstep/MFFU funded; opposite of Apex 4.0 (intraday) and Bulenox Option 1 (intraday HWM).
| Account | Balance | Target | EOD Trail DD | DLL | Max contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GAU50 | $50,000 | $3,000 | $2,000 | $1,100 | 6 |
| GAU100 | $100,000 | $6,000 | $3,500 | $2,200 | 12 |
| GAU150 | $150,000 | $9,000 | $4,500 | $3,300 | 15 |
| GAU200 | $200,000 | $11,000 | $6,000 | $4,400 | 16 |
| Account | Balance | Target | EOD Trail DD | DLL | Max contracts | Scales to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCP25 | $25,000 | $1,750 | $1,500 | $550 | 3 | $200K |
| TCP50 | $50,000 | $3,000 | $2,000 | $1,100 | 6 | $400K |
| TCP100 | $100,000 | $6,000 | $3,500 | $2,200 | 12 | $400K |
Deep dive → TPT vs Earn2Trade 2026: same SB lock, opposite risk-floor architecture — Earn2Trade enforces a DLL on every account size in both tables above ($550–$4,400 by plan + size); it persists for the account's life. TPT removed DLL firmwide in January 2025 — only the trail enforces risk on any TPT phase (Test, PRO, or PRO+). Both firms lock the funded trail at exactly the Starting Balance (no $100 buffer like Apex/MFFU/Bulenox/Tradeify), so the primary lock floor is shared — but the secondary risk-floor architecture is opposite: Earn2Trade stacks trail + DLL on every account, TPT runs trail-only. Worked examples of how the DLL-versus-trail-only difference reshapes day-to-day risk management between the two firms.
Our free Trailing-Drawdown Calculator runs the Earn2Trade EOD math (same trail family as Topstep funded) without you having to track it in your head. Set the balance, pick the EOD model, and it shows you the lock point and how today's P&L moves the floor for tomorrow.
Open the Trailing-Drawdown Calculator →Earn2Trade's trailing drawdown updates once per day, based on the end-of-day balance. There is no intraday trail — your floor doesn't move while you're in a trade or chasing an unrealized HWM. This matters a lot for traders who scalp into a fast spike and pull off the high tick: that spike doesn't move your DD against you the way it would on Apex 4.0 or Bulenox Option 1.
The lock point is the starting balance — not SB+$100. That puts Earn2Trade in the same lock archetype as Topstep funded:
Trail family map: Earn2Trade = Topstep funded family (EOD, lock at SB). Apex 4.0 = intraday, lock at SB+$100. MFFU / Tradeify / Bulenox Option 2 = EOD, lock at SB+$100. Bulenox Option 1 = intraday HWM, lock at SB+$100. The trail mechanic + lock point combination determines how your floor moves between trading days — and Earn2Trade's combo is the most forgiving on intraday spikes but the strictest on the lock-point math (no $100 cushion).
Deep dive → Earn2Trade vs Topstep 2026: same SB lock, opposite lifecycle — both firms lock the funded trail at exactly the Starting Balance (no $100 buffer like Apex / MFFU / Bulenox / Tradeify), and both drop the consistency rule on the funded phase. The split is everything around that shared lock: Earn2Trade defers the activation fee to your first withdrawal and lets you stay on LiveSim forever; Topstep charges Express Funded fees upfront and routes you to live data faster. Worked examples of where the same trading record passes one firm and fits awkwardly at the other, plus which trader profile each firm actually rewards.
Earn2Trade has a 30% consistency rule (same threshold as Apex 4.0) — but the scope is different from every other firm in this cluster.
The rule says your best trading day cannot exceed 30% of your total profit at the moment you request the funded-account transition. Same math as the other firms — but the rule is enforced at the point of passing and dropped immediately after. On the funded account, biggest-day math no longer constrains payouts.
Compare scopes across the cluster:
| Firm | Threshold | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Earn2Trade | 30% | Eval only — explicitly dropped on funded |
| Apex 4.0 | 30% | Both eval AND funded |
| Topstep | 50% | Combine only — dropped on Express Funded |
| MFFU Core | 40% | Funded only (no consistency in eval) |
| Bulenox | 40% | Master + Funded only (not Qualification) |
| Tradeify Select | 40% | Eval only — funded is consistency-free |
Two firms in the cluster fully release consistency post-eval: Earn2Trade and Topstep. Earn2Trade does it at 30%, Topstep at 50%. If you're a trader who's OK pacing through the eval but wants no post-pass biggest-day worry, both of those work the same way structurally.
Deep dive → Apex vs MFFU 2026: same lock floor, inverse consistency wedge — 30% lifetime vs 40% funded-only — Earn2Trade sits between these two firms on the threshold-scope matrix above. It matches Apex 4.0's 30% number but matches MFFU/Tradeify's narrow scope (Earn2Trade enforces 30% eval-only — the most lenient configuration in the cluster). Worked examples of where Apex's lifetime-30% binds harder on a real funded-trader equity curve than MFFU's funded-only-40%, plus how Earn2Trade's eval-only-30% is structurally easier than both — same numbers, different binding environments, different trader profile fit.
Our free Consistency-Rule Calculator is preset for Earn2Trade's 30% threshold. Plug in your current total profit, your current biggest day, and it shows you the largest single-day P&L you can post tomorrow without tripping the rule and being denied the funded transition.
Open the Consistency-Rule Calculator →This is the wedge that surprises most traders. After you pass the eval, Earn2Trade funds you on LiveSim — a simulated-capital account where the firm pays you a real 80% profit share from its own balance sheet. You can request payouts, hit the $100 minimum, get paid weekly on Wednesdays. The withdrawal flow is identical to a real account.
You then have a choice you don't have at most firms: stay on LiveSim, or convert to Live capital. Conversion costs nothing. The 80/20 split is identical on both. The trailing-DD, DLL, and consistency-relaxed rules behave identically. The functional difference is whether your trades hit a real exchange.
2025 stats published by Earn2Trade: 94.77% of passers stayed on LiveSim. 5.23% converted to Live. Withdrawal participation was roughly equal across both groups (~18%). The implication: the vast majority of funded Earn2Trade traders are paid from simulated capital with no impact on what they take home.
This affects a few practical things:
Deep dive → Bulenox vs Earn2Trade 2026: when does the irrevocable choice happen? — symmetrical-opposite decision-timing: Earn2Trade defers every binding choice until post-eval and lets 94.77% of 2025 passers stay on LiveSim indefinitely with real 80% profit share; Bulenox forces the Option 1 vs Option 2 binary at signup and locks it for the account's lifetime — no migration path, no per-account reset, no flavor swap. Different lock families on the same 50K too ($50,000 Earn2Trade SB-exact vs $50,100 Bulenox SB+$100). Worked examples of where "you can stay simulated forever and still get paid" beats "pick correctly the first time before you've seen any data" — and which trader profile each model actually rewards.
The payout structure is uniform across both products and both funded states (LiveSim and Live):
The activation-from-first-withdrawal structure deserves a second look. If you sign up for GAU50 at $170/mo and you take 2 months to pass, your cost-to-attempt is $340. If you never pass, that's all you ever pay — no $139 activation, no $98–$490 evaluation fee like other firms. The $139 only hits if you successfully earn a payout, which means Earn2Trade only collects activation from traders who proved out. That's the lowest-friction sign-up structure in the dataset.
Deep dive → Earn2Trade vs Topstep 2026: defer-fee LiveSim vs upfront-fee Live — the lock floor is identical (SB-exact, no $100 buffer), but the sign-up economics are inverted. Earn2Trade defers the $139 activation to your first withdrawal AND lets 94.77% of passers stay on LiveSim forever — you only pay activation if you proved out, and you never have to convert to real exchange routing. Topstep charges Express Funded fees upfront and routes you to live data fast. Worked examples of cost-to-attempt across both firms for a passer, a non-passer, and a marginal trader who passes but never withdraws — three scenarios, three different "best firm" answers.
Earn2Trade supports the widest platform spread of any firm in this cluster. NinjaTrader is provided free during the eval. Tradovate is fully supported (unlike Bulenox, where it isn't). TradingView works for execution. R|Trader Pro is available for traders who want native Rithmic. Finamark is the firm-branded option.
Platform comparison: If you traded on Bulenox before and bumped into the "no Tradovate" surprise, Earn2Trade fixes that. If you're on Tradeify and missed NinjaTrader, Earn2Trade brings it back. The widest platform support combined with broad Rithmic compatibility makes Earn2Trade the most platform-flexible firm in this cluster.
Deep dive → Earn2Trade vs Tradeify 2026: pick your endgame vs pick your restriction — the platform stacks are opposite ends of the cluster (Earn2Trade has NinjaTrader+Tradovate+TradingView+R|Trader+Finamark; Tradeify has Tradesea+Tradovate+WealthCharts with no NinjaTrader, no TradingView, no MetaTrader), but that's just one of five wedges. Earn2Trade defers structural commitment to post-eval (LiveSim default 94.77%-stay vs optional Live 5.23%-convert); Tradeify forces structural commitment at signup across three inverted programs (Growth no-eval/35%-funded vs Select 40%-eval/no-funded vs Lightning instant-funded progressive 20→25→30%). Plus opposite lock families (Earn2Trade SB-exact vs Tradeify SB+$100), opposite cost models (Earn2Trade monthly + activation-deferred vs Tradeify one-time $99–$796 challenge), and Tradeify's uniquely-binding microscalping floor (>50%-of-trades AND >50%-of-profit from >10-second holds — Earn2Trade has no such rule). Worked examples of which trader profile each model actually rewards.
Earn2Trade publicly disclosed an 8.89% 2025 pass rate. That's below TPT and Tradeify but in the same single-digit band as Apex and MFFU. It's also one of the only firms in this cluster that publishes the number — so you can plan with it instead of guessing.
An 8.89% pass rate means: out of every 100 traders who sign up, ~9 reach the funded gate. The trail mechanic isn't the killer here — EOD-only and lock-at-SB are both forgiving. The killers are the 30% consistency rule during the eval (it forces a paced equity curve, not a single-day windfall) and the $1,100–$4,400 daily loss limit (DLL) on a $50K–$200K account (one bad session can be a full reset).
Deep dive → MFFU vs Earn2Trade 2026: skip the eval entirely vs stay on LiveSim forever — the 8.89%-pass-rate killers (30% consistency + DLL) only apply if you take an evaluated path. MFFU sells the only direct shortcut around the eval gate in this cluster: Pro plan is instant-funded on EOD trail with no eval, no consistency rule, no DLL, $100K total payout cap across all Pro accounts. Opposite mechanic (skip vs grind) to the same outcome you reach by passing Earn2Trade and joining the 94.77% who stay on LiveSim — both produce permanent simulated-funded status with real-dollar payouts. Worked examples of when paying-to-skip beats grinding-through-and-staying, plus which trader profile each model actually rewards.
No login, no email — just punch in your numbers:
Earn2Trade GAU presets built in (GAU50/100/150/200). Models EOD-only trail and the lock-at-starting-balance floor. Visualize exactly where the trail stops climbing and what your safe runway is on any given day.
Open calculator →Earn2Trade enforces a DLL on both GAU and TCP plans at every stage — eval and funded ($550–$4,400 by plan + account size). Unlike the consistency rule that releases at the funded gate, the DLL persists for the account's life. Cushion-remaining answer in seconds for your specific plan.
Open calculator →30% eval-only preset built in — Earn2Trade's exact threshold, scoped to the GAU eval phase only (the rule fully releases once you reach the funded gate). Tells you the largest single-day P&L allowed and the extra profit needed to safely close out the eval on a big day.
Open calculator →Earn2Trade GAU presets built in (SB lock floor, no $100 buffer, EOD trail). Punch in your stop in ticks and risk per trade — get max contracts, % of account, and how many losses in a row blow the GAU eval against the 30%-consistency-aware runway.
Open calculator →30+ futures contracts preloaded. Entry / exit / stop → ticks moved, gross + net P&L, $ risk, R-multiple. Cross-check your Earn2Trade statement on any GAU size — same contract math whether you're on LiveSim or Live after activation.
Open calculator →Aurafy is a futures trading journal built for prop-firm traders. It auto-tracks your trailing drawdown, lock distance, and 30%-consistency ratio in real time on Earn2Trade and other major firms — plus screen-records your sessions so you can replay your mistakes.
Free tier: last 30 days of trades, 1 account, 3 playbooks, no credit card. First 50 founders lock in $19/mo for life.
See Aurafy Start freeThe original Gauntlet was a 60-day classic evaluation. Gauntlet Mini (GAU) is the modern single-phase product covered on this page. The Trader Career Path (TCP) is the scaling-account product. Both run under the Earn2Trade brand. The classic Gauntlet has been retired for futures-account purposes.
GAU if you want max contracts at signup and don't need scaling — you know your size and you trade it. TCP if you'd rather start at 3 contracts on a $25K account and let the firm scale you up to $200K or $400K as you hit milestones. TCP also includes 1 free reset per rebill cycle, which lowers the cost of a single failed attempt; GAU has no free resets.
Yes — explicitly. The 30% rule is enforced at the point of requesting the funded-account transition. After you pass, the rule does not apply. You can have a $5,000 day on a funded account followed by smaller days and Earn2Trade will not block your payouts. This is one of the rarer rule-scope choices in this cluster — Apex/MFFU/Bulenox all keep consistency on the funded side.
LiveSim is simulated capital; Live is real exchange capital. Both pay 80% of profits to the trader. Both share the $100 minimum payout, weekly Wednesday cadence, and trailing-DD rules. The functional difference is execution venue. In 2025, 94.77% of Earn2Trade passers stayed on LiveSim — the conversion to Live is optional, costs nothing, and brings no payout benefit. Most traders never bother.
It's not paid upfront. The fee is deducted from your first withdrawal — so if you never earn a payout, you never owe the activation. Your only cost to attempt funding is the monthly subscription ($150–$550 depending on product and account size). This makes Earn2Trade the lowest-friction sign-up in this cluster — most other firms charge upfront activation per account.
Both use an EOD-only trailing drawdown that locks at the starting balance — same trail family. The differences: Topstep has a 50% consistency rule on the Combine (dropped on Express Funded); Earn2Trade has 30% on the eval (dropped on funded). Topstep has a $135–$165 funded activation per account; Earn2Trade defers $139 until first withdrawal. Topstep payouts are weekly on Tuesdays; Earn2Trade is weekly on Wednesdays. Both are 80/20 splits at funded. Topstep's biggest wedge is the XFA tightened DLL on funded vs Combine; Earn2Trade's biggest wedge is the LiveSim two-state funded model.
Same 30% consistency threshold — different scope. Apex 4.0 keeps the rule on the funded side; Earn2Trade drops it. Apex uses intraday trail with SB+$100 lock; Earn2Trade uses EOD trail with SB lock. Apex charges $98–$490 activation upfront; Earn2Trade defers $139. Apex has 1-step or 2-step eval options; Earn2Trade is single-phase only. If you want the looser post-pass mechanics and lower upfront cost, Earn2Trade. If you want intraday flexibility on a same-day-pass eval, Apex.
Compare side-by-side → All 21 prop-firm head-to-heads in one matrix — Earn2Trade sits in the SB-exact lock family with Topstep and TPT; the matrix groups every pairing by lock family so you can see which decisions are calibration vs which are bigger structural picks.
Compared to Bulenox: opposite lock archetype (Earn2Trade SB, Bulenox SB+$100); Earn2Trade has Tradovate support, Bulenox doesn't. Compared to Tradeify: similar EOD-trail family but different lock points; Tradeify supports neither NinjaTrader nor TradingView, Earn2Trade supports both. Compared to MFFU: different consistency scope (MFFU enforces it on funded, Earn2Trade doesn't); similar trail family. Compared to TPT: TPT's trail shifts across phases (EOD → intraday → EOD); Earn2Trade is EOD-only across the whole lifecycle.
It's in the single-digit-percent band that's standard for this industry. Below TPT and Tradeify (both higher); roughly aligned with Apex and MFFU. The number Earn2Trade publishes deserves credit for honesty — most firms in this cluster don't disclose pass rates at all. Plan as if you have a 1-in-11 chance per attempt, use the free reset (TCP only) if you have it, and let the math do the work.
Aurafy imports your Tradovate, NinjaTrader, or Rithmic activity, applies Earn2Trade's 30% consistency math during the eval, tracks the EOD trail and lock-at-SB floor on the funded account, and shows you exactly where you stand against every rule in real time. Screen recording for every session and a built-in bar-replay backtester are included — one tool instead of TradeZella + Loom + FX Replay (~50% cheaper).
First 50 founders get Pro for $19/month locked for life. Free tier never expires.
Start free at Aurafy → See pricing