How to pass an Alpha Futures evaluation: the rules and the math
- Alpha Futures sells 3 evaluations: Zero Eval, Standard Eval and Advanced Eval.
- Drawdown: all 3 plans trail end of day, stopping at the starting balance.
- Consistency to pass: Standard Eval 50% and Advanced Eval 40%; Zero Eval has none.
- These are Alpha Futures's published rules as of September 25, 2026. Alpha Futures's current help center always governs.
This guide walks through what each Alpha Futures evaluation actually requires, with the numbers worked out at 50K, and what changes once you're funded. It explains the rules and the arithmetic; it doesn't recommend a plan or a strategy.
The evaluations at a glance
| Plan | Target | Max drawdown | Consistency | Daily loss limit | Min days | Max minis / micros |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zero Eval (50K) | $3,000 | $2,000, end of day | None | Pauses | — | 3 / 30 |
| Standard Eval (50K) | $3,000 | $2,000, end of day | 50% | None | — | 5 / 50 |
| Advanced Eval (50K) | $4,000 | $1,750, end of day | 40% | None | — | 5 / 50 |
Every plan and size, with sources, is on the Alpha Futures rules page.
Plan by plan
Zero Eval
On a 50K, your floor starts at $48,000 and trails your highest end-of-day balance. It stops rising once it reaches $50,000, your starting balance, which happens the first time your close reaches $52,000. From then on it's fixed.
There's no consistency rule to pass this plan, so in principle a single strong day can reach the target.
Daily loss limit: $500 / $1,000 / $2,000 (25K / 50K / 100K); hitting it ends trading for the day without failing the account. List price (50K): $139 a month, with no activation fee.
Alpha Futures's own notes on this plan:
- Flat by 4:20 PM ET.
Standard Eval
On a 50K, your floor starts at $48,000 and trails your highest end-of-day balance. It stops rising once it reaches $50,000, your starting balance, which happens the first time your close reaches $52,000. From then on it's fixed.
Your best day can be at most 50% of your total profit. On a $3,000 target that makes $1,500 the biggest day that keeps the target where it is. A $2,000 best day would mean you need $4,000 of total profit ($2,000 ÷ 0.5). It also means you can't pass in fewer than 2 days.
Daily loss limit: no daily loss limit. List price (50K): $129 a month, with no activation fee.
Alpha Futures's own notes on this plan:
- Flat by 4:20 PM ET.
Advanced Eval
On a 50K, your floor starts at $48,250 and trails your highest end-of-day balance. It stops rising once it reaches $50,000, your starting balance, which happens the first time your close reaches $51,750. From then on it's fixed.
Your best day can be at most 40% of your total profit. On a $4,000 target that makes $1,600 the biggest day that keeps the target where it is. A $2,100 best day would mean you need $5,250 of total profit ($2,100 ÷ 0.4). It also means you can't pass in fewer than 3 days.
Daily loss limit: no daily loss limit. List price (50K): $209 a month, with no activation fee.
Alpha Futures's own notes on this plan:
- No activation fee for accounts bought after July 8, 2026; earlier Advanced accounts paid $149 on passing.
- Flat by 4:20 PM ET.
The math of the race
Every evaluation is a race: the target up before the drawdown down. At 50K on Zero Eval, that's $3,000 before $2,000, so you need 1.5 times the drawdown in profit before losing it once, and while the floor is trailing, your room never exceeds $2,000.
One way traders reason about this is a daily risk budget sized against the room they have. With $2,000 of room, a $500 budget survives four full losing days; a larger one reaches the target sooner but survives fewer. Which balance fits depends on your win rate, average win and loss, and trade count. The pass rate calculator runs your numbers against every Alpha Futures plan, and TradeHarbor's Pass simulator does the same with your real trades.
After you pass
- Zero Qualified: trails end of day, stops at the starting balance; best day at most 40% of profit for payouts.
- Standard Qualified: trails end of day, stops at the starting balance; best day at most 40% of profit for payouts.
- Advanced Qualified: trails end of day, stops at the starting balance; no payout consistency rule in the firm's published rules we track.
- Direct (straight to funded, no evaluation): trails end of day, stops at the starting balance; best day at most 20% of profit for payouts.
Payout requirements for each funded plan are on the Alpha Futures rules page.
This guide explains Alpha Futures's published rules and the arithmetic behind them. It isn't trading or financial advice, and it doesn't recommend any firm or strategy. Alpha Futures changes its rules from time to time; check its help center before you buy.