How to pass a TradeDay evaluation: the rules and the math
- TradeDay sells 3 evaluations: Quick Pay Intraday Evaluation, Quick Pay End of Day Evaluation and Fast Pass Evaluation. At 50K each asks for $3,000 of profit with $2,000 of drawdown.
- Drawdown: Quick Pay Intraday Evaluation trails intraday and stops at the starting balance; Quick Pay End of Day Evaluation and Fast Pass Evaluation trail end of day, stopping at the starting balance.
- Consistency to pass: Quick Pay Intraday Evaluation 30%, Quick Pay End of Day Evaluation 30% and Fast Pass Evaluation 45%.
- These are TradeDay's published rules as of September 25, 2026. TradeDay's current help center always governs.
This guide walks through what each TradeDay 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quick Pay Intraday Evaluation (50K) | $3,000 | $2,000, intraday | 30% | None | — | 5 / 50 |
| Quick Pay End of Day Evaluation (50K) | $3,000 | $2,000, end of day | 30% | None | — | 5 / 50 |
| Fast Pass Evaluation (50K) | $3,000 | $2,000, end of day | 45% | None | — | 5 / 50 |
Every plan and size, with sources, is on the TradeDay rules page.
Plan by plan
Quick Pay Intraday Evaluation
On a 50K, your floor starts at $48,000 and trails your highest balance in real time, including open profit. It stops rising once it reaches $50,000, your starting balance, which happens the first time your balance reaches $52,000. From then on it's fixed.
Your best day can be at most 30% of your total profit. On a $3,000 target that makes $900 the biggest day that keeps the target where it is. A $1,400 best day would mean you need $4,667 of total profit ($1,400 ÷ 0.3). It also means you can't pass in fewer than 4 days.
Daily loss limit: no daily loss limit. List price (50K): $131 a month, with no activation fee.
TradeDay's own notes on this plan:
- Breaching the max drawdown is the only rule that fails the evaluation.
- If your best day is over 30% of total profit, the target rises until it is 30% or less. You do not fail.
- Micros count 10 per mini, with a hard cap of 50 micros on every size.
- Positions are auto-liquidated 10 minutes before the daily close (3:50 PM CT for most products). No holding through the close.
- Tier 1 news (FOMC, CPI, NFP, and EIA/crop reports for their own products): positions are auto-liquidated 2 minutes before and trading reopens 2 minutes after.
- Tradovate archives accounts not logged into for a calendar month; TradeDay treats an archived account as failed.
- Billed every 30 days until you pass. A failed evaluation is reset free at the next renewal, or immediately for the reset fee.
Quick Pay End of Day Evaluation
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 30% of your total profit. On a $3,000 target that makes $900 the biggest day that keeps the target where it is. A $1,400 best day would mean you need $4,667 of total profit ($1,400 ÷ 0.3). It also means you can't pass in fewer than 4 days.
Daily loss limit: no daily loss limit. List price (50K): $175 a month, with no activation fee.
TradeDay's own notes on this plan:
- The drawdown moves up only at the end of the day, but equity must never touch it intraday.
- After you pass, the Quick Pay funded account uses an intraday trailing drawdown, not EOD.
- If your best day is over 30% of total profit, the target rises until it is 30% or less. You do not fail.
- Positions are auto-liquidated 10 minutes before the daily close. Tier 1 news blackout from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after.
Fast Pass Evaluation
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 45% of your total profit. On a $3,000 target that makes $1,350 the biggest day that keeps the target where it is. A $1,850 best day would mean you need $4,111 of total profit ($1,850 ÷ 0.45). It also means you can't pass in fewer than 3 days.
Daily loss limit: no daily loss limit. List price (50K): $189 a month, with no activation fee.
TradeDay's own notes on this plan:
- If your best day is over 45% of total profit, the target rises until it is 45% or less. You do not fail.
- The drawdown moves up only at the end of the day, but equity must never touch it intraday.
- Positions are auto-liquidated 10 minutes before the close. Tier 1 news blackout from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after.
The math of the race
Every evaluation is a race: the target up before the drawdown down. At 50K on Quick Pay Intraday Evaluation, 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 TradeDay plan, and TradeHarbor's Pass simulator does the same with your real trades.
After you pass
- Quick Pay Funded Sim: trails intraday, stops at the starting balance; no payout consistency rule in the firm's published rules we track.
- Fast Pass Funded Sim: trails end of day, stops at the starting balance; best day at most 45% of profit for payouts.
Payout requirements for each funded plan are on the TradeDay rules page.
This guide explains TradeDay's published rules and the arithmetic behind them. It isn't trading or financial advice, and it doesn't recommend any firm or strategy. TradeDay changes its rules from time to time; check its help center before you buy.