This is the price to participate in the evaluation. Many futures prop programs charge monthly until you pass or cancel. Some charge a one-time fee instead.
Some firms charge a one-time activation fee after you pass to begin the funded stage. Traders dislike it when it is hidden, but it is a known fee model when disclosed clearly.
If you fail, some firms let you reset for a fee instead of buying a brand-new evaluation. Whether that is a better deal depends on the specific pricing model.
Futures market data is licensed. Depending on your setup, you may also pay for data feeds, exchange entitlements, charting, or execution tools. That cost is separate from the prop program itself.
The headline evaluation price is only one line item. Real cost depends on how many attempts you need, what data and tools you use, and whether you face activation fees after passing. Here are three paths that illustrate how costs accumulate.
Total to get funded: ~$265
This is the best-case scenario. Most traders do not pass on the first attempt, so treat this as a floor, not an expectation.
Total to get funded: ~$380-430
One reset is common. Notice the data and platform costs now span two months, adding incremental spend that is easy to overlook.
Total spent so far: ~$510-610 with nothing to show
At this point, you have spent more than many retail brokerage accounts require as a minimum deposit. If the math stops making sense, it is better to pause and refine your strategy than to keep resetting.
The evaluation fee is the number firms advertise. The costs below are the ones that quietly inflate your total spend month after month.
Futures exchanges charge for real-time data. For CME Group products (ES, NQ, GC, etc.), non-professional data fees typically run $15-30 per month depending on the exchange and the data package. This fee is charged whether you are actively trading or not, and it applies during both the evaluation and funded phases.
Some prop firms include basic data in their evaluation fee; others pass it through as a separate line item. Always check whether data is bundled or billed separately.
If you use a third-party platform like NinjaTrader, Sierra Chart, or MotiveWave, you may pay a monthly or annual license fee on top of any costs from the prop firm. Some firms offer a free built-in platform (such as Tradovate's web interface), which eliminates this cost but may lack features you rely on.
Typical range: $0 (firm-provided platform) to $50-100/month for premium charting and execution tools. Annual licenses can reduce the per-month cost but require a larger upfront commitment.
If your strategy depends on specific indicators, market profile tools, or order flow software, those subscriptions add to your monthly overhead. Common add-ons include volume profile packages, footprint chart tools, and news feeds. Each might be $10-50/month individually, but they add up.
Futures trading requires a stable connection. If your home internet drops during a position, you cannot exit the trade. Some traders invest in a backup mobile hotspot, a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), or a second monitor. These are one-time or infrequent costs, but they matter if a disconnection causes a drawdown violation that breaches your evaluation rules.
Resets are marketed as a low-cost second chance, but they compound in ways that are easy to underestimate:
Before purchasing a reset, compare the reset price to the cost of a fresh evaluation. At some firms, a new evaluation is cheaper than two resets and comes with a clean slate.
Prop firms offer various account sizes, and the evaluation fee scales with the account. But some costs -- data, platforms, and exchange fees -- are fixed regardless of account size. The metric that matters most is cost per dollar of drawdown buffer, because the drawdown buffer is what keeps you alive during the evaluation.
A $50K account with a $2,000 drawdown limit and a $150 evaluation fee costs you $0.075 per dollar of safety margin. A $150K account with a $4,500 drawdown and a $350 fee costs $0.078 per dollar -- almost the same ratio. But the larger account gives more absolute room for error.
The downside is that tight drawdown means more failed attempts. If you reset three times on a small account, you may have spent more than one attempt on a larger account would have cost.
The larger buffer means fewer failed attempts for traders with a working strategy, which can make the higher fee cheaper on a per-attempt basis over time.
Before starting any evaluation, fill in these numbers to know your real monthly overhead:
Add those up. That is your true monthly cost of prop trading, regardless of whether you make a single trade.
Your runway is how many full evaluation attempts you can afford before your prop budget is exhausted. It is the single most important number to know before you start.
Once funded, track your payouts against your total prop spend (all evaluations, resets, data, tools). You are profitable in prop trading only when cumulative payouts exceed cumulative costs. Many traders who receive their first payout are still net negative when they account for the failed attempts that preceded it.
Add the expected evaluation duration, likely resets, required data, and any software subscriptions you choose. That is your estimated cost per attempt. Multiply by your runway (3-5 attempts) to get your minimum starting budget. If the number is uncomfortable, start with a smaller account size or spend more time in simulation first.
Not automatically. They are just one fee model. The red flag is surprise pricing or hidden conditions, not the existence of the fee itself.
Usually not. Even if the firm uses a one-time evaluation fee, you may still have exchange, data, or platform costs depending on your setup.
It depends on how long you expect to take. If you are confident you can pass within one month, a monthly subscription fee might be cheaper than a larger one-time fee. But if the evaluation stretches to two or three months, the recurring charges add up quickly and can exceed the one-time option. Be honest about your timeline -- most traders underestimate how long passing takes.
Most firms do not offer refunds on evaluation fees. The fee covers access to the evaluation environment, and that access was consumed whether you passed or not. Some firms offer a free retry or a discounted reset as an alternative to a refund. Always read the refund and cancellation policy before purchasing. If a firm does not publish one, that is a red flag worth investigating.
They reduce the initial evaluation price, which is real savings. But a 20% coupon on a $150 evaluation saves $30 -- while a single reset costs $100 and a month of data costs $15-30. Discount codes do not change the structural cost of multiple attempts, data subscriptions, or activation fees. Factor them in as a bonus, not a strategy.
Start with the smallest account size available, use the firm's built-in platform (if offered) to avoid extra software fees, and choose a firm that bundles market data into the evaluation fee. Budget for at least three attempts total. The cheapest absolute entry point is typically a micro-contract evaluation with a one-time fee -- but verify that the drawdown buffer is workable for your strategy before committing.
Micro-contract evaluations usually have lower evaluation fees because the account sizes and profit targets are smaller. However, exchange and data fees are the same whether you trade micro or standard contracts. The tighter drawdown limits on smaller accounts also mean you may need more attempts to pass, which can offset the per-attempt savings. Micro evaluations are a good starting point for newer traders, but do not assume they are automatically cheaper in the long run.