Traders Launch is a US-based futures prop firm that sells one-step evaluations: you pay a one-time fee, trade a simulated account to a profit target without breaching the drawdown, and then move to a simulated funded (“SimFunded”) account that can pay out daily. Its main appeal is one-time pricing with no subscription or activation fee, daily payouts and no consistency rule once funded. The costs are a 60-day evaluation limit, per-contract commissions, a buffer stage on two of its programs and simulated funded accounts. The firm runs three standing programs, Premium EOD, Legacy NYC and Static. They differ in price, drawdown style, consistency rule, post-evaluation buffer and profit split, so the main decision is which program fits how you trade.
Who operates Traders Launch
The legal entity is Traders Launch LLC, registered in the United States. The firm was established in November 2022 and is led by CEO Max Thomas. It runs futures evaluations alongside a separate crypto evaluation that trades BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP around the clock. Its platforms include TradingView, Volumetrica, Quantower, Hyperprop, a proprietary web platform, Interactive Brokers IBKR Pro and Sterling Trader Pro, with Interactive Brokers and T3 Global as broker partners.
Residents of a list of sanctioned or high-risk jurisdictions cannot sign up. The list includes Russia, Ukraine, Crimea, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and several African and Middle Eastern countries.
The three programs
All three are single-step evaluations. None has a separate daily loss limit, so the max loss is the main boundary on each account.
Premium EOD
Premium EOD comes in $100K, $200K and $300K sizes. Profit targets are $2,000 / $4,000 / $6,000. The end-of-day max loss is $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000, which gives a target-to-drawdown ratio of 1:0.5. Because the drawdown is measured end of day, the floor moves on closing balances rather than intraday peaks, so a trade that gives back profit before the close is judged on where the day ends.
During the evaluation, a consistency rule based on 40% of total profits applies. The firm’s rules page ties the limit to the fixed target: profit in one session cannot go above 40% of the profit target. In a hypothetical case on a $100K account with a $2,000 target, no single session can go above $800, so passing takes at least three profitable days.
Legacy NYC
Legacy NYC uses the same three sizes at lower fees. Targets are $2,000 / $3,000 / $5,000 and end-of-day max loss is $1,000 / $1,000 / $2,000. It shares Premium EOD’s 40% evaluation consistency rule. The funded split is 55% or 80%. The 55% option is the lowest base split across the firm’s programs.
Static
Static is the newer format. On the $25K account it has a $1,500 profit target and a fixed $500 static drawdown, a 1:0.33 ratio. A static drawdown does not trail: the loss floor sits at a fixed level below the starting balance and stays there. The trade-off is that $500 is a small cushion, roughly two mini contract stops of modest size on an index future.
Static also comes in $50K and $100K sizes, with static drawdowns of $1,000 and $2,000.
Static’s evaluation has a 50% rule instead of the 40% consistency rule. Daily profit is capped at 50% of the profit target. On the $25K account, that caps a single day at $750 toward the $1,500 target, so passing requires at least two profitable days. The rule does not carry over into the funded stage.
Limited drops
Alongside the standing programs, Traders Launch has released time-limited “drops” with their own rule sets, which apply only to that drop. One run on Hyperprop, TL Drop #002, offered the following:
- A $25,000 account with a $1,200 target
- No consistency rule and no minimum days
- A $1,000 end-of-day trailing drawdown that locks at the $25,000 starting balance
- A $600 daily loss “soft pause”, waived on days that start at $25,600 or above
- Trading hours from 6pm ET to 4pm ET the following day
Costs
Evaluation fees
Fees are one-time payments. The firm’s FAQ states there is no subscription, no activation fee and no recurring billing, unlike many competitors that charge monthly until you pass or add an activation fee on top. The purchase price is the whole evaluation cost, apart from any reset or retry you choose to buy.
Legacy NYC is the cheaper way into the $100K to $300K sizes, while Premium EOD costs more per account. Static at $25K is priced in the same range as the smaller Premium and Legacy accounts but buys a much smaller account with a fixed drawdown.
Commissions
Traders Launch charges per-contract commissions on every trade, quoted per side:
| Contract type | Per side | Round trip |
|---|---|---|
| Micros (MES, MNQ, MGC) | $0.87 | $1.74 |
| Most full-size (ES, NQ, GC, YM) | $2.00 | $4.00 |
| Crude oil (CL) | $2.70 | $5.40 |
Some agricultural and Bitcoin futures cost more, and the platform shows the charge for each contract. A round trip covers both the entry and the exit.
In a hypothetical case where you trade 10 micro contracts in and out 5 times a day, that is 50 round trips at $1.74, or $87 in commissions. On a Static $25K account with a $500 drawdown, a few days of that volume uses a meaningful share of the cushion even if your trades break even.
Evaluation rules
Time limit
An evaluation must be passed within 60 days. If you are above 50% of the profit target when time runs low, you can get a 30-day extension. Some futures firms set no deadline at all.
Minimum days and inactivity
There are no minimum trading days. Inactivity is set at 7 days: you must place at least one trade per week. The consequence depends on the stage:
- Evaluation: missing a week deactivates the account.
- SimFunded: missing a week pauses the account. You stay eligible for profits and payouts, but you must reactivate before trading again.
Contract limits
Position size scales with account size. Static starts at 1 mini or 10 micros on $25K, 2 minis or 20 micros on $50K, and 4 minis or 40 micros on $100K. Premium EOD and Legacy NYC accounts can scale up to 15 minis.
Trading rules and prohibited practices
The firm allows most mainstream intraday approaches but has firm lines around hedging and high-speed execution.
Allowed:
- News trading
- Trading without a stop-loss requirement
- Expert advisors and automated strategies, with pre-approval required
- Reasonable scaling in and averaging
Restricted: Copy trading is restricted rather than banned. The firm names the Volumetrica Trade Copier, the DeepCharts web copier and third-party copying software as supported ways to mirror trades across your own accounts. Because of the “restricted” status, check the current terms before running a copier.
Not allowed:
- High-frequency trading and HFT-style strategies.
- Hedging in any form. This covers opposite positions in the same instrument across accounts (long NQ in one, short NQ in another). It also covers offsetting through correlated instruments (long NQ, short ES) and coordinating with other traders to build offsetting positions across separate accounts. The ban applies whether the accounts belong to one person or to a group acting together.
- Excessive martingale-style trading. Adding size to losing positions as a routine part of most trades can trigger an account review. Occasional averaging is distinguished from a systematic pattern.
From passing to payout
Premium EOD and Legacy NYC: buffer first
After passing, these accounts go through a buffer stage before they become payout-eligible. You must first build a set amount of profit in the funded account, then complete KYC and sign the trader contract. The buffers are:
| Account | Standard buffer | Legacy NYC buffer |
|---|---|---|
| $100K | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| $200K | $2,000 | $1,000 |
| $300K | $3,000 | $2,000 |
The buffer is effectively a second hurdle. On a standard $300K account, you pass the evaluation and then need $3,000 more before the account can pay out. Legacy NYC’s smaller buffers on the two larger sizes partly offset its lower 55% base split.
Static: straight to SimFunded
Static has no post-evaluation buffer. After KYC and contract signing, you trade a SimFunded account that can withdraw right away, starting from $200 of gross profit measured before the split.
Static’s funded stage has a daily earnings limit that depends on the split you chose:
- 60% or 80% split: daily earnings capped at $1,000 (25K), $2,000 (50K) or $4,000 (100K).
- 90% split: no daily earnings cap.
This cap is a trading limit, not a payout ceiling: there is no fixed cap on payout size. You can request one payout per day. The split choice is made at purchase, so it decides whether a large day counts in full or gets cut at the cap.
Splits, frequency and methods
| Program | Profit split options |
|---|---|
| Premium EOD | 60% or 80% |
| Legacy NYC | 55% or 80% |
| Static | 60%, 80% or 90% |
None of the programs has a consistency requirement once funded. Payouts are daily, with processing every business day. Crypto payouts in USDT on Solana and ACH transfers can be requested every 24 hours. Bank wires are weekly. Traders Launch does not publish a cumulative total paid to traders, as several larger futures firms do.
The $100,000 scaling review
Once cumulative payouts reach $100,000, trading pauses for a scaling review. Consideration for live capital follows that review. Funded accounts do not convert to a brokerage account automatically, so the SimFunded stage is the realistic endpoint for planning.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths:
- One-time fees with no subscription or activation charge.
- Daily payouts, with crypto and ACH every 24 hours.
- No funded consistency rule on any program.
- Static has no buffer stage and offers an uncapped 90% split option.
- End-of-day drawdowns on Premium EOD and Legacy NYC.
- News trading and EAs (with approval) are permitted, with no stop-loss requirement.
Trade-offs:
- The 40% evaluation consistency rule on Premium EOD and Legacy NYC can push you past the profit target.
- A 60-day time limit.
- A buffer stage before the first payout on Premium EOD and Legacy NYC.
- Static’s $500 drawdown on $25K leaves little room, and there is no one-day pass.
- Per-contract commissions weigh on high-volume micro trading.
- A broad hedging ban that includes correlated instruments.
- Funded accounts are simulated, with live capital only after the $100,000 review.
How we checked Traders Launch
We visited traderslaunch.com on 13 November 2026, connecting from Tallinn, Estonia. The home page opened normally and offered a live chat window. In the footer, the only company named was Traders Launch LLC. From there we opened the Terms of Service, the pricing page, the affiliate program page and the FAQ, then read the separate futures, crypto and payout rule pages. Clicking “Get Funded” took us to a sign-up screen on app.traderslaunch.com, so it appears you create an account before you can pay. We went no further than that screen.
Pricing was easy to find, and every fee was listed as a one-time charge. The standard Futures 100K cost $159, and the Legacy NYC version of the same size cost $99. A $5,000 crypto account was listed at $20. The home page was also promoting a “Rapid $25K 1-Day Pass from $59”. One rule stood out. The futures rules page says profit in one session cannot go above 40% of the profit target, or 50% on static plans. Commissions on micro contracts start at $0.87 per side. The pricing page gives a postal address at 1700 Market Street Suite 1005, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
None of the pages we read showed a licence number, a statement about a regulator or a risk warning. Because the firm claims no licence, we had no register record to look up, and we ran no register check on Traders Launch LLC. The domain was registered on 2022-11-13 through GoDaddy.com, LLC, and its listed expiry date was 2026-11-13, the same day as our visit. Its status showed as ok.
On Trustpilot, when we read it on 13 November 2026, Traders Launch scored 4.5/5 from 82 reviews. Five-star reviews made up 90% of the total and one-star reviews 5%. The company has claimed its profile but had replied to none of the 8 newest reviews. The earliest Wayback Machine capture of the domain dates from 2022-12-03. We did not buy an evaluation or request a payout, so we cannot say how payouts work in practice.
Who it may suit
Static fits a trader who wants the shortest path from passing to withdrawing and can work within a small fixed drawdown. It also suits someone who expects occasional large days and is willing to take the 90% split to avoid the daily earnings cap.
Legacy NYC is the lower-cost route to a $100K to $300K account for traders who accept a 55% or 80% split and smaller buffers.
Premium EOD costs more but gives a wider end-of-day drawdown on the $200K and $300K sizes and a 60% or 80% split.
Traders who rely on cross-account spreads, HFT, or routine averaging down should look elsewhere, since those practices are prohibited or reviewable here.
Alternatives
| Provider | Score | Fee | Split | Payouts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.0/10 | $231 | 90/10 | Instant Payouts | Review | |
| 7.7/10 | $59 | 50/50 below $4k net profit, 80/20 above $4k net profit, 90/10 in Funded Live | Day one | Review | |
| 7.3/10 | $11 | up to 100% | On demand | Review |