Alpha Futures Review
Some links on this page are affiliate links. How we earn money.
Alpha Futures rules, prices and payouts, checked on September 14, 2026 against alpha-futures.com.
- Market
- Futures
- Programs
- Zero, Standard, Advanced, Direct
- Accounts up to
- $150K
- Platforms
- AlphaTrader, TradingView (connectivity via Plus500), WealthCharts +2
Alpha Futures is a futures prop firm run by ALPHA FUTURES LIMITED, a company registered in England, and its About page dates the launch to the third quarter of 2023. It sells evaluations on CME Group products, from equity index, currency and interest rate futures to metals, energies, grains and the Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether contracts.
Three things set its model apart. The Zero, Standard and Advanced evaluations are billed monthly and share an end-of-day trailing drawdown that stops once it reaches your starting balance. A fourth option, Direct, skips the evaluation and starts you on a Qualified account. And it is an intraday-only firm: every trade must be closed before 4:20 PM EST, and automated trading is banned on all accounts.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Every program uses an end-of-day trailing drawdown that stops trailing once it reaches the starting balance.
- No activation fee on the Zero, Standard or Advanced programs.
- The Advanced Qualified account has no daily loss limit, no consistency rule, no news restriction and a $15,000 maximum payout.
- Low entry point: the $25K Zero evaluation lists at $89 a month and needs just one trading day, with no consistency rule.
- Payout requests are processed in 48 business hours or less, up to four times a month.
- Direct lets you skip the evaluation, and its payouts have no winning-day requirement.
Cons
- Evaluations are monthly subscriptions, so every extra month you need adds to the cost.
- No overnight or weekend positions: all trades must be closed before 4:20 PM EST every day.
- AI, bots and other automated trading are prohibited on every account type, and strategies with 100+ trades a day are restricted.
- Payouts are limited to 50% of profit per request and to a maximum payout that starts at $1,000 on the $25K Zero.
- Rules get stricter after you pass on Zero and Standard, and the site only says the 90% split applies to most account types.
Discount code PFK
Partner code. The discount shows at checkout.
Alpha Futures programs and prices
| Program | Accounts and prices | Profit target | Daily loss limit | Max drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zero | $25K: $89 / month · $50K: $139 / month · $100K: $279 / month | $1500 / $3000 / $6000 (evaluation); none on Qualified | Daily Loss Guard $500 / $1000 / $2000 | $1000 / $2000 / $3000 |
| Standard | $50K: $129 / month · $100K: $239 / month · $150K: $349 / month | $3000 / $6000 / $9000 (evaluation); none on Qualified | None (evaluation); Daily Loss Guard $1000 / $2000 / $3000 (Qualified) | $2000 / $3000 / $4500 |
| Advanced | $50K: $209 / month · $100K: $349 / month · $150K: $489 / month | $4000 / $8000 / $12000 (evaluation); none on Qualified | None | $1750 / $3500 / $5250 |
| Direct (Qualified account, no evaluation) | $25K: $349 · $50K: $519 · $100K: $689 · $150K: $859 | Profit target for payout: $1,500 first · $1,000 after / $3,000 · $2,000 / $6,000 · $4,000 / $9,000 · $6,000 | $500 / $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 | EOD MLL $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,500 |
Zero rules
| Rule | Zero |
|---|---|
| Drawdown type | EOD trailing (stops at starting balance) |
| Minimum trading days | 1 (evaluation); 5 (Qualified) |
| Consistency rule | None (evaluation); 40% (Qualified) |
| Contracts / leverage | 1 mini / 10 micros; 3 minis / 30 micros; 6 minis / 60 micros |
| Activation fee | No activation fee |
| Profit split | 90% performance split ('most account types') |
| Payout frequency | Up to 4 times per month after every 5 winning days of $200+; up to 50% of profit per request; processed in 48 business hours or less; max payout $1,000 / $1,500 / $2,500 |
Standard rules
| Rule | Standard |
|---|---|
| Drawdown type | EOD trailing (stops at starting balance) |
| Minimum trading days | 2 (evaluation); 5 (Qualified) |
| Consistency rule | 50% (evaluation); 40% (Qualified) |
| Contracts / leverage | 5 minis / 50 micros; 10 minis / 100 micros; 15 minis / 150 micros |
| Activation fee | No activation fee |
| Profit split | 90% performance split ('most account types') |
| Payout frequency | Up to 4 times per month after every 5 winning days of $200+; up to 50% of profit per request; processed in 48 business hours or less; max payout $3,000 / $4,000 / $5,000 |
Advanced rules
| Rule | Advanced |
|---|---|
| Drawdown type | EOD trailing (stops at starting balance) |
| Minimum trading days | 3 (evaluation); 5 (Qualified) |
| Consistency rule | 40% (evaluation); none (Qualified) |
| Contracts / leverage | 5 minis / 50 micros; 10 minis / 100 micros; 15 minis / 150 micros (no scaling plan on Qualified) |
| Activation fee | No activation fee |
| Profit split | 90% performance split ('most account types') |
| Payout frequency | Up to 4 times per month after every 5 winning days of $200+; up to 50% of profit per request; processed in 48 business hours or less; max payout $15,000 |
Direct (Qualified account, no evaluation) rules
| Rule | Direct (Qualified account, no evaluation) |
|---|---|
| Drawdown type | EOD trailing (stops at starting balance) |
| Consistency rule | 20% |
| Contracts / leverage | 2 minis / 20 micros; 4 minis / 40 micros; 8 minis / 80 micros; 10 minis / 100 micros |
| Profit split | 90% performance split ('most account types') |
| Payout frequency | Payout cap $1,000 / $2,000 / $2,500 / $3,000; no winning-day requirement |
Not clearly published by the firm: minimum trading days, activation fee.
Trading restrictions and platforms
- News trading: No restrictions on any Evaluation account or Advanced Qualified; Zero Qualified: no entries 2 minutes before or after high-impact (ForexFactory red folder) news
- Weekend holding: Not allowed — all trades must be closed before 4:20PM EST every day
- EAs and bots: Prohibited — AI, bots and other automated trading on all account types; semi-automated signals allowed if trades are placed manually; strategies with 100+ trades per day restricted
- Platforms: AlphaTrader, TradingView (connectivity via Plus500), WealthCharts, Quantower, Deepcharts
- Instruments: CME Group products (CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX), Equity & index, Currencies, Energies, Grains & livestock, Metals, Interest rates, Micro Bitcoin (MBT) and Micro Ether (MET)
Who Alpha Futures suits
Alpha Futures fits a manual day trader who is usually flat by mid-afternoon anyway. The 4:20 PM EST cutoff applies every day, so there are no overnight holds and no weekend positions on any account. If your strategy needs to carry a position into the next session, this firm won't work for you.
It also suits traders who want to test a futures firm on a small monthly budget. The $25K Zero evaluation lists at $89 a month and needs only one trading day to pass. At the other end, the $150K Advanced lists at $489 a month.
It's a poor fit if you trade with an expert advisor, an AI tool or a bot. Automated trading is prohibited on all account types. You can still act on signals from semi-automated tools, but only if you place each trade by hand, and strategies running 100 or more trades a day are restricted.
How the end-of-day drawdown and Daily Loss Guard work
Every program uses an end-of-day trailing maximum loss limit (MLL) that stops at the starting balance. Take the $50K Standard evaluation, which has a $2,000 limit. You start at $50,000, so your floor sits at $48,000.
Say you finish your first day at $51,000. The floor moves up to $49,000, because it follows your end-of-day balance. Finish a later day at $52,000 and the floor reaches $50,000, your starting balance, where it stops for good. From then on, new profit adds room above the floor instead of pulling it higher.
Because the level is set from end-of-day balances, a gain you give back before the close doesn't raise the floor. Alpha Futures has a dedicated MLL article in its help center; read it for how losses during the session are measured against that floor.
Daily limits vary by program. Zero lists a Daily Loss Guard of $500, $1,000 or $2,000 depending on size. Standard has no daily limit during the evaluation but adds a guard of $1,000 to $3,000 on the Qualified account, Direct uses $500 to $3,000, and Advanced has no daily loss limit at all.
What Alpha Futures really costs
Zero, Standard and Advanced are billed monthly, so the real cost is the monthly price multiplied by the months you spend in the evaluation. Three months on the $50K Standard at $129 comes to $387. Take that into account before choosing a bigger account you may need longer to pass.
There is no activation fee on the three evaluation programs, so passing doesn't trigger a separate charge. Reset fees are listed on Alpha Futures' pricing cards; check the figure for your account size before you buy.
Direct runs from $349 for $25K to $859 for $150K. The price is shown without a monthly label, but the site doesn't make clear whether it's a one-time charge, and a Direct activation fee isn't stated either. Confirm both at checkout.
The figures in this review are list prices. Alpha Futures had a site-wide promotion on its evaluations on the day of the check, and a partner code is shown above, so compare the final total at checkout.
Payouts and profit split
Alpha Futures advertises a 90% performance split, but it says this applies to most account types, not all of them. It doesn't list the exceptions, so confirm the split for your program before you buy.
On Zero, Standard and Advanced Qualified accounts, a payout becomes available after every five winning days of $200 or more, up to four times a month. Each request can take up to 50% of your profit. Imagine you're up $6,000 on a $100K Standard Qualified account after five qualifying days: you can request up to $3,000, below that account's $4,000 maximum payout.
The caps bite hardest on Zero, where the maximum payout is $1,000, $1,500 or $2,500 by size. Advanced allows up to $15,000. Direct has no winning-day requirement, but you need a set profit before each payout ($1,500 for the first on a $25K account, then $1,000), and payouts are capped at $1,000 to $3,000.
Further along, Alpha Futures describes an Alpha Prime stage, open after a $40,000 payable balance or five payout cycles. There you choose between a 60% split plus a 12-month salary, or a Generic Live account at an 80% split. The salary amount isn't given on the pages checked.
Rules that catch traders out
The main trap is that the rules change once you pass. Zero goes from no consistency rule to 40% on the Qualified account, and Standard goes from 50% to 40%. Both move from a one- or two-day minimum to five days, and Standard adds a Daily Loss Guard it didn't have in the evaluation.
Advanced works the other way round. Its 40% consistency rule applies during the evaluation and disappears once you're Qualified. Direct carries a 20% rule, the strictest of the four. Consistency rules generally limit how much of your profit a single day can represent, so check Alpha Futures' exact formula before you count on one big session.
News is the next one. Evaluations and the Advanced Qualified account have no news restriction, but on a Zero Qualified account you can't enter trades from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after high-impact news (the ForexFactory red folder). If you trade news on a Standard Qualified account, ask support first, since that case isn't covered in the rules summarized here.
Contract limits are also small at the bottom of the range: 1 mini or 10 micros on the $25K Zero. And the 4:20 PM EST close applies every trading day, not only on Fridays.
Zero, Standard, Advanced or Direct: which to pick
Zero is the cheap way in, with the smallest targets and a one-day minimum. It also has the smallest contract limits, the lowest payout caps and a news blackout once Qualified. It suits testing a strategy on a budget more than building a long-term account.
Standard is the middle ground. The evaluation has no daily loss limit and a target 1.5 times the drawdown ($3,000 against $2,000 on $50K), with 5 minis on the smallest size. Expect more rules after you pass, not fewer.
Advanced asks the most up front: higher prices, a target more than twice the drawdown ($4,000 against $1,750 on $50K) and a 40% consistency rule to pass. In return you get the loosest Qualified account in the range. Direct is for traders who would rather pay a higher price than sit an evaluation, and who can work with a 20% consistency rule and payout caps.
Verdict
Alpha Futures makes sense for manual intraday futures traders who want an end-of-day drawdown and can accept payouts that come in steps: five winning days, up to half your profit, then a cap. Advanced is the program to look at if you're confident you can pass a demanding evaluation, because its Qualified account has the fewest restrictions. Look elsewhere if you hold positions overnight, rely on any form of automation, or prefer a one-time fee to a monthly subscription.
Discount code PFK
Partner code. The discount shows at checkout.
Frequently asked questions
Is Alpha Futures a monthly subscription?
Yes for the evaluations. Zero, Standard and Advanced are billed monthly, from $89 a month for the $25K Zero to $489 a month for the $150K Advanced. Direct is listed at $349 to $859 without a monthly label, but its billing isn’t stated clearly, so confirm it at checkout.
Does Alpha Futures have a daily loss limit?
It depends on the program. Zero lists a Daily Loss Guard of $500 to $2,000, Standard adds one of $1,000 to $3,000 only on the Qualified account, Direct has $500 to $3,000, and Advanced has no daily loss limit.
Can you hold trades overnight with Alpha Futures?
No. All trades must be closed before 4:20 PM EST every day, so overnight and weekend positions aren’t allowed on any account.
How do Alpha Futures payouts work?
On Zero, Standard and Advanced Qualified accounts, you can request a payout after every five winning days of $200 or more, up to four times a month. Each request is limited to 50% of profit and to the account’s maximum payout, and requests are processed in 48 business hours or less.
Are bots and EAs allowed at Alpha Futures?
No. AI, bots and other automated trading are prohibited on all account types. Semi-automated signals are allowed if you place the trades manually, and strategies with 100 or more trades a day are restricted.
Which platforms does Alpha Futures support?
AlphaTrader, TradingView (connected through Plus500), WealthCharts, Quantower and Deepcharts.
