Alpha Futures Review 2026: Rules, Plans, Payouts & Everything You Need to Know

Alpha Futures at a Glance

Alpha Futures is the futures arm of Alpha Group, a UK-based operation with a London trading floor and a forex prop firm behind it. That pedigree shows up in the rules. No intraday drawdown anywhere. The MLL never slides to zero after a payout. A $15,000 per-request withdrawal cap on Advanced accounts, the largest in the industry. And a live program where the firm matches your capital instead of just converting your profits into their risk.

It also runs on a monthly subscription model for evaluations, which some traders hate, and has stricter automation rules than most firms. Four account types with different consistency rules, withdrawal caps, and news policies means you need to pick carefully.

I went through the entire Alpha Futures help center and condensed every rule into this page.

Quick verdict: Alpha Futures is one of the most trader-friendly rulebooks in futures prop trading if you're a discretionary trader who holds positions for more than two minutes. Advanced is the standout: no DLL, no consistency rule when funded, no news restrictions, no scaling plan, $15K payouts. Zero is the cheap entry. The tradeoffs are monthly rebilling on evals, a full ban on bots, and a tight 10-trading-day inactivity rule. Full breakdown below.

Alpha Futures calls funded accounts 'Qualified Accounts' and funded traders 'Qualified Traders.'

Alpha Futures Account Types Compared

Four account types, each with a different balance of rules, price, and payout freedom. Compare them first, then read the deep dive for the one you're considering.

Alpha Futures Zero Account Review

Zero is the low-barrier entry. No consistency rule on the evaluation, so you can pass in one day. $0 activation, permanently.

Best for: traders getting started who want the cheapest monthly entry and a fast pass.

Watch out for: the DLG is on the eval, the withdrawal caps are the smallest at Alpha, and the scaling plan limits you to 1 mini on a 50K until you've built $1,500.

Alpha Futures Standard Account Review

Standard doubles the Zero withdrawal caps and removes the DLG from the evaluation. 50% consistency on the eval, 40% when qualified.

Best for: traders who want bigger payouts than Zero without the Advanced price tag and can keep their best eval day under 50% of the target.

Alpha Futures Advanced Account Review

Advanced is the account that makes Alpha Futures stand out. When qualified: no DLG, no consistency rule, no news restrictions, no scaling plan, $15,000 max per withdrawal. The price is higher and the profit targets are larger relative to drawdown, but the funded experience is about as unrestricted as sim prop gets.

Note the target-to-drawdown ratio: $4,000 target against $1,750 MLL on the 50K. That's aggressive. You need a real edge to pass. Accounts purchased after July 8, 2026 have $0 activation.

Best for: experienced traders with a proven edge who want maximum freedom when funded and the biggest payout ceiling in the industry.

Watch out for: tight MLL on the eval and the $1,000 minimum withdrawal.

Alpha Futures Direct Account Review

Direct launched July 7, 2026. One-time fee, no evaluation, straight into a Qualified Account. Instead of passing an eval, you earn a Withdrawal Profit Target between each payout and satisfy a 20% consistency rule.

After each withdrawal the profit target resets and leftover profit doesn't carry over. No winning-day requirement on Direct.

Best for: consistent traders whose P&L spreads across many similar days and who'd rather pay once than monthly.

Watch out for: 20% consistency means you need a minimum of five profitable days per cycle, and in practice more. One big day stalls the whole cycle.

Alpha Futures Payout Policy

Zero, Standard, and Advanced use the same evaluation-to-qualified payout structure. Direct is different because it skips the eval entirely.

Withdrawal caps by account

Each account type has a minimum and maximum withdrawal per request. These caps are hard limits regardless of how much profit you have.

Sim account lifespan

Each Qualified Account caps at $40,000 in total payouts or 5 withdrawals, whichever comes first. At that point you're reviewed for live.

Alpha Futures Drawdown: Maximum Loss Limit

Every Alpha Futures account uses EOD trailing drawdown. No intraday trailing on any plan.

• ▸Calculated from your highest end-of-day balance, not intraday equity
• ▸Trails up only, never down
• ▸Stops trailing once it reaches the starting balance (not starting + $100 like most firms)
• ▸Does not slide after a payout
• ▸Floating equity breaching the MLL counts. If open P&L takes you through it, you're liquidated.

Alpha Futures Daily Loss Guard

The Daily Loss Guard is Alpha's daily loss limit, and it's a soft breach. Hit it and your positions are flattened, pending orders cancelled, and the account locks until 6 PM ET. You don't lose the account.

• ▸Set at 2% of starting balance where applicable
• ▸Includes unrealized P&L and simulated commissions
• ▸Zero: on eval and qualified
• ▸Standard: qualified only
• ▸Advanced: none anywhere
• ▸Direct: yes
• ▸You can set a tighter DLG yourself in your platform
• ▸It's a liquidation trigger that sends market orders. Fills will vary. Don't treat it as a stop loss.

Alpha Futures Consistency Rules

Formula: biggest day ÷ total net profit since last withdrawal. Violating doesn't breach you; you keep trading until the ratio clears. Resets after each withdrawal.

Recommended largest day to pass efficiently: Advanced 50K $1,600 or less, 100K $3,200, 150K $4,800. Standard 50K $1,500, 100K $3,000, 150K $4,500.

Alpha publishes a consistency calculator at consistencycalculator.alpha-futures.com.

Alpha Futures Scaling Plan

Applies to Zero (50K/100K) and Standard qualified accounts only. No scaling on Advanced, Direct, or Zero 25K.

Standard qualified scaling plan

Standard qualified accounts follow a different scaling ladder.

Alpha Futures News Trading Rules

All evaluations: no restrictions.

Advanced Qualified: no restrictions (but 'all or nothing' gambling during news is still a prohibited practice).

Zero, Standard, Direct Qualified: you can hold through news, but no orders executed 2 minutes before or after a red-folder ForexFactory event on your asset's currency (USD for ES/NQ/GC/CL). For speeches, the window applies to the listed start time only.

First violation is a warning and you keep the account, but profits from the window are voided and the payout is denied until the next eligible date. Second violation breaches the account.

Prohibited Practices & Automation at Alpha Futures

Alpha's automation policy is stricter than most:

• ▸Bots, AI, and fully automated systems: banned on all account types
• ▸Semi-automation allowed: indicators that signal entries are fine if you manually place and manage the trade
• ▸HFT: anything approaching 100+ trades per day is not welcome, automated or not
• ▸VPS: allowed. VPN to mask IP: not allowed.
• ▸"All or nothing" max-leverage positions using the DLG as a stop
• ▸Order book spamming (excessive order stacking; reasonable DCA is fine)
• ▸Tick/micro scalping: a clear pattern of trades under 10 ticks AND under 2 minutes. No minimum hold rule, just no pattern of it.
• ▸Tight brackets exploiting no-slippage fills
• ▸Multiple limit orders at the same price to manipulate fills
• ▸Account rolling and account stacking (storing passed accounts to roll into after a breach or payout)
• ▸Hedging / reverse trading across accounts, or NQ vs MNQ on the same account
• ▸Gapped or illiquid market trading for isolated fills
• ▸Group trading
• ▸CME rule violations

Copy trading rules

Copy trading between your own accounts is permitted. Use your smallest account as leader.

Consequences for prohibited practices: termination, voided profits, and passed evals reviewed and denied.

Alpha Futures Trading Hours & Products

Open: 6:00 PM ET. Close all trades by: 4:20 PM ET. Alpha closes them for you if you forget. Weekend: closed Friday 5 PM ET to Sunday 6 PM ET.

Products: all CME Group exchanges (CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX). Crypto: MBT and MET available, treated as full mini contracts for position limits.

Subscription, Resets & Inactivity

Zero, Standard, and Advanced evaluations rebill monthly from sign-up until you pass. Passing ends the subscription; Qualified Traders pay nothing monthly. If you fail, the rebill resets the account to starting balance. If you're mid-eval 24 hours before rebill, you choose reset or continue. Cancel anytime in the dashboard billing section.

Inactivity rule

One trade every 10 trading days, any size, on evals and Qualified Accounts. Platforms archive data after 10 inactive days. This is the strictest inactivity window among major futures firms.

Account Limits

Zero: 5 Qualified Accounts. Standard: 5 (3 if purchased before July 27, 2026). Direct: 5. Advanced: 3, and any active Advanced Qualified caps you at 3 total. One username per person, one person per household.

Alpha Futures Supported Platforms

AlphaTrader: in-house, web-based (mobile in development). WealthCharts: web-based. DeepChart by Volumetrica: web or desktop, includes complimentary OrderFlow package. Quantower: desktop, Windows only.

Data via dXFeed, clearing via Volumetrica. Platform choice is locked after purchase. No Tradovate, NinjaTrader, or TradingView.

Alpha Futures Path to Live & Alpha Prime

This is where Alpha separates itself from most sim props.

• ▸Trigger: $40,000 in payouts from a Qualified Account or 5 withdrawals, or earlier at Alpha's discretion. Your history is reviewed.
• ▸Transition: Your sim accounts close and Alpha pays 50% of their profit (up to each account's max withdrawal) as a final payout. Then you contribute $5,000 from your payable sim balance, Alpha contributes $5,000, and you get a $10,000 static-drawdown live account with daily payouts, no consistency rule, no news restrictions, no max withdrawal, and a DLL at 30% of balance that scales with the account.
• ▸Option 1 – Alpha Prime: Your remaining sim balance (after the $5K risk and payout) is paid as a 12-month monthly salary while you're live with Alpha Prime. You also get weekly strategy calls with the London team, quant support for building automated strategies, opportunities to visit the London floor, and performance-based allocation increases. Profit split is 60%. Designed for people who want a career.
• ▸Option 2 – Generic Live: Keep the $10K live account at an 80% split. Forfeit the remaining sim balance, the salary, and Prime resources.
• ▸Declining live entirely means a final payout and no further relationship with Alpha Group.

Alpha Futures Pros and Cons

Pros and cons at a glance:

• ▸EOD trailing drawdown on every account, no intraday
• ▸MLL stops at starting balance and never slides after payouts
• ▸90% split from the first payout
• ▸$0 activation on all account types
• ▸Daily Loss Guard is a soft breach, not a fail
• ▸Advanced: no DLG, no consistency, no news rules, no scaling, $15K max withdrawal
• ▸Zero: one-day pass with no eval consistency rule
• ▸Direct: no evaluation, one-time fee
• ▸Up to 4 payouts per month, no fixed dates
• ▸Live program where the firm matches your capital
• ▸Alpha Prime salary and London floor access for top traders
• ▸Copy trading your own accounts allowed
• ▸Crypto futures available
• ▸Backed by a group with a regulated broker and 30-year traditional prop lineage
• ▸Monthly rebilling on Zero, Standard, and Advanced evals
• ▸Bots and full automation banned everywhere
• ▸10-trading-day inactivity rule is tight
• ▸No Tradovate, NinjaTrader, or TradingView
• ▸Platform locked after purchase
• ▸Advanced eval has aggressive target-to-MLL ratios
• ▸5-winning-day requirement on every payout (Zero/Standard/Advanced)
• ▸$40K / 5-payout sim cap per account
• ▸Direct 20% consistency is strict
• ▸News restrictions on Zero, Standard, and Direct when qualified
• ▸100+ trades/day flagged even if manual
• ▸Alpha Prime live split is 60%

Who Should Use Alpha Futures

Choose Zero if: you're starting out, want the lowest monthly cost, and want to pass in one day.

Choose Standard if: you want bigger withdrawal caps than Zero, no DLG on the eval, and you're comfortable with a 50% eval consistency rule.

Choose Advanced if: you have a real edge, want the fewest restrictions when funded, and want $15K payouts. This is the account to pick if you can afford it and can pass it.

Choose Direct if: you trade many consistent days, want to skip the eval, and prefer a one-time fee.

Look elsewhere if: you run bots, scalp sub-2-minute trades as your primary strategy, need TradingView or Tradovate, take extended breaks, or hate monthly subscriptions.

Final Take

Alpha Futures built its rulebook around the things that blow up most prop accounts: intraday drawdown, MLL sliding to zero after payouts, hard daily loss breaches. None of those exist here. If you're a discretionary trader who holds positions for more than a couple of minutes and doesn't need a bot, the Advanced Qualified Account is one of the most unrestricted funded accounts available anywhere, with a $15,000 payout cap to match.

The live program is the other reason to care. The firm puts up $5,000 of its own capital alongside yours and, through Alpha Prime, pays a monthly salary from your leftover sim balance. That's a real path to trading professionally, not just a bigger sim account.

Just know what you're signing up for: monthly rebilling until you pass, no automation, a 10-day inactivity clock, and a platform list that doesn't include the usual suspects.

Ready to start? Grab the latest Alpha Futures discount code and compare it against MyFundedFutures, Lucid Trading, FundedNext Futures, Apex, and every other futures prop firm at PropFirms.net.

Rules and pricing are accurate as of August 2026 and sourced from the official Alpha Futures help center. Prop firm terms change frequently. Always confirm on the firm's site before purchasing. PropFirms.net may earn a commission from links on this page.