Short, sourced explainers on the parts of prop trading that actually cost people money: how drawdown is really measured, what a challenge really costs beyond the sticker price, and how to tell a genuine discount code from a copied one. Every guide is built from rules and prices we checked on the firms' own pages — the same checking behind our reviews and our discount codes.
Two "10% drawdown" challenges can be opposite products. This guide separates static, end-of-day trailing and intraday trailing limits, explains balance-based vs equity-based daily limits, and runs the same trades through all three — one version ends the account on a day that closed green. Includes the firm-by-firm map of who uses which basis.
The fee is the smallest line on the bill. Repeat attempts, subscription months, activation fees, add-ons and payout charges — added up with worked budgets: what three attempts at a flagship account really cost, the month where a subscription stops being the cheap option (~3.2 months, on Topstep's own prices), and which firms refund the fee, and when.
Our full method, with our real results: the five steps every code passes before it appears on this site, the code that checkout calls "Invalid" while it quietly takes 10% off, and the 30% discount that turned out to belong to a sale, not a code. Read it before trusting any coupon page — including ours.
A consistency rule caps how much of your total profit can come from a single day. It rarely fails an account outright — instead it gates evaluation, funding or payout until your best day is small enough, and traps like a best day that does not reset after a withdrawal can hold a payout back.
Yes — no signup, no course, no upsell. PropDealHub earns partner commission when readers buy through our tested codes and links; the guides exist so those purchases are informed ones. The arrangement is detailed in our affiliate disclosure.
From the firms' own pricing pages, FAQs and terms, checked on the dates stated in each guide — never from other blogs or forums. Where a firm's own pages disagree with each other, the guides say so and show both figures.
Yes — the consistency rules guide is published now. Payout policies and news-trading rules are next, in that order, because those are the rule families our reviews keep finding conflicts in. Each new guide appears here first.