Bulenox Rules Overview 2026: The Definitive Guide to Every Rule That Matters

Bulenox runs on two rule sets—Option 1 (trailing drawdown, no scaling, no daily loss limit) and Option 2 (EOD drawdown, scaling plan, daily loss limit)—with a 40% consistency rule on payouts and a three-stage account progression that adds rules at each level.

After seven months trading Bulenox and four payouts, I can tell you the rules aren't complicated—but the interactions between them catch traders constantly. The trailing drawdown tightening your buffer while the consistency rule blocks your payout?

That's the classic Bulenox trap I've watched dozens of traders walk into. This guide covers every rule across Qualification, Master, and Funded stages, with the real-world edge cases and gotchas that Bulenox's help docs don't spell out clearly enough.

Why I trade with Bulenox: I've been running Bulenox accounts for seven months—passed Qualifications on both Option 1 and Option 2, activated Master Accounts, and pulled four clean PayPal payouts with no holdups. This assessment is based on real money in, real money out.

That said, no prop firm is perfect. Bulenox has strengths (weekly payouts, flexible drawdown options, 100% of the first $10K) and weaknesses (strict consistency rule, mandatory Funded transition, payout caps on first three withdrawals) that I've documented honestly. For a complete breakdown of their account structure, pricing, rules, and what to expect at each stage, read my complete Bulenox review. For the absolute latest, check Bulenox's website or their help center.

Drawdown Rules: The Foundation of Everything

Every Bulenox rule connects back to drawdown. It's the single mechanism that determines whether your account survives or gets closed. Understanding which drawdown type you're trading under—and how it actually calculates—is non-negotiable.

Option 1: Trailing Drawdown (Real-Time)

The trailing drawdown tracks your highest equity in real-time, including unrealized gains and commissions. It's always a fixed dollar amount below your peak:

• $25K account: $1,500 trailing
• $50K account: $2,500 trailing
• $100K account: $3,000 trailing
• $150K account: $4,500 trailing
• $250K account: $5,500 trailing

Here's the part that burns people: "real-time" means exactly that. If your $50K account hits $52,800 at 10:17 AM because a trade spiked in your favor before pulling back, your drawdown floor moved to $50,300 permanently—even if you close that trade at $51,200. The floor doesn't come back down. Ever.

I had a trade on my $50K Option 1 where NQ spiked 22 points in my favor (about $880 on 2 contracts), I didn't take profit, and it reversed to close at +$340. My drawdown floor moved up $880 while I only banked $340. That $540 gap was drawdown buffer I'd never get back. On a $2,500 max drawdown, losing $540 of buffer to unrealized gains is over 20% of your total room—gone in one trade.

The critical safety net: On Master Accounts, the trailing drawdown stops moving once it reaches your initial starting balance + $100. On a $50K Master Account, once your floor hits $50,100, it locks. This means once you've built $2,600+ in profit and your floor has caught up to $50,100, you essentially have a static drawdown from that point forward. Getting to that lock point should be your first priority on any Master Account.

Option 2: EOD Drawdown (End-of-Day)

The EOD drawdown only updates at the end of each trading day, and only when you close at a new equity high. Intraday swings are invisible to the drawdown calculation.

Same dollar amounts as Option 1—$1,500 on $25K up to $5,500 on $250K—but the behavior is radically different.

Day 1: You open at $50,000, go down to $48,200 intraday, recover, and close at $50,800. EOD drawdown moves to $48,300 ($50,800 - $2,500). The $48,200 intraday low? Didn't matter.

Day 2: You open at $50,800, have a rough session, close at $50,400. EOD drawdown stays at $48,300 because you didn't close at a new high.

Day 3: You close at $51,500. Now EOD drawdown moves to $49,000.

The difference in practice is massive. On Option 1, my drawdown floor moved multiple times per day during volatile sessions. On Option 2, it only moved when I actually banked end-of-day profit. For traders who let positions breathe and occasionally hold through drawdowns before closing green, Option 2 is dramatically more forgiving.

Drawdown Rules Side-by-Side

My take: I use Option 2 on Bulenox for most accounts. The EOD mechanism means I don't have to obsessively monitor unrealized gains. On volatile days when NQ moves 200+ points, Option 1 traders are constantly calculating drawdown floor changes while I can focus on the actual trade.

Daily Loss Limits (Option 2 Only)

Option 2 adds daily loss limits that Option 1 doesn't have. These aren't account-breaching rules—hitting the daily loss limit suspends trading for the rest of that session, and your account resumes normally the next day.

The limits by account size: $25K gets $500/day, $50K gets $1,100, $100K gets $2,200, $150K gets $3,300, $250K gets $4,500. These include realized and unrealized P&L plus commissions.

Here's the part most people miss: daily loss limits are removed once your EOD drawdown reaches the account's starting balance. On a $100K Option 2, once your drawdown floor catches up to $100,100 (meaning you've built enough profit that the EOD floor has risen to just above starting balance), the daily loss limit disappears entirely. That's a significant milestone to work toward because it removes one entire rule from your mental load.

I actually view the daily loss limit as a feature, not a restriction. It's a built-in circuit breaker. On my worst Bulenox days, the $1,100 cap on my $50K stopped me from turning a bad morning into a catastrophic one. Without it (on Option 1), I've had days where I gave back $1,800 before finally closing the platform. The daily cap forces you to stop, which is something most traders can't do on their own.

The Scaling Plan (Option 2 Only)

Option 2's scaling plan gradually increases your contract limit as you build profit. Starting contracts are limited, and you unlock more at specific profit thresholds.

$50K Option 2 Scaling Example:

• Starting: 2 contracts max
• After $1,501 profit: 4 contracts
• After $2,001 profit: 6 contracts
• After $2,501 profit: 7 contracts (full allocation)

$100K Option 2 Scaling Example:

• Starting: 3 contracts max
• After $2,001 profit: 6 contracts
• After $4,001 profit: 9 contracts
• After $5,001 profit: 12 contracts (full allocation)

The scaling plan exists during both Qualification and Master stages. It forces conservative position sizing early, which actually helps pass rate—you can't blow up on day one with oversized positions because the system won't let you trade big until you've proven you can profit small.

My complaint: the initial 2-contract limit on a $50K feels too tight for NQ traders. Two NQ contracts with a $2,500 drawdown means a 62.5-point adverse move wipes you out. That's less than a typical NQ daily range. If you trade NQ on Option 2, switch to MNQ micros until you unlock more contracts—10 MNQ = 1 NQ but gives you much better granularity on position sizing.

The 40% Consistency Rule

This rule only applies on Master and Funded Accounts when requesting a payout. It doesn't exist during Qualification.

The rule: no single trading day's profit can exceed 40% of your total profit at the time of withdrawal request. If your total profit is $5,000 and your best day was $2,500 (50%), your payout gets blocked until you trade enough additional profitable days to bring that percentage below 40%.

The math: Best Day ÷ Total Profit must be < 0.40.

Real scenario from my account: I had a monster day—$1,800 on my $50K Master. Felt great until I did the math. My total profit was $3,600 at that point. $1,800 ÷ $3,600 = 50%. Blocked. I needed to trade 3 more days averaging $300+ to dilute that $1,800 day below 40%. Four trading days later, total was $4,800. $1,800 ÷ $4,800 = 37.5%. Payout unlocked.

How to avoid consistency issues: Target steady daily gains of $300-$600. If you accidentally have a big day (say $1,200+), don't panic—just trade normally for 3-5 more sessions to dilute it. The worst thing you can do is chase another big day to "balance" the consistency. That usually leads to oversized positions and breach.

Pro tip: do the math every evening. Take your best single day and divide by your running total. If it's above 35%, keep trading at normal size until the ratio drops. Don't wait until you're ready to request a payout to discover you're blocked.

Trading Hours and Position Close Rules

Bulenox's trading day runs from 5:00 PM to 4:00 PM CST (Central Standard Time). All positions must be flat by 3:59 PM CST. This is a hard deadline—not 4:00 PM, not 3:59:30 PM, but 3:59 PM with all positions fully closed.

If you're still holding at 4:00 PM, Bulenox's system auto-liquidates. From what I've seen, the auto-close doesn't trigger a violation, but the fill you get at forced liquidation is almost always worse than what you'd get closing manually at 3:50 PM. I set my alarm for 3:45 PM and make sure I'm flat by 3:50 PM. Those last 9 minutes of a trading session are not where good trades happen.

Weekends and market holidays are trading blackouts. No Sunday evening globex trading (Bulenox's day starts Monday 5 PM CST). The full holiday schedule varies by exchange—CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX each have slightly different closures. Bulenox publishes a holiday calendar, but I always double-check the CME Group site before trading around holidays.

Payout Rules: The Rules That Actually Get You Paid

Getting paid at Bulenox follows a specific sequence. Miss one step and your withdrawal request gets denied.

Requirements for payout:

1. Minimum 10 trading days on Master (5 on Funded)
2. Profit target reached
3. 40% consistency rule satisfied
4. Balance above safety threshold reserve
5. Minimum $1,000 withdrawal amount
6. First three payouts are capped by account size

Payout timeline: Weekly processing on Wednesdays. Submit your request, Bulenox reviews, and funds typically arrive in 3-7 business days depending on method. PayPal and crypto (USDT) are fastest—my PayPal payouts have landed in 2-3 business days consistently. ACH takes 3-5 business days. Wire transfers are slowest and most expensive.

Profit split: 100% of the first $10,000 across all payouts combined. After $10K total withdrawn, the split becomes 90/10 in favor of the trader. This is competitive but not industry-leading—some firms offer 100% of the first $25K or flat 90/10 from day one.

The safety threshold reserve: This is the minimum balance that must remain in your account after withdrawal. On a $50K account, that's $2,600. You can't withdraw this amount—it stays locked as long as the account is active. Bulenox says you can withdraw the reserve upon account termination, but in practice, this means when you close the account permanently.

Rules That Change Between Stages

The biggest shift is from Qualification to Master: suddenly you have the consistency rule, trading day requirements, and no resets. The shift from Master to Funded is actually less dramatic—mainly just reduced trading day requirements (10 → 5) and removed payout caps.

Prohibited Activities and Account Violations

Bulenox explicitly prohibits certain trading behaviors. Getting caught means account closure without refund:

Account-terminating violations:

• Exceeding max drawdown (instant breach, no recovery)
• Multiple logins / multiple Rithmic User IDs under different profiles
• Trading prohibited instruments (varies by account size—the $10K account is micros only)
• Holding positions past 4:00 PM CST (auto-liquidation handles this, but repeated offenses may flag your account)
• Exploiting platform glitches, arbitrage between data feeds, or any form of market manipulation

Non-terminating violations:

• Hitting daily loss limit on Option 2 (trading pauses for the day, resumes tomorrow)
• Failing the 40% consistency rule (payout denied, keep trading to fix ratio)

Algo trading and bots: Bulenox permits automated trading systems, including EAs and copy trading software. However, they don't provide technical support for third-party algorithms. If your bot misfires and breaches your drawdown, that's on you. I've used trade copier software across multiple Bulenox accounts without issues, but always with manual oversight running simultaneously.

Rules Most Traders Get Wrong

After watching the Bulenox community for months, these are the rules that cause the most confusion:

Mistake #1: Thinking EOD drawdown means you can't breach intraday. Wrong. If your $50K Option 2 account balance drops to $47,500 at any point (hitting the $2,500 drawdown), the account is done. EOD drawdown means the floor moves at end of day, but the breach check is real-time. Your balance can never touch the current drawdown floor, regardless of when it was last updated.

Mistake #2: Not budgeting for the safety threshold reserve. Traders see $3,000 in profit on their $50K Master and think they can withdraw $3,000. Nope. The $2,600 reserve means you can only withdraw $400 of that $3,000 (and only if it clears the $1,000 minimum, which it doesn't). You need at least $3,600 in profit before your first $1,000 withdrawal is possible. Plan accordingly.

Mistake #3: Ignoring how the consistency rule resets. After each payout, the consistency calculation resets to zero. Fresh cycle, fresh math. This means you can have a $2,000 best day in cycle 1 (that got diluted to 38%) and then a $1,500 best day in cycle 2—they don't compound. Each withdrawal request is evaluated independently.

Mistake #4: Choosing Option 1 because "no daily loss limit" sounds better. The absence of a daily loss limit on Option 1 means nothing protects you from yourself on bad days. I've seen traders lose $2,000 in a single session on Option 1 because there was no circuit breaker. The daily loss limit on Option 2 is genuinely protective for most trading styles.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bulenox Rules

Does the trailing drawdown include commissions?

Yes. On Option 1, commissions are part of the real-time equity calculation. A trade that breaks even on price but costs $12 in commissions lowers your equity by $12 and can move your drawdown floor. On Option 2, commissions affect your end-of-day balance, so they're factored into the EOD drawdown update.

What happens if I hit the daily loss limit on Option 2?

Trading is suspended for the rest of that session. Your account is not breached or flagged. The next trading day starts normally with your balance wherever it ended. It's a pause, not a punishment. My advice: treat the daily loss limit as your hard stop and close the platform when you hit it.

Can I trade news events on Bulenox?

Yes. Bulenox doesn't restrict news trading, FOMC, CPI, NFP, or any specific event-based trading. Some prop firms prohibit trading within minutes of high-impact news—Bulenox doesn't. That said, slippage during news events can be brutal, and a single bad fill can move your trailing drawdown significantly on Option 1.

Does the 40% consistency rule apply during Qualification?

No. The consistency rule only kicks in at Master and Funded stages, specifically when requesting a payout. During Qualification, you can have one monster day that represents 90% of your profit target and still pass cleanly.

What trading instruments are allowed?

All CME Group futures: equity indices (ES, NQ, YM, RTY and micros), energy (CL, NG, and micros), metals (GC, SI, and micros), agriculture (ZC, ZS, ZW, etc.), currencies, and crypto micros (BTC, ETH). The $10K account is limited to micro contracts only. All other sizes can trade full and micro contracts.

Can I hold positions overnight?

No. All positions must be flat by 3:59 PM CST. No overnight holds, no swing trading across sessions. This applies to all stages—Qualification, Master, and Funded.

How strict is Bulenox on rule enforcement?

Very. The system auto-liquidates at 4:00 PM CST, auto-suspends on daily loss limit hit, and auto-breaches on drawdown violation. There's minimal human discretion. I've never successfully appealed a drawdown breach, and I wouldn't expect to. The rules are programmatic and final.

Does the scaling plan (Option 2) reset after payouts?

No. Your scaling level is tied to your account balance, not your payout cycle. If you've unlocked 6 contracts by reaching $2,001 profit on a $50K, withdrawing $1,500 brings your balance down and your contract limit might drop back to 4 if you're below the threshold. Watch your balance carefully before and after withdrawals.

Are there rules about trade duration or hold time?

No minimum or maximum trade duration. Bulenox allows scalping, day trading, and any hold time within the session (flat by 3:59 PM). Unlike some firms that flag trades under 5 seconds or restrict microscalping, Bulenox has no hold-time restrictions.

What's the maximum number of accounts I can have?

Up to 3 simultaneous Master Accounts. Multiple Qualification Accounts are allowed under the same login. You cannot create multiple Bulenox profiles—this results in permanent deletion of all accounts without refund.

Do the rules change based on account size?

The core rules (drawdown type, consistency, trading hours, close requirement) are the same across all sizes. What changes: drawdown dollar amounts, daily loss limits (Option 2), contract limits, profit targets, payout caps, and safety threshold reserves. Larger accounts don't have "easier" rules—they have proportionally similar constraints with bigger numbers.

Can I trade during holidays?

No trading during exchange holidays. Bulenox follows the CME Group holiday schedule. Some holidays affect specific exchanges only (NYMEX might be closed while CME is open). Always check the holiday calendar before your trading day—an unintended position held through a surprise early close can cause issues.