What Happens After Passing TradeDay's Evaluation?

Written by Paul

Published on

January 15, 2026

You hit your profit target, traded your minimum 5 days, kept your consistency rule intact, and submitted for funding. Congrats—you passed. Now what? The process from "evaluation passed" to "actively trading a funded account" involves four specific steps that must be completed within 30 days, or your funding offer expires.

Here's exactly what happens: your evaluation subscription cancels automatically, you get access to a funding setup checklist in your dashboard, you pay a $139 activation fee (usually waived with promo codes), you complete Riseworks onboarding for payouts, you pass a Rules and Regulations course, and then—only then—does your Funded Sim account activate and you start trading.

This isn't instant funding. There's no "pass the evaluation and trade 5 minutes later." The setup process takes 1-3 business days if you complete everything immediately, or longer if you delay. Here's the complete breakdown of what happens after you pass.

Quick heads-up: This article is based on my real experience with TradeDay and the info available when I published/updated this. Things change in prop trading — rules, payouts, promos, all of it.

For the absolute latest, check TradeDay´s website or their faq page.

Your Evaluation Subscription Automatically Cancels

The moment TradeDay activates your Funded Sim account, your monthly evaluation subscription stops. You no longer get charged the $105, $150, or $210 monthly fee you were paying during evaluation.

What This Means:

No more monthly charges for THIS evaluation account
Your billing cycle for this account ends permanently
You keep full access to TradeDay's members area resources (webinars, squawk, research) for free as long as you remain funded

If You Have Multiple Evaluations:

If you're running 3 evaluation accounts and pass one of them, only that one account's subscription cancels. Your other two evaluations continue charging monthly until you pass them or cancel them manually.

Your Funded Account Is Free:

Funded Sim accounts have zero monthly fees. You pay nothing to maintain your funded status. No subscription, no platform fees, no data fees (data is included for Funded Sim). You only pay when you want to run additional evaluations.

If you eventually graduate to Funded Live, you'll pay $140/month for professional market data, but that's exchange fees, not TradeDay fees. More on Funded Live later.

The Four-Step Funding Activation Process

Your evaluation dashboard shows a checklist with four required steps. Each must be completed before your Funded Sim account goes live.

Step 1: Pay the Setup and Activation Fee ($139)

TradeDay charges a one-time $139 fee to activate your Funded Sim account. This covers administrative setup, account configuration, and platform access provisioning.

Reality Check: Most traders never pay this fee. Why? Promo codes. Almost every TradeDay discount code waives the activation fee entirely. Codes like SAVE40, PFA, MATCH, and others all include "no activation fee" as part of the promotion.

If you used a promo code when purchasing your evaluation, Step 1 auto-completes. If you paid full price without a code (why?), you'll need to pay the $139 before proceeding. More info: TradeDay Discount Codes 2026

Important Time Limit:

You have 30 days from the date you pass your evaluation to complete all four setup steps. If you don't pay the activation fee (or have it waived via promo code) within 30 days, your funding offer expires. Your evaluation results don't carry over—you'd have to pass another evaluation from scratch.

Step 2: Complete Riseworks Onboarding

Riseworks is TradeDay's payout processor. Every withdrawal you request from your funded account processes through Riseworks. You must create a Riseworks account and complete identity verification before your Funded Sim activates.

The Process:

You receive an email invitation from Riseworks to create an account. Check your spam/junk folder if you don't see it within 24 hours of passing your evaluation.

Click the invitation link and complete the signup form. You'll provide:

Full legal name (must match government ID)
Date of birth
Address
Phone number
Email (same email you use for TradeDay)

Identity Verification:

Riseworks requires identity verification before processing payouts. You'll need to provide:

Photo of government-issued ID (driver's license, passport, national ID card)
Proof of address (utility bill, bank statement, lease agreement within last 90 days)
Selfie photo (to match against ID photo)

Upload these documents directly through the Riseworks platform. Verification typically completes within 24-48 hours.

Set Up Payout Methods:

Once verified, configure your preferred payout method:

Bank wire (free for U.S. domestic, $15 for international)
Cryptocurrency Layer 1 ($2.50 + gas fees)
Cryptocurrency Layer 2 (free)

You can change payout methods later, but you must have at least one method configured before your funded account activates.

Complete guide: TradeDay Riseworks Setup

Step 3: Complete the Rules and Regulations Course

TradeDay requires all funded traders to pass a short course covering Funded Sim and Funded Live rules. This isn't busy work—it's covering rules that differ from evaluation accounts.

Course Content:

Funded Sim trading rules (max drawdown, permitted times, permitted products)
Milestone system and account reviews
Withdrawal procedures and profit splits
Funded Live graduation process
Position limit restrictions
Prohibited practices in funded accounts
What happens if you lose your funded account

Format:

The course is self-paced, completed through the TradeDay members area. Videos and text modules cover each topic. At the end, you take a short quiz (10-15 questions). Passing score is typically 80% or higher.

You can retake the quiz unlimited times if you don't pass first attempt. Most traders complete the course in 20-30 minutes and pass the quiz immediately.

Certificate of Completion:

Once you pass, you receive a certificate confirming you understand funded trader rules. This certificate gets saved to your TradeDay dashboard. Step 3 marks as complete.

Step 4: Platform Agreement and Data Certifications

You must accept CME market data agreements and platform terms before receiving trading credentials.

If you skipped these agreements during your evaluation, they'll be required now. Most traders already completed this during evaluation setup, so Step 4 auto-completes.

If not completed, you'll see:

CME Market Data Subscriber Certification (confirming non-professional trader status)
Tradovate End User License Agreement
Platform-specific agreements for NinjaTrader, TradingView, etc. (if using those platforms)

Accept all agreements through the TradeDay members area. Step 4 completes, and your funding setup checklist shows all four steps done.

Step	Requirement	Time to Complete	Common Issues
1	Pay $139 activation fee	Instant (or waived with promo)	Forgetting you used a promo code that waives this
2	Riseworks onboarding	1-2 days (verification wait)	ID verification delays, name mismatches
3	Rules course + quiz	20-30 minutes	Rushing through and failing quiz
4	Platform agreements	5-10 minutes	Usually auto-completed from eval setup

Your Funded Sim Account Activates

Once all four steps show complete on your dashboard, TradeDay's operations team provisions your Funded Sim account. This usually happens within 24 hours, sometimes same-day if you complete steps during business hours.

You Receive:

Email notification that funded account is ready
Trading credentials (your TD_username and password work on funded account)
Access to trading platforms with funded account selected
Starting balance matching your evaluation size ($50K, $100K, or $150K)

Your Funded Sim Account Details:

Starting Balance: Same as your evaluation size. If you passed a $100K evaluation, your Funded Sim starts at $100,000.

Max Drawdown: Same as your evaluation drawdown. If you had EOD $3,000 max drawdown during eval, you have EOD $3,000 max drawdown in Funded Sim.

Position Limits: Based on evaluation size. $50K = 5 contracts, $100K = 10 contracts, $150K = 15 contracts.

Trading Rules: Same as evaluation with one key difference—accidental violations of permitted times, permitted products, or position limits don't fail your account instantly. Only max drawdown is a hard fail. TradeDay tolerates accidental breaches but warns against abuse.

Learn more: TradeDay Funded Account Rules

The Milestone System Begins

Your Funded Sim account operates under a milestone review system. At every $5,000 in gross profit (profits in account + withdrawals), TradeDay pauses your account for overnight review.

Milestones:

$5,000 gross profit = first review
$10,000 gross profit = second review
$15,000 gross profit = third review
And so on every $5,000

At each review, TradeDay decides whether to:

Extend you to the next milestone (continue in Funded Sim)
Graduate you to Funded Live (transition to real broker capital)

Most traders go through 2-4 milestones before graduating to Funded Live. The $5,000 milestone almost never results in immediate graduation—they want to see more trading before allocating live capital.

Complete guide: How TradeDay's Account Review Process Works

When You Can Take Your First Withdrawal

You can request your first withdrawal as soon as you clear the buffer zone. The buffer zone = starting balance + max drawdown.

For a $50K Account:

Starting balance: $50,000
Max drawdown: $2,000
Buffer zone: $52,000

Once your account reaches $52,000, you've cleared the buffer. You can immediately request a withdrawal. Minimum withdrawal is $250.

Withdrawal Process:

Submit request through dashboard (Funded Sim) or email fundedtrader@tradeday.com (Funded Live)
Requests submitted before 5:30 PM CT process within 24 hours
Funds arrive via your chosen Riseworks payout method

Profit Splits:

80% to you, 20% to TradeDay (first $50,000 lifetime withdrawals)
90% to you, 10% to TradeDay ($50K-$100K lifetime withdrawals)
95% to you, 5% to TradeDay (over $100K lifetime withdrawals)

Buffer Zone Withdrawals: If you withdraw profits that drop your balance into the buffer zone (below $52,000 on a $50K account), those profits split 50/50 instead of the normal splits. This encourages you to maintain adequate buffer above your starting balance.

What Happens to Your Other Evaluations

Passing one evaluation doesn't affect other active evaluations you're running. If you have 3 evaluation accounts and pass one, the other two continue:

Keep charging monthly fees
Continue trading under evaluation rules
Must complete profit targets independently
Don't merge with your funded account

You can run up to 6 evaluation accounts simultaneously. You can have up to 3 Funded Sim accounts at once. Each operates independently.

Common Strategy:

Pass 2-3 evaluations before really pushing funded accounts hard. This gives you backup income streams and multiple accounts to scale with.

The Path from Funded Sim to Funded Live

Funded Sim is still simulated trading—your orders execute in sim environment with sim fills. The advantage is zero commissions, no data fees, and forgiving fill prices.

Funded Live trades real capital through a real broker (Plus500 for TradeDayX, others for different platforms). Your orders hit real exchanges with real liquidity. You pay real commissions (~$1.50/contract) and professional market data fees ($140/month per exchange).

Why Funded Sim First:

TradeDay uses Funded Sim as a proving ground. They want to see sustained profitability over multiple months and $10,000-$25,000 in profits before allocating live capital. This protects their capital and ensures you're ready for real execution.

Most Traders Stay in Funded Sim:

Position limits in Funded Sim are generous (5-15 contracts). Payouts are identical to Funded Live. Commissions are zero. Many traders never need to graduate—they build $30K-$50K funded sim accounts with regular payouts and never touch Funded Live.

How Long Until You're Trading Your Funded Account

Fastest Scenario:

Pass evaluation on Monday
Complete all four steps Monday evening
Funded account activates Tuesday morning
Trading by Tuesday 9:30 AM open

Realistic Timeline:

Pass evaluation Day 1
Complete steps Day 1-2
Riseworks verification takes 24-48 hours
Funded account activates Day 3-4
Trading by Day 4

Slow Timeline:

Pass evaluation, delay completing steps
Riseworks verification takes 3-5 days (ID issues, resubmissions)
Wait a week before finishing rules course
Funded account activates Day 7-10

The bottleneck is usually Riseworks verification. If you upload clear ID photos and proof of address immediately, you're good in 24 hours. If you upload blurry photos or documents that don't match your name exactly, delays happen.

FAQ: What Happens After Passing Evaluation

Do I have to pay the $139 activation fee?

Only if you didn't use a promo code when purchasing your evaluation. Codes like SAVE40, PFA, MATCH all waive the activation fee. If you used a discount code, Step 1 auto-completes.

How long do I have to complete the four setup steps?

30 days from the date you pass your evaluation. If you don't complete all four steps within 30 days, your funding offer expires and you'd need to pass another evaluation.

Can I start trading immediately after passing my evaluation?

No. You must complete the four-step setup process first (activation fee, Riseworks, rules course, agreements). Fastest timeline is 24 hours. Typical timeline is 2-3 business days.

Does my evaluation subscription cancel automatically?

Yes. Once your Funded Sim account activates, TradeDay stops charging your monthly evaluation fee for that account. You no longer pay the $105-$210 monthly subscription.

What if I fail the Riseworks identity verification?

Resubmit clear photos of your ID and proof of address. Make sure your name matches exactly across all documents. If you keep failing, contact Riseworks support directly through their platform chat.

Do I have to complete the rules course if I already know the rules?

Yes. It's a mandatory step and takes 20-30 minutes. You can't skip it even if you're an experienced TradeDay trader who knows all the rules.

When can I withdraw my first profit?

As soon as you clear the buffer zone (starting balance + max drawdown). For a $50K account, that means reaching $52,000. Once cleared, request withdrawals anytime with $250 minimum.