Day Traders – Prop Firm Review

Day Traders Overview

Day Traders (daytraders.com) is a futures proprietary trading firm founded in February 2023 by Leo Riot (CTO and Co-founder) and Martin Montaño (COO and Co-founder). Leo Riot previously co-founded Apex Trader Funding in 2021 and built the technology infrastructure that powers multiple major futures funding firms, bringing deep technical expertise to the Day Traders platform build. The firm has processed over $2 million in total trader payouts since launch, demonstrated a 45% challenge pass rate — significantly above the industry average of 15–25% — and has seen website traffic grow 435% year-over-year, reflecting rapid market adoption.

Day Traders distinguishes itself through several structural and technical innovations: a 100% profit split on simulated funded accounts (a genuine industry rarity), a proprietary trading platform called ProjectX built on TradingView charts, and an automated payout system averaging 32 minutes from request to approval. The firm offers three evaluation pathways — Trail accounts with real-time intraday trailing drawdown, Static accounts with a fixed drawdown from the starting balance, and the Straight-to-Funded (S2F) model for traders who want to skip evaluation entirely. Account sizes range from $25,000 to $300,000, with traders able to hold up to five accounts simultaneously for a combined maximum capital exposure of $1,500,000.

Day Traders holds a 4.7/5 Trustpilot rating from over 197 reviews, with consistent praise for payout speed, rule transparency, and platform quality. The firm operates exclusively in simulated US futures markets — CME, CBOT, COMEX, and NYMEX exchange-listed contracts — and does not support forex, CFD, or cryptocurrency trading. For futures traders seeking maximum profit retention, fast payouts, and a technically superior trading platform, Day Traders represents one of the strongest offerings in the current funded futures landscape.

Key Features at a Glance

Evaluation Pathways and Account Sizes

Day Traders offers three funding pathways tailored to different trader preferences. Trail accounts use a real-time intraday trailing drawdown that adjusts as equity rises, giving traders an accurate picture of their real-time risk exposure. Static accounts use a fixed drawdown from the starting account balance that never adjusts upward, providing a predictable and stable risk parameter. The Straight-to-Funded (S2F) model, launched in June 2025, skips the evaluation phase entirely and grants immediate simulated funded account access with an end-of-day trailing drawdown that updates only at market close. Up to five accounts can be held simultaneously across any combination of types.

Profit Split and Payout Structure

Day Traders offers a 100% profit split on all simulated funded accounts — the trader retains the entirety of their simulated trading profits, with no percentage retained by the firm. This is an industry-leading arrangement that effectively removes the standard 20–30% firm share common at most competing prop firms. Payouts are processed through the Plane payment processor with an average approval time of 32 minutes from request submission, with traders and reviewers reporting sub-5-minute approvals in many cases. Payout cycles run every 8 trading days for Pro accounts and every 10 trading days for S2F accounts, with a $500 minimum per payout request.

Day Traders Challenge Rules in Detail

Profit Targets

Day Traders’ profit targets are expressed in absolute dollar amounts scaled to account size. Trail accounts require $1,500 on the $25K account, $3,000 on $50K, $6,000 on $100K, and $8,500 on $150K. Static accounts use the same dollar-based targets: $3,000 on $50K, $6,000 on $100K, $8,500 on $150K, $10,000 on $200K, and $15,000 on $300K. These translate to approximately 6% targets across most account sizes, which is somewhat lower than the 8–10% Phase 1 targets common at forex/CFD prop firms. The relatively accessible profit targets, combined with no daily loss limit and a 50% (rather than 30–40%) consistency rule, contribute to Day Traders’ reported 45% evaluation pass rate.

Drawdown Limits

Day Traders’ drawdown structure varies significantly by account type. Trail accounts use a real-time intraday trailing drawdown — the threshold adjusts upward as the account reaches new equity highs during the trading session. Trail drawdown amounts are: $750 on $25K, $1,500 on $50K, $3,000 on $100K, and $4,500 on $150K. Static accounts use a fixed drawdown from the starting balance that never adjusts: $2,000 on $50K, $4,000 on $100K, $5,000 on $150K, $6,000 on $200K, and $7,000 on $300K. S2F accounts use an end-of-day (EOD) trailing drawdown that updates only at market close, providing significantly more intraday flexibility than real-time trailing. Critically, Day Traders imposes no daily loss limit — only the overall account drawdown limit applies, giving traders complete intraday freedom within their total drawdown budget.

Consistency Rule and Trading Requirements

Day Traders enforces a 50% consistency rule during the evaluation phase: no single trading day can account for more than 50% of the total profits generated during the evaluation. At 50%, this is more permissive than the 30–40% caps common at competing prop firms, reducing the frequency of consistency-related challenge failures for traders with occasional high-return sessions. A minimum of 4 trading days is required to complete the evaluation, regardless of how quickly the profit target is met. These two rules — the minimum day count and the consistency cap — work together to ensure that the evaluation reflects a meaningful multi-session track record rather than a single exceptional day.

On funded Pro accounts, payout cycles require completing 8 qualifying trading days before the payout window opens. S2F accounts require 10 qualifying trading days per payout cycle. Trading bots and Expert Advisors are permitted, but high-frequency trading (HFT) and Martingale systems are explicitly prohibited. Inter-account hedging is not allowed. News trading is permitted, though the firm notes that high-volatility news periods can result in reduced liquidity and potentially unfavorable fills.

Challenge Fees and Pricing

Day Traders’ evaluation fees are structured as one-time payments with no monthly subscription. Trail account fees range from $125 for the $25K account to $350 for the $150K account, with the $300K Trail priced at approximately $879. Static account fees start at approximately $150 for $50K and reach $575 for $300K. A one-time activation fee of $130 applies when transitioning from an evaluation account to a funded Pro account (the S2F account includes this fee in the purchase price). Day Traders regularly offers promotional coupon codes providing discounts of up to 90% on evaluation fees, which are frequently circulated through the firm’s social channels and affiliate partners.

Trading Platform: ProjectX

Day Traders built ProjectX — a proprietary trading platform powered by TradingView charts — from scratch rather than licensing existing infrastructure from Rithmic, Tradovate, or other platform providers. This in-house development approach, led by Leo Riot’s technology team, has produced a platform with 100+ indicators, real-time market depth data (unfiltered DOM), customizable alerts, and an execution latency of approximately 50 milliseconds. ProjectX is browser-based, requiring no software installation, and is fully mobile-accessible. Built-in risk management controls include auto-liquidation triggers, configurable daily loss limits, and trader lockout mechanisms.

For traders who require an alternative, Rithmic is also supported for some account types. MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and DXTrade are not supported. The proprietary nature of ProjectX means traders new to the platform will need a brief adjustment period, but the TradingView chart integration brings a familiar charting environment for traders who already use TradingView for analysis.

Financial Markets Available

Day Traders operates exclusively in simulated US-regulated futures markets. Traders have access to contracts listed on CME, CBOT, COMEX, and NYMEX exchanges, covering equity index futures (ES, NQ, YM, and micros), energy futures (CL crude oil, NG natural gas), metals (GC gold, SI silver), agricultural commodities, and interest rate products. Spot forex, CFDs, individual stock equities, options, and cryptocurrency trading are explicitly not permitted — Day Traders is a pure futures prop firm with no hybrid forex/CFD offering. This focus on regulated US futures markets provides a high-quality, exchange-level execution environment but limits the firm’s accessibility to traders whose primary experience is in the forex or CFD space.

Payouts and Withdrawals

Day Traders’ payout system is one of the fastest in the funded trading industry. The Plane payment processor handles automated approvals with an average turnaround of 32 minutes from request submission — with many traders reporting approvals completed in under 5 minutes. Pro funded accounts operate on 8-trading-day payout cycles: once the trader completes 8 qualifying trading days within a cycle, they become eligible to submit a payout request. S2F accounts use 10-trading-day cycles. The minimum payout per request is $500, and the maximum lifetime payout cap per trader across all accounts is $150,000.

After 6 approved payouts, traders become eligible to apply for a Day Traders Live account, which involves actual firm capital rather than simulated positions. Live accounts carry a 70/30 profit split (70% to the trader), with the option to allocate a portion of payout earnings (between $1,000 and $10,000) to a live account with a matching contribution from the firm. This structured live pathway gives traders a clear progression from simulated trading to real-capital deployment.

Day Traders Company Information

Day Traders was founded in February 2023 by Leo Riot and Martin Montaño. Leo Riot’s prior co-founding of Apex Trader Funding in 2021 and his engineering background in prop firm technology bring an unusually strong technical foundation to the Day Traders operation. The firm is based in Miami, Florida, and has grown rapidly since launch — crossing $2,000,000 in total trader payouts by late 2025 and achieving a 4.7/5 Trustpilot rating with 197+ reviews. Website traffic growth of 435% year-over-year reflects the firm’s accelerating market penetration in the US futures prop firm segment.

Day Traders Account Plans

Max $1,500,000 combined capital across 5 accounts. Min payout $500. Avg payout processing: 32 minutes. Platform: ProjectX on TradingView.

Unique Features of Day Traders

100% Profit Split on Simulated Accounts

Day Traders’ 100% profit retention policy on simulated funded accounts is the firm’s most significant competitive differentiator. The vast majority of prop firms retain 20–30% of trader profits as their core revenue model. By offering traders a 100% share of simulated profits, Day Traders shifts its business model away from profit extraction and toward evaluation fee and activation fee revenue. For traders generating consistent monthly returns, this difference compounds dramatically over time — a trader generating $5,000 per month retains an extra $1,000–$1,500 per month compared to an 80/20 or 70/30 split competitor. The 100% split applies to all Trail, Static, and S2F accounts for as long as the trader maintains a simulated funded account.

Proprietary ProjectX Platform

The ProjectX platform represents a meaningful technical advancement over the standard Rithmic or NinjaTrader setups used by most futures prop firms. Built from scratch by the Day Traders engineering team and powered by TradingView’s charting engine, ProjectX provides an integrated trading environment that eliminates the need to run separate charting and execution applications. The 50ms execution refresh rate, unfiltered depth-of-market data, and browser-based access without installation create a platform experience that competes with professional desktop trading terminals while remaining accessible to traders without technical setup expertise.

Automated 32-Minute Payout Processing

Day Traders’ payout automation — delivering an average approval in 32 minutes — stands in sharp contrast to the multi-day manual review processes at many competing prop firms. Fast payout processing is consistently the most praised feature in Day Traders’ Trustpilot reviews, with traders reporting same-day capital access as a defining quality-of-life improvement over previous prop firm experiences. The Plane payment processor’s automation removes human review delays from the standard payout workflow, making the timing of capital access predictable and reliable rather than subject to queue-based delays.

Trading Rules and Restrictions

Day Traders permits trading bots and Expert Advisors but explicitly prohibits high-frequency trading (HFT) and Martingale-based systems. News trading is technically permitted but flagged as a high-risk activity due to reduced liquidity during news events that can produce unfavorable fills. Inter-account hedging is not allowed. The 50% consistency rule applies during the evaluation phase only. There is no daily loss limit — only the overall account drawdown threshold constrains total risk. Lot size limits apply and are scaled to account size, with specific maximums available in the Day Traders help center.

Account breach during evaluation means the account is disqualified and must be repurchased. S2F accounts cannot be reset after a breach — a new account must be purchased. Pro evaluation accounts may be eligible for a reset after their first failure, depending on current terms. Traders should review the current account rules through the Day Traders help center before purchasing, as the firm updates policies as the platform matures.

Day Traders Trader Reviews and Reputation

Day Traders holds a 4.7/5 Trustpilot rating from over 197 reviews — a top-tier score that places the firm among the highest-rated futures prop firms on the platform. The review sentiment is overwhelmingly positive, with the three most consistently praised elements being payout speed (frequently described as sub-5-minute approvals), the clarity and fairness of the trading rules, and the quality and responsiveness of live chat support (which averages under 2 minutes during business hours). The 45% pass rate is also frequently cited by reviewers as evidence of realistic, achievable evaluation parameters.

Critical reviews are rare but reference concerns around rule changes introduced in updates — particularly consistency requirements that some traders felt were added mid-cycle — and higher evaluation fees compared to some competing firms. These concerns reflect growing pains common to firms expanding their ruleset as they scale. Overall, Day Traders’ Trustpilot profile is one of the stronger in the futures prop firm segment and reflects a firm with a high level of operational execution relative to its stage of development.

Frequently Asked Questions