Source: https://whitepips.com/blog/the-futures-evaluation-explained Summary: How a futures prop firm evaluation works: minis and micros, the 3:55 PM Chicago close, the EOD-trailing Maximum Loss Limit, and what Instant changes. Last updated: 2026-10-28 # Futures evaluation explained: contracts, close and limit How a futures prop firm evaluation works: minis and micros, the 3:55 PM Chicago close, the EOD-trailing Maximum Loss Limit, and what Instant changes. - September 22, 2026 - 7 min read - 7 sections - Getting funded **In this article 7** 1. Contracts: minis, micros and the position cap 2. The 3:55 PM Chicago close 3. The EOD-trailing Maximum Loss Limit 4. What the evaluation does not have 5. The Instant account: intraday limit and a soft daily limit 6. Pricing and the reset 7. Questions traders ask Back to top September 22, 2026 7 min read Getting funded ## Key takeaways 1. **Contracts: minis, micros and the position cap.** Futures are traded in whole contracts, and the size of a contract is fixed by the exchange. 2. **The 3:55 PM Chicago close.** The CME session runs from Sunday 5:00 PM Chicago time to Friday 4:00 PM, with a break from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM each day. 3. **The EOD-trailing Maximum Loss Limit.** The Maximum Loss Limit is the rule that ends evaluations. 4. **What the evaluation does not have.** The One Step evaluation has no consistency rule, no minimum trading days, no minimum profitable days, no time limit and no activation fee. 5. **The Instant account: intraday limit and a soft daily limit.** The Instant futures account has no evaluation. A futures evaluation is one target, one loss limit and a hard daily close. On the One Step at WhitePips the $25K account has a $1,200 profit target and a $1,000 Maximum Loss Limit that trails the account's end-of-day high. There is no daily loss limit on that size, no consistency rule during the evaluation, no minimum number of days and no time limit, so the evaluation can be passed in a single session or over several months. Everything runs on Volumetrica, on CME Group minis and micros, and every open position is closed by the system at 3:55 PM Chicago time, every day. Nothing is held overnight and nothing is held over the weekend. The $25K One Step costs $81 and a reset costs $81. The rest of this article explains each of those pieces in turn, then the Instant account, which skips the evaluation and uses a different kind of limit. Figures are for the $25K size unless stated; the [futures plan page](https://whitepips.com/futures) has every size. ## Contracts: minis, micros and the position cap Futures are traded in whole contracts, and the size of a contract is fixed by the exchange. A mini (ES, NQ, CL and the like) is the standard retail contract. A micro (MES, MNQ, MCL) is one tenth of it: a tenth of the margin, a tenth of the move per point. Micros let a small account take a position that a single mini would make too large. Every futures account carries a Maximum Position Size, written as a number of minis and the equivalent number of micros. On the $25K it is 2 minis or 20 micros; on $50K 4 and 40; on $100K 6 and 60; on $150K 10 and 100. A micro is a tenth of a mini, so these are one limit written twice, and any mix that adds up to the cap is fine: 1 ES and 10 MES is 2 minis in total on the $25K, exactly the limit. Exceeding the cap once is a warning; a second time puts the account under review. Volumetrica knows the cap, but the responsibility for the count is yours, especially when scaling into a position with micros. Before the first trade, write the cap on a note next to the screen in both units: "2 minis = 20 micros". Most cap breaches are an extra micro added to a mini position, not a deliberate oversize. ## The 3:55 PM Chicago close The CME session runs from Sunday 5:00 PM Chicago time to Friday 4:00 PM, with a break from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM each day. The daily settlement happens around that break, and a position carried through it is exposed to the gap and the margin call that come with it. Prop firms do not carry that risk for you, so the account is flattened before the break. At WhitePips anything still open at 3:55 PM Chicago time, which is 4:55 PM New York, is closed by the system, five minutes before the session ends, every trading day and before the weekend. There is no overnight holding and no weekend holding on futures, with no add-on to change that. Swing strategies that depend on holding through the US close do not fit the futures line; the [CFD plans](https://whitepips.com/cfds) allow overnight holding and a weekend add-on, so a strategy like that belongs there. The practical consequence is that your trading day has an end. A position that is in the red at 3:50 PM will be closed at 3:55 PM whether or not you want it closed, and the loss will count. Plan exits before the final half hour rather than letting the system plan them for you. ## The EOD-trailing Maximum Loss Limit The Maximum Loss Limit is the rule that ends evaluations. On the One Step it is EOD trailing and it is hard: reaching it ends the account. [EOD trailing drawdown, explained with an example](https://whitepips.com/blog/eod-trailing-drawdown-explained) walks through how the floor moves and when it locks. Trailing means the limit moves up as the account grows. On the $25K the limit starts $1,000 below the $25,000 starting balance, at $24,000. End-of-day means it is recalculated from the balance at the close of each day, not from every tick. If the account ends a day at a new high of $25,400, the limit moves to $24,400 and stays there until a higher close moves it again. It never moves down. What EOD trailing does not do is follow your open profit during the day. A trade that is up $600 at noon and closes flat at 2 PM has not moved the limit, because the day has not closed. That is the difference from an intraday trailing limit, which does follow open profit and which the Instant account uses. The general mechanics are covered in [static and trailing drawdown, side by side](https://whitepips.com/blog/static-and-trailing-drawdown) ; the futures line uses the trailing kind, measured the way Volumetrica measures it. - **$25K**: target **$1,200**, Maximum Loss Limit **$1,000**, no Daily Loss Limit. - **$50K**: target **$3,000**, Maximum Loss Limit **$2,000**, Daily Loss Limit **$1,250**. - **$100K**: target **$6,000**, Maximum Loss Limit **$3,000**, Daily Loss Limit **$2,000**. - **$150K**: target **$9,000**, Maximum Loss Limit **$4,500**, Daily Loss Limit **$3,000**. On the $50K and above the Daily Loss Limit is soft: reaching it stops trading for the rest of the day and the account stays open. The $25K has none, which makes the trailing limit the only thing standing between a bad morning and the end of the account. ## What the evaluation does not have The One Step evaluation has no consistency rule, no minimum trading days, no minimum profitable days, no time limit and no activation fee. One target, one limit. If the target is reached with the limit intact, the evaluation is passed, whether that took an hour or a year. The post on [why there is no deadline](https://whitepips.com/blog/no-time-limit) explains what that does to the way an evaluation should be traded. Two conduct rules do apply. News trading is allowed during the evaluation (it is restricted once funded, to no trade opened or closed within 2 minutes of high-impact news). Microscalping is allowed, but at most 50% of your profit may come from trades held under 30 seconds. And an account with 15 days of no trading activity is deactivated. Once funded, the One Step pays a 90/10 split on demand. A 40% consistency rule applies to the funded account, measured by day, and each payout needs 3 profitable days of $62.50 or more on the $25K. The funded account also keeps a $1,000 profit buffer, with a $250 minimum profit goal above it, so the first payout opens at $1,250 of profit; the minimum payout is $500 before the split, and the first payout is capped at $1,000, later ones at $1,500. These are the funded rules, not the evaluation, but it is worth knowing them before you pass. ## The Instant account: intraday limit and a soft daily limit The Instant futures account has no evaluation. It is funded from purchase, at a 90/10 split, and the $25K costs $175. In exchange the loss rules are tighter and different in kind. The Maximum Loss Limit on Instant is intraday trailing and hard: $1,250 on the $25K, following the highest equity the account reaches during the session, open profit included. A trade that is up $800 and gives it all back has moved the limit up $800 in the meantime. Above it sits a soft Daily Loss Limit of $500: reaching it locks the account until the next session, and the account stays open. Instant also carries a 20% consistency rule, measured by day, needs 5 profitable days of $62.50 or more before each payout, and a payout milestone of $1,450 of profit before every payout, the first included. The maximum payout is $1,000 each time, before the split. The 3:55 PM close and the position cap are the same as on the One Step. > On the One Step the limit moves once a day, at the close. On Instant it moves with every tick of open profit. Same name, two different rules, and the one you are on decides how a winning trade that reverses is scored. ## Pricing and the reset The $25K One Step is $81. The $50K is $107, the $100K $179 and the $150K $239. If the evaluation breaches, a reset on the $25K is $81, the same as the evaluation, and the account starts again from the starting balance with the limit back at $24,000. That price means the sensible first purchase is the $25K, traded with micros, as a test of both the platform and your handling of a trailing limit. The $25K has no daily limit, which is both its appeal and its danger. If you want the soft daily stop as a safety net, the $50K at $107 has one. [Choosing an account size](https://whitepips.com/blog/choosing-an-account-size) goes through the argument for starting below your ceiling, and it applies with more force when positions move in whole contracts. ## Questions traders ask **Can I pass the futures evaluation in one day?** Yes. There is no minimum number of days and no consistency rule during the evaluation, so a $1,200 day on the $25K passes it. The funded account then has its own payout conditions, including 3 profitable days and a 40% consistency rule. **What happens if I am in a trade at 3:55 PM Chicago time?** The system closes it, at whatever the price is, and the result counts toward your balance and the limit. Nothing is held overnight on futures, and there is no add-on that changes it. **Does the trailing limit stop moving once I am in profit?** On the One Step it moves up with each new end-of-day high and never down; the rules do not describe it stopping. Trade as if it follows you all the way, and check the live rule card in the dashboard rather than working it out by hand. More in Getting funded [How to spot a prop firm that pays, and one that will not](https://whitepips.com/blog/prop-firm-red-flags) [The WhitePips free trial: what it is and is not](https://whitepips.com/blog/free-trial-prop-firm) [How prop firms make money, explained plainly](https://whitepips.com/blog/how-prop-firms-make-money) [Read next Edge, Prime or Instant: which funded account fits you Getting funded ยท 8 min read](https://whitepips.com/blog/edge-prime-or-instant) Educational content, not financial advice. Trading carries risk and most people who attempt an evaluation do not pass it. Accounts are simulated; the rules that bind yours are the ones printed on your plan and in the trading rules. [All articles](https://whitepips.com/blog) ## Related articles Getting funded October 8, 2026 8 min read ### Edge, Prime or Instant: which funded account fits you The three CFD account families compared on fee, targets, loss limits, commissions and payouts, with a plain view of who each one suits. [Read the article](https://whitepips.com/blog/edge-prime-or-instant) Getting funded October 4, 2026 7 min read ### How to pass a one-step prop firm challenge A practical plan for a one-step evaluation: the three numbers to know, how to size, what pace to set and the rules that end most attempts. [Read the article](https://whitepips.com/blog/how-to-pass-a-one-step-challenge) Getting funded September 30, 2026 8 min read ### Setting up MetaTrader 5 for a funded account Logging in to MT5 with prop firm credentials, one-click trading, a stop on every order, the lot cap, reading commission and swap, and the mobile app. [Read the article](https://whitepips.com/blog/metatrader-5-for-prop-trading) ## Ready to see the plans? Every plan, size and price, with the rules printed before you buy. [See the plans](https://whitepips.com/#plans) [Trading calculator](https://whitepips.com/calculator) --- WhitePips provides skill-based trading evaluations on simulated accounts; payouts are real money based on simulated performance. Nothing here is financial advice or a promise of profit, passing an evaluation does not guarantee funding, payouts or income, and trading leveraged products carries significant risk. 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