Four numbers that decide what you actually take home
Between “funded” and “paid” sit four variables most traders never read: when you may request, what fraction of profit you keep, which checks re-run at withdrawal, and how fast the money lands. Firms compete loudly on account size and quietly on these.
1 · The first-payout gate
Many firms won't pay the first withdrawal until the funded account has traded a minimum number of days (commonly somewhere in the 5–30 range) or reached a minimum profit buffer. The dangerous version is a buffer: you must be up, say, a set amount over your starting balance before requesting — which means every dollar you draw early is a dollar you had to make twice.
2 · The profit split — and how it scales
The advertised split (70/30, 80/20, 90/10, “up to 100%”) is rarely the whole story. The classic pattern: a lower split for early payouts, a higher one after you've been paid reliably, and the top number behind a scaling plan that requires sustained performance plus growth in your account size. “Up to” is doing heavy lifting in that marketing sentence. The honest comparison between two firms is the split at your first three payouts, not the ceiling.
3 · Checks that re-run at withdrawal
- Consistency, again: the best-day cap from trap #3 often applies per payout window. Small early profits + normal day sizes = the easiest breach of your career.
- Drawdown that follows you: a trailing floor (trap #2) can ratchet up on the very profits you're about to withdraw. Some firms freeze the floor once you request a payout; ask which.
- Trading-style review: firms re-examine how the profit was made before releasing it. Two-flagged-day styles that passed the challenge can still fail a payout review.
4 · Speed, methods, fees
Payout processing runs from same-day to “up to 30 days” depending on the firm, the method (bank, crypto, wallets) and your account tier — and the slow end of that range is where cash-flow problems at small firms show up first. Read the processing times as a risk disclosure, not fine print: the firms that pay slowly but reliably are merely annoying; the ones that pay slowly and newly are the ones to watch.
How to read a payout page before you fund
first payout after N days
,minimum balance before withdrawal
— the first-payout gate. Note both numbers.profit split up to X%
,scaling plan
— find the split at payout one, not the ceiling.consistency applies per payout period
,withdrawal ratio
— trap #3, recurring.processing time
, method list, and anywithdrawal fee
— compare across firms on the same method; fees on small payouts can be a double-digit percentage.- Nothing about payouts at all — that silence is the answer. Ask support in writing before you buy.
What our tools do about it
PassLab prices the getting funded half: the two-phase route with floors and consistency caps included. The payout half — split timelines, per-window consistency, buffer requirements — is the next Terms Intelligence dataset: firm-by-firm, verified from the rulebooks, updated when they change. The traps above are the schema.
Price the funded route first:
Analysis, not advice. Ranges above are industry patterns, not any specific firm's current terms — firms change rules; confirm before you buy.