{
  "title": "US Futures Prop Access Ledger",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "release_status": "provisional (v0, not yet human-checked; see publish gate in research/2026-10-13-us-futures-prop-ledger-v0.md)",
  "as_of": "2026-10-16",
  "headline": "As of 16 October 2026, the median cost to reach a funded $50,000 futures prop account, across the 12 firms whose own pages state both a 50K evaluation price and the activation fee (or that there is none), is $103 at the prices shown that day ($154 before on-page discounts), assuming a first-time pass. Of the 24 futures prop firms in our ledger, 11 say on their own pages that they serve US-based traders, 5 more publish a restricted-country list that leaves the US off, 7 that we could read do not say either way, and 1 blocked or did not answer our reader.",
  "headline_basis": "measured inputs (each firm's own page, saved and hashed on the check date); the sum and median are judged arithmetic that assumes a first-time pass inside one billing period and excludes resets, data and platform fees",
  "firms_in_ledger": 24,
  "firms_read": 23,
  "firms_not_read": [
    "Tick Tick Trader"
  ],
  "firms_stating_they_serve_us_traders": [
    "Apex Trader Funding",
    "Bulenox",
    "DayTraders.com",
    "Earn2Trade",
    "Elite Trader Funding",
    "Lucid Trading",
    "MyFundedFutures",
    "Phidias",
    "Take Profit Trader",
    "Topstep",
    "Tradeify"
  ],
  "firms_whose_restricted_list_omits_us": [
    "Alpha Futures",
    "Aqua Futures",
    "FundedNext Futures",
    "Top One Futures",
    "TradeDay"
  ],
  "firms_stating_exclude_us": [],
  "firms_read_but_us_access_not_stated": [
    "BluSky Trading",
    "Funded Futures Network",
    "Leeloo Trading",
    "OneUp Trader",
    "Purdia Capital",
    "The Trading Pit (futures)",
    "UProfit"
  ],
  "firms_listing_us_state_limits": [
    "Earn2Trade",
    "Elite Trader Funding"
  ],
  "firms_stating_regulatory_status": [
    "Take Profit Trader",
    "The Trading Pit (futures)",
    "Topstep",
    "TradeDay",
    "Tradeify"
  ],
  "firms_with_measured_prices": [
    "Alpha Futures",
    "Aqua Futures",
    "Bulenox",
    "DayTraders.com",
    "Elite Trader Funding",
    "FundedNext Futures",
    "Leeloo Trading",
    "MyFundedFutures",
    "OneUp Trader",
    "Phidias",
    "Purdia Capital",
    "The Trading Pit (futures)",
    "Top One Futures",
    "Topstep",
    "TradeDay",
    "Tradeify",
    "UProfit"
  ],
  "plan_rows": 59,
  "plan_rows_with_price": 52,
  "median_cost_to_funded_50k_usd": 103.0,
  "median_cost_to_funded_50k_list_usd": 154.5,
  "cost_to_funded_50k_by_firm": [
    {
      "firm": "TradeDay",
      "plan": "Daily Payouts, Intraday 50k",
      "eval_price_usd": "59",
      "billing": "monthly",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 59.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 131.0,
      "source_url": "https://www.tradeday.com/"
    },
    {
      "firm": "UProfit",
      "plan": "Day Soft 50K",
      "eval_price_usd": "78",
      "billing": "monthly",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 78.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 130.0,
      "source_url": "https://uprofit.com/"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Topstep",
      "plan": "Trading Combine 50K (No Activation Fee path, RTA on)",
      "eval_price_usd": "85",
      "billing": "monthly",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 85.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 95.0,
      "source_url": "https://www.topstep.com/topstep-prop"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Purdia Capital",
      "plan": "50k EOD Evaluation",
      "eval_price_usd": "89.50",
      "billing": "monthly (price shown 'for the first month')",
      "activation_fee_usd": "1",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 90.5,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 309.0,
      "source_url": "https://purdia.com/"
    },
    {
      "firm": "MyFundedFutures",
      "plan": "Builder 50K",
      "eval_price_usd": "92",
      "billing": "one-off",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 92.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 153.0,
      "source_url": "https://myfundedfutures.com/plans/builder"
    },
    {
      "firm": "The Trading Pit (futures)",
      "plan": "Futures Prime 50K",
      "eval_price_usd": "99",
      "billing": "one-off (30-day challenge)",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 99.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 228.0,
      "source_url": "https://www.thetradingpit.com/futures"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Tradeify",
      "plan": "Select 50K",
      "eval_price_usd": "107",
      "billing": "one-off",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 107.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 107.0,
      "source_url": "https://tradeify.co/select-plan"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Top One Futures",
      "plan": "Elite Daily 50K Evaluation",
      "eval_price_usd": "109",
      "billing": "one-off",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 109.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 218.0,
      "source_url": "https://www.toponefutures.com/"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Aqua Futures",
      "plan": "Futures Flex 50K",
      "eval_price_usd": "117",
      "billing": "one-off",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 117.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 156.0,
      "source_url": "https://www.aquafunded.com/futures"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Alpha Futures",
      "plan": "Standard 50K Evaluation",
      "eval_price_usd": "129",
      "billing": "monthly",
      "activation_fee_usd": "0",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 129.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 129.0,
      "source_url": "https://alpha-futures.com/product/standard"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Elite Trader Funding",
      "plan": "50K evaluation (firm's cost-calculator default)",
      "eval_price_usd": "167",
      "billing": "monthly",
      "activation_fee_usd": "157",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 324.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 324.0,
      "source_url": "https://elitetraderfunding.app/cost-to-get-funded-calculator"
    },
    {
      "firm": "Leeloo Trading",
      "plan": "Launch (Foundation LL practice account)",
      "eval_price_usd": "280",
      "billing": "monthly",
      "activation_fee_usd": "250",
      "cost_to_funded_usd": 530.0,
      "cost_to_funded_list_usd": 530.0,
      "source_url": "https://leelootrading.com/"
    }
  ],
  "claims_checked": 462,
  "claims_verified": 460,
  "claims_read_by_hand": 2,
  "sources_fetched": 158,
  "sources_ok": 144,
  "sources_blocked_or_failed": [
    "apex-home",
    "apex-support",
    "ffn-home",
    "tickticktrader-home",
    "tpt-consistent",
    "tpt-eod-dd",
    "tpt-payout-system",
    "tpt-pro-split",
    "tpt-pro-upgrade",
    "tpt-reset",
    "tpt-rithmic",
    "tpt-withdraw-fees",
    "tradeify-help",
    "tradingpit-us"
  ],
  "sources_blocked_kept_earlier_read": [],
  "read_from": "United States network address, 2026-10-16",
  "licence": "CC BY 4.0",
  "notes": [
    "Data only. TradingLookup has no paid links to any firm on this list on US pages (docs/compliance/prop-firms.md: the introducing-broker question is open).",
    "'Not stated' means the firm's pages we read do not say. It is not a finding that the firm does or does not do it.",
    "Regulatory status is shown only where the firm states it. We did not infer NFA or CFTC status.",
    "Prices change often and promotions are frequent. Each value is the price shown on the check date.",
    "Read by hand in a browser, with no saved copy because the firm's site blocks our reader: Funded Futures Network, Tradeify. Those values say who read the page and when."
  ]
}