The cheapest 50K futures prop firm plans to a first payout

Most prop firm comparisons rank plans by sticker price. That is the wrong number. A $49 evaluation that you need to retake five times, plus an activation fee once you pass, can cost more than a $150 plan with friendlier rules.

So we rank by something closer to what you actually spend: the expected cost to reach your first payout.

How we measure it

For every plan we work out the odds that a trader with no edge (a coin flip trader) reaches a first payout before hitting the drawdown. The odds depend on the profit target, the drawdown size and type (static, end of day or intraday trailing), any daily loss limit that ends the account, and the profit you need on the funded account before your first withdrawal.

Then:

Cost to first payout = (price of one try + activation fee × chance of passing) ÷ chance of reaching the first payout

Failed evaluations and blown funded accounts both count, which is why this number is usually several times the sticker price. It is not a prediction of what you will spend. A skilled trader spends less. It is a fair yardstick: every plan is measured the same way, so the ranking is what matters. The full formula is in our methodology.

The 10 cheapest 50K futures plans

Out of 87 permanent 50K futures plans we score, these cost the least to reach a first payout. Prices are each plan's typical price: what a trader usually paid over the last 90 days, public sales and coupons included, so a one day flash sale does not reshuffle the ranking.

For comparison, the median 50K futures plan costs $1,431 to a first payout by the same measure. The most expensive is above $16,000.

Three things the table shows

1. The cheapest sticker is not the cheapest plan. The Topstep Trading Combine lists at $49 a month, but passing adds a $149 activation fee, so one full try costs $198. Topstep's No Activation Fee Combine costs more up front ($95) and ends up cheaper to a first payout ($463 against $473).

2. Sales move the ranking. TradeDay sits at the top because it has sold well below list for months: the Quick Pay Intraday typically cost $53 against a $131 list price. Sales change. When TradeDay's sale shrank from 60% to 55% off on October 14, every one of its sale prices rose, and today the same plan is $59 with code TDNEW. If that holds, its typical price will drift up and the ranking with it. We track every move on the price tracker.

3. Rules matter as much as price. Most plans in the top 10 give a coin flip trader roughly a 1 in 5 chance of reaching a first payout. A plan with a tighter intraday trailing drawdown or a stricter daily loss limit lowers those odds, and the cost to a first payout rises fast even when the price looks low.

Cheapest is not the same as best

Cost is one of five equal parts of the PropBench Score. The others are speed to a first payout, how much you keep from payouts, trading restrictions, and how often the firm has made its rules worse in the last 12 months. The two TradeDay Quick Pay plans are the cheapest here but score 52, while the Topstep No Activation Fee Combine scores 78. If you only care about the lowest outlay, start with the table above. If you want the best all round plan, start with the leaderboard.

Prices and rules change often. We check every firm's public pages daily and log every change in the change feed, so this ranking will move. We will revisit it.