Switching Prop Firms: What Carries Over, What Resets and What to Check in 2026

Switching prop firms moves your skill, your records and your habits to a new firm, but not your account. Funded status, evaluation progress, drawdown room, payout counters and the fees you already paid stay behind with the old firm. Everything that made you a better trader comes with you. Everything the old firm tracked about you does not.

That is the part traders underestimate. They switch expecting to pick up where they left off, then discover a new rulebook with familiar names and different definitions, a fresh identity check, a new payout clock and a monthly charge from the old firm they forgot to cancel. None of it is dramatic. All of it costs time or money when it catches you unprepared.

In this guide we'll cover what carries over when you switch prop firms and what resets, the rules that change under the same names, how to close out one firm and start at another cleanly, and how to tell a good reason to switch from an expensive one.

Key Takeaways

• Export your trade history before you close anything. Your records are the one asset that carries over, and access to an old dashboard can end with the account.
• Assume every account counter starts at zero. Funded status, evaluation progress, trading days and payout eligibility belong to the old firm's account, not to you.
• Reread every rule, even the familiar ones. A daily loss limit, a drawdown and a consistency rule can share a name across firms and work differently at each.
• Stop the old firm's recurring charges in writing. Cancel with the firm, tell your bank if needed, and keep the dates.
• Switch for a better rule fit, not to escape a drawdown. A new account resets the numbers, not the habits that produced them.

Table of Contents

• What carries over when you switch prop firms?
• What resets at the new firm?
• Which rules change under the same names?
• How to switch prop firms cleanly
• Is switching the right call?

What carries over when you switch prop firms?

What carries over is everything that belongs to you as a trader: your skill, your trade history, your journal, your written plan and your risk habits. What does not carry over is anything that belongs to the account: its status, its progress, its balance and its fees. Firms do not transfer accounts to each other.

Keeping those two lists separate prevents almost every unpleasant surprise that comes with switching prop firms.

What comes with you

Your skill and your process. The way you read a chart, pick a setup and manage a position is yours. A new rulebook may force changes to sizing and timing, but the core of what you do moves with you.

Your records. Trade history, a journal, screenshots and notes on your mistakes are the most useful things you own when you arrive at a new firm. They show which sessions, instruments and setups actually worked for you, which is exactly what you need to fit a new set of rules.

Your written risk rules. A personal daily stop, a maximum number of trades or a rule about news events were your rules before any firm enforced one. Keep them. They often matter more at a new firm, because you do not yet know how its limits feel in practice.

What stays behind

Funded status stays behind. So does any evaluation progress, the drawdown cushion you built, the trading days you logged toward a payout, and whatever you paid for the account. A funded account at one firm is not a credential another firm accepts in place of its own process.

Your record also needs honest framing. At firms like TradeFundrr, evaluation and funded accounts are simulated, so a track record from one of them is a simulated record. Federal rules for commodity advertising require simulated results to carry a statement that they have certain inherent limitations and do not represent actual trading. That rule governs advertisers, not individual traders, but the point applies to you too: your old results are useful evidence about your process, not proof of what a new account will do.

General guide to switching between prop firms. Every firm's written terms decide the details, so confirm each line in the terms of both accounts.

What resets at the new firm?

At a new firm the account resets completely: you start at the beginning of its path, with a fresh balance, no drawdown buffer, zero trading days and a new payout clock. You also verify your identity again. Nothing about the old account is carried in, even at a firm with similar rules.

The reset is not a penalty. It is simply how accounts work: each one is a separate agreement with its own records.

Status and progress start over

If you were funded at your old firm, you start the new firm's path from its first step. That might be an evaluation or a direct-to-funded purchase, depending on what the new firm offers. At TradeFundrr, for example, the Growth paths start with an evaluation, while the Express paths go directly to a funded account with no evaluation.

The first weeks are the risky part. You are trading on a starting balance with no profit buffer under a rulebook you have not yet felt in real time. Trade smaller than you did at the end of the old account, not the same size.

Payout counters start over

Payout eligibility is usually built from counters: minimum trading days, profitable days, a buffer above the starting balance and sometimes a waiting period. Those counters belong to the account. Our guide to what resets your payout eligibility explains why even moving between programs at the same firm counts as a new account rather than a continued one. Moving between firms is the same idea with more distance.

Identity verification happens again

A new firm has to verify you for itself before it can pay you. Expect to submit identification again and to match your payout account to your verified name. Current identification and payout details that match your verified name are the usual requirements, and mismatched details are a common cause of delay. Doing it early removes one delay from your first payout.

Switching prop firms · the handover map

What crosses over when you switch prop firms

You bring the trader. The account stays where it was opened.

5Comes with you

• Your skill and setups
• Trade history and journal, once exported
• Your written trading plan
• Your personal risk rules
• Lessons from past breaches

The switch →

0Starts at zero

• Funded status
• Evaluation progress and trading days
• Drawdown cushion and balance
• Payout eligibility counters
• Identity verification

Same name, different rule

Daily loss limit

HardorSoft

One ends the account. The other ends the day.

Drawdown

End of dayorIntraday

When the floor moves changes how much room a winning trade gives back.

Consistency

PercentandDays

The cap and how it is measured differ by firm and by program.

The clean handover, in order

1. 1Settle the old accountRequest anything you are eligible for under its written rules.
2. 2Export your recordsTrade history, statements and journal notes.
3. 3Stop recurring chargesCancel in writing and keep the dates.
4. 4Read the new termsEvery rule, line by line, before trade one.

tradefundrr.com Illustrative example. Terms differ by firm and program; the written terms of each account govern. TradeFundrr accounts are simulated.

Which rules change under the same names?

The rules most likely to change under a familiar name are the daily loss limit, the drawdown and the consistency rule. Firms use the same words for mechanics that work differently, so a habit that was safe at your old firm can breach an account at the new one.

Read the definitions, not the headings. Our checklist for reading prop firm terms before you buy shows how to pull the operative numbers out of a rules page.

Daily loss limits: hard or soft

A hard daily loss limit ends the account on the first cross. A soft one ends the trading day, and the account continues next session. Both are called a daily loss limit.

TradeFundrr uses both, depending on the program. The stocks and options Growth programs list a hard daily loss breach, and the stocks and options Express programs list a soft one. A soft limit is not free, though. Every soft day still spends the drawdown allowance, and maximum drawdown is what ends an account.

Drawdown: when the floor moves

Some firms trail drawdown on end-of-day balances. Others trail it intraday, so an open profit that is given back can move the floor before the trade is closed. The difference changes how you manage a winner.

On TradeFundrr futures accounts, the drawdown trails end of day until the account reaches its initial balance, then locks at the first payout. If your old firm trailed intraday, you may have built habits of cutting winners early that you no longer need. If it trailed end of day and your new firm trails intraday, the opposite is true, and the adjustment is urgent.

Consistency, hold times and trading style

Consistency rules cap how much of your profit can come from a single day, and the percentage and the way it is measured differ by firm and by program. Minimum hold times, news trading permissions and automation rules also vary.

Take TradeFundrr futures as one example: the programs list a 15-second minimum hold, allow news trading and permit manual trading only. A trader arriving from a firm that allowed automated strategies would need to change how they trade, not just which platform they log in to. Check each of these against your actual style before you pay.

The platform and the instrument list change too

A new firm can mean a new order ticket, new hotkeys and a different list of tradable instruments. The contract you traded every morning at your old firm may not be listed at the new one, and a bracket order may behave differently on new software.

Treat the first sessions as setup time. Place, modify and cancel each order type you rely on at the smallest size, rebuild your hotkeys and confirm the flatten key works before a real setup appears. Our guide to what trading platform you actually get lists the platforms TradeFundrr publishes for each market, all connected to simulated accounts.

How to switch prop firms cleanly

A clean switch closes out the old account before the new one takes your attention: settle what you are eligible for, export your records, stop recurring charges, then read the new terms before the first trade. The order matters because the first three steps get harder once you have moved on.

Settle the old account under its written rules

If you are eligible for a payout at your old firm, request it under that firm's written process before you close the account. At an honest firm the written rules decide a payout, and the only thing that stops one is a rule the trader broke. Closing an account first can complicate a request, so do things in order.

Then export everything: trade history, account statements, rule notices and any correspondence about your account. Dashboards are tied to accounts, and access may not last once the account is closed.

Stop the recurring charges

Many funded programs carry a monthly platform or data fee alongside the one-time purchase. Switching firms without cancelling it means paying for an account you no longer trade.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains that you have the right to stop a company from taking automatic payments from your account, even if you previously allowed them. Its guidance is to tell the company and then your bank or credit union, follow up in writing, and keep track of your requests and the dates you made them. Do the same when you leave a prop firm.

Do not let two accounts break each other's rules

Some traders keep an old account open while starting a new one. That can be fine, but read both rulebooks first. Some firms prohibit coordinated or opposite positions across accounts, and a strategy that looks like a hedge across two firms can breach both.

Keep the accounts operationally separate: separate plans, separate risk budgets and no trade in one account designed to offset the other. If either firm's terms are unclear on this, ask in writing before you trade.

Is switching the right call?

Switching is the right call when the new firm's rules, market or platform fit how you actually trade better than your current firm's do. It is the wrong call when the real goal is to escape a drawdown or a breach, because a new account resets the numbers but not the habits that produced them.

Be honest about which one you are doing. The damaging admission is that a lot of switching is a reset in disguise.

Good reasons to switch

The rules fit your style. A swing-leaning day trader may be better suited to a soft daily limit and end-of-day drawdown. A scalper may care more about hold times and platform speed.

The market is not offered. If you trade options or futures and your firm only covers one market, switching or adding a firm can make sense.

The terms are clearer. A firm that publishes every rule, fee and payout cap before you pay removes guesswork. Clear terms state the numbers, not just the rule names.

Expensive reasons to switch

Chasing a clean slate after a breach. If you broke a daily limit through revenge trading, the next firm's daily limit will meet the same behavior. Fix the behavior in your journal first.

Blaming the rules for a losing month. Sometimes the rules really are a poor fit. More often, a rule simply exposed a sizing problem that would follow you anywhere.

Verify what the new firm claims

A simulated evaluation firm is not usually a broker. If a firm, or anyone selling a strategy alongside it, does claim a futures registration, the CFTC suggests you verify the registration status and disciplinary history of the person or firm through the NFA BASIC database before researching the trade itself. Treat unverifiable claims, and any promise of payouts or pass rates, as reasons for caution.

Fees deserve the same care. Refunds of a purchase fee are rare in this industry. At TradeFundrr, the rebate applies only to the one-time Express fee, when that account reaches a qualifying payout, with a lifetime maximum of one rebate per asset class per customer, and the rebate is non-transferable. It does not follow you to another firm, and no other firm's fee follows you to TradeFundrr.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my funded status transfer when I switch prop firms?

No. Funded status belongs to the account at the firm that issued it, and firms do not transfer accounts to each other. At the new firm you start its path from the first step, whether that is an evaluation or a direct-to-funded purchase.

Can I transfer my evaluation progress to a new prop firm?

No. Evaluation progress, trading days and profit toward a target are tracked inside the old account and do not carry over. Your trade history can still help you plan, so export it before the old account closes.

Do I have to verify my identity again at a new prop firm?

Yes. Each firm verifies traders for itself before paying them, so expect to submit identification again and to match your payout details to your verified name. Completing it early removes a delay before your first payout.

Will I get my evaluation fee back if I switch prop firms?

Usually not. Most firms keep a purchase fee whether you pass or leave, so read the old firm's refund terms rather than assuming. At TradeFundrr only the one-time Express fee is rebate-eligible, at a qualifying payout, once per asset class per customer.

Does a TradeFundrr Express rebate carry over to another account or firm?

No. The rebate is non-transferable and limited to one per asset class per customer, regardless of how many accounts you buy in that class. Recurring platform and data fees, activation, reset and extension fees are not rebated.

Can I keep an account at another prop firm while trading a TradeFundrr account?

Check the written terms of both accounts before you do. Some firms prohibit coordinated or opposite positions across accounts, so keep separate plans and risk budgets, never place a trade in one account to offset the other, and ask support in writing if anything is unclear.

How many TradeFundrr futures accounts can I hold?

The live futures page lists up to 5 accounts. Each account is simulated and carries its own published drawdown, daily loss limit and payout rules, so confirm in your account terms how any rule applies across accounts you hold.

What should I bring from my old prop firm?

Bring your exported trade history, your journal, your written trading plan and your personal risk rules. Those records show which setups and sessions worked for you, which is what you need to fit your trading to a new rulebook.

Switching prop firms is a fresh account, not a fresh start. Bring the records, leave the old counters behind, stop the old charges and read the new rules as if you had never seen a prop firm before. The trader carries over. The account never does.