Thunderbolt Classic is a one-step, day-trader program. You clear a single evaluation phase and then trade a funded account. It is the quickest of the two Upcomers Futures evaluations to pass, thanks to the one-day pass (Legacy needs at least five trading days, and Vanguard has no evaluation at all).

You can hold positions overnight, but not over the weekend. If you hold trades across weekends, look at Thunderbolt Legacy instead. If you want to skip the evaluation entirely, look at Vanguard.

There are two stages: the challenge (your evaluation) and the funded account you earn by passing it. The rules tighten slightly when you move to funded, so read both sections below.

In the challenge you trade an evaluation account. Your job is to reach the profit target without breaking either drawdown rule. There is a one-day minimum and no maximum time limit to pass.

Profit target: 6%. You need to grow the account by 6% to pass. On a $50,000 account that is $3,000 in profit. On a $100,000 account it is $6,000.

Trailing drawdown: 4%. This is your Dynamic Risk Shield™ in the challenge. Your account must stay above a trailing floor set 4% below your highest account equity. On a $100,000 account that floor starts at $96,000 and follows your equity higher as you make profit (see the mechanics section below).

Daily drawdown: 3%. In the challenge you cannot lose more than 3% measured from where your account started the trading day. On a $100,000 account that is $3,000 in a single day, and on a $50,000 account that is $1,500. The day resets at 5:00 PM ET. Once you are funded, this daily drawdown tightens to 2%.

Max trade loss: 1.5%. No single open trade may lose more than 1.5% of your account size. On a $100,000 account that is $1,500 on any one position, and on a $50,000 account it is $750.

Minimum trading days: 1 (the one-day pass). Thunderbolt Classic is the only Upcomers Futures program with a one-day pass. You need to place trades on at least one day, and if you hit the 6% target that fast while respecting the rules, you can pass in a single day.

You can hold positions overnight during the challenge. You cannot hold over the weekend.

Once you pass, you move to a funded account. There is no profit target anymore. Your focus shifts to trading inside the risk rules and meeting the payout conditions.

Trailing drawdown: 4%. The funded trailing floor is set 4% below your highest account equity and follows your equity higher as you profit, in real time. On a $100,000 account it starts at $96,000, and once your account grows by 4% it locks permanently at your $100,000 starting balance.

Daily drawdown: 2%, reset 5:00 PM ET. Tighter than the challenge's 3%. No more than 2% loss from your start-of-day balance, and the day rolls over at 5:00 PM ET.

Max trade loss: 1.5%. Unchanged from the challenge. 1.5% of account size on any single open trade.

Profit split: 99%. You keep 99% of the profit you withdraw. That is one of the highest splits in the industry.

Overnight holding is allowed on the funded account. Weekend holding is not. Accounts scale up to $400,000.

The trailing drawdown is our Dynamic Risk Shield™. On Thunderbolt Classic it is a real-time trailing floor that follows your equity higher as you profit. Here is what that means in practice.

Real-time. The floor follows your highest account equity as it happens, tick by tick, including unrealized profit on open trades. When your equity makes a new high, the floor moves up with it. When your equity falls back, the floor stays where it was. It only ratchets up, never down, until it locks.

It locks at your starting balance. Once your account grows by the 4% trailing amount, the Dynamic Risk Shield™ stops trailing and locks permanently at your initial balance. After it locks it is static and no longer moves, so it never chases your profits again. This is the same lock model as the CFD Dynamic Risk Shield.

Example on a $100,000 funded account (4% trailing). The trailing gap is $4,000 (4% of your $100,000 starting balance). The floor starts at $96,000 and trails $4,000 below your highest equity. By the time your equity reaches $104,000, the floor has climbed to your $100,000 starting balance, and at that point it locks permanently at $100,000. From there it stays put no matter how high your equity goes, so all the profit you make above $100,000 is yours to keep without the floor moving up behind it.

The number that matters day to day is not your account size, it is the gap between your current equity and that floor. That gap is what you are really trading.

Watch your buffer after a payout. A withdrawal lowers your balance but the trailing floor sits where your equity high left it, so a payout eats directly into your cushion. On a $100,000 account with the floor at $100,000, a balance of $103,000 gives you a $3,000 cushion. Withdraw $2,000 and your balance is $101,000, so your cushion is now $1,000. Size your payouts around the buffer you want to keep.

The challenge works exactly the same way with the same 4% band: the floor trails your equity higher and then locks at your starting balance once the account grows by 4%.

Futures do not reset at midnight UTC the way some other Upcomers products do. The daily drawdown on Thunderbolt Classic (3% in the challenge, 2% once funded) resets at 5:00 PM ET, the standard end of the trading day for CME futures (5:00 PM ET is 4:00 PM CT). This is the moment CME rolls the trading day and runs end-of-day clearing, not the point where daily settlement prices are set (those are struck earlier, at each product's daytime session close).

Your daily loss is measured from the higher of your equity or balance at the 5:00 PM ET reset snapshot. Your daily limit is that starting figure minus the daily drawdown percentage (3% in the challenge, 2% once funded), and you breach if your equity falls below the limit at any point in the day. On a $50,000 account that starts the day at $50,000, that is $1,500 in the challenge and $1,000 once funded. When the daily limit is hit, all open positions close at market automatically. At 5:00 PM ET the counter resets and a fresh trading day begins.

Because the day rolls at 5:00 PM ET, a position you hold overnight moves into the next trading day at that moment, and the new day's daily drawdown is measured from your equity or balance at that reset, whichever is higher.

No single open trade may lose more than 1.5% of your account size. This caps the damage any one position can do, in both the challenge and the funded phase.

This is a hard rule. Breaking it triggers an automatic breach and the account is terminated, even if your account is profitable overall. It is not a soft gate like the Best Day Rule.

Positions on the same instrument in the same direction are treated as one trade for this rule, so you cannot split a large position into several tickets to get around the cap.

On a $50,000 account that is $750 per trade. On a $100,000 account it is $1,500. Size your stops so that the worst case on any single trade stays inside that cap.

To keep payouts sustainable, Thunderbolt Classic uses a 20% Best Day Rule. No single trading day may account for more than 20% of your total profit since your last payout, measured at the time you request one.

This is a soft rule. It does not fail or close your account. It gates payout eligibility. If one day is responsible for more than 20% of your profit, you keep trading and add more balanced days until no single day exceeds the 20% share, then you can request your payout.

Example. You want to withdraw with $5,000 of total profit. 20% of $5,000 is $1,000, so your single best day must be $1,000 or less. If your best day made $2,000, you are above the limit for now. Trade more profitable days to raise your total until that $2,000 day is 20% or less of the total, then request the payout.

If you are coming from a firm that used a 40% or 50% Best Day Rule, note that Upcomers Classic is stricter at 20%. Thunderbolt Legacy uses 30%.

There is no fixed payout interval on Thunderbolt Classic. You can request a payout at any time once you meet all of the conditions below.

The $100 minimum is your 99% share. You keep 99% of every payout.

15% Challenge Profit Share. Because Thunderbolt Classic is a challenge product, if you grow your funded account enough while keeping a clean payout record, you earn a bonus of 15% of the profit you made during your challenge phase.

Payout fees. A processing fee applies to each payout: bank transfer is $19.90 + 2.49%, and crypto is $19.90 + 30%. Choose the method that makes sense for your payout size.

Keep your account active. If there is no trading for an extended period, the account is automatically closed and any progress or unrealized profit is forfeited.

The inactivity window is 14 calendar days, not trading days. It starts from the moment you purchase the account, even before your first trade, and it resets every time you close a trade. A resting or unfilled pending order does not count, it has to be a closed trade. You receive a warning email before the account expires, and there is no fee tied to inactivity. Inactivity closures cannot be appealed.

The percentages above translate to these dollar figures on the two most common account sizes.

What is the profit target?

6% in the challenge. There is no target once you are funded.

Is the one-day pass real?

Yes. You need trades on at least one day. If you reach 6% that fast while respecting the rules, you can pass in a single day. Classic is the only Upcomers Futures program with a one-day pass.

Can I hold trades over the weekend?

No. Classic allows overnight holding but not weekend holding. If you need to hold over weekends, use Thunderbolt Legacy.

When can I request a payout?

Any time, once you have at least 1% profit since your last payout, your best day is within 20% of total profit, all positions are closed, and the amount is at least $100.

What breaches my account?

Falling to the trailing floor (4% in both the challenge and funded), breaking the daily drawdown (3% in the challenge, 2% once funded), or losing more than 1.5% of account size on a single trade. All three are hard breaches: they close your open positions at market automatically and end the account. The 20% Best Day Rule does not breach you, it only gates payouts.

What is my profit split?

99%. You keep 99% of what you withdraw.

Not sure Classic is the right fit? Read How to choose your futures program to compare it with Thunderbolt Legacy and Vanguard.

New to futures? Start with Tick size and tick value explained and How to calculate P&L on futures so the dollar figures above make sense on every instrument.

Ready to trade? See How to log in to DXtrade and How to place a trade in DXtrade.