Vanguard's payout rules have been updated:

Vanguard is the instant funding program in the Upcomers Futures lineup. Unlike Thunderbolt Classic, there is no challenge to pass. You buy the account, it is funded, and you trade the funded rules straight away on the Upcomers X platform. There is no Trial Phase, so you go straight to your funded account.

Because you skip the evaluation, Vanguard trades a little differently from an evaluation program: the EOD trailing drawdown is set at 3%, a 6% profit target is required to be eligible for a payout, and each payout is capped by account size. There is no minimum trading days requirement. Everything else works the way it does on a funded Thunderbolt Classic account: the up to 100% profit split, the 1.5% max trade loss, the 2% daily drawdown, and the 20% Best Day Rule.

Vanguard is available in $25K, $50K, $100K, $150K, $200K, $300K and $400K accounts. Every rule below is stated as a percentage of your account size, so the dollar figures scale with the account you buy. Two common sizes look like this:

The EOD trailing drawdown sets the lowest level your Vanguard account is allowed to reach. It is recalculated once per trading day, at the 5:00 PM ET trading-day rollover, from your closing account balance (closed profit and loss only).

Unlike a real-time trailing drawdown, the EOD trailing drawdown does not move during the trading day. Unrealized profit or loss on open positions never moves it, and a position still open at the 5:00 PM ET close does not raise or lower the closing balance that is used. It only updates at the rollover if that day closes at a new highest balance.

How it trails: the threshold starts 3% below your starting balance. If your account closes the day at a new highest closing balance, the threshold moves up to 3% below that balance (highest closing balance x 0.97). If your account closes below a previous high, the threshold does not move down, and a withdrawal that lowers a day's close does not lower it either. It only moves upward or stays fixed.

Example on a $50K account. Your EOD trailing drawdown is 3%, so the initial threshold starts at $48,500. If your account closes at $50,800, the new threshold becomes $49,276 (3% below $50,800). If it later closes at $51,600, the threshold moves up to your $50,000 starting balance and locks there (3% below $51,600 would be $50,052, but the threshold never rises above your starting balance). If the next day closes lower, the threshold stays at $50,000.

Example on a $100K account. Your EOD trailing drawdown is 3%, so the initial threshold starts at $97,000. If your account closes at $102,000, the threshold moves to $98,940. Once a day closes at about $103,093 or more, the threshold reaches $100,000, your starting balance, and locks there. If the account closes lower after that, the threshold stays fixed.

When it is enforced: even though the threshold is only recalculated at the 5:00 PM ET rollover, your live equity (including open positions) is checked against it in real time. If your equity touches or falls below the active EOD threshold at any moment during the day, all open positions close automatically and the account is breached. So an intraday spike in open profit will not drag the threshold up, but a large intraday loss can still breach the account.

When it stops trailing: on Vanguard funded accounts, the EOD trailing threshold never rises above your starting balance. It stops increasing once it reaches your starting balance, which happens when a day closes at about 3.09% above it. On a $50K account, that means the threshold stops at $50,000 (reached on a close of about $51,546 or more). From that point onward, it remains fixed and no longer trails higher.

EOD trailing vs daily drawdown. These are two separate limits and both are always active. The EOD trailing drawdown is the lifetime account floor based on your highest end-of-day balance. The daily drawdown is a separate, tighter limit that only measures the current trading day and resets every evening. Whichever one you hit first ends the account.

Vanguard has a 2% daily drawdown. This caps how much your account can fall within a single trading day.

How it is calculated: your daily loss limit is set from the higher of your equity or your balance at the daily reset snapshot, times (1 minus 2%). Your account is breached if your equity falls below that limit at any point during the day. On a breach, all open positions close automatically at market.

Reset time: the daily drawdown resets at 5:00 PM ET. This is the futures-industry standard daily boundary on Upcomers X, not midnight UTC. Your daily loss limit for the new session is set from the higher of your equity or balance at that 5:00 PM ET reset.

Example on a $50K account. Your daily drawdown is 2%, so $1,000. If you start the session at $50,000, your account cannot fall below $49,000 that day. If you start the next session at $51,000 (after a green day), the new floor for that day is $49,980. On a $100K account the daily limit is $2,000.

No single open trade may lose more than 1.5% of your account size. That is $750 on a $50K account and $1,500 on a $100K account. Size your positions and set your stops so that no one trade can breach this cap.

This is a hard rule. Breaking the max trade loss triggers an automatic breach and terminates the account, even if your overall account is still in profit. It is not a soft, payout-only limit like the Best Day Rule.

How positions are counted: multiple positions on the same instrument in the same direction are treated as a single trade for this rule, so their combined loss counts together. You cannot split one large position into several to stay under the cap.

Vanguard does not let you hold positions through the daily break or over the weekend. Every open position is closed automatically at 4:50 PM ET (3:50 PM CT), 10 minutes before the daily session close, every trading day including Friday. The automatic close is not a rule violation. The daily drawdown applies while a position is open and resets at 5:00 PM ET.

Vanguard uses a 20% Best Day Rule (consistency rule). No single trading day may account for more than 20% of your total profit at the time you request a payout.

This is a soft rule. It does not kill your account. It gates payout eligibility. If your best day is more than 20% of your total profit, you keep trading until the balance of your days brings that share back within the limit, then you can request the payout.

Example. If you want to withdraw and your total profit is $5,000, no single day can make up more than $1,000 of that (20%). One $3,000 day out of a $5,000 total would put you over the limit, so you would keep trading to spread your profit across more days before requesting the payout.

Minimum trading days: none. Vanguard has removed the minimum trading days requirement entirely, including for your first payout.

Every payout request, including the first, has to meet these conditions:

There is no fixed payout interval. Once you meet the conditions, you can request. Approved payouts are processed the same day, just like our CFD product. You keep up to 100% of your profit, up to the payout cap for that payout (below).

Each Vanguard payout has a maximum amount, set by your account size and by how many payouts you have already taken. The cap rises across your first seven payouts. Find your account size in the left column, then read across to your payout number.

How the cap works: the cap is a ceiling on a single payout, not a limit on your total profit. Profit above the cap stays in your account and can be withdrawn on a later payout. You move to the next column only once a payout is fully approved.

Example on a $50K account. You reach the 6% profit target with $3,200 of profit and your best day is within 20%. Your first payout is capped at $750. The rest of your profit stays in the account. Your second and third payouts are capped at $1,000, and from your fourth payout onward the cap is $1,500.

For the caps of both futures programs side by side, see Futures payout structure (payout caps by account size).

A processing fee applies when your payout is sent. The fee depends on how you choose to receive it:

Bank transfer: $19.90 + 2.49%.

Crypto: $19.90 + 30%. This is reduced to $19.90 + 2.49% if more than 50% of your orders were paid in crypto.

Crypto payouts are sent on USDT TRC20 or USDC ERC20. The fee is deducted before the transfer is sent.

An account left with no trading for 14 calendar days is closed automatically. Place at least one trade inside that window to keep your Vanguard account active. The inactivity clock counts calendar days, starts at purchase (even before your first trade), and resets each time you close a trade. A closed account cannot be reactivated. If your account is closed for inactivity, you would start a new one.

Is there a profit target?

Not to get funded. Vanguard is instant funding, so you start funded and trade the funded rules from your first trade. To request a payout, though, you need to reach a 6% profit target.

Is there a minimum number of trading days?

No. The minimum trading days requirement has been removed completely. As soon as you reach the 6% profit target and meet the other conditions, you can request a payout.

When can I take my first payout?

Once you reach the 6% profit target, your best day is within the 20% limit, all positions are closed, and the amount is at least $100.

How much can I withdraw per payout?

Up to the payout cap for your account size and payout number. For example, on a $100K account your first payout is capped at $1,200, payouts 2 to 4 at $2,000, and payouts 5 to 7 at $3,000. Profit above the cap stays in the account for later payouts.

Did the drawdowns change?

No. The 3% EOD trailing drawdown, 2% daily drawdown and 1.5% max trade loss are unchanged.

What breaches the account?

Touching the active 3% EOD trailing threshold, breaking the 2% daily drawdown, or losing more than 1.5% on a single open trade. The Best Day Rule does not breach the account, it only gates payouts.

Can I hold trades overnight or over the weekend?

No. Every open position is closed automatically at 4:50 PM ET (3:50 PM CT) each trading day, Friday included, so no position is held through the daily break or over the weekend. The daily drawdown resets at 5:00 PM ET.

What is my profit split?

Up to 100%. You keep up to 100% of your profit, within the payout cap for each payout.

If you are still deciding between programs, see how to choose your futures program and the Upcomers Futures programs overview. For the mechanics behind the numbers, see tick size and tick value explained and how to calculate P&L on futures.

Have a question about Vanguard? Start a chat with our team from the help center, or email us at [email protected].