The Short Answer
Your Upcomers Futures funded account is sim-funded. That means you trade a simulated balance on DXtrade against real, live market prices. You are not risking your own cash, and no orders are sent to a live exchange under your name.
The profit you make is measured against those live prices, and the payout you request on it is real money, paid to you under the funded payout rules (you keep 99%). "Sim-funded" describes how the account is run, not how you get paid.
"Live-routed" is the industry name for the opposite model, where orders are sent to a real exchange for execution. Upcomers does not run your account that way. Behind the scenes Upcomers manages its own market exposure through a process called A-booking, which has no effect on your simulated profits or your payout.
What "sim-funded" means
A sim-funded account is a funded account that runs in a simulated trading environment. Your account has a balance, you place orders, you get filled, and your profit and loss moves in real time. What does not happen is your order leaving the platform to hit a real exchange order book, and no personal cash of yours is posted as margin.
The prices you trade against are real, live market data. When ES prints 5,000.25 on the exchange, that is the price you see and trade on DXtrade. Your fills, your spread, and your drawdown are all driven by genuine market movement, so the skill it takes to be profitable is the same skill a live trader needs.
In short: real prices, simulated execution, real payouts.
Why the account is simulated
This is the standard model for funded prop trading. It lets Upcomers give you a large account without you posting the capital, and without exposing you to the parts of live futures trading that would otherwise fall on your own account.
No personal margin at risk. You are not posting exchange margin per contract out of your own pocket. The platform still shows and enforces a per-contract margin, but that only caps how large a position you can open. It does not bill you.
No physical delivery. Real futures can settle into the underlying (barrels of oil, bushels of corn). On a sim-funded account that never reaches you. You close or roll before expiry, so delivery is just the reason you roll, not something that happens to you.
No classic margin calls. What actually stops you out is the firm rules (trailing drawdown, daily drawdown, max single-trade loss), not an exchange margin call. Respect the drawdown rules and you keep the account.
The trade-off is simple: your job is to trade with discipline against live prices. Do that, and you request a payout.
Are the profits real?
Yes. This is the part traders care about most, so it is worth being blunt: the account is simulated, but the payout is not. When you meet the funded payout conditions, you request a withdrawal and Upcomers pays you.
You keep 99% of the profit you withdraw. The payout is calculated on the profit your trading produced against live market prices, then sent to you by your chosen method (bank or crypto). "Sim-funded" refers to how the trading account is run. It has no bearing on whether the money is real.
How Upcomers stands behind the payout. All challenge and funded accounts are simulated to replicate live trading conditions with virtual funds. Behind the scenes, Upcomers trades for its own account based on the data from clients' funded accounts, and continuously monitors trades to decide which are executed for Upcomers' own account. This is called A-booking. It has no impact on you: you receive your rewards from the simulated profits either way, and you are still entitled to 99% of the profit you generate.
Example. On a $100,000 funded account, if your trading produces $10,000 of withdrawable profit, your 99% share is $9,900. Upcomers keeps 1% ($100). The money moves to your bank or crypto wallet once your request is approved.
For exactly when and how you can withdraw (the 1% minimum profit, the Best Day Rule, the $100 minimum, and processing fees), see Futures payout conditions in this section.
What "live-routed" means
"Live-routed" (sometimes called live-funded) describes the other model, where your orders are routed to the live market for execution on a real exchange, typically backed by real capital. In that setup your fills come from the live order book directly, not from a simulated matching engine.
Some firms in the industry run a two-stage structure: you start on a simulated funded account and, after you build a track record, you may be moved to a live-routed account. The two models can feel almost identical to trade because a good simulation uses the same live prices. The difference is behind the scenes, in whether the order actually reaches the exchange.
Where live-routing applies at Upcomers
At launch, all Upcomers Futures accounts (Thunderbolt Classic, Thunderbolt Legacy, and Vanguard) are sim-funded on DXtrade, with A-booking behind the scenes. If Upcomers introduces any live-routed stage in the future, it will be announced separately.
For now, treat your account as sim-funded: real prices, simulated execution, real payouts under the funded rules.
What this means for you day to day
In practice, sim-funded trading looks and feels like live futures trading:
Aspect | On your sim-funded account |
Prices and charts | Real, live CME Group market data |
Order execution | Simulated fills against those live prices |
Your capital at risk | None of your own cash; you trade a simulated balance |
What can end the account | Firm drawdown rules, not an exchange margin call |
Physical delivery | Never reaches you; you close or roll before expiry |
Payouts | Real money, your 99% share, under the payout rules |
Because fills are simulated against live prices, they reflect genuine market movement. Slippage can still happen in fast markets, just as on a live account, and it is not reimbursed. Attempting to exploit the simulated environment (for example, gaming simulated fills, latency, or platform data errors) is against the trading rules. See Prohibited strategies for the details.
What sim-funded does not mean
It does not mean the money is fake. Payouts on a funded account are real, sent to you when you meet the conditions.
It does not mean the prices are fake. You trade against genuine live market data, so the challenge is real. A profitable sim-funded trader is doing the same work as a profitable live trader.
It does not mean rules are optional. Trailing drawdown, daily drawdown, the max single-trade loss, and the Best Day Rule all apply exactly as written. Sim-funded is how the account runs, not a softer rulebook.
Common Questions
Is my funded account sim-funded or live-routed?
Sim-funded. At launch, all three futures products (Thunderbolt Classic, Thunderbolt Legacy, and Vanguard) run on DXtrade as simulated accounts against live CME Group prices, with A-booking behind the scenes.
If it is simulated, is the payout real?
Yes. Meet the payout conditions and you request a real withdrawal, paid to your bank or crypto wallet. You keep 99%.
Am I risking my own money?
No. You trade a simulated balance. None of your own cash is posted as margin, and no order is sent to a live exchange under your name.
Are the prices real?
Yes. You trade against genuine live CME Group market data, so the skill required is the same as live trading.
Does sim-funded mean the rules are softer?
No. Trailing drawdown, daily drawdown, the max single-trade loss, and the Best Day Rule all apply exactly as written.
Where to go next
To see how you actually get paid, read Futures payout conditions. To understand the rules that keep the account alive, read Trailing drawdown (Dynamic Risk Shield™), Daily drawdown and the 5 PM ET reset, and Max single-trade loss. To compare the three programs, read How to choose your futures program.