Upcomers Futures Review 2026: Up to 100% Profit Split, But Can You Actually Get Paid?

You've seen the ads. 100% profit split. On-demand payouts. No restrictions on news trading. Instant funding options that sound too good to be true.

And maybe you're wondering what's the catch.

We've spent the last few weeks digging through every piece of data on Upcomers Futures: the challenge rules, the drawdown systems, the payout structure, and over 500 trader reviews across Trustpilot and The Trusted Prop. Some of it looks great on paper. Other parts should make you pause and reconsider your options. Here's what we found based on our Upcomers Futures Review.

Who Actually Runs Upcomers?

Upcomers is a multinational prop trading firm with three registered entities:

• Upcomers Ltd. (Saint Lucia) – Parent company, operates MT5 platforms using institutional liquidity providers.

• Royal Flow - FZCO (UAE) – Technology arm, runs TradeLocker, Bybit, Match-Trader, cTrader, and Upcomers X (DXtrade). Head office.

• UPCOMERS LTD (Cyprus) – Payment agent for all transactions.

The website and all services are owned and managed by Royal Flow - FZCO. Together, these three entities provide global infrastructure for futures and CFD prop trading, combining Caribbean regulatory oversight, Emirati fintech expertise, and EU-compliant operations.

The CEO of Upcomers is Jakub Zeliska, and his LinkedIn profile is publicly available. The firm has been operating since 2023. That's not very long in prop firm terms. Some traders see that as a red flag. Others point to how fast they've grown and the fact they're still paying out.

Support: [email protected]
EU phone +31 970 102 385 15
US phone +1 (844) 803-0830

Upcomers Futures Account Types

Upcomers offers two active futures account types: Thunderbolt Classic Futures (evaluation) and Vanguard Futures (Instant Funding). Both trade real exchange‑listed futures on Upcomers X, a browser-based platform powered by DXtrade. You get access to roughly 50 liquid CME Group contracts across indices, metals, energy, FX, rates, grains, livestock, and crypto (Bitcoin and Ether), with micro‑contract options available on many instruments.

Important: These are simulated accounts trading against live CME prices. Orders are not routed to the exchange.

Thunderbolt Classic Futures

• Account range: $25,000 – $400,000

• Profit target: 6% (evaluation phase)

• Daily drawdown: 3% in challenge, 2% in funded phase

• Trailing drawdown: 4% (locks at 4% profit)

• Max single trade loss (funded): 1.5%

• Best Day Rule: 20%

• Minimum trading days: 1 (one-day pass)

• First payout: Anytime once conditions are met

• Overnight and weekend holding: Allowed

• 15% Challenge Profit Share: Earn a 15% bonus of challenge‑phase profit once you grow the funded account with a clean payout record

Vanguard Futures (Instant Funding)

• Account range: $25,000 – $300,000

• Profit target: None to get funded (no evaluation). To request a payout, you need at least 1% profit since your last payout

• Daily drawdown: 2% (funded)

• Trailing drawdown: 3% (locks at 3% profit)

• Max single trade loss: 1.5%

• Best Day Rule: 20%

• Minimum trading days before first payout: 5 qualifying days (each with at least 0.5% profit)

• Overnight and weekend holding: Allowed

• Challenge Profit Share: Not applicable (no challenge phase)

Key Upcomers Futures Account Features

• Margin, not leverage: You post initial and maintenance margin per contract. Effective leverage typically lands around 10:1 on index and energy contracts, and much higher on FX.

• Contract limits: 1 mini or 10 micros per $10K of account size. A $50K account allows 5 minis, 50 micros, or a mix.

• Daily reset: Drawdown and loss limits reset at 5:00 PM ET each trading day +1 .

• Platform: Upcomers X on DXtrade includes an order ladder (Depth of Market), Level II market depth, and core order types: Market, Limit, Stop, Stop Limit.

• Upcomers Futures Account Payout Structure: Each Upcomers futures payout has a maximum cap based on your account size and how many payouts you've already taken. The cap increases with every approved payout. You keep up to 100% of your profit, the minimum withdrawal is $100, and you can only request a payout on realized profit with all positions closed

The Upcomers Drawdown System That Confuses Everyone

Upcomers uses the Dynamic Risk Shield™, a trailing drawdown system that follows your highest equity in real time. It moves up with profits, never moves down, and locks permanently at your starting balance once you hit a certain profit threshold.

How it works:

• Tracks your High‑Water Mark (peak equity, including open trades)

• Drawdown floor rises with equity, never drops

• Locks at initial balance once the account grows by the trailing percentage

Example ($100,000 Thunderbolt Classic funded, 4% trailing drawdown):

Once locked, the floor is static. You can trade freely against it.

Program differences:

• Thunderbolt Classic Futures: 4% trailing, locks at 4% profit +1

• Vanguard Futures: 3% trailing, locks at 3% profit +1

Critical: How withdrawals affect the shield

• Before lock: Withdrawing profits does not reset the shield. Your drawdown floor stays at the peak‑equity level, shrinking your usable buffer.

• After lock: Withdrawing all profits can put your balance right at the floor, leaving zero room for any loss.

Rule of thumb: Always leave a buffer after the shield locks. Taking profits too early can kill a funded account faster than a losing streak.

Upcomers Futures Trading Rules – Know This Before Starting

Upcomers is a manual-first prop firm that also allows your own EAs/bots/cBots if unique and rule-compliant; mass-distributed bots are banned. The firm offers multiple trading benefits, but there are some important rules to follow for a successful payout.

What's banned at Upcomers Futures:

• Copy trading (unless accounts belong to the same person)

• High-frequency trading (HFT)

• Tick scalping (trades under 2 minutes)

• Grid trading

• Martingale

• Hedging, even within the same account (including group hedging)

• Arbitrage/latency exploitation

What's allowed:

• News trading is allowed, but news straddling (bracket orders exploiting event gaps) is prohibited

• Overnight and weekend holding

• EAs, bots, and automated strategies (if real, unique, and rule-compliant). Allowed tools include custom EAs, personal bots, risk managers, lot calculators, SL/TP managers, and semi-automated execution

• Copy trading between your own Upcomers accounts

Futures-specific rules:

• Inactivity: Futures accounts close automatically after 14 calendar days without a closed trade. The clock starts at purchase; a warning email is sent, and there is no appeal.

• Max trade loss: A single trade that breaches the cap triggers an automatic account breach, even if you're overall in profit. Positions in the same instrument and direction are counted together as one trade.

• Contract limits: Hard limits on minis/micros per account size.

• Daily reset: Futures drawdowns reset at 5:00 PM ET, not midnight UTC +1 .

VPN / VPS rules: VPNs and VPS are not strictly prohibited but not recommended. During KYC/AML verification, VPN or VPS use is strictly prohibited. Logins from multiple IPs or locations can trigger a suspension or review.

Upcomers Payouts: Fast Processing, But Watch the Fees

Upcomers processes withdrawals quickly, but you need to understand the exact rules, fees, and caps to avoid surprises. After you submit a payout request on Upcomers, the platform validates it for 24–48 hours (checking that you earned at least 1% of the initial balance and that no strategy violations occurred). Once validated, the money is sent within the next 24 hours for bank transfers, within 12 hours for Futures‑program payouts, and typically within 10 minutes to 2 hours for crypto withdrawals.

Supported payout methods: Bank transfer (IBAN) and cryptocurrency (USDT TRC20 or USDC ERC20).

Payout freeze: Your account is paused from request until decision. You can't open or close trades during that window.

Payout processing fees:

• Bank transfer (IBAN): $19.90 + 2.49% of the payout

• Crypto: $19.90 + 30% of the payout (lower if you funded the account >50% with crypto)

• Returned payout (re‑processing): flat $30 fee

Minimum payout amounts: $100 for Futures accounts (vs. $45 for CFD accounts). The profit segment must be at least 1% of the original balance.

Payout caps increase with each successive approved withdrawal and reset after the seventh payout:

• $10K account: $100 → $200 → $300 → $400 → $500 → $625 → $750 → unlimited thereafter

• $100K account: $1K → $2K → $3K → $4K → $5K → $6,250 → $7,500 → unlimited thereafter

Full futures payout caps by account size are listed in Upcomers' official "Futures payout structure" article.

Turbo payout condition: Turbo accounts (CFD) require 5 trading days each closing at +0.5% profit before payout. For futures, the Vanguard account requires 5 qualifying days (0.5% profit each) before the first payout; Thunderbolt Classic has no such minimum for the first payout.

Scaling plan: If you achieve ≥15% cumulative growth over four straight months, complete at least two payouts, and keep the account positive, your allocation increases by 35%. Maximum allocation is $4 million, with $1.5 million being the largest CFD starting account size; futures accounts top out at $400K.

200% Refunds: For challenge programs only (instant funding excluded), after three fully approved payouts with no strategy violations, you can request a 200% refund of the challenge fee.

KYC Verification: Required before any payout. One-time process, takes 2–4 minutes plus signing the Traders Agreement. Restricted-country users cannot pass KYC.

Restricted Countries at Upcomers

Upcomers blocks signups from 21 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, and others. Users are responsible for checking local laws before signing up.

Pros and Cons of Trading with Upcomers Futures

What Works on Upcomers Futures Account

Industry-leading profit split. You can choose 80%, 90%, or 100% profit split at checkout. The 90% split is the baseline, and 100% is available.

Real futures contracts. Trade CME Group instruments (ES, NQ, CL, GC, etc.) with micros available. Standardized, exchange-listed contracts with transparent pricing.

Wide risk room on Classic. The one-day pass on Thunderbolt Classic means you can get funded in as little as one trading day, with a 4% trailing drawdown that locks at 4% profit.

Instant funding option. Vanguard lets you skip the evaluation entirely and start on a funded account immediately.

News trading and weekend holding allowed. Rare among prop firms. You can hold overnight and over weekends on all futures programs +1 .

On-demand payouts. No fixed cycles. Request when you're ready. Processing is fast, especially for crypto.

Competitive pricing with discounts. The TRUSTED code gives 90% off all challenges.

What Needs Caution when Choosing Upcomers Futures Account

Drawdown system complexity. The Dynamic Risk Shield can confuse traders. Withdrawing profits before the shield locks shrinks your buffer dangerously.

Max trade loss is a hard rule. One oversized trade can breach your account instantly, even if you're overall profitable.

Payout caps on instant funding. The tiered system limits early withdrawals. Made $4,000 on a $50K Vanguard? First payout may be capped much lower.

High crypto withdrawal fees. 30% is steep, though it drops if you funded with crypto.

Inactivity rule. 14 days without a closed trade on futures closes the account, with no appeal.

Subjective compliance reviews. Multiple Trustpilot reviews describe payout denials based on vague interpretations like "one-sided betting" or "tick scalping" that weren't clearly defined beforehand.

What Traders Are Saying about Upcomers: The Mixed Picture

Upcomers has a Trustpilot score of 4.1 from 446 reviews and The Trusted Prop rating of 4.7 from 112 reviews. Those numbers look decent, but the content tells a more complicated story.

The Positive Experiences of Traders Choosing Upcomers

Traders who follow the rules and understand the drawdown system tend to report smooth payouts.

• "I've received 3 payouts with them and going well." – TTP review

• "After passing, they reinstated my account and the profits. Most firms wouldn't do that." – Trustpilot

• "Best prop firm for prices, fast payouts, and the best dashboard in the industry." – TTP review

The common thread: traders who read the rules, manage risk tightly, and understand the drawdown mechanics seem to get paid.

The Red Flags Marked by Traders Choosing Upcomers

A persistent pattern in the Upcomers 1-star reviews on Trustpilot deserves attention.

• "I passed the 2-step challenge in a day, made $3,900 profit in 7 days on the live account. They rejected my payout and offered me $249." – Trustpilot

• "They rejected my payout because 14 out of 16 trades were long positions. The market was clearly trending up." – Trustpilot

• "They refused to disclose their HFT definition. Said it was proprietary secrets." – Trustpilot

These complaints cluster around subjective rule interpretation, compliance reviews applied post-profit, and review management practices. The 1-star rate (15.2%) is higher than top-tier firms like FTMO (around 5-8%).

Upcomers Futures vs Other Prop Firms

Upcomers Futures positions itself on the flexible end of the spectrum, but that flexibility comes with strings.

• Compared to TopStep: TopStep has simpler trailing drawdown structures and a longer track record. Upcomers offers a higher profit split (up to 100%) and allows news trading, which TopStep restricts on funded accounts.

• Compared to Apex Trader Funding: Apex has lower fees but caps profit splits at 90% (with add-ons). Upcomers gives you a choice of 80/90/100% split, but the Dynamic Risk Shield requires careful withdrawal management.

• Compared to FTMO (CFD): FTMO has a simpler 2-step structure with fixed drawdowns. Upcomers Futures offers instant funding and on-demand payouts, but the trailing drawdown and max trade loss rules punish mistakes harder.

The key difference: Upcomers gives you more freedom to trade, but that freedom is protected by a complex risk management system that punishes errors harshly.

The Truth About Upcomers Futures: Our Verdict

Upcomers Futures is a high-reward, high-responsibility prop firm. It's built for experienced futures traders who can manage trailing drawdowns, understand consistency rules, and trade with discipline. If you're that type of trader, the up to 100% profit split, real CME contracts, and instant funding options make it one of the most rewarding choices available right now. But if you:

• Take large directional bets

• Don't read the fine print on drawdown mechanics

• Expect every payout to go through without compliance review

Then Upcomers will frustrate you.

The firm is transparent about its rules if you dig deep enough. But the Best Day Rule, payout caps, and subjective compliance reviews have caught traders off guard repeatedly.

For beginners: Start with Vanguard (instant funding) if you understand futures, or Thunderbolt Classic if you want a fast one-step evaluation. The lower stakes let you learn their system without risking too much. But this is not a beginner-friendly firm unless you already have solid risk management.

For experienced traders: Thunderbolt Classic gives you real flexibility - news trading, weekend holding, and a 4% trailing drawdown that locks at 4% profit. If you can maintain consistency and understand the shield, the up to 100% profit split is genuinely competitive.

Final numbers about Upcomers Futures:

• TTP Score: 9.0/10

• TTP Rating: 4.7/5 from 112 reviews

• Trustpilot: 4.1/5 from 446 reviews

• Profit Split: 80% to 100% (selectable at checkout)

• Max Futures Account Size: $400,000

• Platform: Upcomers X (DXtrade)

Risk Reminder for Traders Choosing an Upcomers Futures Account

Trading challenges involve risk. Most traders do not pass evaluations. Always read the firm's latest rules before purchasing. The current Upcomers offer can be availed by using the coupon code TRUSTED for 90% OFF + BOGO upon payout on all Upcomers futures accounts.

Source: Data collected from Upcomers' official website, Trustpilot, and The Trusted Prop as of 2026. Firm rules can change. Confirm on the firm's official website before purchasing.