Tradeify Premier Trading League, 2026
Eight matches, a million dollars, and no purchase at any point. Except the reset, which costs $25 or $50 and is blocked on the match that sends half the field home.
Open 1 is already running. Open 2 registration opens on 1 October. Read from their competition guide on 22 September 2026, the day they last updated it.
We are a competing prop firm and we do not run a league of our own, so take the comparison at the end for what it is. Everything before it is their documentation.
What is the Tradeify Premier Trading League?
A free, fully simulated head to head tournament played from your Tradeify dashboard. You are paired against one other trader per match, you score points on profit and on beating them, and the ladder decides who takes a share of a million dollars. No evaluation, no funded account, nothing to buy to take part.
You can play one league or both. Missing Open 1 does not lock you out of Open 2, and neither does being relegated from it.
How a match actually works
This is the part that surprises people coming from evaluation accounts, because almost none of the usual rules apply.
Read the position limit twice, because it is stricter than it looks. One mini or ten micros is a total, not a per-product allowance. You can hold one position, in one product, at a time. Not 1 NQ and 1 GC together, and not a mini alongside micros. Tradovate enforces it and simply rejects the order, so a strategy that spreads across products does not translate to this format at all.
One more thing worth knowing before you plan around it: your opponent’s P&L is visible during the match, and it refreshes every 15 minutes, on the same schedule as the leaderboard. Treat it as a checkpoint rather than a live feed, because between refreshes you are looking at a snapshot.
Their own guide contradicts itself here, so it is worth being precise. One line in the match section says the opponent figure refreshes twice a day. Two others, including the FAQ, say every 15 minutes, and their dashboard walkthrough says the same. We go with 15 minutes because that is three mentions against one, and it is the version in the FAQ. Either way, do not trade reactively against a number that is not live.
The scoring is asymmetric, and that is what decides the ladder
You score on two things at once: the result against your opponent, and the money you make. The second one is where the league is actually won, and the two directions are not symmetrical.
Their own worked example makes the point. Two traders in the same match: one finishes +$1,500, which is 3 for the win plus 3 for the profit, so 6 points. The other finishes +$1,120, loses the head to head for 0, but still banks 2 points of profit. Losing the matchup while making money is not a wasted session.
The asymmetry is the whole game. Your profit points are capped at 20 a match no matter how well the session goes, which puts the best possible match at 23. Your downside is uncapped: every $500 lost is another point off, and Tradeify says so plainly, “losses have no floor”. A single bad session can put your score below zero while your best possible session can only ever be worth 23 points. In a format like that, the ladder rewards traders who avoid disasters over traders who chase wins.
Ties break on matchup wins first, then total P&L, then your biggest single match. The leaderboard refreshes every 15 minutes.
Cut Day: half the field goes home at once
Halfway through each league, after Match 4, the bottom 50% is relegated in a single event. Not gradually, not on a rolling basis. One day.
Being relegated is not a total loss: the points you earned still count toward your Company, and you can enter the next league fresh. But the cash prizes go to the top 500, and those are decided among the survivors. Everything before Cut Day is positioning for it.
What the free entry does not cover
Entry really is free. Tradeify says so and there is nothing to buy to compete. The reset is the one place money changes hands, and the rules around it are worth reading before Match 1 rather than after Match 3.
And before the reset, the thing that stops some people entering at all. Their guide says it twice: “Tradeify’s standard restricted countries list applies.” There is no tournament-specific list, so the same geography that governs their paid accounts governs the free competition. If your country is on that list, free entry is not open to you, and no reset fixes that. Check it before you plan a season around October.
And the conditions attached to it:
Is $25 to erase a bad match unreasonable in a competition paying out a million dollars? No, and we are not going to pretend it is. What deserves saying is the timing. The reset exists precisely because losses are uncapped, so a single disastrous session can bury a score. And it is unavailable on the one match that eliminates half the field, unavailable on the last match of the league, and the back-to-zero version disappears after Match 3. So the tool that fixes the format’s harshest feature is withdrawn exactly when that feature does the most damage. Price it into your plan before Match 3, not during Match 4.
Should you enter Open 2? Four questions on what you are after, how you trade, whether December in Florida is realistic and how you feel about paying to erase a session. No email.
30-second check
Should you enter Open 2?
The prizes, and why the final seat is the real target
The season pool is $1,000,000: $300,000 for each league and $400,000 settled on stage in December.
Sixteen people reach the final: eight traders, four from each league, and eight creators competing for a separate pool the traders cannot touch. It is settled in a single day on highest P&L.
Look at last place at the final against fifth place in a league. Finishing 8th of 8 on stage pays $13,000. Finishing 5th in a league of a full league pays $10,000. Qualifying is worth more than almost winning, before a single trade is placed in Florida. That is the number to organise a season around: fourth place in either league, not first.
Prizes are paid through Rise, so you will need a Rise account and KYC with Riseworks to collect. Payouts go out once final placements are confirmed, and Tradeify notes that prizes may be taxable depending on where you live.
The Fort Lauderdale clause, in proportion
The Grand Final is in Florida on 11 December, and there is a rule attached that has been repeated online with more drama than it deserves. Here it is as written.
Tradeify does not provide visa sponsorship of any kind… if you finish in the top 4 but do not hold valid travel authorization for the United States, you are assigned 5th place instead and paid the 5th place prize of $10,000, and your place at the final passes to the next eligible trader.
Tradeify, Premier Trading League full competition guide
For most French and Spanish traders this is an ESTA, not a visa. Both countries are in the Visa Waiver Program, the application is online, and for most people it is quick. If that is you, the clause is a reminder to file the paperwork early rather than an obstacle.
Check your own eligibility rather than assuming it, because the Visa Waiver Program has exclusions that catch people by surprise. Travel to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen or North Korea since March 2011 voids it, as does dual nationality with several of those countries, and an e-passport is mandatory. Anyone in that position is back on the embassy appointment queue, which is the months-long path. An approved ESTA is also an authorization to travel, not a guarantee of admission. None of that is Tradeify’s doing, and none of it is a reason not to enter. It is a reason to find out in October rather than in December.
It bites for traders outside the programme, where a B1 or B2 appointment can take months. Tradeify says as much itself: the gap between the end of Open 2 on 19 November and the final on 11 December “is not enough time to obtain travel authorization from a standing start”. Travel and accommodation are paid for the eight finalists, but getting yourself admissible is not their problem.
The practical reading: if you think you might finish near the top, sort your authorization during the league, not after it. Fourth place with paperwork is $35,000. Fourth place without it is $10,000.
Companies: required, and less important than they look
Every trader competes under one of 16 creator or affiliate Companies, and you cannot place a trade until you pick one. Selection opens in the Waiting Room the day before the league starts.
Active means having placed at least one trade, so members who sign up and never trade do not drag the average down. You can switch Company between leagues, and the points you earned in Open 1 stay with the Open 1 team.
How to enter Open 2
Open 1 registration closed on 20 September, and that league runs through 15 October, so Open 2 is the one still open to join. Registration is free and takes a couple of minutes.
One note for European readers, and it is their own. Every time in this competition is Eastern Time, and “US daylight saving ends on 1 November, part-way through Open 2.” Europe changes on 25 October, the US on 1 November, so for that week the usual offset is an hour out. A session you thought opened at midnight will open at 23:00 instead. Check the clock rather than the habit during Matches 3 and 4.
Matches run Tuesday and Thursday, each session opening 6:00 PM ET the evening before. Your tournament account is a Tradovate account whose number starts with PTLOP. Set your display username carefully in the Waiting Room, because it locks for the competition, and your real name never appears on the leaderboard.
Two operational notes from their guide. Schedule changes are posted to the Tradeify Discord first. And if you already hold a live account with them, they ask you to speak to your risk manager before entering.
Where we differ
We do not run a league, so there is no like for like comparison to make here and we are not going to invent one. Tradeify built something genuinely good: a free, zero risk, well documented competition with a real stage at the end of it. Publishing the full scoring table, the reset conditions and the travel clause up front is more transparency than most competitions of this size bother with.
The distinction worth drawing is between a tournament and an account, because the two get blurred in the same breath.
That last row needs scoping, and we would rather do it than let a reader assume. The first payout converting straight to LIVE is the Express to Live rule. On our Fundamental and Premium accounts the live transition is discretionary: eligibility opens at five payouts or $100,000 in cumulative profit, and meeting those thresholds does not guarantee it. Same house, different product, and the comparison above is with the E2L one.
Nothing you do in the league earns you a funded account, and nothing you pay for a reset buys trading capital. That is not a criticism, it is simply what the product is. If you want eight sessions of free, consequence-light competition, the league is an excellent use of October. If what you want at the end is an account you keep trading, that is a different purchase entirely.
See Phidias accounts and pricing
Tradeify Premier Trading League: frequently asked questions
Is the Tradeify Premier Trading League really free to enter?
Entry is free, with no purchase and no subscription, and you do not need an evaluation or a funded account. What is not free is the reset: $25 to wipe one match from your record, $50 to take your leaderboard score back to zero. One per league, and the fees are non-refundable even if you later withdraw.
How does a Premier Trading League match work?
You are paired at random with one other trader for a full futures session. Both of you start on a fresh $50,000 simulated account and the higher P&L wins the head to head. The session opens at 6:00 PM ET the evening before and closes at 4:45 PM ET, when the system flattens your positions automatically at market price.
What can you trade in the Premier Trading League?
ES, NQ, GC and CL, or their micro equivalents MES, MNQ, MGC and MCL, with simulated market data provided free. Position size is capped at one mini or ten micros across the whole account, which is a total rather than a per-product allowance: one position, in one product, at a time. Tradovate rejects any order that breaches it.
How is the Premier Trading League scored?
Two ways at once. Beating your opponent is worth 3 points, a draw within $50 is worth 1 to both, and losing is worth 0. On top of that you score 1 point per $500 of profit, capped at 20 per match, and lose 1 point per $500 of loss with no cap at all. That asymmetry is what decides the ladder.
What is Cut Day in the Premier Trading League?
After Match 4, the bottom half of the field is relegated in a single event. Cut Day is 1 October in Open 1 and 5 November in Open 2. Survivors play Matches 5 to 8 for the four Grand Final seats, and the cash prizes for the top 500 are decided among them.
How much do Premier Trading League resets cost?
A single match reset is $25 and removes one match from your record. A full reset is $50 and returns your leaderboard score to zero. You get one per league, of either type, and they are only available on Matches 1 to 3 and 5 to 7. They are never available for Match 4, which is the cut, or for Match 8.
What are the Premier Trading League prizes?
The season pool is $1,000,000: $300,000 for each league and $400,000 for the Grand Final. Each league pays its top 500, from $10,000 for 5th down to $250 for 151st to 500th. The top four of each league skip the league prize entirely and go to Fort Lauderdale instead.
Do you need to travel to the United States to win?
Only to collect the largest prizes. The Grand Final is held in Fort Lauderdale on 11 December, and Tradeify provides no visa sponsorship. If you finish in the top four without valid travel authorization you are assigned 5th place and paid $10,000 instead. For travellers from Visa Waiver Program countries, including France and Spain, that authorization is an ESTA rather than a visa.
What is a Company in the Premier Trading League?
One of 16 creator or affiliate teams, and you must pick one before you can place your first trade. Companies are scored on average points per active player and earn pack drops for clearing a threshold. Your Company does not affect who you are paired against, what your account looks like, or your individual cash prize.
When does Premier Trading League Open 2 start?
Registration runs from 1 October to 25 October, trading opens on Monday 26 October at 6:00 PM ET and the first match is Tuesday 27 October. Cut Day is 5 November and the final match is 19 November. Open 1 and Open 2 are separate sign-ups, so missing the first league or being relegated from it does not lock you out.
How does Phidias compare?
We do not run a head to head league, so this is not a like for like. What we would point out is that a tournament account and a funded account are different products: nothing you do in the Premier Trading League earns you a funded account, and nothing you pay for a reset buys trading capital. If what you want is an account rather than a prize, the two paths are unrelated.
Related guides
Read it yourself
- Premier Trading League, full competition guide (scoring, resets, prizes, the travel clause)
- The PTL collection (the announcement and the dashboard walkthrough)
- Grand Cup 2 (their previous free competition, archived since 9 June 2026)
- Phidias accounts and pricing
The verdict
“A free tournament with no risk capital and a real stage at the end is a good thing for the industry, and I would enter it. The line I would read twice is the reset window: the tool that fixes an uncapped loss is not available on the day that eliminates half the field.”
William G., CMO at Phidias Propfirm
