Elite Trader Funding vs ROMER

ETF’s evaluations and prices

Elite Trader Funding, usually shortened to ETF, sells futures evaluations for CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX through Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Rithmic and TradingView. Its main site is now elitetraderfunding.app. The range is wide: a 1-Step plan, a Static drawdown plan, an End of Day plan, Diamond Hands for traders who hold overnight, a 10K Fast Track and Direct to Funded, which skips the evaluation for a one-off fee ($747 for 50K).

The 1-Step is the plain option. At 50K it costs $207 a month, sets a $3,000 target against a $2,000 drawdown that follows your highest value, open profit included, and needs at least 5 trading days (how the 1-Step works). Neither a daily loss limit nor a consistency rule applies during the evaluation. Billing continues after you pass until you activate the funded stage, which costs $87 a month or $177 once (Elite fees). Choosing the Rithmic data feed has added $45 a month per account since 28 January 2026.

On most plans every trade has to be closed a minute before the market closes. “Only Diamond Hands and Direct To Funded accounts are able to hold trades through close, and the weekend” (Diamond Hands). The pages disagree on that plan’s minimum: the help article and the checkout feed say 5 trading days, and the comparison table on the home page says 10.

Bots need ETF’s written approval

ETF’s trade copier disclaimer opens the automation question with “Written authorization is required. Per our Terms of Service, you may not use artificial intelligence (AI), bots, automated trading systems, or other automated trading strategies unless expressly authorized in writing by ETF.” It then narrows the field: “The only automated trading tools currently authorized are the approved trade copiers listed above. An EA, AI tool, or algorithmic trading system that isn’t one of those is not authorized for use on your ETF account.”

The approved list is Tradesyncer, Tradecopia, Affordable Indicators, Replikanto Flowbot and the copying built into platforms such as Tradovate, MotiveWave and Quantower. A strategy that decides its own trades isn’t on it. Breaking the rule can cost a reset and the profits, and repeat cases lead to a ban.

HFT, the ten-second rule and servers

The Terms of Service forbid strategies that “utilize high-frequency trading (HFT) or other similar strategies that leverage technology to gain advantages execution speeds by engaging in a high number of transactions in a short amount of time in an abusive manner.” The same clause sets a floor on every trade: “All trades executed by you on ETF’s platform shall have a minimum duration of ten (10) seconds”, with no exceptions. Toxic trading flow and arbitrage strategies are banned too. Why prop firms ban HFT looks at the reasons firms give.

On servers, ETF’s pages pull in two directions. The terms ban “virtual private servers (VPS), proxy servers, or any other form of technology or technologies in tandem that in any way hinders our ability to ascertain your IP address”. The VPN policy is broader still: “Elite Trader Funding (ETF) does not permit the use of VPNs, proxies, or any IP-masking technology on your trading account.” Yet the copier disclaimer says “We will continue to reward skilled traders who genuinely trade their ETF accounts and use VPNs or VPS for legitimate and benign reasons.” A VPS that doesn’t hide who you are seems to be tolerated, but get that in writing first. Our VPS comparison covers other firms.

News trading has the same problem. The help article on economic releases says “ETF does not impose any restrictions or limitations on traders during major economic news events.” The terms say “all Elite Accounts must be flat 5 minutes before the event to 5 minutes after the event starts”, adding that “Traders still in evaluation phase do not have this rule.” For a funded trader, the two can’t both be right.

Elite Sim-Funded, then LIVE ELITE

Passing an evaluation leads to an Elite Sim-Funded account. ETF is open about what it is: “You trade a simulated funded account, and ETF pays you real money from those sim gains: up to 100% of profits, capped at $25,000 in total sim payouts per trader (the threshold that moves you to LIVE ELITE), with a $150,000 lifetime cap across re-entries” (Elite). The terms add that these accounts “contain synthetic currency”.

Payouts take more than profit. Your realized profit first has to reach the drawdown plus $100, and then you need Active Trade Days: “A day counts as an ATD when it earns at least $200 realized profit AND at least 23% of your best day” (ATD rules). The first reward cycle needs 8 of those days and later ones need 10. On a 50K 1-Step account the cap per cycle starts at $1,000 and reaches $1,750 from the fourth cycle (payouts). After an account is up 20%, giving back more than 35% of the accumulated profit removes it from Elite and from LIVE ELITE eligibility.

LIVE ELITE is the real-money stage. “You may qualify when you reach any one of: 5 payouts, 50 active trading days, or the $25,000 payout cap, counted per trader, not per account”, and ETF “reserves the right to move any trader to LIVE ELITE whenever it sees the talent”. Entry requires a background check and 34 lessons on CME rules. Sim balances don’t carry over: a trader coming from a 50K or smaller account starts LIVE ELITE with $1,250 and 5 micro contracts (LIVE ELITE information). Then “You keep 80% of profits, ETF keeps 20%. There is no payout cap in LIVE ELITE.” Market data costs $197 a month per exchange.

ROMER for automated strategies

ROMER, which we run, answers ETF’s permission question in advance. Automated and high-frequency trading are permitted in every stage, with no approval letter to wait for. We monitor orders and ban spoofing along with any other manipulation, and the exchange’s message limits still bind each algo. Trading by hand is open to you too.

Your algo lives on our hardware, racked in the exchange’s data centre, so there’s no VPS to clear with anyone.

ETF runs one evaluation and then a sim-funded stage. We run two simulated checks. In the first, an algo must hit its target without breaking a loss limit over at least 3 trading days. In the second it repeats the exercise across a separate stretch of 10 or more trading days. We fund the best of the algos that clear both, with our own money on the real exchange, and the trader is paid 80% of the real profits. Not every algo that passes is funded.

On price, everything is planned and may change. A $50K account (Pro) is planned at $249 a month and a $25K (Starter) at $149, with the $100K Elite at $399 and no activation fee on any of them. What the subscription pays for is your algo running on our hardware at the exchange. The planned rules are a 6% target, a trailing loss limit of 4% and a daily cap of 2%. ETF’s 1-Step 50K costs $207 a month plus activation and pays up to 100% of simulated profits before LIVE ELITE. Once real money is involved, our 80% equals what ETF pays on LIVE ELITE.

Picking one

ETF suits hand traders who want options: static, end-of-day or trailing drawdowns, overnight holds on Diamond Hands, approved trade copiers and up to 100% of simulated payouts while they work towards LIVE ELITE. Read the terms alongside the help centre, since the two differ on VPS use and news.

ROMER suits the algos ETF hasn’t authorized, which is most of them, and any strategy that holds trades for under 10 seconds or trades at high frequency.