Three things I wish somebody had handed me before I started: how to tell a real strategy vendor from a bad one, what prop firms actually allow you to automate, and what the six micro contracts are really like to trade.
No email required, no signup wall. Download them, print them, send them to whoever needs them — they're licensed to be shared freely as long as they aren't altered.
Written by someone who sells them. Ten questions that actually tell you something, each with what a good answer sounds like and what a dodge sounds like — plus the questions most buyers lead with that reveal nothing at all.
Includes the one question with no sales pitch available: when does this break, what conditions break it, and what do you do about it?
Where Apex, Topstep and MyFundedFutures stand on automation, side by side — what's allowed during an evaluation, what's allowed once you're funded, the high-frequency limits, and what every firm means by "active oversight."
The trap most people miss: the evaluation rules and the funded-account rules are not always the same rules. Ask both questions before you pay the fee.
A reference sheet for the six CME micros I trade — MES, MNQ, M2K, MGC, MCL and SIL. Tick values, what each contract is actually like to trade, and why the one-tenth size is the right scale if you're automating or working through an evaluation.
Contract specs verified against current CME specifications, August 2026.
The vendor guide is a test, and I don't get to be exempt from it. Every question in it has an answer on this site — how my strategies are tuned and re-tuned, the market conditions they're designed for, what data feed they need, and what you get besides the code. Start with the strategies, or drive the Prop Firm Analyzer — it's free and loaded with my current backtest data, so you can see how a strategy behaves against evaluation targets and drawdown limits before spending anything.
If something in the checklist isn't answered anywhere on this site, ask me directly and I'll answer it.
These guides are educational and are not trading, investment, legal or tax advice. The prop firm guide summarises third-party company policies as published in August 2026 and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or verified by any prop firm — policies change without notice, so always confirm current rules directly with the firm before purchasing an evaluation. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor; you may lose more than your initial investment.