What can you trade on a funded futures account, and which exchanges are allowed?

On a Phoenix Trader Funding account you can trade futures listed on four exchanges, CME, CBOT, COMEX and NYMEX, and nothing else. Those four are the exchanges of CME Group, and between them they list stock index, interest rate, currency, agricultural, energy and metals futures, with gold and silver included. Shares, spot forex and CFDs are not futures, so none of them can be traded on the account.

The list is the same on every account type and at every stage, evaluation and funded. What changes between accounts is the number of contracts you may hold at once. The rest of this page walks through what sits on each exchange, what the list leaves out, how contract size fits in, and the handful of rules that apply whatever market you pick.

The four exchanges and what each one lists

A futures contract is an agreement, traded on an exchange, to buy or sell a set quantity of something at a price fixed today for a date in the future. Every contract has a published specification: what one contract represents, how small a price move can be, and what that move is worth. The exchange is where those specifications are written and where the trades are matched.

CME, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is the home of the US stock index futures that most intraday traders start with, along with currency futures on the major pairs and short term interest rate futures. If you have watched an index chart tick through the open, the contract behind it is almost certainly a CME product.

CBOT, the Chicago Board of Trade, lists US Treasury futures across the yield curve, the grain and oilseed complex (corn, soybeans, wheat) and the Dow index contracts. Treasury futures are the market where rate expectations get traded minute by minute, which is why they react so sharply to inflation and employment releases.

COMEX lists the metals: gold, silver and copper. Metals are open across the board, so gold can be traded on every account type in the same way as an index contract.

NYMEX, the New York Mercantile Exchange, lists energy: crude oil, natural gas and the refined products. It also carries platinum and palladium. Energy contracts tend to move hardest around inventory reports and supply headlines, and they reward a trader who knows the calendar for that market.

What the list leaves out

The rule is futures only, and it is meant literally. A share is ownership of a company and trades on a stock exchange, so individual stocks and stock funds are outside it. Spot forex is currency exchanged for immediate delivery between dealers rather than on a futures exchange, so it is outside it too. A CFD, or contract for difference, is a private agreement with a broker that pays the change in a price without any exchange in the middle, and it is outside it for the same reason.

Futures listed on any exchange other than the four above are also not on the account. The test is simple: if the contract is not a futures contract on CME, CBOT, COMEX or NYMEX, it cannot be traded.

That still leaves most of what a trader actually means by markets. Currency exposure is available through CME currency futures. Index exposure is available through the index futures. Rates, energy, metals and grains each have their own contracts. The restriction is on the wrapper, not on the asset class.

Contract size: minis and micros

A micro contract is a smaller version of a standard futures contract on the same underlying market, so the same price move is worth a fraction of what it is worth on the full size contract. Many index, metals and energy markets come in both sizes, and the micros let a trader size a position in finer steps.

Each account sets a maximum position, written as a number of minis or an alternative number of micros. The two figures are alternatives, never a total: an account that allows one mini or ten micros means one or the other at a given moment, not both added together. On a Daily Seed account the limit is six micros only, with no mini allowance, so that account trades the micro versions or nothing.

The exact limit for each size, and how it grows on accounts that have a scaling plan, is set out in our answer on how many contracts you can trade on a funded account. The point here is narrower: the market you choose does not change the limit, but it changes what each contract is worth, so the same number of contracts carries very different risk from one market to another.

Choosing a market inside the list

Tick value is the amount one minimum price move is worth on one contract, and it is the number that connects a market to your loss limit. Before trading a contract for the first time, read its specification and work out how many ticks against you it takes to reach the account floor. A market with a large tick value and fast moves can cover that distance in a single candle.

A practical habit is to pick one or two markets and learn how they behave at the open, at the close and around their scheduled releases. Being able to trade every market on four exchanges is not a reason to trade them all. Knowing how one contract behaves at the open is worth more than a passing look at many of them.

Micros are the natural place to learn a market you have not traded before. The chart is identical, the session is identical, and the cost of being wrong while you learn the rhythm is a fraction of the full size contract.

Rules that apply whatever you trade

Every account is flat before the session ends. Holding a position overnight or over a weekend is prohibited on every Phoenix Trader Funding account type, in every market on the list, and the reasons are covered in our answer on whether you can hold a position overnight.

News trading is allowed on every account type, including the tier one releases such as FOMC rate decisions, CPI and NFP. Scalping is allowed with no minimum holding time. Hedging across accounts, meaning a position on one account offset by the opposite position on another, is prohibited, and so are high frequency trading and automated EA bots.

Funded accounts add one rule tied to a market: one tick trading on bonds is prohibited. One tick trading means taking trades that aim to capture a single minimum price move, over and over, which in the most liquid rate contracts can be done almost mechanically.

A daily price limit is a band set by the exchange beyond which a futures contract cannot trade during a session. When a market approaches its limit, liquidity thins and fills become unreliable, so the guidance is to stop trading a contract once it is within 2% of its CME daily price limit.

Breaking a rule is not the same as hitting a loss limit. A violation during an evaluation means the account is denied funding. A violation on a funded account means a denied payout, the closure of the account, or both, and the difference between the two outcomes is explained in our answer on what a breached account means.

Common follow-up questions

Can you trade gold on a funded futures account?

Yes. Gold futures trade on COMEX, which is one of the four exchanges on the list, and metals are open across the board, so gold, silver and copper can be traded on every account type.

Can you trade forex on a funded futures account?

Not spot forex, because it is not a futures product. Currency exposure is still available through the currency futures listed on CME, which follow the same rules as any other contract on the account.

Can you trade stocks or ETFs on a funded futures account?

No. Shares and exchange traded funds are listed on stock exchanges rather than futures exchanges, so they fall outside the futures only rule. Stock market exposure comes through the index futures listed on CME and CBOT.

Does the market you trade change your contract limit?

No. The limit is set by the account and written as minis or as an alternative number of micros. The market changes what each contract is worth, so the same limit carries more risk on a fast, high tick value contract.

Are the allowed markets different in the evaluation and once funded?

The market list is the same at both stages. The one market specific addition once funded is that one tick trading on bonds is prohibited, alongside the rules that apply to every market at every stage.