How futures prop firm evaluations are usually lost
Futures funding programs differ in detail, but most enforce some version of the same rules: a daily loss limit, a maximum drawdown (often trailing), a profit target, and sometimes a consistency rule. The rules themselves are simple. The common ways traders break them:
- Overtrading. Taking marginal setups because the chart is open, not because a setup is there.
- Revenge trading. Sizing up or trading faster after a loss, which is how one losing trade becomes a breached daily limit.
- Trading outside the plan. Taking trades in hours or markets you never planned to trade.
- Counter-trend entries. Fading a strong move repeatedly on a trend day.
What an indicator can and cannot do
No indicator can make you pass an evaluation, and anyone promising that is selling something else. What a well-built indicator can do is make your rules visible and harder to break in the moment: fewer signals, only in planned hours, only with the higher-timeframe trend, and a clear stop when the day is done. Following the firm's rules, and managing size and stops, is still your job.
ATLAS features that map to prop firm rules
| Overtrading | Per-day trade limit, plus a minimum number of bars between entries |
| One bad day | Daily kill-switch: once it triggers, ATLAS stops offering signals until the next session |
| Trading outside the plan | Session filters: ATLAS only arms setups in the windows you enable |
| Counter-trend entries | Higher-timeframe bias filter: no signals against 4H and 1H structure |
| Marginal setups | Full confirmation sequence: sweep, zone tap, and micro break of structure before any signal |
| Position sizing | Instrument point value setting, so risk figures match the contract you trade, including micros |
An on-chart counter shows how many trades you have used and whether the kill-switch is active.
Signals only, no automation
ATLAS runs on your TradingView chart and prints signals and alerts. It never places orders or connects to a broker or prop firm account; you place every trade on your firm's platform yourself. That keeps it clear of automated-trading restrictions, but rules vary by firm and change over time, so check your firm's current policy on third-party indicators.
Micros and evaluation sizing
Micro contracts let you size in smaller steps, which helps when a daily loss limit is tight. ATLAS's most-tested setup is Micro Gold (MGC) on the 5-minute chart; see ATLAS on gold futures for contract basics and a starting setup.
A rule-based setup for an evaluation
- Set the daily trade limit below what your plan allows, not at it.
- Set the kill-switch before your first trade of the day.
- Enable only the sessions you will actually be at the screen for.
- Set the point value for the exact contract you trade.
- Leave the confirmation sequence on defaults until you have watched it through several sessions in bar replay.
The docs walk through each setting on TradingView.