Knowledge base
Everything the simulator does and every place it falls short of the real thing. If something here is unclear, it is a fault in the writing. Say so and it gets fixed.
Getting started
What this is, what it costs, and what it cannot do for you.
- What is propsim.sh?A simulated futures account with a prop firm's rules on it, traded against live CME prices on a short delay.
- Is it free?Yes. No fee, no card, no upsell, and no limit on how many accounts you open.
- Is any real money involved?No. Nothing is ordered, nothing reaches an exchange, and there is nothing to withdraw.
- Do you pay out?No. Passing an account here proves you met the rules. It does not fund you and it is not an application to any firm.
- Do I need a broker or a platform?No. The terminal runs in the browser, with nothing to install and no account to connect.
Prices and fills
Where the tape comes from, why it runs behind, and how a fill is decided.
- Where do the prices come from?Live CME futures, on a short delay. The bars you trade are the real ones.
- Why is the tape delayed?Real time exchange data is licensed and expensive. A delay costs nothing and changes none of what the rules test.
- What can I trade?Nine CME micros: the four equity index contracts, gold, silver, copper, crude and natural gas.
- How are fills decided?Against the delayed tape, at the price on screen. There is no queue and no slippage yet, so fills here are kinder than a broker's.
- Why does the newest candle keep moving?It is a minute that has already printed, being revealed five seconds at a time. Every price in it really traded, and your fills are decided on the same reveal.
- Is this a replay of an old session?No. The tape is live and runs on a short delay.
Accounts
Opening them, breaching them, and starting again.
- How many accounts can I open?As many as you like, on any plan, at the same time. Nothing is charged and nothing is throttled.
- What happens when I breach?The daily loss limit ends the day and the account reopens next session. The trailing drawdown ends the account for good.
- Can I start again?Open a new account. A breached one stays in your list so the journal that led to it is still readable.
- Is there a minimum number of days?No day count is published, but the consistency rule stops a one session pass in practice.
- How many contracts can I hold?Each plan publishes a micro and a mini cap. Only the micro cap is reachable today, and it is enforced.
The rules that end an account
The floors, the news window and the costs. None of these announces itself while you are in a trade.
- What is the difference between the two loss limits?The daily loss limit is measured from where the session opened and ends the day. The trailing drawdown is measured from your highest ever equity and ends the account.
- Why is the trailing drawdown the hard one?It follows your peak equity up and never comes back down, so giving back a gain moves you toward a floor that kept it.
- Does an open position count against the limits?Yes, in both directions. An open loser can breach you before you close it, and an open winner permanently raises your floor.
- What is red folder news?A high impact US release. You have to be flat through the window around it, and on these accounts holding a position through one is a hard breach.
- Is commission charged?Yes, per side, so a round turn pays twice. It leaves the balance, so both floors and the profit target count it.
- What is the consistency rule?Your largest winning day has to be half or less of the profit on the account, so one session cannot carry it.
- When does the session close?The trading day is cut at 17:00 Chicago time. Positions are meant to be flat by 16:45 New York time, but nothing here closes them for you.
- Can I use a bot or a trade copier?Yes. What is banned is narrow: cross account hedging, microscalping and high frequency algorithms.
Where this differs from a real account
Every place the simulator is not the firm. Worth reading, because a difference you do not know about is the one that misleads you.
- Are the limits checked on every tick?No. They are read against five second steps of a delayed feed's one minute bars, so the minute that broke a floor is known and the exact second inside it is not.
- Is slippage modelled?No. A limit fills wherever the tape reached it, with nothing in front of it.
- How far back does the news calendar reach?About a week. A release older than that cannot be judged, so a news breach is only caught close to live.
- Which rules are published but not enforced?The 16:45 flatten, consistency, cross account hedging, microscalping, the mini position caps, and the daily profit ceiling.