Mandatory Closing Times at Prop Firms: Firm by Firm
There are 50 minutes between the firm that closes earliest and the one that closes last. The full table, which firms kill your account for leaving a position open, and the holiday trap.
Everyone is afraid of losing their account by leaving a position open at the close. Almost nobody loses it that way. What does happen, and happens a lot, is that the system closes your position at whatever price is on the screen and you eat the whole loss.
The problem is that every firm closes at a different time, and there are up to 50 minutes between the earliest and the latest. Here's the table, and above all the difference that actually matters: whether the automatic close is a service or a rule breach.
The closing times table
Data from our own database, verified on 16 August 2026. The industry reference time is Chicago (CT), because that's where the CME is.
| Firm | Close (CT) | Close (ET) | Does it kill you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| FundedNext | 15:10 | 16:10 | No, automatic close |
| My Funded Futures | 15:10 | 16:10 | Not listed as a breach |
| Top One Futures | 15:10 | 16:10 | Yes, strict hours |
| Funded Futures Family | 15:15 | 16:15 | No, and it doesn't count as a breach |
| Lucid Trading | 15:45 | 16:45 | No, automatic close |
| Tradeify | 15:45 | 16:45 | No, automatic liquidation |
| Earn2Trade | 15:50 | 16:50 | Some products must be closed earlier |
| TradeDay | 15:50 | 16:50 | No, "you won't be removed for an accidental close" |
| Apex Trader Funding | 15:59 | 16:59 | Yes, it's your responsibility |
| Bulenox | 15:59 | 16:59 | Not listed as a breach |
| TakeProfit Trader | 16:00 | 17:00 | Yes, strict hours |
They all open at 17:00 CT (18:00 ET), Sunday session included. Funded Futures Family opens at 17:00 CT as well.
Two different philosophies, and it pays to know which one you're on
The ones that just close you out. Funded Futures Family spells it out: if you forget, the system closes the positions itself and it does not count as a breach. TradeDay takes the same line: you won't be removed for an accidental close outside hours. Lucid too: positions open at 16:45 ET are closed automatically and it isn't grounds for removal.
The ones that put it on you. Apex is the harshest and writes it without hedging: it's your responsibility to close everything before the cut-off, and leaving positions open is grounds for losing the account. TakeProfit Trader and Top One Futures both have their hours flagged as strict.
The practical difference is huge. In one group you can get distracted once and only pay the market price. In the other, that lapse costs you the whole account.
The products that close much earlier
This is the detail that catches out anyone trading outside the indices. Apex documents it with exact times, and it applies at every firm because it's the CME that sets it:
- Livestock (HE, LE, GF): close at 14:05 ET, nearly three hours before the rest.
- Grains (ZC, ZW, ZS, ZM, ZL): close at 14:20 ET.
If you trade agricultural products and you go by ES or NQ hours, you're late. Earn2Trade warns about the same thing in its rules without giving the list.
Holidays and shortened sessions: where accounts really get lost
Here's the fact almost nobody explains, and it's worth the whole article on its own.
On half-session days and holidays, Apex merges the day with the next full session, and the daily loss limit does not reset. Translated: if you lose during the shortened holiday session, that loss still counts against your daily limit the following day. You start the session with part of your room already spent without having done anything.
It isn't a rare edge case: between Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and 3 July, it happens several times a year.
Fridays and weekends
None of the eleven allows you to hold positions over the weekend. But two of them write it with particular clarity:
Funded Futures Family requires everything closed on Friday at 16:15 ET and doesn't allow trading between 16:15 and 18:00 ET on any day. FundedNext doesn't allow holding positions overnight or over the weekend either: everything closes at 15:10 CT and whatever is left open is closed by the system.
Watch that last point at FundedNext and MFF: it isn't just Friday. It's every day. Their window doesn't let you carry a position overnight, something you can do at Apex, Bulenox or TradeDay within the session.
What changed this summer
Tradeify moved its automatic liquidation on 13 July 2026: it went to 15:45 CT, fifteen minutes earlier than before. If you learned the schedule before that date, you're a quarter of an hour short.
It's a good reminder that these times change quietly. Nobody sends an email to announce fifteen minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly happens if I don't close in time?
At most firms the system closes the position at market and you take the result. At Apex, Top One and TakeProfit you can also lose the account. The first is a bad trade; the second is the end of the road.
Do the times change with daylight saving?
Firms fix their hours in a US time zone (CT or ET), not in UTC. When the United States changes clocks and Europe hasn't yet, or the other way round, your local closing time shifts by an hour for a couple of weeks a year. That's when most people get caught out.
Can I hold a position overnight?
At Apex, Bulenox, TradeDay and Earn2Trade yes, within the session. At FundedNext, MFF and Funded Futures Family no: their window forces you to close every day.
Does it count as a trading day if I only trade the overnight session?
At Funded Futures Family yes: a trading day is at least one trade between 18:00 ET and 17:00 ET the following day, so the overnight session counts as the next day.
Is there any firm with no mandatory close?
None of the eleven. It's a structural rule: firms don't want open risk when their team isn't watching the screens.
