Tradeify has launched the Premier Trading League (PTL), a new head-to-head futures trading competition with $1 million in total cash prizes and a live World Finale in Fort Lauderdale.
The first Open begins on September 22, with a second Open starting on October 27. Each one runs across eight head-to-head matches, with the top four traders from each qualifying for the live final on December 11.
The format is similar to Tradeify’s Grand Cup competitions, but changes the scoring significantly.
Rather than ranking traders purely by total P&L, PTL awards points for beating your opponent and making money, while losses reduce your score.
That is designed to reward traders who perform consistently across the full competition rather than someone who lands one oversized winning trade.
In this article, I’ll explain how the Premier Trading League works, the scoring system, prize structure and how to enter.
How The Premier Trading League Works
PTL is completely free to enter, with no evaluation or funded account required. You can sign up to the Tradeify Premier Trading League here.
Each trader is paired against one opponent for a full futures session. Both start every match with a fresh $50,000 simulated account, and whoever finishes with the higher P&L wins the head-to-head.
There are two separate Opens:
| Open 1 | Open 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| First Match | September 22 | October 27 |
| Final Match | October 15 | November 19 |
| Matches | 8 | 8 |
| Prize Pool | $300,000 | $300,000 |
| Traders Advancing | Top 4 | Top 4 |
Matches take place every Tuesday and Thursday.
The bottom 50% of the leaderboard is eliminated after Match 4, while the remaining traders continue through Matches 5 to 8. A bad individual match does not automatically eliminate you because PTL is a league rather than a knockout competition.
The top four traders from each Open qualify for the World Finale in Fort Lauderdale on December 11.
How PTL Scoring Works
The scoring system is the most important part of the new format.
Each match awards points for both your head-to-head result and your P&L:
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Beat your opponent | +3 |
| Draw within $50 | +1 |
| Lose head-to-head | 0 |
| Every $500 profit | +1 |
| Every $500 loss | -1 |
Profit points are capped at +20 per match, while loss points are completely uncapped.
For example, if you finish a match up $1,500 and beat your opponent, you earn six points: three for the win and three from profit.
If you lose the head-to-head but still finish $1,000 in profit, you still earn two points.
The important part is that losses work in exactly the opposite direction.
Lose $5,000 and 10 points are removed from your total.
That means one very aggressive winning trade can help, but an equally large losing session later can undo most of that progress.
Why Tradeify Changed The Format
Tradeify’s previous Grand Cups attracted huge participation.
According to Tradeify, the first Grand Cup brought in around 30,000 traders, while the second grew to roughly 65,000.
However, the pnl winner-takes-all format had a problem.
A trader could take an oversized position, land one large winner and jump towards the top of the leaderboard. Someone producing smaller profits consistently across several sessions had little way to compete without also increasing their risk.
Tradeify says that feedback directly influenced the design of PTL. Instead of rewarding one standout session, the new format measures performance across eight separate matches.
Because losses reduce your score and profit points are capped at +20 per match, repeatedly taking extreme risk becomes much harder to sustain over the full season.
The Leaderboard Rewards Consistency
PTL still rewards large profits, but it no longer makes one huge day enough on its own. The leaderboard is ranked by total points across the competition.
If traders finish level on points, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head wins, followed by total P&L and then the biggest individual match.
The leaderboard updates twice per day at 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM ET. Your opponent’s P&L is also visible during the match, although it updates on the same schedule rather than in real time.
That adds a tactical element without turning the competition into a live P&L chase.
$1 Million Prize Pool
Tradeify is distributing $1 million in total cash prizes across both Opens and the World Finale.
The split is:
| Stage | Prize Pool |
|---|---|
| Open 1 | $300,000 |
| Open 2 | $300,000 |
| World Finale | $400,000 |
| Total | $1,000,000 |
Each Open pays the top 500 traders.
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st–4th | Advance to World Finale |
| 5th | $10,000 |
| 6th–10th | $8,000 |
| 11th–25th | $4,000 |
| 26th–50th | $2,000 |
| 51st–150th | $525 |
| 151st–500th | $250 |
The top four do not receive an Open cash prize because they move into the separate $400,000 final instead.
Even eighth place at the final pays more than finishing fifth in an Open.
$400,000 World Finale
Eight traders qualify for the live World Finale in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The trader prize pool is:
| Position | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | $180,000 |
| 2nd | $70,000 |
| 3rd | $45,000 |
| 4th | $35,000 |
| 5th | $25,000 |
| 6th | $18,000 |
| 7th | $14,000 |
| 8th | $13,000 |
Tradeify covers travel and accommodation for the eight trader finalists.
Unlike the eight-match qualifying leagues, the World Finale is decided in a single trading day based on highest P&L.
There will also be eight creators competing at the same live event, but they have their own separate prize pool and cannot take money from the $400,000 allocated to trader finalists.
Trading Rules
Every PTL match starts with a fresh $50K simulated account.
There is no maximum drawdown and no account failure level. If you lose money, it simply reduces your league points and the next match starts from a completely fresh account.
The available markets are:
- ES
- NQ
- GC
- CL
- Their micro equivalents
Position size is limited to one mini or 10 micros across the entire account.
That is a total account limit, not a per-instrument limit, so you cannot hold one NQ and one GC contract simultaneously.
Trading takes place through Tradovate, with simulated market data provided free.
Optional Resets
Tradeify also allows traders to undo one bad result, although resets are optional and this is the only part of PTL that costs money.
There are two options:
- $25 Match Reset: removes one match from your record
- $50 Full Reset: resets your total leaderboard score to zero
You can only use one reset per Open, so choosing a Match Reset means you cannot later use a Full Reset in the same league.
Resets are available during Matches 1–3 and 5–7, although the full reset is only available in Matches 1–3.
Neither reset can be used for Match 4 or Match 8.
There is also an important catch: if you use a reset, you must score points in Match 4 to survive the mid-season cut.
Half The Field Is Eliminated After Match 4
The biggest pressure point comes halfway through each Open.
After Match 4, the bottom 50% of traders are eliminated.
Everyone above the cut continues through the final four matches, where they compete for the top 500 prize positions and four seats at the World Finale.
This makes the first half of the competition largely about survival.
You do not need to lead the tournament after four matches, but you need enough points to avoid falling into the bottom half.
If you are eliminated from Open 1, you can still register separately for Open 2 and start again from zero.
Creator Teams
Every trader must also select one of 16 creator teams before placing their first trade. Your team does not affect your individual matchups, points or cash prizes.
Instead, each team also has its own separate competition based on the average points per active trader. Eight creators ultimately qualify for the live Fort Lauderdale event alongside the eight trader finalists.
Pairings remain random across the entire field, so you can still be matched against someone from your own team.
Who Can Enter?
Entry is free.
You do not need an existing Tradeify account, evaluation or funded account.
Participants must:
- Be KYC verified
- Be eligible under Tradeify’s normal restricted-country rules
- Use only one entry per person
- Use only one entry per household
Open 1 registration closes on September 20 at 11:59 PM ET, while Open 2 registration closes on October 25 at 11:59 PM ET.
One important condition applies to finalists.
If you finish in the top four but cannot legally travel to the United States, Tradeify assigns you 5th place and the $10,000 prize, while your final seat passes to the next eligible trader.
Tradeify does not provide visa sponsorship.
Is PTL Better Than The Grand Cups?
I think the scoring system is a significant improvement.
The Grand Cups proved there is huge demand for free futures trading competitions, but a single P&L leaderboard naturally encourages high variance.
PTL still rewards aggressive trading when it works, but now the downside matters just as much.
A trader who repeatedly generates smaller profits, wins head-to-head matches and avoids major losing sessions can accumulate points steadily over eight matches.
That feels much closer to measuring consistent trading performance than simply ranking everyone by the biggest number achieved during the week.
The head-to-head element should also make the competition more interesting to follow, particularly once the field gets smaller.
Conclusion
Overall, Tradeify’s Premier Trading League is a much more ambitious competition than the previous Grand Cups.
It is free to enter, offers $1 million in total cash prizes, and ultimately sends eight traders to Fort Lauderdale to compete for a $180,000 first prize. But the scoring system is the biggest improvement.
Instead of rewarding whoever can produce the largest single P&L, PTL measures performance across eight matches, combining head-to-head wins with both profits and losses.
Large winning days still help, but large losing days now hurt just as much. That should give more consistent traders a much better chance of climbing the leaderboard, while still leaving enough freedom for aggressive traders to take risks.
After around 30,000 traders entered the first Grand Cup and roughly 65,000 entered the second, PTL will be an interesting test of whether competitive trading can work as a genuine league rather than just another P&L leaderboard.
