Prop Firm Trading Day: Flat-By Times, Daily Resets and What the Clock Change Moves
Every futures prop firm runs its rules on a trading day with fixed US start and end times: when you must be flat, when the daily loss limit resets, when the end-of-day drawdown is measured. Topstep, Lucid and Apex compared, converted to European time, including the week the clocks disagree.
On Monday, October 26, 2026, a trader in Berlin still holding an MNQ position in the US afternoon will see Lucid close it at 21:45, not at 22:45 as the week before. Nothing changes at Lucid. Europe leaves summer time on Sunday, October 25, the US follows on November 1, and for five trading days every New York time lands an hour earlier on a European clock.
Each futures prop firm defines a trading day with a fixed US start and end, and three rules hang off it: the time you must be flat, the time the daily loss limit resets, and the moment the end-of-day (EOD) drawdown is measured. How the evaluation itself works is in prop firm evaluations explained; this post is about the prop firm daily reset time and the clock it runs on.
Three firms, three closing times
At the time of writing, from each firm's help center:
| Topstep | Lucid (Flex, Pro) | Apex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat by | 3:10 PM CT (4:10 PM ET); avoid new positions after 3:08 PM CT, when flattening starts | 4:45 PM ET, Monday to Friday | Before 4:59 PM ET |
| Still in a position at that time | Positions and orders are cancelled automatically | Closed automatically; the account doesn't fail | Listed as a prohibited activity; can cost the account or lead to probation |
| Trading day | 5:00 PM CT to 3:10 PM CT the next day | Trading resumes 6:00 PM ET, Sunday to Thursday | 6:00 PM ET to 4:59 PM ET the next day |
| Daily loss limit, if the account has one | Locked until 5:00 PM CT, the next session | Locked until the next trading session | Paused until the next session open |
| EOD drawdown measured | At the end of each trading day | At the end of each session, from the highest closing balance | At 4:59:59 PM ET, from the closing balance |
Two more firms show the spread: MyFundedFutures closes positions at 4:10 PM ET, while Tradeify wants traders flat by 4:45 PM ET and closes anything left open itself, without failing the account. The gap between 4:10 and 4:59 PM ET is 49 minutes of the US afternoon, which a trader moving from one firm to another gains or loses without noticing until the first automatic close.
The trading-day definition belongs on the list of rules to check before buying an evaluation, and the EOD row decides when a profitable afternoon raises the floor of an end-of-day trailing drawdown.
The same times on a European clock
The firms write their times in New York or Chicago clock time, and the rules sit on the CME Globex session: 6:00 PM to 5:00 PM ET with a one-hour break from 5:00 PM. Lucid's trading-times page writes EST, although New York is on EDT until November 1; the practical reading is New York clock time, and a trader whose position depends on the difference should ask support before October 26.
| Event | ET | Until Oct 23 (CEST) | Oct 26 to 30 (CET) | From Nov 2 (CET) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topstep flat by | 4:10 PM | 22:10 | 21:10 | 22:10 |
| Lucid flat by | 4:45 PM | 22:45 | 21:45 | 22:45 |
| Apex flat by, EOD drawdown snapshot | 4:59 PM | 22:59 | 21:59 | 22:59 |
| CME Globex break | 5:00 to 6:00 PM | 23:00 to 00:00 | 22:00 to 23:00 | 23:00 to 00:00 |
| New trading day, daily limits reset | 6:00 PM | 00:00 | 23:00 | 00:00 |
In the UK every time is an hour earlier than in the Central European columns.
The week of October 26 changes more than the close. The new trading day starts at 23:00 CET, so a trade opened at 23:15 on Monday, October 26 belongs to Tuesday's trading day: its result counts toward Tuesday's daily loss limit, Tuesday's line in a consistency rule and the number of trading days. The week starts early too, with the Globex reopen at 23:00 CET on Sunday, October 25. On Sunday, November 1 the US changes and the Sunday open returns to midnight.
A trader who only trades the European morning feels none of this in the prop rules; the week shows up in the US data at 13:30 CET and the cash open at 14:30, which NQ trading hours around daylight saving lays out session by session.
Holidays and half days
Early closes pull the flat-by time back to midday. Topstep's 2026 schedule says flat by 11:45 AM CT on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, by 12:00 PM CT on Friday, November 27 and on Thursday, December 24, and closed on December 25. Tradeify uses 12:59 PM ET on holiday sessions. MyFundedFutures doesn't close positions automatically on half days, so a position left open there is a breach. Lucid asks traders to be flat before the market closes on days with changed hours.
Apex adds a detail for the daily loss limit: a holiday or CME half-day session doesn't create a new trading day, and for most holidays and half days the trades count toward the next full one. The CME session times for each holiday are in NQ holiday trading hours.
Educational content, not investment advice. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss. Examples are for illustration only. Read the full Risk Disclosure.