Tooling differences
The5ers is the only one of the two to offer mt5, ctrader. TradeDay covers tradovate, rithmic, ninjatrader, which its rival does not. Platform choice is not cosmetic: order execution, available order types and the reliability of your automation all depend on it, and switching mid-evaluation is rarely possible.
How much history each firm has
The5ers has been running since 2016, 4 years longer than TradeDay. On Trustpilot they sit at 4.7/5 and 4.6/5 respectively. Our trust pillar scores them 96/100 and 85/100, which weighs age, corporate transparency and public payout evidence. In an industry with no financial regulator overseeing these evaluations, longevity and a verifiable payout history are the closest thing to a guarantee.
The price question
The5ers opens at $39 against $131 for TradeDay, a substantial gap on the smallest account. At the reference size of 100 K the comparison is $545 for The5ers against $240 for TradeDay. The headline fee is rarely the real cost, though: what matters is the price of a reset after a failed attempt, whether the fee comes back on the first payout, and whether an activation fee appears when you move to a funded account. Compare those three lines in the table above before deciding on price alone.
How the loss limit behaves
The5ers applies a static drawdown capped at 10 %, with a 5 % daily limit. TradeDay applies a trailing intraday drawdown. This is the single most consequential difference between the two. A static drawdown is measured once, from the starting balance, and never moves; a trailing drawdown follows your equity upward, so a winning streak raises the floor you can no longer fall below. Intraday trailing is stricter still, because it tracks unrealised peaks reached inside the session — profit you never actually banked can permanently raise your loss threshold.
Getting paid
The5ers keeps 100 % of profits, allows a first withdrawal after 14 days, then pays First withdrawal 14 days after the funded account is granted, then every two weeks; minimum withdrawal $150. TradeDay keeps 90 % of profits, allows a first withdrawal after 0 days, then pays On demand from the first day, minimum $250 per withdrawal. Payout frequency deserves as much attention as the split itself: a slightly lower share paid every two weeks compounds faster than a headline percentage locked behind a monthly cycle and a long first-withdrawal delay.