Diamond Hands at ETF: Overnight Holds for Swing Traders

Diamond Hands is Elite Trader Funding's only monthly-subscription evaluation plan that explicitly permits overnight and weekend position holds. As of May 2026, it is sold at exactly one size, $100K at $397 per month, and uses the same end-of-day (EOD) trailing drawdown mechanic as ETF's EOD plan, with a verified max drawdown of $3,500. Every other monthly evaluation plan at ETF (1-Step, Static, EOD, Fast Track) requires all positions to close at least one minute before market close; Diamond Hands removes that constraint entirely.

This article is based on PTV research. I have not personally tested Elite Trader Funding. All parameters below come from ETF's published help center articles and the May 2026 verification pass.

What Diamond Hands means at Elite Trader Funding

Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding is an evaluation plan that combines the EOD trailing drawdown structure with explicit permission for overnight and weekend position holding. It is the plan ETF built for swing traders, specifically for futures traders whose strategies require holding positions across sessions, through gap openings, or into multi-day trend continuation setups.

The name reflects the behavior the plan is designed to support: holding through adverse intraday moves without being forced to cut before close. On every other monthly evaluation plan at ETF, a position still open one minute before the CME regular trading hours session closes will trigger a rule violation. Diamond Hands removes that rule. A Diamond Hands trader can hold a contract into Friday's close, leave it on over the weekend, and manage the position again when globex reopens Sunday evening.

As of May 2026, Diamond Hands is the only evaluation plan in the ETF catalog (excluding Direct To Funded accounts) with this permission. The plan costs $397 per month, is available only at $100K, and runs the standard 5-minimum-trading-day requirement with no time limit, the subscription renews monthly until the trader passes or cancels. The GOFUTURES promo code (80% off first month) applies to Diamond Hands and reduces the first month to $79.40.

How Diamond Hands works structurally

Elite Trader Funding's Diamond Hands plan operates with an EOD trailing drawdown, the same core mechanic as the EOD plan, combined with overnight position permission. The EOD trailing drawdown trails the drawdown floor against the highest end-of-day closing balance.

During the session, nothing moves the floor. If a Diamond Hands trader is up $2,000 unrealized at 2:00 PM and gives it back to flat by market close, the drawdown floor does not change from where it started the day. The floor only updates at the end-of-day close. If the account closes at a new high, the floor trails up; if it closes flat or lower than the previous close, the floor stays where it was.

This EOD mechanic is what makes the plan viable for swing trading. A multi-day swing position that runs against the trader intraday but closes into a winning exit will not ratchet the floor up during the worst intraday moments. The floor adjusts to realized session results, not the worst tick of an open position.

The overnight permission is layered on top of that structure. Diamond Hands traders can hold through the end-of-session mark, carry the position into overnight globex trading, and continue managing it during the next regular trading hours session. Positions can also be held over weekends, from Friday's market close through Sunday's globex open. ETF does not impose any restrictions on when during the overnight or weekend a position must be squared.

The plan also carries a daily loss limit during evaluation (covered in its own section below), the standard 5-day minimum trading day requirement, and the 23 percent ATD consistency rule in the Elite Sim-Funded phase. After the safety net is achieved, the daily loss limit is removed and the drawdown locks permanently.

Pricing: $100K only at $397/mo

As of May 2026, Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding is sold at exactly one account size, $100K, at $397 per month. There is no $25K, $50K, or $150K Diamond Hands variant. The $100K at $397/mo is the only entry point.

The GOFUTURES promo code applies 80% off the first month's subscription fee on Diamond Hands, exactly as it does on the 1-Step, Static, EOD, and Fast Track plans. DTF is excluded from GOFUTURES because DTF is a one-time fee, the monthly discount mechanic does not apply to it. Diamond Hands is subscription-based, so GOFUTURES applies normally.

After the first month, Diamond Hands renews at the full $397/mo price until the trader passes the evaluation or cancels the subscription. If the account needs to be reset after a failure, the reset fee is separate from the subscription; reset costs at ETF range from $87 to $557 depending on plan and size, the specific reset fee for Diamond Hands $100K is not individually documented in ETF's public help articles, but falls within this range based on the scale used for comparable-sized accounts (EOD $100K reset is documented at $437 as a reference point).

On a per-dollar-of-capital basis, $397/mo for $100K is competitive within the ETF catalog. The EOD $100K costs $487/mo, Diamond Hands is $90/mo cheaper for the same account size and the same EOD trailing drawdown structure, with the added overnight permission. The 1-Step $100K at $247/mo is cheaper but uses live trailing (intraday, unrealized equity moves the floor) and carries no overnight permission.

$3,500 max drawdown (V2 verified)

The max drawdown on Elite Trader Funding's Diamond Hands $100K account is $3,500, confirmed in the May 2026 verification pass from ETF's safety net requirements help article.

The safety net requirements table documents a minimum balance of $100,100 and a safety net threshold of $103,600 for the Diamond Hands $100K account. Working backward: the safety net equals the starting balance plus the max drawdown plus $100. Starting balance $100,000 + max drawdown $3,500 + $100 = $103,600. This confirms the $3,500 drawdown figure as accurate and removes it from the [INFERRED] category.

Diamond Hands and the EOD $100K share the identical $3,500 max drawdown and the identical safety net threshold, as expected, both use the EOD trailing drawdown mechanic at the same account size. The minimum balance ($100,100) represents the lowest balance the Diamond Hands account can reach without the floor moving: the EOD trail starts $100 above the starting balance, so the minimum immediately on opening is the starting balance minus max drawdown, or $96,500. Wait, the documented min balance of $100,100 reflects that ETF sets the starting floor $100 above the starting balance, not below. The drawdown is measured as the maximum distance the live balance can fall from the current floor. With a $3,500 drawdown and a starting floor of $100,100, the practical lower bound is $96,600 on day one, moving up as the account closes higher.

The $3,500 max drawdown is the most important constraint to internalize before trading Diamond Hands. With $100K in notional capital and a $3,500 drawdown ceiling, the maximum per-trade risk as a percentage of the floor is small. A trader sizing aggressively enough to touch the $3,500 ceiling in a single losing trade is overlevered for the plan. Detailed sizing strategy for Diamond Hands is covered in the strategy section below.

The daily loss limit during evaluation

Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding carries a daily loss limit (DLL) during the evaluation phase. The DLL is calculated from the prior day's closing balance, and open positions count intraday toward the limit.

How the DLL operates in practice: assume a Diamond Hands account closes one day at $100,500. The daily loss limit for the next session is calculated from that $100,500 closing balance. If the DLL is, for example, $1,500 (the specific DLL dollar amount for Diamond Hands $100K is not published in ETF's public help center as a fixed figure, it is described as a percentage of closing balance, with the same mechanics as the EOD plan DLL), then the account cannot drop below $99,000 at any point during the next session. If an open position causes the live balance to tick below $99,000 intraday, the evaluation fails immediately, regardless of whether the position is ultimately closed higher.

The DLL is a hard breach. There is no warning, no grace window, no "close within X minutes" option. The moment the live balance crosses below the limit, the evaluation is over.

This is why the DLL matters specifically for overnight holds. A Diamond Hands trader holding a position into the overnight session must account for the DLL that will be in effect the next trading day based on where the account closes. If the overnight position runs against the trader and causes the live balance to approach the DLL during the next regular session, the trader faces the same forced-exit problem that every DLL plan creates, but with the added complexity that the position was already held overnight and may be deeper into a loss.

The DLL is removed once the safety net is achieved in the Elite Sim-Funded phase. At that point, the account has earned $3,600 in realized profits ($3,500 drawdown + $100), the drawdown locks permanently, and no further daily loss limit applies. The daily loss limit deep-dive article covers the mechanics, the calculation method, and how to track it in real time across ETF's supported platforms.

Payout structure ($100 per cycle 1 minimum to $1,750)

As of May 2026, the Diamond Hands payout structure at Elite Trader Funding runs across four cycle tiers with increasing maximum withdrawals per cycle and a $25,000 lifetime sim cap. Payout windows are Mondays and Wednesdays, twice weekly. V2 verification confirmed these figures from the ETF help center.

The cycle counter advances each time a payout cycle completes its ATD requirement. Each cycle requires Active Trading Days (ATDs) to unlock: Cycle 1 requires 8 ATDs; Cycles 2 through 4 each require 10 ATDs. An ATD qualifies when two conditions are both met: at least $200 in realized profit on that day, and the day's profit is at least 23 percent of the trader's best ATD P&L to date (the 23% consistency rule).

The 23 percent consistency rule can compress cycle speed significantly. A trader who has one exceptional $5,000 ATD sets a benchmark requiring future ATDs to produce at least $1,150 each to count as qualifying. Traders who have a wide distribution of winning-day sizes will find their ATD count harder to accumulate. The ATD consistency rule article covers the mechanics in detail.

The $25,000 lifetime sim cap is the ceiling across all Elite Sim-Funded accounts, not just Diamond Hands. A trader running a Diamond Hands account alongside a 1-Step account draws against the same $25,000 cap across both. Reaching the $25,000 cap is also one of three qualifying events for a discretionary Live Elite invitation (along with 5 sim payouts or 50 ATDs). The 48-hour payout guarantee applies to Diamond Hands: payouts that are not approved within 48 business hours trigger a $1,000 bonus to the trader.

Profit split mechanics: the first $12,500 per cycle is paid 100 percent to the trader; amounts above $12,500 in a single cycle are split 80/20 (trader keeps 80 percent). Given the cycle maxima ($1,750 to $2,500), the 100/80 split inflection point at $12,500 per cycle is unlikely to be reached on Diamond Hands in normal operation. In practice, Diamond Hands payouts will almost always fall into the 100 percent zone.

Why overnight and weekend permission matters

The overnight and weekend permission on Diamond Hands is not a cosmetic feature, it changes which trading setups are executable on an ETF account.

The majority of futures prop firm evaluation plans (including every other ETF monthly plan) operate under a forced-flat rule: all positions must close before market close, typically one minute before the session ends. This rule is functionally incompatible with swing trading strategies. A trader whose system requires holding a breakout overnight to capture the continuation move at the next open cannot execute that strategy on a 1-Step, Static, or EOD account. The plan mechanics force the exit.

Diamond Hands removes that constraint. Specific strategy types that become viable on Diamond Hands but not on the other ETF evaluation plans:

Gap-up and gap-down captures. Futures markets often open with a gap from the prior close due to overnight news, economic data, or geopolitical events. A trader who identifies a setup with a directional bias going into close and wants to position for the gap open must hold overnight to capture it. On 1-Step or EOD, this trade is impossible during evaluation; on Diamond Hands, it is routine.

Multi-session trend following. CME futures trends (ES, NQ, CL, GC) frequently extend across three to five sessions. A trend-following trader who wants to hold a position through consolidation into the next session's impulse move needs overnight permission. Diamond Hands enables that; the EOD mechanic means only end-of-session results are scored, so the position can breathe through intraday chop without affecting the drawdown floor.

Macro-driven event holds. Economic calendar events (FOMC, CPI, NFP, GDP releases) create multi-day setups. A trader who gets positioned before a major release and wants to hold through the post-event continuation, often spanning two or three sessions, can execute on Diamond Hands. ETF's news trading policy also supports this: ETF does not restrict trading during any economic event, as confirmed in the verification pass.

Weekend position holding. For traders who analyze weekly chart structures and want to position for the Monday open, Diamond Hands is the only ETF evaluation option. A Diamond Hands account can carry a short ES position into Friday's close, hold over the weekend, and manage the trade when globex reopens Sunday evening.

The overnight permission comes with a specific risk consideration that does not apply to intraday plans: the trader cannot control the daily loss limit breach risk during the overnight session or at Monday's open after a weekend hold. This risk is manageable with proper sizing but must be accounted for explicitly in any Diamond Hands risk framework.

How Diamond Hands compares to DTF (the other overnight option)

Both Diamond Hands and the Direct To Funded (DTF) plans at Elite Trader Funding permit overnight and weekend position holds. They are structurally different in almost every other respect.

The core trade-off is evaluation versus no evaluation. Diamond Hands requires passing a profit-target evaluation with 5 minimum trading days; DTF skips evaluation entirely and places the trader directly into Elite Sim-Funded status. For a trader who is confident in their live performance and can afford the one-time fee, DTF eliminates the evaluation risk. For a trader who wants to pay monthly and prove themselves through a structured evaluation, Diamond Hands is the path.

The consistency threshold difference is significant. Diamond Hands uses the standard 23% ATD rule in the funded phase. DTF at $50K uses a 62% consistency threshold on the daily concentration calculation, nearly three times tighter. A trader with a highly variable winning-day distribution will find Diamond Hands more forgiving at payout time than DTF $50K. DTF $100K at 50% sits between the two.

DTF also carries no daily loss limit on any size, because there is no evaluation to protect. Diamond Hands has a DLL during evaluation that is removed post-safety-net.

The full DTF rule book is in the Direct To Funded article. Overnight trading mechanics across all ETF plans are compared in the overnight trading article.

Diamond Hands strategy

Trading Diamond Hands effectively requires a different approach than trading an intraday plan. The EOD trailing mechanic and overnight permission together define which behaviors preserve the account and which destroy it.

Multi-session position management. On an intraday plan, position management is simple: close before the session ends. On Diamond Hands, a swing trader must maintain an explicit view of where the position is relative to the daily loss limit for each session the trade remains open. The DLL during evaluation is calculated from the prior day's close. A trader who holds an overnight position must know, before the overnight session opens, what the DLL for the following regular session will be and how much adverse movement the open position can sustain before hitting that limit.

Sizing for the DLL interaction. The most common error on Diamond Hands is sizing based on the $3,500 max drawdown without accounting for the DLL constraint. If the DLL for a given session is $1,200 (based on a prior close), the effective maximum loss on the day is $1,200, not $3,500. The $3,500 is the maximum total the account can lose from its highest EOD close reference; the DLL is the maximum the account can lose in a single session. These are two different constraints operating simultaneously, and a Diamond Hands position must stay within both.

EOD closing management. Because Diamond Hands only trails the drawdown floor at session close, the closing print matters more than any intraday tick. A trader who is up $2,500 on an open position at 3:55 PM but gives it back to flat before close has not advanced the floor. A trader who closes at +$1,000 has advanced the floor by exactly $1,000. This creates an incentive to close partial size into end-of-session strength to lock in a closing gain, while holding the remaining position overnight for continuation. This kind of split-close management is only possible on Diamond Hands, not on intraday plans.

Gap risk sizing. Weekend holds expose the account to gap risk, the Monday open can be substantially different from Friday's close. A trader who holds a full-sized position over the weekend must size the position so that even a worst-case gap opening (say, 1.5 to 2 percent adverse move in NQ or ES) does not trigger the DLL at Monday's open or breach the total max drawdown. The rule of thumb in gap-risk management: position size such that a 2x ATR overnight move does not exceed 40 percent of the daily loss limit for the following session.

The safety net milestone as a strategy inflection point. The behavior of a Diamond Hands account changes materially once the safety net is reached ($3,600 in realized profits). Before the safety net, every session carries DLL risk. After the safety net, the DLL is removed, the floor locks permanently, and the trader operates with a fixed floor and no intraday-session loss constraint. Post-safety-net, Diamond Hands becomes a structurally cleaner vehicle for swing trading than it is during evaluation. Traders who pace themselves to reach the safety net quickly, rather than maximizing early payout withdrawals, reduce their total evaluation risk exposure. The safety net mechanics article covers this in full.

Common mistakes on Diamond Hands

Over-leveraging the overnight permission. The overnight permission is not a signal to hold maximum size through every overnight session. It is permission, not a mandate. Traders who hold maximum-sized positions overnight because the plan allows it, rather than because the setup calls for it, are adding gap risk without a corresponding edge. Diamond Hands permits overnight holds; profitable swing trading requires overnight holds to be selective.

Ignoring the DLL on overnight positions. A trader who holds a position overnight and comes into the next session without knowing the DLL starting point is flying blind. The DLL is calculated from the prior close. If the account closed yesterday at $101,500 and the DLL is $1,500, the hard-breach level for today is $100,000. If the overnight position is already $800 underwater at the open, there is only $700 of buffer before the DLL breach ends the evaluation. This scenario is avoidable with pre-session DLL math.

Conflating the DLL removal with the max drawdown removal. After the safety net, the daily loss limit is removed, but the account still has a locked minimum balance. The locked floor is permanent. Losing down to the locked floor at any point post-safety-net causes account failure. Traders who interpret safety-net as "now there are no constraints" are wrong. The DLL is gone; the floor is not.

Misunderstanding what the 23% ATD rule does to payout speed. On Diamond Hands, a swing trader who captures two or three large winning days early in the cycle (for example, two gap-up captures that produce $2,500 each) sets a high ATD benchmark. Future ATDs need to hit at least 23 percent of $2,500 ($575) to count. If the trader's typical subsequent gains are $300 to $400, those days no longer qualify as ATDs. The consistency rule does not care that the trader is profitable, it cares that each winning day reaches 23 percent of the best. Swing traders with volatile P&L distribution must plan for this.

Comparing Diamond Hands pricing to EOD and concluding it is the default choice. Diamond Hands at $397/mo is $90/mo cheaper than EOD $100K at $487/mo, and both carry $3,500 drawdowns. This looks like Diamond Hands is simply a better version of EOD. The difference is overnight permission, Diamond Hands adds overnight permission that the EOD plan does not have. If a trader does not need overnight permission, the EOD $100K is not overpriced relative to Diamond Hands; it is a different product with the same drawdown and no additional constraint from holding overnight rules. Diamond Hands is cheaper because it has a narrower target audience, not because it is superior.

When Diamond Hands is the right choice

Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding is the right plan for a specific trader profile: a futures swing trader who needs overnight and weekend position permission, prefers monthly billing over a one-time fee, and wants to qualify for Elite Sim-Funded through a standard evaluation path.

Choose Diamond Hands if:

Your strategy holds positions overnight or over weekends as a core requirement, not an occasional exception.

You want the evaluation path (rather than DTF's direct-to-funded route) because it structures your progress through defined milestones.

You prefer monthly billing, $397/mo with GOFUTURES at $79.40 first month, over the DTF one-time fees ($747 at $50K, $997 at $100K).

Your winning-day distribution is consistent enough to navigate the 23% ATD rule (or you are prepared to manage your best-day benchmark deliberately).

You are comfortable tracking and managing the daily loss limit risk on overnight positions during the evaluation phase.

Do not choose Diamond Hands if:

You trade exclusively intraday. The EOD $100K at $487/mo or the 1-Step $100K at $247/mo are lower-cost options without the overnight premium, and both fit intraday strategies better.

You want zero daily loss limit exposure during evaluation. 1-Step (no DLL) or DTF (no evaluation, no DLL) are the alternatives.

You want a one-time fee rather than a subscription. DTF $50K at $747 or DTF $100K at $997 are the direct-to-funded swing trading paths.

You are not yet certain you need overnight permission. Start with the EOD $100K (same drawdown, $90/mo more, no overnight rule) and move to Diamond Hands when overnight holds become a consistent part of your strategy.

The accounts comparison across all six ETF plans is in the account types pillar. The full rules architecture is in the rules overview. For the main review covering ETF's payouts, trust metrics, and the Live Elite program, see the Elite Trader Funding review.

The bottom line

Diamond Hands is Elite Trader Funding's dedicated swing-trader evaluation plan, $100K at $397/mo, EOD trailing drawdown, $3,500 max drawdown, overnight and weekend holds explicitly permitted, and a payout structure that scales from $1,750 per cycle up to $2,500 per cycle. It is the only monthly-subscription evaluation plan at ETF that lets a trader carry positions past the session close.

The plan is right for futures swing traders who need multi-session holding capability within a structured evaluation framework and prefer monthly billing over DTF's one-time fee. It is not the right plan for intraday traders (EOD or 1-Step will be cheaper), for traders who want zero daily loss limit exposure (1-Step or DTF), or for traders who want no evaluation at all (DTF). The $3,500 max drawdown and EOD trailing mechanic make Diamond Hands predictable to manage once the interaction between the DLL and overnight position sizing is understood. Traders who reach the safety net milestone unlock the plan's best configuration: no DLL, locked floor, and full swing-trading flexibility into the payout cycles.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ETF Diamond Hands plan?

Diamond Hands is Elite Trader Funding's $100K monthly-subscription evaluation plan that explicitly permits overnight and weekend position holds. It is the only non-DTF evaluation plan at ETF that allows swing trading across sessions. The plan runs an end-of-day (EOD) trailing drawdown with a $3,500 max drawdown and costs $397 per month. The GOFUTURES code reduces the first month to $79.40.

How much does ETF Diamond Hands cost?

Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding costs $397 per month for the $100K account. It is the only size available, there is no $25K, $50K, or $150K Diamond Hands variant. The GOFUTURES promo code applies 80% off the first month, making the entry cost $79.40. After the first month, the subscription renews at the full $397/mo price.

What is the max drawdown on ETF Diamond Hands?

The max drawdown on Elite Trader Funding's Diamond Hands $100K account is $3,500, verified from ETF's safety net requirements help article. The safety net threshold is $103,600, which means a Diamond Hands account starting at $100,000 must reach $103,600 in realized profits above start (drawdown amount plus $100) before the drawdown permanently locks.

Does Diamond Hands have a daily loss limit?

Yes. Elite Trader Funding's Diamond Hands plan carries a daily loss limit during evaluation. The limit is calculated from the prior day's closing balance, and open positions count intraday, meaning the account fails immediately if the live balance drops below the daily loss limit at any tick, even on an unrealized basis. The daily loss limit is removed once the safety net is achieved in the Elite Sim-Funded phase.

Can you hold positions overnight on Diamond Hands?

Yes, overnight and weekend position holds are explicitly permitted on Elite Trader Funding's Diamond Hands plan. This is the plan's defining feature and the primary reason swing traders choose it over the EOD, 1-Step, and Static plans, which all require positions to close at least one minute before market close.

What are the payout cycle maximums on Diamond Hands?

Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding runs four payout cycle tiers: Cycle 1 allows withdrawals from $100 to $1,750; Cycle 2 from $100 to $2,000; Cycle 3 from $100 to $2,250; and Cycle 4 and beyond from $100 to $2,500 per cycle. The lifetime sim payout cap is $25,000 across all Elite Sim-Funded accounts. Payouts process on Mondays and Wednesdays.

How does the EOD trailing drawdown work on Diamond Hands?

On Elite Trader Funding's Diamond Hands plan, the EOD trailing drawdown adjusts only at the end of the regular trading hours session. Intraday swings do not move the drawdown floor during the session. Only the closing balance determines whether the floor trails upward. If the Diamond Hands account closes higher than the prior floor reference, the floor adjusts up by the difference. If the account closes flat or lower, the floor stays where it was.

What happens after the safety net on Diamond Hands?

Once an Elite Trader Funding Diamond Hands account accumulates realized profits equal to the $3,500 max drawdown plus $100 ($3,600 in total realized profits above the starting balance), the safety net is achieved. At that point, the EOD trailing drawdown permanently stops moving and locks as a fixed minimum balance floor. The daily loss limit is also removed at the same time, giving the trader full swing-trading flexibility without a session-level loss constraint.

How does Diamond Hands compare to the DTF plan?

Both Diamond Hands and DTF at Elite Trader Funding allow overnight and weekend holds. Diamond Hands is a monthly-subscription evaluation at $397/mo that requires passing a profit-target evaluation before Elite Sim-Funded status is granted. DTF is a one-time fee ($747 at $50K, $997 at $100K) that skips evaluation entirely. DTF carries higher consistency thresholds (50–62% vs the 23% ATD rule on Diamond Hands) and no daily loss limit. Diamond Hands fits traders who want the eval path and monthly billing; DTF fits traders who want to go directly funded with a single upfront payment.

Who is the Diamond Hands plan right for?

Diamond Hands at Elite Trader Funding is right for futures swing traders who want the standard eval-and-funded path but need the ability to hold positions overnight and over weekends. It suits traders whose setups require multi-session continuation, gap-capture entries, or macro-driven holds that cannot resolve within a single trading session. Traders who prefer one upfront fee over a monthly subscription should compare Diamond Hands against the DTF $50K or $100K accounts instead.