Cost per payout

Cost per payout is the total amount spent on prop-firm evaluations, resets, activations and subscriptions divided by the number of payouts received. It expresses what a trader pays, on average, to obtain one withdrawal, and it is only meaningful once several payouts have been recorded.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

The formula and its inputs

Add every evaluation bought, every reset, every activation fee, every monthly subscription and every withdrawal fee. Divide by the number of payouts actually received over the same period. The result is a cost in dollars per payout. Setting it against the average payout tells whether the cycle is cash-positive.

The numerator grows with each failed attempt, which is why the pass rate and the funded survival both feed this number. The denominator grows only when a funded account meets the payout conditions. A strategy that passes often but rarely reaches a payout has a high cost per payout even with a low evaluation price.

Reading it

  • Compare it with the average payout: below it, the cycle returns cash; above it, the trader is paying to trade.
  • Track it over time; a falling cost per payout means fewer attempts per funded account or longer funded lifetimes.
  • With few payouts the number swings widely; a median over reshuffled paths is steadier than the realised figure.
  • It says nothing about the profit on the account, only about the cash exchanged with the firm.

In Senzoukria

"Cost per payout" is a line of the "Prop economics" block in the prop simulation, beside "Total spend", "Net payouts received", "Prop net cash profit", "Prop ROI", "Cost per funded account" and "Average payout". The "Should I buy this evaluation?" card on the Backtest page also prints "Cost per payout" together with "Spent in total" and the net cash profit at the median and at the worst 5 %. Both are computed from your Journal sessions and the rules saved in the "Prop firm rules" form.

The card's decision rule is written on screen: it favours buying when a first payout comes in at least half of the reshuffled paths, the median net cash profit is positive and the worst 5 % costs less than a set number of evaluations. It is a rule of thumb applied to your data, not a recommendation about a firm.

Errors in the calculation

  • Leaving the subscription months out of the numerator.
  • Counting gross withdrawals instead of the trader's share after the split and the withdrawal fee.
  • Computing it on a single payout and treating the result as stable.

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Frequently asked questions

How is cost per payout different from cost per funded account?
Cost per funded account divides the spend by the number of evaluations passed and activated. Cost per payout divides the same spend by the payouts received, so it also captures funded accounts that died before withdrawing anything. The second is the one that reflects cash actually returned.
What if I have not received any payout yet?
Before the first payout the ratio is undefined, not zero or infinite in any useful sense. Until then, look at the spend and at the simulated chance of a first payout over reshuffled paths, and treat the money already paid as the current cost of finding out.

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