FTMO Challenge 1-Step $100K vs FundedNext Stellar 1-Step $100K

A trailing drawdown level moves in one direction only. It follows the account upward as the reference figure it tracks makes new highs, and it stays where it is when the account falls. A losing day does not pull the level back down; the room between the current balance and the level simply shrinks. This is what people mean when they call it a ratchet. The consequence is that a run of gains followed by a return to the starting balance can leave an account close to breach even though it has not lost anything relative to where it began. Full explanation →

A reset is a payment that restarts an evaluation the participant has already failed, returning the simulated account to its starting balance and clearing accumulated profit, loss and elapsed days. It differs from buying a new evaluation in price and in mechanism: the reset is usually priced below the original entry fee and is applied to the existing account rather than issuing a new one. Terms vary as to whether the reset restores the original rule set or the current published one, and whether any time already elapsed counts toward a minimum trading-day requirement. Full explanation →

Drawdown rules define the loss floor at which an evaluation account is closed. A static maximum loss anchors that floor to the account's opening balance. It is set once and never moves: gains raise the distance between the current balance and the floor, and losses reduce it. A trailing maximum loss anchors the floor to the account's peak instead. As the account rises, the floor rises with it, keeping the permitted loss at a constant distance below the highest point reached. The consequence is that a sequence of gains followed by a partial give-back can breach a trailing limit while the account is still above its starting balance — an outcome that is structurally impossible under a static rule of the same size. Full explanation →

The evaluation fee is the price of entry to an assessment. It is not a deposit, not margin, and not an amount exposed to market movement. Nothing in the fee is placed into a trading position; the simulated account is credited with a notional starting balance that exists only inside the firm's platform. Because the money never enters a market, it cannot be lost through trading and cannot be withdrawn through trading either. It is paid to the firm and becomes the firm's revenue at the moment of purchase. Full explanation →