FTMO Challenge 1-Step $100K vs FundedNext Stellar 2-Step $100K

A daily loss limit caps how much an account may lose within a single trading day. It is the rule that ends the largest share of evaluations, usually before the overall loss rule is ever approached. The limit is expressed as a share of account size, but what matters more than its size is the reference point it is measured against. Two conventions are common. In the first, the limit is anchored to the balance recorded at the start of the trading day, so intraday gains do not raise the allowance and intraday losses do not lower it until the next day begins. In the second, it is anchored to the highest equity reached during the day, meaning an unrealised profit that is later given back consumes part of the allowance even if the account never falls below where it opened. The same sequence of trades can pass under one convention and breach under the other. Full explanation →

An evaluation is a simulated test of whether a participant can reach a stated gain on a demo balance without breaching the loss limits attached to that balance. The structure exists because the firm cannot observe the participant's method directly; it can only observe outcomes against fixed constraints. A phase is therefore a bounded window in which two things are measured at once: whether the profit target is met, and whether the daily and overall drawdown limits stay intact throughout. A phase ends in one of three ways — target reached, limit breached, or, where a time constraint applies, the window closes. Full explanation →

A profit target is the gain a simulated account must show before an evaluation phase counts as passed. It is measured against the account's nominal size — the notional balance the simulated account is opened with — and not against the fee paid to enter. The two numbers are unrelated in kind: the fee is an amount actually paid, while the nominal size is a reference figure used to scale the rules. Because the target is expressed as a proportion of that reference figure, the same proportional target represents a different absolute gain on each account size offered, while the underlying trading requirement stays the same in relative terms. 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 →