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

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 minimum trading day requirement sets a floor on the number of separate sessions in which activity must occur before an evaluation can be marked as passed. It exists because a profit target can, in principle, be reached by one oversized position held through one favourable move. That outcome tells the firm nothing about how a trader sizes, exits or repeats decisions. By forcing activity to be spread across distinct sessions, the condition converts the test from a single event into a sequence, which is what the firm claims to be measuring. 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 →