What is a reset, and what does an evaluation cost after the first payment?

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.

Two situations are commonly conflated. A participant-chosen reset is bought voluntarily, sometimes before a breach occurs, to abandon a poor start and begin again on fresh numbers. A firm-offered retry is granted after a breach, sometimes at no charge and sometimes at a reduced price, and is typically conditional — it may be limited to particular breach types, or offered only where the account was still profitable at the moment of failure. The conditions attached to a free retry determine how often it is actually available, and these conditions sit in the rules table rather than in the headline price.

Recurring charges exist in part of the category. Subscription-style evaluations bill at intervals for as long as the account stays open, so the cost accumulates with time taken rather than with attempts made, and a slow pass costs more than a fast one. Separately, some programmes charge an activation fee at the simulated funded stage, payable after the evaluation is passed and distinct from the evaluation fee itself. Where a refund of the entry fee is described, it is generally conditional on reaching a payout stage.

The figure that describes what a participant spends is the sum across all attempts, plus any recurring or activation charges, not the advertised price of a single attempt. Because pass rates across the category are low, most participants make more than one attempt. This changes the ranking: a low entry fee combined with a high reset price can exceed the total cost of a higher entry fee with a cheap reset once several attempts are counted. The comparison is only meaningful when the number of attempts assumed is stated, and that number differs by person.