Most comparisons rank prop firms on the size of the account and the headline profit split. Neither figure decides whether you keep the account. The rules that do are the consistency requirement, the way the drawdown is measured, and what the payout guarantee actually covers. This page takes nineteen brands one at a time and sets those three out for each, using the wording each firm publishes itself. Where a firm does not publish something, that is stated rather than filled in.
Prop Firm Rules Compared, Brand by Brand
Every prop firm publishes a profit target and a drawdown limit. Almost none of them put the rule that ends most funded accounts on the same page. That rule is the consistency requirement, and it varies not only between firms but between plans inside the same firm.
This page takes nineteen brands one at a time and sets out what each of them actually requires, using the wording published on the firm’s own site. Where a firm does not publish something, that is said plainly rather than filled in with a guess.
What is compared here
For each brand: the evaluation formats offered, the consistency requirement plan by plan, the maximum and daily drawdown with the method used to calculate them, the profit split and how the top figure is reached, the payout timetable, and whether the evaluation fee comes back.
Those six prop firm rules decide whether an account survives. Everything else — leaderboards, discount codes, Discord servers — is marketing around them.
Prop firm rules are not comparable at face value
Two accounts can carry an identical 10% maximum loss and behave completely differently. One measures it from the starting balance and never moves. The other trails upward with the balance and locks only once a threshold is passed. A trader who is up 4% is nowhere near the limit on the first, and much closer on the second.
The same applies to consistency. A 50% best-day limit is generous for a swing trader and irrelevant to someone who scalps daily. A 20% limit is the opposite. Neither is better; they suit different people, and the firms rarely explain which.
FTMO Challenge Rules and the Best Day Limit
FTMO is the oldest name in this comparison and the one most traders check first. Its rulebook is also the most misread, because the rule people worry about applies to only half its products.
The Best Day Rule applies to one-step accounts only
FTMO states that “the Best Day Rule requires that your Best Day does not represent more than 50% of your Positive Days’ Profit”, and that this applies to the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step and the FTMO Account (1-Step). No Best Day or consistency objective appears among the trading objectives listed for the 2-step route, which are the profit target, the maximum daily loss, the maximum loss and the minimum trading days.
That distinction matters more than any headline number. A trader who reads “FTMO has a consistency rule” and walks away has misunderstood which product it attaches to.
Breaching it does not close the account
FTMO is explicit that “exceeding the Best Day limit is not treated as a rule breach”. Instead, “you need to continue trading to generate additional profit until your Best Day represents 50% or less”. The account stays open; the payout waits. That is a materially different outcome from a hard breach, and it is worth knowing before a good day turns into a panic.
The rest of the rulebook
The 2-step evaluation carries a 10% maximum loss. Reward requests open from the fourteenth day after the first trade on the account, and FTMO says it reviews the request and notifies the trader within one to two business days, with the reward typically sent one to two business days after the invoice is approved.
What to check before paying
Decide first whether you want the 1-step or the 2-step. That single choice determines whether a consistency requirement applies to you at all, and it is the question the pricing page does not ask you.
Consistency Rules Across All Nineteen Brands
This is the rule that decides whether a profitable account gets paid, and it is the one firms bury deepest. Here is what each of the nineteen publishes, in its own terms.
The firms with no rule at all
BrightFunded states it does not currently enforce a consistency rule. Shark Funded advertises no consistency score rules. Sure Leverage Funding removes it on Instant Funding Zero specifically, where the requirement is listed as NONE. Moneta Funded removes it on Phoenix Instant while keeping it elsewhere. Meridian Funded removes it on Instant Zero.
The firms that measure the best day against total profit
This is the most common form. AquaFunded caps a single day at 20% of total profits on Instant Funding Standard, 15% on Instant Funding Pro, 15% on Aqua Man and 25% on both the One Step Pro and Two Step Pro. Sure Leverage sets 50% on the 1 Step and 25% on the 2 Step. FundedSquad calculates a consistency score as best day divided by total profit, applying 20% on Lite Instant and on the 2-Step Squad at funded stage, and 35% on the 2-Step Fast. Lucid Trading requires 40% on LucidPro funded accounts. Meridian Funded caps any single day at 15% of total profit during the payout period on its non-Zero plans.
The firms that measure against something else
Topstep is the outlier: in the Trading Combine the best day must stay at or below 50% of the profit target, not of total profit. Those are different denominators and produce different outcomes. Its Express Funded consistency route uses 40% of total net profit instead.
X-Funded measures per trade rather than per day: no single trade may contribute more than 45% of the total payout amount. NYS Markets applies 30% to both a single trade and a single day, so a trader must satisfy two tests rather than one.
FTMO applies its Best Day Rule at 50% of positive days’ profit, and only on 1-step products.
What happens when you exceed it
Almost none of these close the account. AquaFunded states that a breach means continuing to trade until the best day falls back under the threshold. FundedSquad delays payouts on the same principle. FTMO says exceeding the Best Day limit is not treated as a rule breach. Lucid Trading drops the requirement entirely once an account is promoted to Live status.
The practical consequence is that a consistency rule is rarely fatal. It is a delay, and the delay is proportional to how lopsided your profit was.
FundedNext Rules, Payouts and the Refund
FundedNext runs one of the widest ranges of evaluation formats in this comparison, which is a strength and a complication. The rules that apply to you depend entirely on which of its models you bought.
The consistency question people actually search
“Does FundedNext have a consistency rule” is typed into search engines every month, which tells you the answer is not obvious from the site. The honest answer is that it depends on the plan: a consistency requirement applies on selected models rather than across the board. Anyone comparing FundedNext to a firm that removes the rule entirely should check the specific plan page rather than a general review.
Payouts and the fee
The evaluation fee is refunded together with the first payout. On the Stellar range the profit split reaches 95%, and several plans allow the payout to be requested on demand rather than on a fixed fortnightly cycle. For a trader who reaches profitability quickly, on-demand withdrawal is worth more than a slightly higher headline split.
Minimum trading days
The minimum-days requirement is another figure searched often enough to suggest it surprises people. It is a real constraint: a trader who hits the profit target on day two still waits until the requirement is met, and every extra day is another day of exposure to the drawdown limit.
What a FundedNext review should tell you
A FundedNext review that quotes one consistency figure for the whole range is wrong by construction. FundedNext suits traders who want choice and are willing to read the plan page carefully. It suits badly anyone who buys on the headline figure and assumes the rules are uniform across the range.
Funding Pips Trading Rules, Drawdown and Inactivity
Funding Pips has grown quickly on a simple proposition: fewer phases, a fee that comes back, and a split that can reach the full hundred percent. The rules underneath deserve more attention than that summary suggests.
Three depths of evaluation
The firm offers one-step, two-step and three-step routes. Each carries its own rule set, published plan by plan rather than in a single blanket page. That is more honest than a one-size summary, but it means a review written about “Funding Pips rules” in general is close to meaningless — you have to read the plan you intend to buy.
The drawdown question
“Funding Pips drawdown type” is a search term in its own right, which is the clearest possible sign that traders cannot tell from the marketing whether the limit is static or trailing. The distinction changes how much room you actually have: a static limit measured from the opening balance gives a profitable trader more headroom than a trailing one that follows the equity high.
Inactivity
An inactivity rule exists and is searched for often. Accounts that sit untouched can be closed. This catches out traders who pass an evaluation, wait for a setup they like, and let weeks go by without placing a trade.
The fee and the split
The fee returns with the first payout, and the profit split reaches 100% on the higher tiers. Both are competitive. Neither compensates for buying the wrong plan.
Firms That Remove the Consistency Rule Entirely
A handful of brands in this comparison state plainly that no consistency requirement applies. For a trader whose profit arrives in bursts — a news day, a single clean trend — this is the single most valuable line in a rulebook.
The ones that say it outright
BrightFunded states: “At BrightFunded, we do not currently enforce a consistency rule.” There is no obligation to spread gains evenly or to keep position sizes uniform.
Shark Funded advertises “no consistency score rules” on its evaluation, alongside no minimum trading days during that phase.
Sure Leverage Funding removes it on one product specifically. Its Instant Funding Zero carries a consistency rule of “NONE”, and the firm goes further: “There is no minimum day, or trade requirements. You can get paid out from 1 trade.”
Moneta Funded offers Phoenix Instant with no consistency requirement, while its other challenges carry one.
Meridian Funded removes it on Instant Zero. Its other plans apply a rule capping any single trading day at 15% of total profit during the payout period, which must be satisfied before a payout is requested.
Read the plan, not the brand
Notice the pattern: in most cases it is a product without a consistency rule, not a firm. The same brand will sell you a plan with a 25% cap and a plan with none. Buying the wrong one and discovering the difference at payout time is an avoidable mistake, and it is the most common one in this category.
What to trade off
Products without a consistency rule often compensate elsewhere — a tighter drawdown, a lower split, a narrower instrument list. Sure Leverage’s Instant Funding Zero pairs its absent consistency rule with a 4% maximum drawdown and a 70% split. That is the trade, and it is a reasonable one for the right trader.
Topstep and the Futures Rulebook
Topstep is the largest brand in this comparison by search volume, and the one whose rules differ most from the rest. It funds futures traders on CME products, not forex or CFD traders, and its rulebook reflects that.
Topstep consistency, stated as a percentage of the target
In the Trading Combine, Topstep requires that “your single best day of profit must stay at or below 50% of your Profit Target”. On the Express Funded Account there is a consistency route with a tighter figure: “stay at or below the 40% consistency target”, where the largest single day cannot exceed 40% of total net profit.
Topstep consistency therefore differs from most CFD firms in an important way: the Combine measures the best day against the profit target, not against total profit earned. Two similar-sounding rules, two different calculations.
The Maximum Loss Limit trails, then locks
The limit is $2,000 on a $50K account, $3,000 on a $100K and $4,500 on a $150K. Topstep states that “the MLL is a trailing limit. It rises as your end-of-day balance grows, but never moves down”, and that once the starting balance is cleared it locks permanently. Both realised and unrealised profit and loss count toward it, which is stricter than it first appears.
Payouts and the split
The split is 90/10 in the trader’s favour, and traders on the newer dashboard keep the whole of the first $10,000 of lifetime profits. Withdrawals via Prop-to-Brokerage can settle the same day when requested before noon Central Time.
Who it is for
Futures traders on US index and commodity products. A forex trader comparing Topstep to a CFD firm is comparing two different businesses that happen to share a funding model.
Lucid Trading: End-of-Day Drawdown and the 40% Rule
Lucid Trading is the second futures brand in this comparison and takes a noticeably different line on two rules that matter.
Consistency that expires
On LucidPro funded accounts the firm requires a consistency percentage of 40% to be eligible for a payout, calculated as the largest single day’s profit divided by account profit. The detail worth knowing is what happens next: “once promoted to Live account status, the consistency requirement no longer applies”.
A rule that disappears at a defined milestone is unusual and changes how a trader should plan. It turns consistency from a permanent constraint into a stage to be cleared.
End-of-day drawdown rather than intraday
LucidFlex calculates the maximum loss limit on an end-of-day basis: $1,000 on a $25,000 account, $2,000 on $50,000, $3,000 on $100,000 and $4,500 on $150,000. The limit rises with the balance until the initial trail balance is reached, after which it locks and stops moving.
End-of-day measurement is materially kinder than an intraday trailing limit. An account that dips during the session and recovers before the close is judged on the close.
Trading hours are the real constraint
All positions must be closed by 4:45 PM EST Monday to Friday, with trading resuming at 6:00 PM EST on Sunday. Swing trading is not allowed on the newer LucidLive accounts. For anyone whose strategy involves holding through the night, that rule matters more than the drawdown figure.
Reading a Drawdown Rule Before You Pay
Of all the prop firm rules on this page, the drawdown is the one most often compared wrongly. Two firms can advertise the same percentage and enforce something completely different. The percentage is the least informative part of the rule.
Static, trailing, and end-of-day
A static limit is fixed from the opening balance and never moves. Atlas Funded describes its maximum drawdown this way: “fixed from your starting balance and doesn’t trail upward as your balance increases”. A trader who is up 6% on a 10% static limit still has the full distance from the original balance.
A trailing limit follows the account upward. Topstep’s rises with the end-of-day balance and never moves down, locking once the starting balance is cleared. Sure Leverage applies a trailing maximum on its 1-step with an end-of-day reset at 5pm EST.
End-of-day measurement, used by Lucid Trading on LucidFlex, only looks at the close. Intraday excursions do not count. This is the most forgiving of the three for anyone who trades actively during the session.
The daily limit and its reset time
The reset hour is the detail nobody checks. AquaFunded recalculates at 00:00 UTC on the previous day’s highest balance or equity. Atlas Funded recalculates at midnight UTC on the higher of balance or equity. Moneta Funded uses 10pm UTC. Sure Leverage uses 5pm EST. The Hyper Funding resets at 5:00 PM EST.
If you trade a session that straddles the reset, your effective daily allowance is split across two windows. That is how traders breach a daily limit on a day they thought was flat.
Balance or equity
Most firms measure against whichever of balance or equity is higher at the reset. That is stricter than measuring against balance alone, because an open position in profit at midnight raises the bar you must then stay above.
Payout Speed and What the Guarantee Covers
Payout speed has become the loudest claim in this industry, which is a reason to read the wording rather than the number.
The guarantees on offer
AquaFunded offers “a 24 business hour payout guarantee” and states that if an approved payout is not processed within that window, “we will add an extra $1,000”. FundedSquad promises rewards within 12 hours, otherwise a $1,000 bonus. The Hyper Funding sends approved payouts within 24 hours with a $1,000 credit if late. Sure Leverage offers a 24-hour guarantee or a 10% profit-split bonus. Meridian Funded pays within 12 hours or credits the next payout an extra 10%.
Read the words around the number
Three qualifiers change what these promises mean. “Business hours” excludes weekends, so a Friday evening request can settle on Tuesday and still be inside a 24-hour guarantee. “Approved” starts the clock at approval, not at request, and approval itself is not always time-bound. And the first payout usually has a separate, longer qualifying period: AquaFunded and Atlas Funded both open eligibility fourteen days after the first trade.
Frequency versus speed
A firm paying weekly with a three-day processing time returns money faster in practice than one paying instantly on a fortnightly cycle. X-Funded runs weekly on Instant Funding and bi-weekly on challenges. Shark Funded is weekly with a published seven-hour average. Atlas Funded and Moneta run a fourteen-day cycle.
Deductions
AquaFunded deducts a 2% processing fee from the requested amount. Topstep caps withdrawals at 50% of the account balance, up to $5,000 or $6,000 depending on the account type. Neither is hidden, and neither appears in a speed comparison.
Goat Funded Trader, Blue Guardian and Atlas Funded
Three mid-sized brands that come up constantly in comparisons, each with one characteristic worth isolating.
Goat Funded Trader: choice of account size
The pricing configurator lists thirteen account sizes, from 2.5K to 400K. That range is unusual: most firms offer five or six. For a trader starting small or testing a strategy at low stakes, being able to buy a 2.5K account rather than jumping to 10K is a real difference in risk.
The fee is described as one-time and 100% refundable. The profit split starts at 80% on the 1-step model, with a 100% split available as a checkout add-on.
Blue Guardian: separate rulebooks per programme
Blue Guardian publishes distinct rule sets per programme rather than one shared rulebook, and offers futures accounts alongside the CFD range. The fee returns on the first payout. The practical consequence is the same as with FundedNext: a general review of “Blue Guardian rules” tells you less than the page for the specific programme.
Atlas Funded: static drawdown as the selling point
Atlas Funded runs static maximum drawdowns across most plans — 10% on the 2-step, 7% on the 1-step Standard, 6% on the 1-step Pro and on Access funded accounts. Only the Instant Funded product trails, at 6%.
Overnight and weekend holding is allowed at every stage, evaluation and funded alike, which not every firm on this page permits. Swap fees apply after 5pm EST and are tripled at weekends.
The Pay After Pass route defers the fee until the evaluation is cleared. For a trader unsure whether a rulebook suits them, paying afterwards removes the main objection to trying.
Newer and Smaller Brands Worth Knowing
These brands are recent enough that search data barely registers them. That is not a verdict on the offer; it means fewer independent accounts exist, and the rulebook is all there is to go on.
NYS Markets
Its CFD One Trade challenge applies consistency to both a single trade and a single day: neither may represent more than 30% of total accumulated net profit. Most firms cap the day only, so a trader who takes one large winner can satisfy a daily cap and still fail this one. Maximum loss is fixed at 6% of the initial balance, the daily limit is 3%, and the split is 80/20. Only personally owned Expert Advisors are permitted — third-party, purchased, rented or externally managed ones are not.
X-Funded
Consistency is measured per trade rather than per day: no single trade may contribute more than 45% of the total payout amount. That framing suits swing traders, who may have few trades but hold them long. The split moves from 80% on the first payout to 90% from the second, with an add-on reaching 100%. Expert Advisors are permitted during the challenge phases but not once funded.
FundedSquad
No minimum trading days on most accounts, and 3 days on the 1 Step Pro. The consistency score — best day divided by total profit — applies at 20% on Lite Instant, and at the funded stage only on the two-step plans. Payouts within 12 hours or a $1,000 bonus. Scaling doubles the account with every 10% of profit.
Shark Funded, Moneta Funded and The Hyper Funding
Shark Funded advertises no consistency score rules and no minimum days during the evaluation, with a 6% maximum drawdown and a 3% daily limit. Moneta Funded runs a 15–20% consistency rule on most challenges and none on Phoenix Instant, with a three-day minimum at 0.5% profit each. The Hyper Funding offers a three-step route reaching a 95% split, resets its 4% trailing daily limit at 5pm EST, and requires an add-on to hold positions over the weekend.
Fee Refunds: Which Firms Return Your Money
The evaluation fee is the only money a trader genuinely risks. Whether it comes back, and on what condition, is worth more attention than it usually gets.
Returned in full, on the first payout
FundedNext refunds the fee together with the first payout. Funding Pips returns it with the first payout. Blue Guardian returns it on the first payout. AquaFunded describes its one-time fee as 100% refundable. FundedSquad advertises its evaluations as 100% refundable. Goat Funded Trader describes the fee as one-time and 100% refundable.
Returned as a paid option
BrightFunded sells the refund as an add-on: a 100% refund of the entry fee with the first withdrawal. That is honest pricing rather than a hidden condition, but it means the headline fee is not the whole cost if you want the refund.
Returned above 100%
Meridian Funded runs a 150% structure: 100% in cash on the first successful payout, refunded to the original payment method, plus 50% in credit redeemable on future evaluations, upgrades or add-ons. The credit expires six months after issuance, which is the condition that matters.
Not returned at all
Sure Leverage Funding states plainly that evaluation fees are not refundable at the moment. That is a clear statement rather than an omission, and it is the right way to publish an unfavourable term.
Reading the condition, not the percentage
Every refund above is conditional on reaching a payout. None of them returns money to a trader who breaches. The refund is therefore not insurance against failure — it is a discount for succeeding, and it should be valued as such when comparing prices.
Minimum Trading Days and What They Cost You
A minimum-days requirement looks harmless on a pricing page. In practice it forces a trader who has already hit the target to keep an account exposed to the drawdown limit for longer.
The requirements, firm by firm
AquaFunded requires three profitable days on its One-Step models, each making at least 0.5% against the previous end-of-day balance. Atlas Funded requires five on the 2 Step, each with a minimum 0.5% profit. Moneta Funded requires three per phase, each at 0.5%. BrightFunded requires five, with a paid add-on to remove them. X-Funded requires five days on the 1 Phase and five in each phase of the 2 Phase, plus thirty active days before an Instant Funding withdrawal. The Hyper Funding requires five on the standard 1-Step and three on the Pro.
Topstep asks for five winning days of at least $150 net on the Express Funded Standard route, or a minimum of three days on the consistency route. Meridian Funded requires five trading days on Step accounts with at least one executed trade per day, and five valid trading days on Instant Funding, each with a net realised profit of at least 0.5%.
The firms that ask for none
FundedSquad states there are no minimum trading days on most accounts, with three on the 1 Step Pro. Shark Funded requires none during the evaluation, though its Lite 1 Step needs seven trading days before a payout can be requested. Sure Leverage’s Instant Funding Zero has no minimum days and no minimum trades: a payout can come from a single trade. NYS Markets sets no minimum during the evaluation, but funded accounts need five profitable days before withdrawal.
The detail that catches people
Notice how often the requirement is a profitable day, not merely a traded day. A day where you place a trade and finish flat frequently does not count. Nor does a losing day. A trader who needs three profitable days at 0.5% each may take two weeks to get them.
Note too that several firms move the requirement from the evaluation to the payout. Shark Funded and NYS Markets both let you pass without a minimum, then impose one before you can withdraw. The requirement did not disappear; it moved.
Expert Advisors and Automated Trading, Firm by Firm
If you trade with an algorithm, this section decides which firms are available to you at all. The policies differ more than any other rule on this page.
Allowed without qualification
FundedSquad allows EAs on all models. AquaFunded permits them where they are customised to your own trading strategy. Atlas Funded lists Expert Advisors as allowed on the 2 Step. BrightFunded allows them, with one exception worth noting: automated trading is not supported on DXtrade, so the platform choice becomes the constraint rather than the policy.
Allowed with conditions
The Hyper Funding permits automated strategies and Expert Advisors subject to its prohibited trading policy, and allows copy trading only where every account involved belongs to the same individual trader. Group trading, signal services, account management and passing bots are excluded.
NYS Markets permits only personally owned EAs. Third-party, purchased, rented, shared or externally managed advisors are not allowed — which rules out most commercially available bots.
Allowed only for part of the journey
X-Funded permits EAs during the challenge phases only. Once an account transitions to funded, the tools are no longer allowed. A trader who passes with an algorithm cannot then trade the funded account with it, which is a significant discontinuity to discover after paying.
Not allowed
Sure Leverage Funding does not permit EAs on the 1 Step Challenge, nor on Instant Funding accounts. It does, however, run a dedicated EA Challenge for exactly this case, which is a cleaner solution than a blanket ban.
The question to ask before buying
Not “are EAs allowed” but “are they allowed on the plan I am buying, on the platform I intend to use, at the funded stage”. Three of the policies above pass the first test and fail one of the others.
News and Weekend Rules Compared
Two rules that rarely appear in comparisons and regularly cost traders a funded account.
News windows
The Hyper Funding prohibits opening a position within three minutes before or after a high-impact news event. BrightFunded prohibits trading in a ten-minute window around significant releases, defined as five minutes either side, with an important exemption: trades lasting at least 48 hours are exempt. Shark Funded uses a wider window on its Lite 1 Step, ten minutes before to ten minutes after. NYS Markets also uses ten minutes either side.
AquaFunded takes a different approach: news trading is allowed on all accounts, but profit from trades opened or closed within five minutes of high-impact news is capped at 0.5% of the starting balance per payout cycle. The trade is not a breach; the profit is limited.
Sure Leverage deducts the profit rather than closing the account on the 1 Step, allows news trading at all times on the 2 Step, and prohibits it entirely on Instant Funding Zero. Three products, three policies, one firm.
X-Funded allows news trading during challenges and prohibits it on funded accounts, requiring a five-minute stop loss once funded.
Holding over the weekend
AquaFunded states traders are free to hold trades overnight and over the weekend with no restrictions. Atlas Funded allows it across all stages, evaluation and funded alike, with swap fees applying after 5pm EST and tripled at weekends. BrightFunded allows it. Moneta Funded allows it on the 1-Step. NYS Markets allows overnight and weekend positions.
The Hyper Funding requires a paid Weekend Holding add-on. Lucid Trading requires all positions closed by 4:45 PM EST Monday to Friday and does not allow swing trading on the newer LucidLive accounts. Topstep requires positions closed by 3:10 PM CT.
Why this decides the firm for some traders
A swing trader cannot use Lucid Trading’s LucidLive accounts or Topstep at all, whatever the payout terms. A news trader is limited at BrightFunded and free at AquaFunded, subject to a profit cap. These are not minor differences in the small print; for certain strategies they are the whole decision.
BrightFunded, Blueberry Funded and Sure Leverage
Three firms that rarely appear at the top of comparison lists and each of which does one thing that deserves attention.
BrightFunded: the plain statement
Most firms describe their consistency rule in careful, conditional language. BrightFunded writes: “At BrightFunded, we do not currently enforce a consistency rule.” There is no obligation to spread gains evenly or to keep position sizes uniform.
The rest is competitive without being remarkable: 6% maximum total loss on the 1-Step, 8% on the 2-Step Bright, 10% on the 2-Step Classic, with daily limits of 3%, 4% and 5%. Payouts are processed within 24 hours with a published average around 17 hours. The split starts at 80% and reaches 100% from the third scale-up, where scaling adds 30% account growth every four months against an unlimited cap.
The conditions on that scaling are strict and published: profitable in at least two of the four months, at least 10% total profit over the period, at least two successful payouts, and a balance at breakeven or better at the moment of the scale-up.
Blueberry Funded: the broker behind it
Blueberry Funded operates alongside an established retail broker, which matters more than it sounds. A prop firm with a broker parent has an execution venue and a regulatory footprint, where a standalone firm has neither.
Profit share reaches 85% on the Flex 1 Step and 80% on the 1-Step, Prime 2-Step, Instant Elite, Instant Lite and Synthetic plans. Payouts run on a bi-weekly cycle. MetaTrader 4 is still supported alongside MetaTrader 5, which is now unusual and matters to anyone with an MT4-only strategy or indicator set.
Sure Leverage Funding: one product without the rule
Sure Leverage runs an unusually long product list, and one item on it is worth isolating. Instant Funding Zero carries no consistency rule, no minimum days and no minimum trades — the firm states a payout can come from a single trade.
The trade-off is published rather than hidden. That product carries a 4% maximum drawdown measured from the highest water mark, a 2% daily limit recalculated at 5pm EST, a 70% split from the first payout onward, and no news trading at any time. Compare that with the 1 Step, which allows a 10% trailing drawdown and a 90/10 split but imposes a 50% consistency rule.
That is a real choice rather than a marketing gradient: tighter risk and a lower split in exchange for no consistency requirement, or the reverse. Sure Leverage also states that evaluation fees are not refundable, which should factor into the comparison.
AquaFunded Rules, Payout Guarantee and the Refundable Fee
AquaFunded publishes more evaluation formats than almost any other brand on this page. The catalogue runs to a One-Step Challenge, a Two-Step Challenge, Instant Funding, and then Pro variants of each: 1 Step Pro, 2 Step Pro, Instant Funding Standard, Instant Funding Pro, an AquaMan model and a Pay After Pass model. Anyone searching for AquaFunded rules has to start by naming the model, because the numbers move with it.
The consistency threshold changes with the plan
AquaFunded states the rule as a single day not being allowed to equal or exceed a set share of total profits. Instant Funding Standard is set at 20%. Instant Funding Pro and Aqua Man both sit at 15%. Two Step Pro and One Step Pro are the most permissive at 25%. That spread matters: a trader who takes one large winner on a 15% plan is in a very different position from the same trader on a 25% plan.
The important part is what a breach does. It does not close the account. Trading continues until the best day falls back under the threshold, which happens naturally as later profit accumulates. The rule delays a payout rather than ending the relationship — a distinction that gets lost in most AquaFunded reviews.
Drawdown and the qualifying days
The maximum loss is 8% of the initial account balance and it is static, so profit does not raise the floor. The daily limit is 4%, calculated on the previous day’s highest balance or equity and reset at 00:00 UTC. On the One-Step models, passing requires three profitable days, and each of those days has to produce at least 0.5% measured against the previous end-of-day balance. A day that closes up by a fraction of a percent does not count towards the three.
Payouts, the fee and the ceiling
The payout commitment is a 24 business hour guarantee, with an extra $1,000 added if an approved payout is not processed inside that window. The first payout comes 14 days after the first trade, and a 2% processing fee is deducted. The standard split is 90%, with 100% available as a paid add-on at checkout, and the one-time fee is advertised as fully refundable.
On capital, initial accounts reach $400K. The published scaling route is a 12% return inside a three-month period, which adds 25% of the initial account size, and the programme runs up to $4,000,000. Expert Advisors are allowed where they are built around the trader’s own strategy, overnight and weekend positions carry no restriction, and news trading is permitted — but profit from trades opened or closed within five minutes of a high-impact release is capped at 0.5% of the starting balance for that payout cycle.
Atlas Funded Rules: Five Models Built on a Static Floor
Atlas Funded runs One Step, Two Step, Three Step, Instant and an Access or Pay Later route, each with a Pro variant. What holds the range together is the drawdown philosophy: Atlas states that the maximum loss is fixed from the starting balance and does not trail upward. For a trader who dislikes watching a loss limit chase an equity high, that single sentence is the reason to read further.
Where each model sets its limits
The maximum drawdown is 10% on the 2 Step and on the Access evaluation, and 6% once an Access account is funded. The 1 Step Standard is 7% and the 1 Step Pro tightens to 6%. The 3 Step Standard sits at 8%. Instant Funded is the one exception to the static rule: it uses 6% trailing.
Daily limits follow the same logic and are recalculated each day at midnight UTC on the higher of balance or equity. Access is 5%. Instant Funded is 3% trailing. The 1 Step Standard is 4% and the 1 Step Pro 3%. The 2 Step Standard is 5% and the 2 Step Pro 4%. The 3 Step Standard is 4%. The pattern is consistent: every Pro variant buys a better split or a bigger account by giving back a point of daily room.
Qualifying days and the profit target
On the 2 Step model, each evaluation phase asks for five trading days with a minimum of 0.5% profit per day. That is a real constraint on a fast trader: passing a phase in two sessions is not possible regardless of how far ahead the account is.
Payouts, split and holding rules
The first payout comes 14 days after the first trade on a funded account, then every 14 days after that, and Atlas states that once requested a payout typically takes one to three business days. The split is published as up to 100% with conditions, and the 2 Step funded stage is listed at that top figure.
Account sizes are quoted from $5K to $400K on the homepage, with the Models page describing up to $200K per account. Platforms are MetaTrader 5, TradeLocker and Match-Trader. Expert Advisors are allowed on the 2 Step model. Overnight and weekend holding is permitted across all stages, evaluation and funded alike, though swap fees apply after 5pm EST and are tripled at the weekend — a cost that a swing trader on a large account should price in before the first position.
Blue Guardian Challenge Rules and Where the 40% Applies
Blue Guardian is one of the few brands on this page that runs two genuinely separate rulebooks. The CFD side offers Instant, 1 Step Standard, 1 Step Nano, 2 Step Standard and 2 Step Nano. The futures side runs Standard, Reserve, Express and Direct. Searching for Blue Guardian rules and reading only one of those tables produces a wrong answer.
The consistency rule exists on one side only
Across the CFD plans, neither the Challenge Rules table nor the Funded and Reward Rules table shows a consistency row at all. The futures plans do publish one. The futures Standard plan states no consistency requirement during the challenge, then applies one when funded: the largest day cannot exceed 40% of total profits. The Direct plan scales its requirement instead, moving from 20% to 25% to 30%. Blue Guardian also markets the Standard futures plan on the basis that payout caps scale with consistency, up to $4,500 per payout.
That is a considerably looser structure than the 15% and 20% thresholds common elsewhere. A trader whose edge concentrates into a small number of sessions will find 40% far easier to live with than 15%.
Drawdown on a $100K CFD account
The three CFD plans differ in both size and mechanism. Instant carries a trailing drawdown of $6,000, described as a floor that follows the highest balance so that profits raise the limit and lock in gains. The 1 Step Standard also uses a $6,000 trailing limit. The 2 Step Standard switches to a static $8,000, fixed at the starting level and unmoved by profit. Daily loss is $3,000 on Instant and $4,000 on both the 1 Step and 2 Step Standard. On the futures side, the Standard 100K account has a $3,500 end-of-day trailing maximum and a $2,000 daily loss limit treated as a soft breach.
Payouts, splits and what is allowed
The payout commitment is that approved withdrawals are processed within 24 hours or Blue Guardian adds $1,000 to the reward. Cadence depends on the account and any add-ons: on demand, weekly or bi-weekly. The CFD tables list Instant as instant payouts and the 1 Step Standard as up to weekly. Splits are published as up to 90%, with a 90% add-on available and site copy noting that select plans pay out 100%. Futures Standard is quoted at 90/10.
CFD account sizes run $5K, $10K, $25K, $50K, $100K, $200K, $300K and $400K. Expert Advisors and trade copiers are marked yes on Instant, 1 Step Standard and 2 Step Standard at both stages. Weekend and overnight holding is allowed throughout. News trading is where the plans separate: allowed during the 1 Step and 2 Step Standard challenges, and not allowed once those accounts are funded.
Goat Funded Trader Rules, Model by Model
Goat Funded Trader publishes one of the longest model lists in the sector: 1 STEP, 2-Step Standard, 2-Step PRO, 2 Step GOAT, 3 STEP, Instant Funding GOAT, Instant Funding PRO, Instant HERO, Instant Premium, GOAT BLITZ, Goat 1$ and PAY LATER. The firm splits them into two routes — pay a fee and get funded instantly, or complete a challenge in one, two or three steps.
The consistency rule is a per-model answer
GFT states the general principle plainly: no single trading day can account for a set percentage or more of total profits during the payout period, and the percentage varies with the model. The firm is equally clear about the consequence — missing it does not terminate or breach the account, it blocks the payout until the highest day falls below the threshold.
Model by model, the answer is often that there is no rule at all. The 1 STEP model shows no consistency requirement in either the evaluation or the funded stage. The 2-Step Standard shows none across all three stages. The Instant Premium model is stated as having no consistency rule, and the pricing page labels it that way too. Where the rule does apply, it is set at 15%: Instant Funding GOAT carries a 15% requirement, and GOAT BLITZ asks traders to respect a 15% threshold during each payout period.
Drawdown and qualifying days
The 1 STEP model uses a 6% static maximum loss at both stages, which GFT describes as equity or balance never dropping below 94% of starting capital. Daily drawdown on that model is 4%, moving to 3% for accounts purchased from 1 August 2026, measured at 5:00 PM EST off the higher of balance or equity. The 2-Step Standard runs a 10% static maximum with a 5% daily limit at all three stages. Instant Funding GOAT uses a 6% trailing maximum that follows the equity high-water mark and resets after each payout, with a 3% trailing daily limit.
Minimum days are worth reading carefully because GFT has revised them. The 1 STEP evaluation asks for three days; the funded stage asks for three per payout, rising to four for accounts purchased from 27 July 2026, each day needing at least 0.5% profit. The 2-Step Standard follows the same shape, with the funded requirement moving from three to four days from 25 July 2026. Instant Funding GOAT asks for five valid trading days.
Split, payouts and cost
The 1 STEP model pays 80% with a 100% split available as a checkout add-on, and Instant Funding GOAT is also listed at 80%; the pricing configurator shows 90% with the 100% add-on on the displayed plan. Payouts run bi-weekly on a 14-day cycle for both, with a 1-Step add-on that releases a first reward at a 40% split after only three days of trading on the funded account. The fee is described on the pricing page as a one-time 100% refundable charge. Account sizes step from 2.5K through 5K, 8K, 10K, 15K, 25K, 50K, 100K, 150K, 200K, 250K, 300K to 400K, and platform choices include TradeLocker, Volumetrica, Match-Trader, cTrader and MetaTrader 5.
X-Funded and FundedSquad: Two Ways to Cap a Payout
These two brands are useful side by side because they solve the same problem in opposite ways. X-Funded caps the contribution of a single trade. FundedSquad scores the contribution of a single day. A trader who scalps twenty positions a session and a trader who holds one runner will find these two firms suit them very differently.
X-Funded measures the trade, not the day
X-Funded states that when requesting a payout, no single trade can contribute more than 45% of the total payout amount, and the rule applies across all challenge phases. Measuring per trade rather than per day is unusual, and 45% is a loose ceiling by the standards of this page. It penalises the single outsized position rather than the productive session.
The models are a 1 Phase Challenge, a 2 Phase Challenge, Instant Funding and X-Funded Zero. The overall loss limit is 6% on 1 Phase, 10% on 2 Phase and 5% on Instant Funding. Daily loss is 4% on 1 Phase and 5% on 2 Phase. Minimum days are five on the 1 Phase, five in each phase of the 2 Phase, and five on Instant Funding plus 30 active days before a withdrawal.
The split starts at 80% on the first payout and moves to 90% from the second onwards, with an add-on taking it to 100%; Instant Funding runs 80% then 100%. Challenge payouts are bi-weekly and Instant Funding is weekly. Maximum allocation is quoted at $1M across all challenge types, on cTrader and MT5. Two restrictions deserve attention before purchase: Expert Advisors are permitted only during the challenge phases and are no longer allowed once the account is funded, and news trading follows the same pattern — allowed in the challenge, prohibited on funded accounts, where a five-minute stop loss is also required.
FundedSquad scores the best day
FundedSquad frames its rule as a Consistency Score: the percentage of total profit that comes from the single best trading day. Lite Instant is set at 20%, the 2-Step Squad at 20% at the funded stage, and the 2-Step Fast at a more generous 35%. As with most firms in this category, payouts are delayed until the best day falls back under the threshold rather than the account being closed.
The range covers 1 Step Evaluation, 1 Step Pro, 2 Step Fast, 2 Step Squad, Instant Lite, Instant Pro and Instant Rapid. Maximum drawdown is 7% static on 1 Step, 10% static on 1 Step Pro, 8% static on 2 Step Fast, 12% static on 2 Step Squad, 6% trailing on Instant Lite, 6% static on Instant Pro and 5% trailing on Instant Rapid. Daily limits are 3% on 1 Step, 1 Step Pro, Instant Lite, Instant Pro and Instant Rapid, 4% on 2 Step Fast and 5% on 2 Step Squad.
Most accounts carry no minimum trading days, with three required on 1 Step Pro. The split is 100% on most models, dropping to 70% on Instant Pro and 75% on Instant Rapid. Payouts are promised within 12 hours, with a $1,000 bonus if missed, and evaluations are advertised as fully refundable. Allocation reaches $800,000, with scaling described as 100% growth with every 10% profit. EAs are allowed on all models.
Shark Funded and NYS Markets Compared
Two smaller brands, two very different answers to the question that decides most funded accounts. Shark Funded removes the consistency requirement outright. NYS Markets writes it into the terms and applies it to both trades and days.
Shark Funded: no consistency score, but count the days
Shark Funded states on its homepage that there are no consistency score rules. The models are SharkFunded Lite 1 Step, Lite 2 Step, Lite Instant, Prime 2 Step, Prime Instant and Instant Bolt with daily payouts.
What replaces the consistency requirement is a trading-day condition at the payout stage. The evaluation phase carries no minimum trading days at all, but the Lite 1 Step requires a minimum of seven trading days before a payout can be requested. On that plan the maximum drawdown is 6% of the initial account size and it is a hard breach; daily loss is 3%, calculated from the higher of balance or equity at the start of the day. The split on the Lite 1 Step is 80% to the trader, with the homepage quoting up to 90% across the range.
Payouts are weekly, and Shark Funded reports an average reward time of seven hours with 99.99% processed inside 24 hours. Account sizes run from $5,000 to $100,000, and the scaling plan increases allocation by 100% after ten successful reward payouts and 20% accumulated profit, up to $2,000,000. News trading is prohibited from ten minutes before to ten minutes after a news event on the Lite 1 Step, while the homepage describes weekend and news trading as allowed during evaluation.
NYS Markets: the rule is in the terms
NYS Markets documents its CFD One Trade challenge on an official terms portal rather than a marketing page, which makes it one of the easier rulebooks on this list to verify. The consistency requirement covers both dimensions: no single trade and no single trading day may represent more than 30% of total accumulated net profit.
Maximum loss is fixed at 6% of the initial account balance and is static. Daily loss is 3% of the initial balance — note that this is measured from the initial balance rather than from the previous day’s close, which is a meaningfully different calculation from the one most firms on this page use. There is no minimum number of trading days during the evaluation, but funded accounts require five profitable days before a withdrawal.
The split is stated as 80% to the trader and 20% to NYS Markets. A payout is available on request once the eligibility conditions are met and is processed within 24 hours. Total allocation across simultaneous funded CFD accounts is capped at $400,000, on MetaTrader 5. On automation the terms are narrow: only personally owned Expert Advisors are permitted, and third-party, purchased, rented, shared or externally managed EAs are not. Trading is restricted from ten minutes before to ten minutes after high-impact announcements, while overnight and weekend positions are allowed.
Moneta Funded and The Hyper Funding Rules
Both of these firms publish a wide model range and both attach the important numbers to the model rather than the brand. Reading either one at homepage level produces a figure that may not apply to the plan actually being bought.
Moneta Funded
The catalogue is a 1-Step Challenge with a 10% target, a 2-Step Challenge running 5% then 10%, Instant Funding, Instant Funding Pro, Phoenix Instant and a Sprint Challenge.
On consistency, Moneta’s homepage indicates a requirement in the 15% to 20% band on some challenges and states that Phoenix Instant has no consistency requirement. The exact percentage attached to each individual plan was not published on the pages consulted, so it is listed here as a range rather than presented as a per-plan figure. Anyone choosing between plans on this basis should confirm the number for the specific model at checkout.
Drawdown is published plan by plan: 5% trailing of the initial balance on Instant, 8% trailing on Instant Pro, 6% static on the 1-Step and on Phoenix, and 8% or 10% static on the 2-Step. Daily limits are 3% on Instant, 1-Step and Phoenix, 4% on Instant Pro, and 4% or 5% on the 2-Step, based on the greater of balance or equity at 10pm UTC. Traders must trade at least three days in each phase, excluding Instant Funding, and each qualifying day must produce 0.5% profit.
The 1-Step pays 88% on the funded account, with the homepage quoting a 60% to 88% range across the models. Payouts on the 1-Step are every 14 days, and the homepage describes 14 days or on demand depending on the model. Funding reaches $2,000,000, with 1-Step account sizes from $5K to $100K. Platforms are MetaTrader 5 and MatchTrader, with MT5 unavailable in the USA and Canada. On the 1-Step, overnight and weekend holding is allowed; news trading is prohibited on Sprint challenges.
The Hyper Funding
Hyper names its plans rather than numbering them: 1-Step covers Slipstream and Fast Track, 2-Step covers Downforce and Balanced, 3-Step covers Backmarker and Underdog, alongside Instant Funding and a HyperFutures Assessment.
The 1-Step asks for five trading days on Standard and three on Pro, with a 0.30% profit requirement per day — a lower bar per day than the 0.5% used by several firms above. Maximum drawdown on the 1-Step is 6% trailing and is a hard breach, while the homepage quotes 8% static for the range. The 1-Step daily limit is 4% trailing, resetting each day at 5:00 PM EST.
Splits climb with the number of steps: Instant Funding pays 70% standard and 75% Pro, the 1-Step 80% and 85%, the 2-Step up to 90%, and the 3-Step up to 90% and 95%. Approved payouts are sent within 24 hours, with a $1,000 credit if late; on the 1-Step, withdrawals open after 14 days and repeat every 14 days with a $50 minimum. Funding is quoted up to $1M, across DXtrade, MatchTrader, cTrader and GooeyPro. Automated strategies and Expert Advisors are permitted subject to the prohibited trading policy, with copy trading allowed only between accounts owned by the same trader. Opening a position within three minutes either side of a high-impact news event is prohibited, and weekend holding requires an optional add-on.
Instant Funding Compared: What You Give Up to Skip the Challenge
Instant funding is the fastest-growing product category in this sector and the one where the published rules diverge most sharply from the challenge accounts sold by the same firm. The pitch is simple — pay a fee, skip the evaluation, start trading a funded account. What the rulebooks show is that the fee is rarely the whole price.
The drawdown usually switches to trailing
Firms that run static drawdown on their evaluation accounts frequently switch to trailing on the instant product. Atlas Funded is explicit that its maximum loss is fixed from the starting balance and does not trail upward — except on Instant Funded, which uses 6% trailing with a 3% trailing daily limit. Goat Funded Trader uses a 6% static maximum on the 1 STEP model and a 6% trailing maximum on Instant Funding GOAT, one that follows the equity high-water mark and resets after each payout. FundedSquad runs 7% static on 1 Step and 6% trailing on Instant Lite. Moneta Funded uses 6% static on the 1-Step and 5% trailing on Instant.
Blue Guardian is the clearest illustration on a single account size: on a $100K CFD account, the Instant plan carries a $6,000 trailing limit while the 2 Step Standard carries an $8,000 static one. Same firm, same balance, materially different risk of breach.
The consistency rule often appears here first
Several firms apply no consistency requirement to their step challenges but do apply one to instant accounts. Goat Funded Trader shows no consistency rule on the 1 STEP or 2-Step Standard models, and 15% on Instant Funding GOAT. AquaFunded sets Instant Funding Standard at 20% and Instant Funding Pro at 15%, against 25% on One Step Pro and Two Step Pro. FundedSquad puts Lite Instant at 20% while most of its accounts carry no minimum days at all.
The split is usually lower
The Hyper Funding is the plainest example: Instant Funding pays 70% standard and 75% Pro, against 80% and 85% on the 1-Step and up to 95% on the 3-Step. FundedSquad pays 100% on most models but 70% on Instant Pro and 75% on Instant Rapid. X-Funded runs 80% then 100% on Instant Funding, against 80% rising to 90% with a 100% add-on on the challenges.
And the waiting period does not disappear
Skipping the evaluation does not always mean trading sooner. X-Funded requires a minimum of five days on Instant Funding plus 30 active days before a withdrawal. Goat Funded Trader asks for five valid trading days on Instant Funding GOAT, against three on the 1 STEP evaluation. AquaFunded’s first payout arrives 14 days after the first trade regardless of route.
None of this makes instant funding a bad product. It makes it a different one, and the comparison that matters is not fee against fee but trailing against static, split against split, and days against days on the specific plan being bought.
Prop Firm Profit Splits Compared: Who Actually Reaches 100%
The profit split is the headline number in almost every prop firm advertisement, and it is the number most often quoted without its conditions. Almost nobody pays 100% by default. The useful question is what the split is before any add-on, and what has to happen for the advertised ceiling to apply.
What the base split actually is
Meridian Funded starts at 90% by default, scaling to 100% either through a Pro split add-on at checkout or through the Meridian Pro programme after sustained performance. AquaFunded also states 90% as standard, with 100% available as a paid add-on. Atlas Funded publishes up to 100% with conditions, and lists that top figure at the 2 Step funded stage.
Below that, the base numbers drop. Goat Funded Trader lists 80% on the 1 STEP model and on Instant Funding GOAT, with a 100% add-on at checkout and a configurator showing 90% on the displayed plan. Shark Funded pays 80% on the Lite 1 Step, with up to 90% quoted across the range. NYS Markets is a flat 80/20. X-Funded pays 80% on the first payout and 90% from the second onwards. Blue Guardian publishes up to 90% with a 90% add-on and notes that select plans pay 100%.
FundedSquad is the outlier in the other direction, listing 100% on most models — but with 70% on Instant Pro and 75% on Instant Rapid, which is a reminder that a brand-level split figure rarely holds across a brand’s whole catalogue. The Hyper Funding is the most explicitly tiered: 70% and 75% on Instant Funding, 80% and 85% on the 1-Step, up to 90% on the 2-Step and up to 95% on the 3-Step. Moneta Funded pays 88% on the 1-Step funded account against a 60% to 88% homepage range.
Why the split is the wrong number to optimise first
A 100% split on an account that cannot pay out is worth nothing. Two conditions decide whether a payout happens at all, and both sit upstream of the split.
The first is the consistency requirement. A 15% threshold means the best single day cannot exceed 15% of total profit for that payout period; on a concentrated week, that alone postpones the payment. The firms that remove it entirely — Shark Funded across the board, Goat Funded Trader on the 1 STEP and 2-Step Standard, Meridian Funded on Instant Zero, Blue Guardian on its CFD plans, Moneta Funded on Phoenix Instant — are removing the most common reason a payout is blocked.
The second is the trading-day requirement, which converts a split into a timetable. Shark Funded asks for seven trading days before a Lite 1 Step payout. NYS Markets asks for five profitable days on funded accounts. X-Funded adds 30 active days on Instant Funding. Meridian Funded asks for five valid trading days on Instant Funding, each with net realised profit of at least 0.5%.
Read in that order — can it pay, when can it pay, then how much — the split stops being the headline and becomes the last line of the calculation. That is the order used to build the ranking at the top of this page.
How Every Rule on This Page Was Verified
Every figure attributed to a firm on this page was read on that firm’s own website or help centre, and the source recorded alongside it. Nothing was taken from another comparison site, and nothing was filled in from memory.
Why that is worth stating
Prop firm rules change often and quietly, and prop firm reviews age badly because of it. A comparison built by copying other comparisons compounds errors: one site misreads a plan, three others repeat it, and the mistake becomes consensus. The rules on this page were read at the source, and where a firm does not publish something, the entry says so rather than inventing a plausible number.
The checks that run before publication
Each figure in the ranking table is matched back against the recorded source before the page goes live. A number that cannot be traced to a firm’s own published wording does not appear. Restatements — where a firm says “your fee is reimbursed” and the table reads “100% refund” — are recorded as restatements with the reasoning kept, not passed off as quotations.
What this page is not
It is not a substitute for the rulebook you agree to at checkout. Firms revise terms, run promotions with different conditions, and apply regional variations. Read the plan page for the specific product you intend to buy, on the day you buy it.
Ordering
The ranking reflects an editorial view of how the published rules serve a trader who wants to keep an account and get paid: whether a consistency rule applies and on which plans, how the drawdown is calculated, how quickly money moves, and whether the fee returns. Firms link out to their own sites. Where a link is commercial, it is marked as such.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which prop firms have no consistency rule?
BrightFunded states it does not currently enforce one. Shark Funded advertises no consistency score rules. Sure Leverage Funding removes it on Instant Funding Zero, Moneta Funded on Phoenix Instant, and Meridian Funded on Instant Zero. In most cases it is a specific product without the rule rather than the whole firm, so check the plan rather than the brand.
Does FTMO have a consistency rule?
On its 1-step products, yes: the Best Day Rule requires that your best day does not represent more than 50% of your positive days’ profit. No consistency objective is listed among the trading objectives for the 2-step route, which are the profit target, the maximum daily loss, the maximum loss and the minimum trading days.
What happens if I break a consistency rule?
Usually nothing immediate. FTMO states that exceeding the Best Day limit is not treated as a breach and that you continue trading until it rebalances. AquaFunded and FundedSquad work the same way: the payout waits rather than the account closing. Lucid Trading drops the requirement altogether once an account reaches Live status.
Which is better, static or trailing drawdown?
Static is more forgiving once you are in profit, because the limit stays fixed at the opening balance while your equity rises. Trailing follows you upward, so the distance to the limit stays roughly constant. Atlas Funded runs static across most plans; Topstep and Sure Leverage’s 1 Step trail. Lucid Trading’s end-of-day measurement is the most forgiving of the three for intraday traders.
Do I get my evaluation fee back?
At most firms here, yes, on your first payout — FundedNext, Funding Pips, Blue Guardian, AquaFunded, FundedSquad and Goat Funded Trader all return it. BrightFunded sells it as an add-on. Meridian Funded returns 150%, being 100% in cash plus 50% in credit that expires after six months. Sure Leverage Funding states fees are not refundable.
Can I use an Expert Advisor?
It depends on the plan and the stage, not just the firm. FundedSquad allows EAs on all models. X-Funded allows them during the challenge but not once funded. NYS Markets allows only EAs you own personally. Sure Leverage does not allow them on the 1 Step or Instant Funding but runs a dedicated EA Challenge instead.
Which firms pay out fastest?
Lucid Trading publishes a 15 minute average. FundedSquad promises within 12 hours or a $1,000 bonus. Meridian Funded pays within 12 hours or credits the next payout an extra 10%. AquaFunded and The Hyper Funding both guarantee 24 hours with a $1,000 penalty if late. Read whether the clock starts at request or at approval, and whether it counts business hours only.
Can I hold trades over the weekend?
AquaFunded, Atlas Funded, BrightFunded, Moneta Funded and NYS Markets all allow it. The Hyper Funding requires a paid add-on. Topstep requires positions closed by 3:10 PM CT, and Lucid Trading by 4:45 PM EST, so neither suits a swing trader.
How often do these rules change?
Often. Lucid Trading moved its consistency percentage from 35% to 40% for accounts purchased or reset after a stated date in November 2025. Treat any comparison, including this one, as a starting point and read the plan page on the day you buy.
