Bit hardest
Phase 2 starts again from zero
The old models let Phase 1's banked profit carry into Phase 2. In reality every Phase 2 must earn its own +5% from the starting size.
THE FIRM-RULES DOSSIER · AS MODELLED
Five firms, five different rulebooks.
Each account is judged by its own firm's rules — phases, drawdown, daily loss, minimum days, payout clocks. This table is the dossier the firm-rules models were built with (Oct 31, 2026), sourced from the firms' official pages. The committed plan uses Hola Prime only; the other four rows are kept as reference from the scenarios explored on the Models page. One structural rule applies to all five: each challenge phase is a fresh account at the starting size — Phase 1 profit does not carry into Phase 2.
| Firm | Fee | Phase targets | Max loss | Daily loss | Min days / phase | Split | Payout timing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hola Prime — 2-Step Prime, $200K | $647.40 promo / $1,079 list | +8%, then +5% — each phase a fresh $200K account | 8% of start, STATIC (floor $184,000) | 4% of the previous day's closing balance | 3 trading days | 80% (bi-weekly cycle) | 14-day cycles; each cycle needs ≥3 profitable days (a day netting ≥ +0.5% of start) or the payout is HELD to the next cycle; nothing before 14 days funded |
| FTMO — 2-Step Swing, $200K | €1,080 ≈ $1,166.40 (FX assumed) | +10%, then +5% — fresh each phase | 10% of start, STATIC (floor $180,000) | Day's floor = balance at the midnight reset − 5% of the starting size | 4 trading days | 80% | First payout requestable from day 14 after the first funded trade, then on demand |
| FundedNext — Stellar 2-Step, $200K | $1,099.99 | +8%, then +5% — fresh each phase | 10% of start, STATIC (floor $180,000) | 5% of the starting size, fixed | 5 trading days | 80% (Standard structure) | First cycle 21 days, then every 14 days |
| City Traders Imperium — 2-Step, $100K | $549 | +10%, then +5% — fresh each phase | 10% of start, STATIC (floor $90,000) | Day's floor = day-start balance − 5% of the starting size | 3 profitable days (each ≥ +0.5% of start) | 80% (starting tier) | First payout needs ≥7 profitable days AND ≥ +2% net profit; after that, instant — see UNVERIFIED flags below |
| The5ers — High Stakes (New), $100K | $491 | +10%, then +5% — fresh each step | 10% of start, STATIC (floor $90,000) | 5% of the higher of day-start balance or day-start equity | 3 profitable days (each ≥ +0.5% of start) | 80% (starting tier) | Every 14 days, first payout available 14 days after funding; $150 minimum payout |
What the real rules changed
From the firm-rules rebuild (SNOWBALL-FIRMRULES) — the three rules that actually bit, and the two that didn't.
Bit often
Hola's profitable-days payout gate
Each 14-day Hola payout cycle needs ≥3 profitable days (a day netting ≥ +0.5% of the $200K start = $1,000) or the payout is held to the next cycle.
Bit a little
Payout clocks
FundedNext's 21-day first cycle, The5ers' strict 14-day cycles and FTMO's day-14 first-payout gate each push first receipts out 2–3 weeks versus instant payouts.
Never bit
Daily-loss lines and minimum days
Even Hola's tightest daily rule — 4% of the previous day's closing balance (~$8,000 of room on $200K) — was never threatened: B2's worst realized day in two years was about −2.5%.
UNVERIFIED — read before relying
Anything that could not be verified from an official firm page is carried as a stated convention, flagged — never silently assumed.
UNVERIFIED CTI's payout cadence AFTER the first payout is described by reviews as monthly/bi-weekly windows but could not be verified from an official page — modelled as instant after the first payout (first-payout-delay-only convention).
UNVERIFIED CTI's funded-stage 'profitable day' definition is UNVERIFIED — modelled as a day netting ≥ +0.5% of the starting size, CTI's own published challenge-phase definition.
UNVERIFIED Day counting throughout the models uses UTC days and realized hourly closes. Firms measure equity (including floating P/L) tick-by-tick on server time; with B2's hard 1×ATR stop the gap between the two measures is bounded at roughly one stop (≈0.5–0.6% of balance).
UNVERIFIED FundedNext's funded news-window rule (profits inside news windows count at 40%) and The5ers' ±2-minute news execution ban are real rules but NOT modelled — they need a news calendar / execution model the hourly engine does not have.
UNVERIFIED Payout processing fees (e.g. The5ers 3.5%, FundedNext up to 3.5%) are NOT deducted in the models, and challenge-fee refunds are NOT modelled anywhere — Hola (25% × first four payouts), FTMO (100% with first Reward) and FundedNext (100% with first payout) all refund in reality, so the models are conservative by up to ~$3,954 per 5-firm stack.
UNVERIFIED FTMO's fee is €1,080; the $1,166.40 figure assumes €1 = US$1.08. Hola's $647.40 is a promotional price (list $1,079) and promotions will have changed by January 2027.