A two-step challenge asks you to reach a profit target twice: first in Phase 1, then a smaller one in Phase 2, without touching either loss limit in either phase. On our Edge 2 Step the targets are 7.5% and then 5% of the starting balance, the Max Daily Loss is 4.5% and the Max Loss is 9%, static and measured from the starting balance. There is no time limit, and each phase needs two trading days that close at least 0.5% up.
Phase 2 is where two-step attempts are thrown away. The target is smaller, the limits are not, and a trader who has just passed Phase 1 tends to trade the second phase as a formality. The plan below treats the two phases as one evaluation with a checkpoint in the middle.
Every figure here is from the published Edge 2 Step plan. The method carries to any two-step evaluation; the numbers are ours.
Know the figures for both phases in dollars
Percentages hide the size of the problem. On a $100,000 Edge 2 Step the four figures are:
- Phase 1 target: $7,500.
- Phase 2 target: $5,000.
- Max Daily Loss: $4,500, from the day's opening balance.
- Max Loss: $9,000 below the starting balance, static.
The daily limit is measured from the day's opening balance, which is the previous day's closing balance at 17:00 New York. The Max Loss does not move up as you make profit. Both are measured on equity, so an open loss counts the same as a closed one, and reaching either ends the account. The Max Loss is exactly two daily losses: two bad days at the limit, in either phase, end the attempt.
On a $10,000 account the same figures are $750, $500, $450 and $900. The percentages are the same on every size from $2,500 to $200,000, so the sizing below works on all of them.
Size for the whole evaluation, not for Phase 1
Work back from the daily limit. Risking 0.5% a trade, $500 on $100,000, nine losing trades reach the $4,500 daily limit and eighteen in a row reach the $9,000 Max Loss. At 1% a trade, five losers are past the daily limit and nine end the account. A string of nine losses across two days is ordinary variance for a strategy that wins half its trades.
Keep the same size in Phase 2. Its target is two thirds of Phase 1's, so it needs fewer winning trades, and there is no reason to trade bigger to finish sooner. Turn the risk into lots per instrument once, from your stop distance: the position size calculator or the trading calculator does the arithmetic.
Set a pace for each phase
At 0.5% risk and a target of twice the risk, a winning trade adds 1% and a losing one costs 0.5%. A trader who wins half their trades nets about 0.25% a trade: around 30 trades for the 7.5% of Phase 1 and around 20 for the 5% of Phase 2. At two or three trades a day that is roughly two to three weeks for Phase 1 and one to two for Phase 2, losing days included.
Each phase also needs two days that close at least 0.5% up, $500 on $100,000. At this size one clean winner makes such a day. If you reach a phase's target on your first day, the phase still waits for its second profitable day: the pass is not lost, it waits.
There is no deadline in either phase, which removes the reason to double up in a final week. Why there is no deadline, and what to do with it is about using that well.
What ends two-step attempts
- A good day turned bad. A loss, a larger trade to win it back, and a third that was never planned: 4.5% is two trades at an angry size.
- Phase 2 complacency. The smaller target invites bigger size to finish it. The limits did not get smaller with the target.
- Max Exposure. The combined value of open positions is capped, $1,250,000 on $100,000. A first breach is a warning that resets any profit to the starting balance; a second closes the account.
- Friday's close. Without the Weekend Holding add-on, positions still open at 4:45 PM New York time on Friday are closed by the system. The first time is a warning, the second closes the account.
- Thirty quiet days. Thirty days without a closed trade ends the account, in either phase.
Every rule, with a drawing for each, is on Trading rules, explained.
Edge 2 Step or Prime 2 Step
Both have the same two targets and two profitable days in each phase. Prime 2 Step allows a 5% daily loss and a 10% Max Loss, $5,000 and $10,000 on $100,000, and costs $744 for that size against $597 for Edge. Once funded it adds a monthly salary of 1% of the account size and a split of 80% for the first 30 days, then 100%, and its fee is refunded once the account is funded and in profit after 30 days; in return it has a weekly consistency rule and a quarterly profit target. Edge pays 80%, up to 95% as you scale, and its fee is not refunded. Edge, Prime or Instant compares the families in full.
Questions traders ask
Is there a time limit on a two-step challenge? Not on Edge 2 Step or Prime 2 Step. Trading days are unlimited in both phases; the only clock is the inactivity rule, which needs one closed trade every 30 days.
What happens if I hit the Max Daily Loss in Phase 2? The account is closed, the same as in Phase 1. On CFD plans both loss limits are hard, and passing Phase 1 does not soften them.
Is a two-step challenge easier than a one-step? Its targets are smaller and its limits wider: 7.5% then 5%, against 10% on Edge 1 Step, with a 4.5% daily and 9% maximum loss against 4% and 7.5%. It takes two passes instead of one. One step, two step, three step works through the arithmetic.
When can I request a payout once funded? On demand once the account is funded and its two profitable days are done, then weekly. Edge 2 Step has no minimum payout amount.
Can I use an expert advisor? Yes, one you developed and control yourself; bought, rented or mass-market bots are not allowed. Expert advisors and copy trading has the detail.