FundedNext CFD Rules: Stellar 2-Step, 1-Step, Lite & Instant
15 min read
Understanding FundedNext CFD rules before you start trading can save you from a failed challenge and a wasted fee. FundedNext runs four models under its Stellar brand, each with its own loss limits, profit targets, and payout structure. This guide breaks down the rules for every Stellar model, challenge and funded, so you know exactly what you're working with.
How FundedNext Accounts Work
FundedNext's CFD accounts are fully simulated. You start on a Challenge, and passing it moves you onto a FundedNext Account, where you get funded. That account is still simulated, not live capital, and nothing beyond it involves real money. It's where you stay and where you scale.
You can trade forex, indices, commodities, and crypto. FundedNext supports four platforms: cTrader, MT4, MT5, and Match-Trader.
FundedNext offers four Stellar models. Three are evaluation challenges, and one, Stellar Instant, skips the evaluation entirely.
Stellar 2-Step is the flagship two-phase challenge. Stellar 1-Step condenses the evaluation into a single phase with tighter risk limits. Stellar Lite is a lower-cost two-phase model with easier targets. Stellar Instant skips the evaluation and drops you straight onto a funded account.
FundedNext Plans Compared: The Four Stellar Models
Stellar 2-Step | Stellar 1-Step | Stellar Lite | Stellar Instant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Account sizes | $6,000 to $200,000 | $6,000 to $200,000 | $5,000 to $200,000 | $2,000 to $20,000 |
Profit target | 8% (Phase 1), 5% (Phase 2) | 10% | 8% (Phase 1), 4% (Phase 2) | None |
Daily loss limit | 5% | 3% | 4% | None |
Maximum loss limit | 10% | 6% | 8% | 6% |
Max loss type | Balance-based | Balance-based | Balance-based | Trailing |
Minimum trading days | 5 per phase | 2 | 5 per phase | None |
Reward share | 80%, up to 95% | 80%, up to 95% | 80%, up to 95% | 70%, up to 80% |
Days to first payout | 21 days | 5 business days | 21 days | On-demand at 5% growth |
None of the four models has a time limit to pass or hold. Daily and maximum loss limits on the three challenge models are measured against your initial balance, not your current equity. Stellar Instant is the exception: its 6% maximum loss trails.
You pass a challenge by hitting the profit target over the minimum trading days without breaching either loss limit. Crossing the daily loss limit or the maximum loss limit is a hard breach. On a challenge account it stops your trading and needs a manual reset to continue; on a funded account it ends the account, and you start over with a new challenge. Floating losses, swaps, and commissions all count toward both limits.
FundedNext's drawdown mechanics are worth understanding before you pick a model.
Balance-based maximum loss (2-Step, 1-Step, and Lite): your maximum loss is a fixed floor set from your initial balance. It doesn't move. Profits don't lift it and losses don't lower it. On a $100,000 Stellar 2-Step, the 10% floor sits at $90,000 for the life of the account.
Trailing maximum loss (Stellar Instant): the floor starts 6% below your initial balance and trails upward as you profit. On a $10,000 account it starts at $9,400; reach $10,500 and it moves to $9,900. Losses never move it back down, and it stops once it reaches your initial balance, so your equity floor can never rise above $10,000.
Daily loss limit (2-Step, 1-Step, and Lite; Instant has none): a separate per-day cap that expands as you profit during the day. On a $100,000 Stellar 2-Step, the 5% limit starts at $5,000, and if you're up $2,000 in realized profit by noon, your permitted loss for that day becomes $7,000. It resets at midnight server time, and earlier days' profits don't carry over.
News trading is allowed on all four models. During the challenge phase there are no restrictions at all; a profit split only kicks in once you're funded.
Stellar 2-Step Rules
The 2-Step is FundedNext's flagship model, and it takes passing two evaluation phases to reach funding. Its loss limits are the loosest of the challenge models, with a 5% daily loss limit and a 10% maximum loss limit, which gives you more room for error than the 1-Step does. It comes in sizes from $6,000 to $200,000: $6,000, $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, and $200,000.
Rule | Value |
|---|---|
Account sizes | $6,000 to $200,000 |
Profit target | 8% (Phase 1), 5% (Phase 2) |
Daily loss limit | 5% |
Maximum loss limit | 10% |
Drawdown type | Balance-based |
Minimum trading days | 5 per phase |
You need at least 5 trading days in each phase, with no time limit to finish either one. Once funded, the 2-Step is one of two models eligible for the 15% challenge-phase reward, covered in the scaling section.
Stellar 1-Step Rules
The 1-Step condenses the evaluation into a single phase and pays out fastest once you're funded. In exchange, the risk is tighter, with a 3% daily loss limit and a 6% maximum loss limit. It comes in the same sizes as the 2-Step: $6,000, $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, and $200,000.
Rule | Value |
|---|---|
Account sizes | $6,000 to $200,000 |
Profit target | 10% |
Daily loss limit | 3% |
Maximum loss limit | 6% |
Drawdown type | Balance-based |
Minimum trading days | 2 |
You only need 2 trading days to qualify with no time limit. Like the 2-Step, the 1-Step is eligible for the 15% challenge-phase reward.
Stellar Lite Rules
Stellar Lite is a two-phase challenge like the 2-Step, but the cheapest way in. Its targets are easier, 8% then 4%, though its loss limits are tighter than the 2-Step's, at a 4% daily loss limit and an 8% maximum loss limit. It comes in sizes from $5,000 to $200,000: $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, and $200,000.
Rule | Value |
|---|---|
Account sizes | $5,000 to $200,000 |
Profit target | 8% (Phase 1), 4% (Phase 2) |
Daily loss limit | 4% |
Maximum loss limit | 8% |
Drawdown type | Balance-based |
Minimum trading days | 5 per phase |
You need at least 5 trading days in each phase, with no time limit to finish either one. Unlike the 1-Step and 2-Step, Lite is not eligible for the 15% challenge-phase reward.
Stellar Instant Rules
Stellar Instant skips the evaluation entirely. You buy the account and start trading a funded account right away, with no profit target, daily loss limit, or minimum trading days. In exchange, you get a lower starting split, smaller account sizes, and a trailing maximum loss instead of a fixed one. It comes in sizes from $2,000 to $20,000: $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000.
Rule | Value |
|---|---|
Account sizes | $2,000 to $20,000 |
Profit target | None |
Daily loss limit | None |
Maximum loss limit | 6% |
Drawdown type | Trailing |
Minimum trading days | None |
Because there's no challenge, its funded rules apply from day one. Its reward share, payout timing, and scaling all work differently, covered in the sections below.
Once You're Funded: FundedNext Account Rules
Passing a challenge moves you onto a funded FundedNext Account. Your daily loss limit, maximum loss limit, and drawdown type carry over from the challenge unchanged. Here's how the funded rules line up across the four models.
Stellar 2-Step | Stellar 1-Step | Stellar Lite | Stellar Instant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Daily loss limit | 5% | 3% | 4% | None |
Maximum loss limit | 10% | 6% | 8% | 6% |
Reward share | 80%, up to 95% | 80%, up to 95% | 80%, up to 95% | 70%, up to 80% |
First payout | After 21 days, then every 14 | After 5 business days, then every 5 | After 21 days, then every 14 | On-demand at 5%+ growth, or every 14 days |
Refundable fee | With 1st reward | At 3rd reward | At 3rd reward | None |
Max risk | 3% at any time | 3% at any time | 3% at any time | 3% at any time |
News profit split | 40% | 40% | 40% | 40% |
The 3% risk limit and the News Profit Split each need more than a table cell, so here's how they work.
The 3% Risk Limit
On a funded account, your total risk cannot exceed 3% of your initial account balance at any given time. FundedNext measures this by combining your stop-loss placement with the realized and unrealized (floating) losses across all your open trades. Swap and commission charges are not included in the calculation.
Breaching the limit does not terminate your account. FundedNext handles it through escalating steps tied to your Performance Reward. The first breach brings a formal warning, plus 100% of the profit from the trades that caused it is deducted from that cycle's reward; if those trades netted a loss, nothing is deducted, but the warning is recorded. The second breach adds another 100% deduction and permanently reclassifies the account to a stricter 1% risk limit. Any further breach on a reclassified account deducts 100% again.
FundedNext's Disciplined Trader Program is a separate program, not a step in this process, so a risk breach won't land you there automatically. If you merge accounts, the merged account inherits the higher violation count and the more restrictive risk parameter.
Staying under 3% means watching your stop-loss placement and floating losses across every open trade at once, and a single breach costs you the whole cycle's profit on those trades. That's hard to eyeball mid-session, especially with several positions open or more than one funded account running. A trading journal like Tanto syncs your trades straight from FundedNext and helps you track your risk, drawdown, and performance across every account in one place, so you can see where you stand against the 3% limit.
News Profit Split
News trading is allowed on every Stellar model in both phases, but funded accounts apply a News Profit Split. Around any listed high-impact event, FundedNext defines a 10-minute window: the 5 minutes before and the 5 minutes after the release. Only 40% of the profit from trades opened or closed inside that window counts toward your balance, while losses are applied in full.
The rule only kicks in when the event directly correlates with the pair you traded. Trading EUR/USD during USD news triggers it; trading EUR/USD during unrelated CNY news does not. It applies to funded Stellar 1-Step, 2-Step, and Lite accounts, and the challenge phase is unrestricted. Stellar Instant uses the same 40% split but adds a 1% equity buffer on its trailing maximum loss, which protects the account from a news-adjustment breach up to three times.
FundedNext Payouts: Performance Rewards
FundedNext calls each payout a Performance Reward. It's the term you'll see on your dashboard and in the scaling rules below, and it just means the profit share you withdraw at the end of a trading cycle.
Requesting one works the same way across models. Once you close a trading cycle in profit, you submit a Payout Request from your account dashboard. FundedNext processes it within 24 hours, and you have to complete KYC verification before your first withdrawal.
There's no cap on how many times you withdraw, and the minimum for any single payout is $20; anything below that carries forward to your next cycle. You can request a payout as often as your reward cycle allows, bi-weekly or monthly depending on the model, and because a funded account doesn't expire or require requalifying, you can keep taking payouts from it for as long as you trade it profitably without breaching. FundedNext markets this as the Lifetime Reward.
Stellar Instant adds one step: you first move your profit into your FundedNext wallet, then request the payout from there. Because Instant uses a trailing maximum loss, withdrawing all of it can pull your balance down to that limit and breach the account, so take partial withdrawals to leave a buffer; the rest carries into your next cycle.
Scaling: FundedNext Pro and Stellar Instant Tiers
Once you're funded, two things can scale: the size of your account and the share of profit you keep. Your reward share rises from 80% up to 95% on the 2-Step, 1-Step, and Lite, and from 70% up to 80% on Instant.
FundedNext Pro (2-Step, 1-Step, and Lite)
Scaling on the challenge models runs through FundedNext Pro, a status you earn rather than something switched on the day you're funded. To qualify, you need to:
Receive 4 Performance Rewards
Grow the account at least 4% in each of those qualifying cycles
Stay active for at least 2 months
Your balance holds steady while you work toward that. Reaching FundedNext Pro is what triggers your first scaling: your balance jumps 25%, so a $100,000 account becomes $125,000. Your reward share rises to 90% at the same time, and on the 1-Step and 2-Step you also collect a one-time bonus payout worth 15% of your challenge profit (not available to US clients). From there, each qualifying cycle adds another 25%. A cycle that grows less than 4% doesn't count, but it doesn't set you back either; you keep going until four do. The reward share can climb one more step, to 95%, with the paid Lifetime Reward add-on, and the balance keeps compounding to a ceiling of $4 million.
The $4 million ceiling is how far a single account's balance can grow through scaling. That's separate from your allocation cap, which limits the funded capital you buy: across all your Stellar 1-Step, 2-Step, and Lite accounts, your combined account size can't exceed $300,000, and that's also the ceiling when you merge accounts.
FundedNext Pro also comes with extras: a free 100K Stellar Lite Challenge account and a Pro Trader designation.
Stellar Instant Tiers
Stellar Instant scales on its own tier system, with no time requirement and no qualifying cycles. To move up a tier you need two things: your cumulative withdrawals in the current tier have to reach at least 10% of that tier's starting balance, and you need at least one withdrawal in the tier. Meet both and you tier up.
Each tier-up adds your original account size to the balance, so the steps are flat rather than a percentage. On a $20,000 account, Tier 1 is $20,000, Tier 2 is $40,000, Tier 3 is $60,000, and so on. Your maximum loss limit rises with each tier as well.
Your reward share climbs alongside the tiers: 70% in Tiers 1 and 2, then 80% from Tier 3 onward, where it stays. You can scale to 10 times your initial balance this way, and past that you may be eligible to keep growing the balance up to $2 million.
Rules for Every Account
Beyond the numbers, several rules govern trading behavior across all Stellar accounts. Breaking some of these fails your challenge; breaking others can get you permanently banned.
Weekend and Overnight Holding
You can hold trades overnight and over the weekend on every Stellar model, in both the challenge and funded phases. There's no forced-flat rule at any stage. Swap charges apply to positions held overnight or over the weekend and count toward your loss calculation, so mind the triple-swap days: forex and commodities are charged three times on Wednesdays, indices and crypto three times on Fridays.
Copy Trading
During the challenge phase, copy trading is allowed between Challenge Accounts you own, with a combined cap of $300,000 and a single master account. Once any of your accounts becomes a funded FundedNext Account, copy trading between it and any other account is prohibited, and merging accounts is the sanctioned alternative. Copy trading between accounts owned by different people is never allowed.
EAs and Automated Trading
FundedNext allows Expert Advisors, indicators, and bots on MT4 and MT5 only, and an EA usage fee applies. cTrader and Match-Trader are manual only: no automated or algorithmic trading, and only built-in indicators. Even tools that just modify stop-loss, take-profit, or lot size without placing trades count as EAs, and EAs that run through Telegram or WhatsApp are banned.
You have to customize an EA's settings to your own strategy, you can't run the same setup across multiple accounts, and a single EA or strategy can be allocated no more than $300,000. FundedNext also keeps a named list of banned EAs, including Prop Pilot EA, PropEA Fxblood Capital, Gold OneShot EA MT5, Forex Flex EA, and X Pass Bot. On free or bonus accounts, EA and VPS add-ons aren't included by default; you add them by paying the usage fee. For the full policy, see FundedNext's EA policy.
Strategy Consistency
FundedNext expects the same trading strategy across your challenge and funded phases. You can't switch from manual trading to an EA or the reverse after passing, and you can't significantly change your asset classes or margin usage between phases.
Prohibited Strategies
FundedNext bans a long list of exploitative and high-risk strategies. These include gambling behavior like excessive margin usage and overleveraging, high-frequency trading, tick scalping, grid trading, arbitrage, latency trading, one-sided betting, account rolling, "All in One" trading, and exploiting demo-server errors or low-liquidity conditions. Cross-account hedging and group hedging are also out. Using pass-your-challenge services, signal services, or sharing your account or device with others results in a permanent ban.
A few named behaviors are worth calling out specifically:
Quick Strike Method: trades closed within 30 seconds of opening. If 30% or more of your profit comes from them, it counts as a violation.
Market Settlement Trading: profiting disproportionately during the low-liquidity settlement window between 00:00 and 02:00 server time.
Hyperactivity: 200 or more trades, or 2,000 or more server messages in a single day, counting stop-loss, take-profit, and order modifications.
Inactivity and KYC
A challenge account is flagged inactive after 60 consecutive calendar days with no trades, weekends and holidays included. You get a warning email and 24 hours to place a trade before the account is deactivated. Separately, you have to complete KYC verification within 30 days of passing a challenge, or the passed account is invalidated.
Bottom Line
FundedNext's rules shift a lot across the four Stellar CFD models, so the right choice starts with matching the loss limits and payout structure to how you actually trade. The 1-Step gives you fewer trading days and the fastest payouts in exchange for tighter drawdown. The 2-Step gives you more room. Lite is the lower-cost route with easier targets. Instant drops the evaluation altogether, at the cost of a lower starting split and smaller account sizes. Whichever model you pick, read the rules for your specific plan on FundedNext's official help center before you place your first trade.
By Team Tanto · Last updated: July 11, 2026