PipFarm Rules: Challenge, Instant, and Funded Accounts Explained
15 min read
PipFarm gives you a lot of choices when setting up a challenge, and that flexibility comes with a learning curve. Between three challenge formats, three trading modes, and multiple drawdown types, there's a lot to sort through before you pick a plan and start trading. This guide breaks down every PipFarm rule, from evaluation targets to payout mechanics, so you know exactly what you're signing up for.
PipFarm Challenge Rules and Evaluation Overview
PipFarm is a funded trader firm that offers remote traders simulated trading challenges on the cTrader platform. You pay a one-time fee to enter a PipFarm evaluation, hit the profit target without breaking any risk rules, and earn a simulated funded account. From there, you're rewarded with a percentage of the simulated profits based on your performance. PipFarm also runs an Experience Program that improves your trading conditions as you earn XP, which affects several of the rules covered below.
Challenge Formats
PipFarm offers three challenge formats: 1-Stage, 2-Stage, and Instant.
The 1-Stage challenge requires a 12% profit target. You choose between a 9% trailing drawdown or a 6% static drawdown. Account sizes range from 5K to 150K.
The 2-Stage challenge splits the profit target across two phases. The targets vary by mode (more on that below). All 2-Stage challenges use a 9% static drawdown only, with no trailing option. Account sizes range from 5K to 150K.
The Instant option skips the challenge entirely and gives you a funded account right away with its own set of rules. Account sizes range from 2.5K to 150K.
Both challenges share a few common features: 1:30 starting leverage for forex (variable by product), a 3% daily loss limit, a 365-day time limit per stage, and a 28-day inactivity rule.
Challenge Modes
Every 1-Stage and 2-Stage challenge also requires you to choose a mode. PipFarm offers three: Classic, Endurance, and Consistency. The mode you choose determines your sustainability standard for passing and qualifying for payouts. On 2-Stage challenges, it also determines your profit targets.
Classic Mode requires a minimum number of Trading Days. A Trading Day counts when you close at least one trade before the end of the trading day. For account sizes from 5K to 150K, you need 3 Trading Days. Classic uses Simple Scaling (4 payouts or 12% profit to scale).
Endurance Mode requires a minimum number of Profitable Days. A Profitable Day is a trading day where your closing balance is at least 0.5% of the initial account balance higher than the opening EOD reference. For 5K to 150K accounts, you need 3 Profitable Days. Endurance uses Smart Scaling (12% cumulative profit to scale).
Consistency Mode requires you to meet a Consistency Score threshold. PipFarm's Consistency Score is your best trading day's profit divided by your total profit, expressed as a percentage. A lower score is better. For 1-Stage challenges, the requirement is 30% or less. For 2-Stage challenges, it's 40% or less. Consistency uses Smart Scaling (12% cumulative profit to scale).
These sustainability requirements apply both to passing the challenge and to qualifying for payouts once funded.
Challenge Modes at a Glance
Unlike the 1-Stage challenge where every mode shares the same 12% target, the 2-Stage profit targets change depending on which mode you choose. Consistency mode has the lowest targets, while Classic has the highest. Here's how the three modes compare across both challenge formats:
Feature | Classic | Endurance | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|
Sustainability Standard | 3 Trading Days | 3 Profitable Days (0.5%) | Consistency Score (30% 1-Stage / 40% 2-Stage) |
Scaling Type | Simple (4 payouts or 12%) | Smart (12% cumulative) | Smart (12% cumulative) |
1-Stage Profit Target | 12% | 12% | 12% |
2-Stage Profit Targets | 9% / 6% | 8% / 5% | 6% / 6% |
PipFarm Drawdown and Daily Loss Rules
PipFarm's drawdown rules are the hard limits that will end your challenge or funded account if breached. The daily loss limit applies to all 1-Stage and 2-Stage challenges and their funded accounts. Instant accounts do not have a daily loss rule. The type of drawdown (static or trailing) depends on the format and options you selected at purchase. Understanding how each one is calculated matters more than knowing the percentage.
Daily Loss Limit
The daily loss limit is 3% of your previous EOD reference, which is defined as the higher of your previous end-of-day balance or end-of-day equity. A new trading day begins at 22:00 GMT during standard time (21:00 GMT during US Daylight Savings).
If your current equity falls below the daily loss limit at any point during the day, your positions are liquidated and your account is breached. The limit recalculates each day based on the new EOD reference, so if your balance grows, the dollar amount of your daily loss allowance grows with it.
This also means you need to be careful when carrying positions overnight. If your balance increased during the previous day, carrying an unprofitable position into the new day can put you closer to the limit than you expect.
Static Drawdown (1-Stage and 2-Stage)
The static drawdown is a fixed percentage of your starting balance that never changes. For 1-Stage challenges, it's 6%. For 2-Stage challenges, it's 9%. If your equity falls below the static limit at any point, your account is breached.
Because it's fixed, your risk buffer stays the same whether you're up 10% or down 2%.
Trailing Drawdown (1-Stage Only)
PipFarm's trailing drawdown is 9% of your high watermark balance. The high watermark is the highest value your account balance has reached through closed positions. It does not track floating equity from open positions.
Each time your balance sets a new high, the trailing floor moves up with it. It never moves down. If your equity falls below the trailing floor, your account is breached.
On funded trailing accounts, when you receive a payout, the withdrawn amount is deducted from the high watermark. This ensures payouts aren't treated as losses.
Tools like Tanto auto-sync your trades from cTrader so you can track your daily loss usage and drawdown buffer without manual logging.
PipFarm Instant Funding Rules
Instant accounts skip the challenge and give you a funded account immediately. They operate under a different set of rules than challenge-based funded accounts.
Three Drawdown Types
You choose one of three drawdown models when purchasing an Instant account:
Equity Trailing (6%) tracks your real-time equity high watermark. The strictest option, since your drawdown floor moves up with every equity peak, including floating profits. Resets after payout.
EOD Trailing (4%) tracks the higher of your balance or equity at end-of-day. Updates once daily, so intraday swings don't move the floor. Resets after payout.
Payout Trailing (6%) only adjusts when you take a payout. Each withdrawal permanently reduces your available drawdown by the trader's share, dollar for dollar.
Instant Account Rules
All three variants share these rules: no daily loss rule, a 2% Pip Protector (if unrealized losses hit 2%, positions are closed automatically, but the account isn't terminated), a 6% payout target, a 25% Daily Consistency Score, 5 Winning Days per payout cycle, a 7-day payout interval, and a 90-day time limit that resets after each payout.
A Winning Day requires both: at least +0.25% profit from the start-of-day balance, AND the end-of-day balance must be above the account's initial starting balance.
The payout cap starts at 3% and increases by 1% per payout, up to 6%.
The funded account rules below, including the Experience Program, scaling, payout mechanics, and prohibited trading practices, also apply to Instant accounts.
PipFarm Funded Rules: What Changes
Once you pass a challenge, your drawdown type, daily loss limit, and mode requirements carry over to your funded account. The main differences: the Pip Protector activates, scaling begins, payouts become available, and there's no longer a maximum time limit (just the 28-day inactivity rule). Your profit split starts at 70% and increases as you rank up in the Experience Program. If you chose trailing drawdown, the high watermark also adjusts after each withdrawal so payouts aren't counted as losses.
PipFarm Pip Protector: Funded Account Risk Limits
The Pip Protector is PipFarm's risk management system for all funded accounts. It caps your losses on funded accounts and enforces escalating consequences for repeated breaches.
The system is built around Risk Windows. A Risk Window opens when you enter your first position and only resets after you've been completely flat for 60 continuous minutes. Within each Risk Window, your losses are measured against your Max Risk Reference Balance, which is your account balance when you opened the first position. This reference operates as a high watermark: if you close a profitable trade that pushes your balance higher within the window, the reference rises with it.
Your Max Risk Limit is 2% of your starting balance per Risk Window. If your combined realized and unrealized losses hit that limit, all positions close automatically and a Strike is recorded. After Strike 1, the limit drops to 1%. After Strike 2, it drops to 0.5% and your profit share is permanently cut in half. Strike 3 is a hard breach: the account is terminated and profits are forfeited.
Strikes are permanent for the lifetime of the funded account. The Pip Protector does not apply during challenges.
PipFarm's Experience Program
PipFarm enrolls every trader in its Experience Program automatically. While you start earning XP from your first purchase, the rank benefits kick in once you're funded. You earn Experience Points (XP) by hitting milestones like starting challenges, passing them, receiving payouts, and scaling your account. You can also earn XP by completing one-time quests.
As your XP accumulates, your Rank increases and your trading conditions improve. Higher ranks unlock better profit splits, larger scaling increments, reduced commissions, more leverage, and increased drawdown allowances.
Here's what each Rank unlocks:
Rank | XP | Profit Share | Scaling Increment | Daily Loss | Max Loss | Leverage | Commission | Gift | Lifetime Discount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 0 | 70% | 10% | 3% | +0% | 1:30 | $6 | $0 | 0% |
1 | 10 | 75% | 10% | 3% | +0% | 1:30 | $6 | $25 | 1% |
2 | 25 | 80% | 20% | 3% | +1% | 1:30 | $3 | $50 | 2% |
3 | 50 | 85% | 30% | 3% | +1% | 1:50 | $3 | $100 | 3% |
4 | 100 | 90% | 40% | 4% | +1% | 1:50 | $1 | $150 | 4% |
5 | 200 | 95% | 50% | 4% | +1% | 1:50 | $1 | $250 | 5% |
6 | 300 | 99% | 60% | 4% | +1% | 1:50 | $0 | $500 | 6% |
XP never expires and cannot be transferred. Consistency Mode earns double XP on most milestones. PipFarm also offers one-time-use power-ups that provide perks like drawdown protection, challenge restarts, and profit boosts. Check the PipFarm power-ups guide for the full list.
Scaling Your PipFarm Account
PipFarm lets you grow your funded account by scaling. Each time you hit the scaling target, your account closes and you receive a new one with a larger balance. You can scale up to 8 times, and the absolute maximum balance is $1,500,000.
The size of each increase is based on your current rank in the Experience Program at the time of the scale. At Rank 0, each scale adds 10% of your initial balance. At Rank 3, it adds 30%. If you rank up between scales, your next scale uses the new increment. For example, a $100,000 account that scales at Rank 1 would grow to $110,000. If that same account scales again at Rank 2, it would grow to $130,000 (adding 20% of the original $100,000).
The new balance after scaling is calculated as: Previous Balance + (Initial Balance x Scaling Increment).
Smart Scaling (Endurance, Consistency, and Instant)
Smart Scaling triggers when your cumulative profit reaches 12% of your initial balance. The key word is cumulative: previous withdrawals count toward the target. If you started with $100,000 and already withdrew $5,000, you only need another $7,000 in account equity to trigger the scale.
When the target is hit, your positions close and you receive a new account with increased capital. You don't forfeit any profit. If you hadn't completed your payout requirements (profitable days, consistency score) before scaling, the remaining requirement carries over to the new account. Any Pip Protector strikes also carry over to the new scaled account.
Simple Scaling (Classic)
Simple Scaling triggers when you either receive 4 payouts from your funded account or reach the 12% profit target. There is no time interval requirement.
PipFarm Payout Rules and Profit Split
How Payouts Work
Payouts follow a request, review, receive process. You submit a request from your dashboard once your payout interval has elapsed and all requirements are met. Requests are reviewed within 2 business days, and trading must be paused during the review. If approved, funds are processed and paid within another 2 business days. If rejected, no funds are withdrawn, your account metrics stay the same, and your payout interval restarts. You'll need to complete identity verification (KYC) before your first payout can be processed.
Payout Intervals
Each funded account has a default payout interval of 30 calendar days. Instant accounts default to a 7-day interval. You can upgrade to bi-weekly (14 days) or weekly (7 days) as add-ons when purchasing a challenge.
Regardless of the account-level interval, you can only receive one payout every 7 calendar days across all your funded accounts. The 7-day count starts when your most recent payout request is resolved.
Minimum Payout Thresholds
The minimum amount you can request depends on your mode:
Mode | Minimum Payout (before profit split) |
|---|---|
Consistency | 1% of starting balance |
Endurance | 2% of starting balance |
Classic | 3% of starting balance |
Instant | 6% of starting balance |
Profit Split by Rank
Your PipFarm profit split is determined by your Rank in the Experience Program. Every trader starts at Rank 0 with a 70% split, increasing by 5% per rank up to 99% at Rank 6. See the Experience Program table above for the full breakdown.
Payout Cap
Payouts are capped at 5,000 (USD/GBP/EUR) gross per payout. If your Consistency Score is 30% or lower, the cap is removed and you receive your full payout. Any amount above the cap stays in your account for future payouts.
Instant accounts have a hard 5,000 cap with no consistency score exemption. Instant accounts also use a progressive cap that starts at 3% of your account balance and increases by 1% per payout, up to a maximum of 6%.
Regardless of mode, the minimum payout that can be processed is $50.
How Withdrawals Interact with Drawdown
For static drawdown accounts, withdrawals don't affect the drawdown level at all since it's based on your starting balance.
For trailing drawdown accounts (1-Stage), the high watermark and previous EOD reference are adjusted downward by the payout amount. For example, if your high watermark is $110,000 and you withdraw $5,000, the high watermark and previous EOD reference both adjust to $105,000. Your trailing floor becomes $95,550 (9% below $105,000), and your daily loss limit becomes $101,850 (3% below $105,000).
Breach with Profit
If you breach your funded account (hitting the daily loss or max loss limit) while still in profit, you don't automatically lose that profit. As long as you've met the sustainability requirements (minimum days, consistency score) and the profit meets the minimum payout threshold, you can still receive a payout. If the profit is below the 1% minimum, it may be offered as a voucher for future challenges.
PipFarm Prohibited Trading Practices
PipFarm prohibits the following:
High-frequency trading (HFT). Automated strategies that rapidly place and close many orders in short periods. Manual scalping, swing trading, and intraday strategies are all allowed.
Gap trading (soft breach). If your position profits from a price gap larger than 0.2%, the profit from the gap is deducted. Profit earned before and after the gap is kept. This applies to both challenge and funded accounts.
Hedging between accounts. Hedging within a single account is allowed. Hedging the same or correlated instruments across multiple accounts is prohibited, including across PipFarm accounts, other prop firms, and personal broker accounts. This results in immediate disqualification. PipFarm calculates margin on hedged positions by combining both sides.
Account passing services. Your account must be traded by you with your own strategy. Account management, passing services, group trading, signal-following, and shared commercial bots are all prohibited.
Manipulating program rules. Using partial closes, hedging, or other techniques to artificially meet Profitable Day, Consistency Score, or drawdown metrics without genuine trading intent.
Toxic trading behavior. Not a hard rule, but PipFarm flags accounts showing patterns like account churning, repeatedly maxing out daily loss on single ideas, or regularly placing large positions before news events. Flagged accounts may face probation measures.
Consequences for prohibited trading practices range from profit removal and account resets to full disqualification and restriction from future purchases, depending on the severity.
Trading Rules That Apply to All PipFarm Accounts
News trading is allowed with no restrictions on when you can trade around events. The gap trading policy still applies, so profits from gaps larger than 0.2% will be deducted.
Overnight and weekend holding is allowed, including crypto on weekends. Rollover fees (swaps) apply at 22:00 GMT (21:00 GMT during DST).
Automated trading is allowed via cTrader Automate, Plugins, trade copiers, and Open API. HFT strategies are the exception.
Copy trading is allowed between your own accounts, including between your PipFarm challenge and funded accounts, other prop firms, or brokers. Copying another trader's trades is prohibited.
Inactivity: Close at least one trade every 28 calendar days. Challenges must be completed within 365 days per stage. Funded accounts have no time limit.
Maximum allocation: Up to 5 challenge-funded accounts with a combined 300,000 initial balance. Instant accounts have a separate limit: up to 3 accounts, also 300,000. Scaling balance is exempt from both limits. Only one person per household can participate unless otherwise agreed with PipFarm. If you exceed the limit by passing an additional challenge, PipFarm will refund the fee for the most recent account but let you keep your existing funded accounts.
Account merging: Two funded accounts of the same mode can be merged into one. Drawdown type doesn't need to match, but the mode does. Instant accounts cannot be merged.
Platform: cTrader only. Market data from TopFX.
Bottom Line
PipFarm packs a lot of flexibility into its challenge structure. The three modes let you pick the sustainability standard that matches how you actually trade, and the scaling program is one of the more generous in the prop firm space. The tradeoff is complexity: between modes, drawdown types, and the Pip Protector system, there's more to understand before you start than with simpler firms. Read the PipFarm help center before purchasing, and make sure you understand which rules apply to your specific challenge format and mode.
Last updated: April 12, 2026