The 5ers Rules Explained: A Trader's Complete Guide

8 min read

The 5ers rules vary by program, and mixing them up is one of the fastest ways to fail a challenge you were otherwise on track to pass. Whether you're comparing programs before signing up or already trading and need a reliable reference, this guide covers the key rules for all three CFD funding programs: Hyper Growth, High Stakes, and Bootcamp.

The 5ers Programs at a Glance

The5ers offers three CFD funding programs, each built around a different challenge structure and risk profile.

Hyper Growth

High Stakes

Bootcamp

Challenge steps

1

2

3

Account sizes

$5K, $10K, $20K

$2.5K–$100K

$20K, $100K, $250K

Leverage

1:30

1:100

1:30

Time limit

Unlimited

Unlimited

Unlimited

Profit split

Up to 100%

80–100%

Up to 100%

Scaling cap

$4M

$500K

$4M

None of the three programs impose a time limit, so you won't lose your account for taking too long. You do need to stay active: accounts without trading activity for more than 30 consecutive days are closed. All three programs run on cTrader or MT5 Hedge.

Hyper Growth Rules: The 1-Step Challenge

Hyper Growth is a single-step evaluation. Hit the profit target once and you move directly to funded trading. The same targets and limits apply at the funded stage.

Profit target: 10% (evaluation and funded)
Stop out level: 6% below the initial account balance. Hitting this terminates the account.
Daily pause: If your account drops 3% in a single day, trading is paused for that day. The pause lifts at 00:00 MT5 Server Time. It does not terminate your account.

The stop out and daily pause are the two loss limits to know here. There is no separate "maximum total loss" expressed as a percentage beyond the stop out — the 6% stop out is the hard floor.

Scaling and Profit Split

Your account doubles on every 10% profit target. Starting from $5K, the path runs through $10K, $20K, $40K, and so on up to $4M. The payout ratio starts at 50/50 and rises as your account grows:

Account Balance

Payout Ratio

$5K–$20K

50/50

$40K–$320K

75/25

$640K

80/20

$1.28M–$4M

80–100%

First payout is 14 days after receiving your funded account, then every two weeks. The 14-day cycle resets each time your account scales.

Trading Rules

  • Overnight and weekend holding allowed

  • News trading allowed; bracket strategies around high-impact news are not

  • No minimum number of trades or trading days required to complete the evaluation

  • Assets: FX, Metals, Indices, Crypto

  • Maximum evaluation capital per trader: $40,000 (e.g., two $20K accounts, or one $20K plus two $10K accounts)

High Stakes Rules: The 2-Step Challenge

High Stakes uses two evaluation phases before you reach the funded stage. The program carries higher leverage (1:100) and tighter drawdown rules than Hyper Growth.

A Classic version of the program exists alongside the current version, with slightly different step targets. The numbers below reflect the current (New) version shown on the program page.

Step 1 profit target: 10%
Step 2 profit target: 5%
Funded scaling target: 10% per step
Maximum daily loss: 5%, calculated from the higher of your starting balance or starting equity at MT5 Server Time midnight. If your balance is $105,000 but a floating loss puts your equity at $104,000, the daily limit is calculated from the $105,000 figure.
Maximum overall loss: 10% from the initial account balance (absolute drawdown). Reaching either limit terminates the account.

Minimum Profitable Days

High Stakes has a minimum profitable day requirement: 3 profitable days per phase, and 3 for each scaling step in the funded stage.

A profitable day is defined as one where closed positions generated a positive profit of at least 0.5% of the initial balance. The calculation: Minimum(Midnight Balance, Midnight Equity) minus Previous Day Balance.

In practice, small, consistent gains count. A day with open floating profit that doesn't close doesn't qualify.

Scaling and Profit Split

High Stakes scales at every 10% funded target, up to a maximum of $500,000. The profit split starts at 80/20 and increases at higher account sizes, reaching 100% plus fixed payouts at the top tiers. For example, at $350K–$450K the split is 100/0 plus a $4,000 fixed payout; at $500K it's 100/0 plus a $10,000 fixed payout.

First payout is 14 days after receiving a funded account, then every two weeks. The cycle resets with each new scaled account.

Trading Rules

  • Overnight and weekend holding allowed

  • Holding trades through news is allowed; executing any new order (market or pending) within 2 minutes before or after a high-impact news event is not

  • Inactivity rule: account expires after 30 consecutive days without trading, counted from registration day

  • Assets: FX, Metals, Indices, Oil, Crypto

  • Account limit per trader: one $2.5K account, one $5K account, one account at either $10K or $25K, and one at either $50K or $100K. These can be held alongside Bootcamp and Instant Funding accounts.

If you're tracking your High Stakes performance across phases, Tanto syncs directly with The5ers so your trade history, daily P&L, and drawdown are all in one place without manual logging.

Bootcamp Rules: The 3-Step Challenge

Bootcamp uses three evaluation phases. Each step trades on a progressively larger simulated balance before reaching the funded stage.

For the $20K funded track, the balance at each step is:

Stage

Balance

Profit Target

Max Loss

Step 1

$5,000

6%

5%

Step 2

$10,000

6%

5%

Step 3

$15,000

6%

5%

Funded

$20,000

5%

4%

The daily pause (3%) applies only at the funded stage, not during the evaluation phases.

Violations

Bootcamp uses a violation system. Any account that accumulates 5 violations is automatically terminated. Review the program's terms carefully for what constitutes a violation before you start trading.

Scaling and Profit Split

Bootcamp scales at every 5% funded target, up to $4M. The profit split starts at 50/50 and improves as the account grows:

Account Balance

Payout Ratio

Starting balance (any tier)

50/50

$25K–$1.5M

75/25

$2M

80/20

$2.5M–$4M

100/0

First payout is 14 days after receiving a funded account, then every two weeks. The cycle resets when a new scaled account is issued.

Trading Rules

  • A stop-loss is required on all positions and orders. It must be visible in the platform — stealth mode stop-losses are not permitted.

  • No single position may risk more than 2% of the account balance. Opening a position without a stop-loss, or with a stop-loss that risks more than 2%, counts as a risk violation.

  • News trading is allowed; bracket strategies around high-impact news are not

  • During the challenge stages, each level becomes accessible up to 48 hours after completing the previous one

  • Overnight and weekend holding allowed; holding indices over the weekend carries very high swaps

  • Maximum of 4 active accounts per trader: one $250K account, one $100K account, and two $20K accounts

  • Each account must use a different trading method

  • Accounts without activity for 30 consecutive days are closed

  • Any account with 5 violations is automatically terminated

  • Leverage: 1:30

  • Assets: FX, Metals, Indices

Rules That Apply Across All Three Programs

A few rules are consistent regardless of which program you're in.

Prohibited trading practices apply to evaluation and funded accounts equally. The5ers explicitly prohibits:

  • Arbitrage trading (including latency, reverse, and hedge arbitrage)

  • High-frequency trading

  • Bulk trading via automated tools opening multiple simultaneous trades

  • Bracket strategies around high-impact news

  • Exploiting platform errors or price display glitches

  • Trade coordination or copy trading with other traders

Expert Advisors (EAs): EAs are allowed, but those that perform any of the above practices are not. Tick scalping, HFT, arbitrage, and emulator-based EAs are explicitly banned. Any account using a prohibited EA will be cancelled without a refund.

Stop-loss visibility: Across all programs, stop-loss orders must be visible in the trading platform. Stealth mode stop-losses are not permitted.

The 5ers Scaling Plan: How Growth Works

The 5ers scaling plan is one of the firm's defining features. Rather than a fixed funded amount with periodic payouts, the model is built around doubling or growing the account balance at each target milestone.

Hyper Growth and High Stakes both scale at every 10% target. Bootcamp scales at every 5%. The starting profit split is lower at first (50/50 for Hyper Growth and Bootcamp, 80/20 for High Stakes), but rises substantially as the account grows. Reaching $500K on High Stakes, for example, brings a 100% split plus a $10,000 fixed payout on top.

The 5ers scaling plan means your earning potential increases with your track record, not just your starting account size. For Hyper Growth and High Stakes, the same loss limits that apply during the evaluation continue at every funded level. Bootcamp is the exception: the max loss tightens slightly at the funded stage, dropping from 5% during the challenge phases to 4% once funded.

Bottom Line

The 5ers rules are consistent within each program and don't change once you move from evaluation to funded. The main differences between programs come down to how many steps you need to pass, what leverage you're working with, and how the loss limits are structured. Hyper Growth keeps it simple with one target and a stop out floor. High Stakes adds a daily loss calculation and a minimum profitable days requirement. Bootcamp layers in a violation system and a three-phase evaluation. Know which set of rules applies to your account before your first trade, and check The5ers help center for the most up-to-date details.


Last updated: March 12, 2026