Two-Step Evaluation
A challenge with two phases — a profit target, then a verification phase — that usually rewards you with cheaper fees and gentler rules.
A two-step evaluation splits the audition into two phases. Phase 1 is the challenge: hit a profit target. Phase 2 is verification: hit a smaller target, proving the first result wasn’t a lucky week. Clear both and you’re funded.
It sounds like more work, and it is — but firms usually pay you for that patience with a lower fee, a wider drawdown, or a more forgiving daily loss limit. If you’re a steady, methodical trader, that extra room can be worth far more than the extra phase costs you in time.
A representative structure:
| Phase | Profit target | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 — Challenge | 8% ($4,000 on $50K) | However long you need |
| Phase 2 — Verification | 5% ($2,500 on $50K) | However long you need |
| Total to funding | $6,500 | — |
The verification target is deliberately smaller. The firm isn’t asking you to repeat a heroic month — it’s asking you to show the same process works twice.
Compare that to a one-step with a $3,000 target. The two-step demands more total profit, so it takes longer. But if its drawdown is $4,000 instead of $2,500, you get $1,500 more room to be wrong along the way. Which structure is better depends entirely on you: a fast, aggressive trader wants the one-step; a slow, high-win-rate trader often survives better on the two-step.
Two-step models are more common in the forex/CFD world than in US futures, where one-step dominates. Compare both models side by side in our prop firm directory, or start with Prop Firm Challenges Explained.