The True Cost of a Funded Account: Resets, Activation and Attempts

$489 is the median list price for a $100K programme across 26 firms in our dataset, as of 13 September 2026. The range runs from $74 at Maven Trading Standard to $3,495 at IQ Capital Instant Funding, promo $699. List price is the least complete number on the page: four other charges sit behind it, and the largest variable, how many times you pay, appears nowhere.

The list price is one of five fees

The five are list price, promo price, reset, activation and ongoing funded fees. A reset restarts a failed evaluation for less than a new purchase; Topstep charges $99 ^[4]. An activation fee unlocks the funded account after you pass: Topstep Express Funded charges $149, Earn2Trade charges $139 and deducts it from your first withdrawal, and Take Profit Trader added a PRO activation fee on 6 September 2026 ^[6]. Ongoing fees continue after funding: Funded Futures Network charges $120 on activation plus $126 per month for data once funded, and IQ Capital disclosed a monthly funded fee on 6 September 2026 ^[5].

What a promo actually is

12 of 30 firms showed a promo price as of 13 September 2026, and across those rows the promo averaged 50 percent of list. The deepest cuts are Apex Standard at $100K, $399 list to $39.90, or 90 percent off ^[3], and IQ Capital Core at $100K, $475 to $95, or 80 percent off. IQ Capital confirmed on 31 August 2026 that $95 is its standing price ^[5], so $475 is a reference point, not a price. Hola Prime's prices were captured during a sitewide promotion on 6 September 2026 and may not hold. Other pairs at $100K include FTMO 2-Step at EUR 540 list and EUR 439 promo, and Goat Funded at $657 and $394. Current codes and the date each was checked sit on our prop firm deals page.

A promo matters twice. If your second attempt falls after the promo ends, it costs list. And a firm at $95 standing and a firm at $399 with a 90 percent discount cost you $95 and $39.90; the list prices tell you nothing about either.

Expected cost per funded account

The method: fee multiplied by attempts. Two firms in our dataset publish a pass rate and both are futures firms: Topstep reports 16.8 percent of Combines passed in 2025 ^[1], and Tradeify reports 17.2 percent of evaluations completed successfully between August 2025 and July 2026 ^[2]. Both figures are self-reported and unaudited. No CFD firm in our dataset publishes one.

If every attempt were an independent draw with a 17 percent chance of passing, the expected number of attempts to one pass would be 1 divided by 0.17, which is 5.9, or about 6. Applied to Apex Standard at $100K, 6 attempts at the $399 list price is $2,394 and 6 attempts at the $39.90 promo is $239.40. Applied to Topstep Combine at $100K, where the fee is $99 per month, 6 one-month attempts is $594 before any $99 resets. At the $489 median list price, the band runs from $489 for one attempt to $2,934 for six.

Attempts are not independent, and the arithmetic is an illustration, not a forecast. Your probability changes between attempts as you learn the rules or tire of them. Traders who fail once do not all try again. Prices and rules change: our changelog logged 18 pricing changes and 7 rule changes between 20 July and 6 September 2026. The same disclosures show the gap. Topstep reports 51.8 percent of participants passed at least once against 16.8 percent of Combines, and Tradeify reports 40.3 percent of participants advanced to Funded in at least one evaluation against 17.2 percent of evaluations. Participant rates run two to three times evaluation rates at both firms, which tells you that attempts repeat and that outcomes vary by person. It does not tell you your number.

The range is one attempt to about six, or $489 to $2,934 at the median list price, and your own position inside it is unknown. Passing is not being paid: 33.3 percent of funded participants at Topstep and 28.5 percent at Tradeify received a payout. Dividing again by those figures would stack two self-reported ratios with different denominators into a number that looks precise and is not, so we do not publish a cost per paid account.

Account size and the number of accounts

Price by size at list, across all rows in our dataset as of 13 September 2026: $25K, 17 firms, $84 to $250, median $158. $50K, 20 firms, $9 to $1,745, median $253. $100K, 26 firms, $74 to $3,495, median $489. $200K, 11 firms, $353 to $1,475, median $998.

Four $50K accounts at the median cost $1,012 against $998 for one $200K account, so on price alone the choice is close to neutral. The rules are not. Each account carries its own drawdown, so four accounts give you four loss limits and four ways to fail. Loss limits scale with the account: Apex sets a $3,000 trailing drawdown at $100K, Topstep sets a $3,000 max loss at $100K, and FundedNext sets 10 percent max loss and 5 percent daily at every size. Multiple accounts also multiply resets and activation fees, and they run into account caps: Apex allows up to 20 per trader, Take Profit Trader 5 on PRO and PRO+, and Funded Futures Network 10 in total with 5 funded and copy trading limited to 5. Most firms do not state a limit in structured form.

Subscriptions versus one-time

152 of 159 programme rows in our dataset carried a one-time fee as of 13 September 2026; 7 rows bill monthly, at Topstep Combine and TradeDay. Topstep Combine at $100K is $99 per month. Apex Standard at $100K is $399 one-time at list and $39.90 at promo. A subscription that runs three months costs $297 plus resets; a one-time fee costs the same whether you pass in a week or fail on the first day. The direction of travel is one-time. On 6 September 2026 MyFundedFutures ended subscriptions for its one-time plans, Bulenox dropped monthly billing for a one-time fee with 30-day access, and DNA Funded moved to a single one-time fee per size. Bulenox's 30-day access shows a one-time fee can still carry a clock.

Use the calculator

Our calculator at /costs takes the five fee types for a programme in the dataset and an attempt count of your choosing, and returns one outlay figure. It does not estimate your pass rate, because no published figure supports one.

What this means for you

Price the attempt, not the account. At $489 median list and a 17 percent disclosed pass rate, the outlay before your first funded account runs from $489 to about $2,934, and where you land depends on you.

Budget for the fees that appear after you pass. Activation fees of $139 to $149 and a $126 monthly data fee are costs a list-price comparison misses, and two of the four changelog entries classed as worse between 20 July and 6 September 2026 added fees of this kind.

Check the promo's status before you rely on it. A standing 80 percent discount is a price; a sitewide promotion is a date. Enter the one you will pay on your next attempt, not the one on the banner.

Data note

Figures marked "our dataset" come from the PropTraderCheck structured dataset as of 13 September 2026: 30 firms with structured programme data (of 37 tracked), 159 programme rows, 48 programmes. Regulatory positions are stated as of the date given and change.