AquaFunded: Information and detailed review

What AquaFunded actually offers

AquaFunded was established in 2023. Its site is operated by Aqua Funded FZCO in Dubai, while the terms identify AquaFunded LTD in Saint Lucia as the provider of the advertised simulated-trading services. Traders use virtual capital and market prices supplied by liquidity providers, while eligible rewards are paid in real money after the firm reviews the account. It is not a broker, does not take client deposits and does not execute these accounts directly in the live market. That distinction matters because several restrictions are specifically designed to stop strategies that can exploit a demo environment.

The range is unusually broad. Traders can choose Instant Standard or Instant Pro, one-step Standard, Pro or Flex, two-step Standard, Pro or Elite, or a three-step evaluation. There are also small TryAqua accounts, the periodically released AquaMan challenge and a Pay After Pass offer. This variety is useful, but the labels alone do not tell the whole story: the models use different drawdown formulas, qualifying-day requirements and funded-account risk controls.

Choosing between the evaluation routes

One-step models

One Step Standard and One Step Pro both use a trailing maximum-loss threshold, but they are not interchangeable. Standard requires three qualifying days and its limit follows the highest balance or equity. Pro requires five qualifying days, adds a funded-stage consistency rule and describes the trailing threshold as locking at the initial balance after enough profit has been made. A qualifying day must produce at least 0.5% of the initial balance; days do not need to be consecutive.

One Step Flex takes the opposite approach for its overall loss limit. Purchases made from 31 August 2026 receive a 12% static maximum drawdown, while older accounts retain 10%. Its daily limit still resets from the higher of balance or equity. There is no minimum-day requirement in the evaluation, but the funded stage requires three qualifying days before the first reward. Its funded risk control is also stricter and uses a separate three-strike system at 1% floating loss.

Two-step and three-step models

Two Step Standard uses a static overall loss floor and requires three qualifying days in each evaluation phase. Two Step Elite is also static, with its own daily-loss allowance and the same three-day requirement. Despite the name, the current Elite account article describes the standard bi-weekly reward cycle; traders should not assume that “Elite” means weekly withdrawals.

Two Step Pro uses a trailing maximum-loss threshold. There are no minimum trading days during evaluation, but the funded stage requires three 0.5% qualifying days. Its funded consistency rule changed on 31 August 2026: newer purchases use 50%, while earlier accounts keep the previous 25% rule. Exceeding consistency does not breach the account; it postpones the reward until total profit dilutes the best day below the applicable percentage.

The Three Step model spreads the assessment across three equal targets and uses a static overall floor. Its daily loss level is recalculated at 00:00 UTC from the higher of balance or equity, but the amount subtracted is based on the initial balance. It has no minimum number of evaluation days. This route reduces the target pressure per phase, at the cost of completing three separate stages.

Across every route, exceeding a hard loss limit closes the account and removes its progress. There is no retry from the failed phase: continuing requires a new purchase. AquaFunded also warns that some violations are identified only during the risk team's manual review, so a dashboard that has not yet flagged a breach is not final confirmation that the account passed.

Instant and limited-release accounts

Instant Standard and Instant Pro

Instant Standard was materially redesigned on 8 September 2026. The current version has a daily threshold fixed at each 00:00 UTC reset and a trailing maximum-loss limit that moves up only when the higher end-of-day balance or equity creates a new high. Its 15% consistency rule is a payout condition, not a breach. Five qualifying days are required before a reward.

The new Standard also replaced the old immediate floating-loss closure with a progressive policy at 1% combined floating PnL: the first violation reduces the reward split to 50%, the second to 25%, and the third permanently breaches the account. Accounts bought before 8 September remain under the legacy Standard rules, including a different drawdown structure, 20% consistency and the previous floating-risk policy.

Instant Pro provides more overall drawdown room, but measures its trailing limit from the highest equity, including floating PnL. Its normal consistency threshold is 15%; purchases from 8 September 2026 temporarily receive 20%. The account is permanently closed if combined floating PnL falls below 2% of starting balance. On 300K and 400K Pro accounts, that threshold tightens to 1%. Five 0.5% qualifying days are required, and neither exceeding consistency nor waiting to complete those days is itself a breach.

AquaMan, TryAqua and Pay After Pass

AquaMan is a limited release offered on two randomly selected weekends per month rather than a permanently available model. It is a short one-step evaluation with a trailing overall threshold that stops moving once it reaches the initial balance. In the funded stage it has 15% consistency, five qualifying days and the same 2% floating-loss closure used by Instant Pro, tightened to 1% on 300K and 400K accounts.

TryAqua is a trial product, not a normal long-term funded account. The $1 version starts with 1K and the $10 version with 5K; each expires 30 days after the first trade, permits only one account per user and closes after total withdrawals reach $100. Both impose five qualifying days, 15% consistency, a trailing loss limit and an immediate breach at 2% floating loss. These constraints matter more than the low purchase price.

Pay After Pass starts with a $5 payment and charges the remaining fee only after the evaluation is passed. For accounts created from 4 August 2026, the funded stage adds a daily loss limit, 15% consistency and five qualifying days. Its 1% floating-loss rule is a permanent breach, not a Wave Stop warning. It is therefore inexpensive to attempt but among the least forgiving products once funded.

How loss limits work

Daily reset and overall drawdown

Most daily limits reset at 00:00 UTC using the higher of balance or equity. A floating profit held through rollover can therefore lift the next day's floor, while a floating loss normally does not lower the reference below the balance. The exact amount deducted varies by model, and some plans calculate it from the initial balance while others apply the percentage to the reset value. Traders should record the dashboard limit after every rollover rather than treating “3%” or “5%” as a fixed dollar allowance.

Static drawdown remains anchored to the initial balance; trailing drawdown rises with a new balance or equity high and does not fall again when the account retraces. Some product pages state that the trail stops at the starting balance, while others allow it to continue above that level. This is the practical dividing line between AquaFunded products and should carry more weight than the number of evaluation steps.

Wave Stop and floating exposure

On most non-instant funded accounts, Wave Stop closes all open positions when combined floating loss reaches 2% of account balance. The trader may resume immediately, but the first trigger reduces the reward split to 50% and the second breaches the account. One Step Flex instead applies its product-specific 1% three-strike sequence. Instant products use their own maximum-loss-per-trade policies and should not be treated as receiving the general Wave Stop safety net.

All of these controls are separate from daily and maximum drawdown. Closing positions automatically does not guarantee that another limit was not crossed at the same time.

Trading freedom and prohibited behaviour

Allowed tools and styles

AquaFunded allows EAs when they form part of the trader's own strategy. Trade copiers may manage the trader's own AquaFunded accounts and personally owned external accounts, including copying between evaluation and funded accounts. Hedging is allowed inside the same account, martingale is permitted, a stop loss is not mandatory, and there is no stated maximum lot size. Positions may remain open overnight and over weekends, and crypto trading is available continuously.

Risk and conduct boundaries

That freedom is limited by an 80% available-margin ceiling on a single trade or position. Profits from a trade above that threshold can be removed, and repeated or serious violations can lead to a reset or breach. The firm also prohibits delayed-feed or delayed-chart trading, exploiting server freezes, tick scalping, HFT, reverse, latency or hedge arbitrage, arbitrage bots and emulators. Trades held for under two minutes may be classified as tick scalping, with funded-account profits removed.

The Terms of Service go further than the short help-centre list. They prohibit insider information, front-running, third-party or off-the-shelf strategies marketed to pass challenges, changing to a materially different strategy after passing, end-of-day equity-CFD gap exploitation and trading that puts the firm's broker relationships or regulatory position at risk. AquaFunded reserves broad discretion to review risk at any stage, terminate an account or deny a withdrawal for excessive single-trade or overlapping exposure. Ownership of or direct association with a competing prop firm is also grounds for termination.

The same terms contain binding individual arbitration and class-action waiver provisions, and state that contractual documents and correspondence are in English. They were last marked updated in March 2025, while the help centre contains later product-specific changes; both form part of the agreement, but dated product rules are the clearer source for current trading parameters.

Activity, platforms and access

Accounts have no general completion deadline, but at least one trade must be placed every 30 days from the first trade or the account is breached. TryAqua's separate 30-day expiry still applies. A platform can only be changed on an evaluation with a clean history and no trades on the new stage; an ongoing phase must first be passed, then support can be asked to make the change.

Geographic access has a second layer beyond the fully prohibited countries shown in the firm details. Traders in Thailand, Brazil, Bulgaria, Japan, Jordan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are restricted to Instant Funding and a maximum of 50K funded allocation per trader.

News trading and consistency

For accounts opened after 27 April 2026, trading high-impact news is allowed, but profit from trades opened or closed in the five minutes before or after a red-folder event is capped at 0.5% of starting balance per payout cycle. FOMC speeches and statements are included. Profit above the cap is removed without a breach. AquaFunded uses Forex Factory and Myfxbook to identify covered events.

Older funded accounts remain under the previous rule: opening or closing inside the same window is not allowed and all resulting profit can be removed. The account is not described as breached for that reason. Consistency rules work similarly as payout gates: when the best day is too large, the trader must continue until it falls below the model's threshold. The current product article takes precedence where it records a dated change, such as new Instant Standard, Instant Pro and Two Step Pro.

Rewards in practice

Eligibility, timing and methods

The default reward cycle begins 14 days after the first trade on the funded account. After an approved withdrawal, the next 14-day clock starts with the first new trade, not on the payment date. A request requires the balance to be above the initial balance, no rule violations, and all trades and pending orders to be closed. Traders may leave profit in the account or request part of it once the $100 minimum is met.

Crypto is available for requests below $5,000. Rise can process requests of at least $500 by bank transfer or crypto. The current policy applies a 3% processing fee to every payout. On accounts of 100K or larger, each of the first two rewards is capped at $10,000; the cap disappears afterward. This replaces the older fixed-fee and threshold information that still appeared in the previous overview.

The standard split is 90%, with a paid add-on for 100%. Evaluation products may add a first reward after seven days, while instant models may add a first reward on demand. These add-ons accelerate only the first request and do not remove qualifying-day, consistency or account-review requirements.

Guarantee and refunds

AquaFunded promises to process an approved reward within 24 business hours or add $1,000. The timer pauses outside its Dubai business week, from Monday 09:00 to Friday 17:00, and refers to AquaFunded's processing rather than the time the payment provider takes to deliver funds. An evaluation fee is refundable with the fourth payout, provided the account was not hard-breached before reaching it.

That later reimbursement does not make purchases cancellable: once credentials have been emailed, the refund policy treats the sale as final. It also requires traders to contact AquaFunded before raising a chargeback; a chargeback can suspend accounts and profit-split payments, and the policy claims recovery rights over previous payments and defence costs.

Allocation, scaling and Aqua Elite

Traders may run multiple evaluations. Eligible funded accounts can be merged up to 400K active allocation when both are at breakeven; Instant Funding accounts cannot be merged. The separate scaling plan requires 12% profit within three months while respecting all rules. Approval increases the account by 25% of its initial size, and the process can repeat up to 4 million.

Aqua Elite runs alongside scaling. Bronze requires three profitable funded months, three payouts from one account, at least $20,000 withdrawn and no failed funded account during those three months; benefits include a 25% balance increase and on-demand rewards. The published Silver article currently lists the same entry requirements, but offers a 50% increase, a $1,000 monthly salary, coaching and a 500K allocation. AquaFunded does not explain in its help centre how a trader moves from Bronze to Silver when their stated requirements are identical.

Gold requires nine profitable months, nine payouts from one account, at least $75,000 withdrawn, no failed funded account in that period and no violations. It advertises a 75% balance increase, a $3,000 monthly salary, dedicated support and an 800K allocation. The documents present that Elite allocation alongside the 4-million scaling ceiling without explaining exactly how the two limits interact, so traders should confirm their effective allocation before relying on both.

The separate Aqua Points programme awards one point per dollar spent plus points for dashboard tasks. Points can be redeemed for benefits including Instant Funded accounts. It is a purchase-loyalty scheme, distinct from performance-based scaling and Aqua Elite.

Who AquaFunded fits

AquaFunded best suits traders willing to choose a model by its drawdown mechanics rather than its headline price. Flex and the static multi-step routes offer more predictable overall floors; Instant and Pro routes suit traders who value speed but can keep combined floating exposure very small. The broad strategy permissions are a genuine advantage for discretionary and automated traders, but the margin ceiling, two-minute scrutiny, news-profit cap and model-specific funded rules mean it is not a rule-light environment.

The strongest long-term features are partial withdrawals, a high base split, scaling and a documented career programme. The main weakness is complexity: several rule sets coexist by purchase date, and AquaFunded's own general articles occasionally lag behind newer product pages. Saving the terms that apply on the purchase date and monitoring the dashboard's live drawdown levels are essential here.