Time limits
Neither firm forces you to rush your evaluation with a maximum deadline, but they both impose rules that prevent you from walking away from the screen for too long. At Atlas Funded, you cannot leave your account inactive for more than 30 days, or it will be closed. Furthermore, you are not allowed to pass instantly; you must trade for at least 3 days in the evaluation phases and up to 5 days in funded cycles before being eligible for a payout.
Sure Leverage Funding also restricts your inactivity to a 30-day window. While some of their newer plans, like Instant Funding Zero, have removed the minimum trading day requirement, most of their standard programs still prevent immediate withdrawals, forcing you to wait for specific cycles. These rules ensure you cannot simply "set and forget" a winning position; you are pressured to remain active even when the market offers no clear opportunities.
Weekends and news
Trading freedom is heavily restricted during high-impact events. At Atlas Funded, you are prohibited from realizing profits during news: any gain from trades opened or closed within 5 minutes of a high-impact announcement on a funded account will be deducted. While you can hold positions over the weekend, you are limited by the "Atlas Protector," which closes your positions and slashes your profit split to 50% if you hit a 2% floating loss.
Sure Leverage Funding is even more restrictive for new traders. For accounts purchased after September 2026, you cannot trade red-folder news within a 5-minute window before or after the event. Unlike Atlas, where this is a standard rule, Sure Leverage forces you to pay an extra fee (add-on) at checkout if you want to remove this restriction on specific plans. Failing to pay for the "freedom" to trade news means seeing your profits voided.
Where you can trade from
Geography and privacy are significant hurdles. Atlas Funded does not allow you to use a VPN to conceal your identity or location; if you trade from a location inconsistent with your registration without prior notice, you risk account termination.
Sure Leverage Funding is much more rigid. They explicitly prohibit VPN usage. Furthermore, they maintain a long list of banned countries, including Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Pakistan, among others. Even if your country isn't banned, you might face "Regional Funding Limits": traders in Malaysia and Vietnam are restricted from accessing more than $50,000 in total funding, regardless of their talent or results.
What the platform limits
Technical choices and trading styles are confined by strict boundaries. At neither firm will you be able to use the industry-standard MetaTrader 4. Atlas Funded limits your strategy by banning stacking and martingale. If you are a scalper, you are heavily penalized: any profit from trades held for less than 3 minutes on a funded account is confiscated.
Sure Leverage Funding imposes a massive restriction on automation: EAs (Expert Advisors) are generally prohibited on funded accounts. You can only use them during the evaluation phase of specific "EA Challenges," but once you reach the funded stage, you are forced to trade manually. Their scalping rule is slightly shorter but still restrictive, prohibiting "tick scalping" and trades under 2 minutes. Additionally, you cannot copy trades from external accounts or other traders.
What the rules cost you
The financial burden is not just the entry fee, but the barriers to actually receiving your money. At Atlas Funded, a $100,000 2-step account costs $443. However, your "buffer" is limited; if you are on an Instant or Access plan, you are restricted by a trailing drawdown that follows your equity, meaning your margin for error shrinks as your account grows.
Sure Leverage Funding adds a direct cost to your success: they charge a 2% payout fee (or a $10 minimum) on every withdrawal. Their $100,000 2-phase account is cheaper at $359, but they impose a "Profit Consistency Rule" that prevents you from earning more than 15% to 50% of your total profit in a single day. This means if you have one exceptionally good day, the firm will not let you withdraw the full amount, forcing you to continue trading and risking your capital to "balance" your statistics.
Restrictions that add up
The combined effect of these rules creates a narrow path for the trader. At Atlas Funded, the 3-minute scalping floor combined with the 2% floating loss trigger (Atlas Protector) makes it almost impossible to trade high volatility or fast-moving markets without the risk of losing half your profit split or having gains deducted.
At Sure Leverage Funding, the ban on EAs for funded accounts, the 2% withdrawal fee, and the strict consistency rules create a environment where you are punished for being "too fast" or "too successful" in a single session. You are forced into a manual, slow-paced trading style while the firm keeps a percentage of your earnings just for the privilege of processing the payment.
Frequently asked questions
Which firm is cheaper for a $100,000 challenge, Atlas Funded or Sure Leverage Funding?
Sure Leverage Funding is more affordable for a standard evaluation, with its $100,000 2-Phase account priced at $359. In contrast, Atlas Funded charges $443 for its $100,000 2-Step challenge. However, Sure Leverage Funding deducts a 2% fee from every payout, a cost that does not exist at Atlas Funded.
Which firm offers more freedom for EA users, Atlas Funded or Sure Leverage Funding?
Atlas Funded provides significantly more freedom, as it allows the use of Expert Advisors across its accounts. Sure Leverage Funding, on the other hand, generally prohibits EAs on all funded accounts; they are only permitted during the evaluation phase of the specific "EA Challenge," forcing traders to switch to manual trading once they are funded.
Who has the strictest scalping restrictions, Atlas Funded or Sure Leverage Funding?
Atlas Funded is stricter regarding trade duration, as it deducts profits from any trade held for less than 3 minutes on funded accounts. Sure Leverage Funding has a slightly more lenient window of 2 minutes, although it also explicitly prohibits "tick scalping" and high-frequency trading (HFT) across all its programs.
Which firm has more geographical restrictions, Atlas Funded or Sure Leverage Funding?
Sure Leverage Funding is much more restrictive, with a specific list of 12 banned jurisdictions (including Russia, Pakistan, and Algeria) and funding caps of $50,000 for residents of Malaysia and Vietnam. Atlas Funded does not publish a similarly restrictive list in its main data, though both firms restrict the use of VPNs to hide a trader's true location.





















