Which is better for your first challenge: Blue Guardian or Sure Leverage Funding?

Algaroud Center, 2nd Floor, Office 101-05, Dubai, UAE

Al Shohada Road 10055, Al Hamra Industrial Zone-FZ, 10055, Ras Al Khaimah, U.A.E.

Sean Bainton

Sebastian Ness

2021

2023

Historically, standard challenges were non-refundable. A newer rule states that evaluation fees purchased after January 9, 2026 are refundable on the 4th payout, while older purchases remain non-refundable.

• 1 Step Nano: up to weekly
• 2 Step Nano: bi-weekly
• Other products: 14 days

1 Step Evaluation and 2 Step

• Instant payout request once requirements are met.

Instant Funding Static

• Base schedule every 14 days.
• Promotional instant requests may apply.

Instant Funding Trailing and Buy Now, Pay Later

• Every 14 days.

EA Challenge

• First payout after 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks.

Futures Style

• Instant Funding: payout eligible after 5 days.
• 1 Step Pro Evaluation: payout eligible after 3 days.

Instant Funding Zero

• Every 14 days. No minimum trading-day requirement; meeting the buffer from a single trade does not make payout processing immediate.

Payouts processed within 24 business hours (Mon 9 AM – Fri 5 PM Dubai time). If they miss this window you automatically receive a 100% profit split on that payout (no Blue Guardian cut). Delays caused by compliance checks, risk reviews or pending KYC do not qualify.

Payouts are processed within 24 business hours or the trader receives an extra 10% on the profit split.

2 Step Nano: 2% of the initial balance per payout ($500 on $25K, $1,000 on $50K, $2,000 on $100K and $4,000 on $200K).

• Instant Funding Zero under the new terms announced on August 20, 2026: no payout cap.
• Other funded products: usually capped at 5% of the initial balance per payout cycle, depending on the program.

$100 in crypto, $500 via Rise (bank transfer). On 1 Step Standard and Instant accounts, once you reach 6% profit and the trailing drawdown locks at breakeven, a 1% buffer must remain in the account.

$100 minimum withdrawal. Lower withdrawals may be processed on request with fees deducted.

• Futures Style 1 Step Pro Evaluation: $250 / $500 / $750 / $1,000 minimum payout on $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K.

2% payout fee or a $10 minimum transaction fee per payout.

• Standard challenge accounts: 1:50
• Funded phase: 1:30
• EA Challenge during challenge phase: 1:100

• Evaluation: 20:1
• Funded: 10:1

Gold is included in the firm's general leverage framework.

• Evaluation: 20:1
• Funded: 10:1

• Evaluation: 20:1
• Funded: 10:1

Only the 1 Step Evaluation documents a free reset, available if the funded account is lost within 10 days. Futures Style Instant Funding and Futures Style 1 Step Pro Evaluation show reset availability; no reset fee is stated publicly. Other listed products do not include a free reset.

• +10% Profit Split (+15%)
• Weekly payout (+20%)
• +10% Profit Split + Weekly payout (+30%)
• News trading: Instant Funding Static and 1 Step
• Instant Funding Zero: remove daily drawdown (+30%), static maximum drawdown (+50%), or both (+80%). Percentages apply to the base account price.

• Instant, Guardian X, 1 Step Standard, 1 Step Nano, 2 Step Pro, Crypto: Trailing
• 1 Step Pro, 2 Step Standard, 2 Step Classic, 2 Step Nano, 3 Step: Static

• 1 Step Evaluation: 10% maximum drawdown, trailing on end-of-day (EOD) high-watermark.
• EA Challenge uses trailing high-watermark logic.
• 2 Step and Free Challenge use static maximum drawdown.
• Instant Funding Static uses static drawdown.
• Instant Funding Zero: trailing from the highest recorded equity by default, or static if selected at purchase. After payout, the balance resets to the starting balance; withdrawing all profit above the buffer can breach the trailing drawdown.
• Instant Funding Trailing and Buy Now, Pay Later funded phase use trailing high-watermark logic.
• Futures Style Instant Funding: EOD maximum-loss limit of $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,500 / $5,000 for $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K.
• Futures Style 1 Step Pro Evaluation: EOD maximum-loss limit of $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,500 for $25K / $50K / $100K / $150K.

• Existing 1, 2 and 3 Step programs: 85%
• 1 Step Nano and 2 Step Nano: up to 100%
• Instant: 80%
• Instant Starter: 90%
• With add-on: 90%

• 1 Step Evaluation: 90%
• 2 Step: 80%
• Instant Funding Static: scales from 50% to 80%
• Instant Funding Zero: 70% from the first payout
• Instant Funding Trailing: 80% from the first payout
• EA Challenge: scales from 50% to 80%
• Buy Now, Pay Later: 80%
• Futures Style Instant Funding: 90%
• Futures Style 1 Step Pro Evaluation: 90%
• Free Challenge funded outcome: 50%

A Free Challenge exists, but it still requires a small activation fee of $1 to $5 and converts into a $5,000 2 Step account if passed.

Based on highest value between balance and equity

Daily drawdown resets at 5 PM EST and is generally recalculated from the higher of balance or equity using the product's initial-balance loss allowance.

• Futures Style Instant Funding: no daily limit on $25K; $1,200 / $2,100 / $3,000 on $50K / $100K / $150K.

• Futures Style 1 Step Pro Evaluation: no daily limit on $25K; $1,200 / $1,800 / $2,700 on $50K / $100K / $150K.

• Instant Funding Zero: daily drawdown can be removed at purchase.

Same-type funded accounts can be merged up to $400,000 ($200,000 cap on Instant). Cross-merging different types (e.g. 2 Step Standard with 2 Step Pro) is NOT allowed. Both accounts must be at break-even (no profit, no loss) at merge time. Beyond the merge cap, the Scaling Plan can take total allocation up to $2,000,000. Guardian X and Instant accounts are NOT eligible for scaling.

No limit

No time limits are stated for the 1 Step and 2 Step evaluations. No broader firm-wide maximum duration rule was documented for the other active products reviewed.

1 Step Nano: no minimum during the evaluation; 5 days when funded.

Instant Funding Zero under the new terms announced on August 20, 2026: no minimum trading days.

• Instant, 2 Step Standard, Guardian X: 5 days with 0.5% profit or more
• 1 Step, 2 Step Classic, 3 Step, Crypto: 3 days with 0.5% profit or more
• 2 Step Classic: 4 days with 0.5% profit or more

Soft-breached profit is deducted at payout review. If deductions reduce profit to zero or below, the payout is denied and the account is reset.

EAs are generally prohibited, except on the EA Challenge where they are allowed only during the challenge phase and prohibited once funded.

Hedging is allowed within a single account. Hedging across multiple accounts (yours or others') is NOT allowed.

Minimum holding time of 2 minutes. Trades closed in under 2 minutes are flagged as tick scalping and count as a rule violation, whether closed manually or by automated systems. Average trade duration should stay above 1–2 minutes. Scalping itself is allowed as long as you stay above the 2-minute floor.

Scalping is not completely banned, but tick scalping is prohibited and trades should generally remain open for more than 2 minutes.

Manual copy trading is allowed ONLY between accounts legally owned by the same person (e.g. between your own Evaluation and Funded accounts, or between your Blue Guardian account and external accounts in your name). NOT allowed:

• Copying trades from other traders' accounts.
• Third-party copiers that involve accounts not legally yours.
• Having a third party manage your trades.

Instant Funding users may also use third-party copiers, provided all accounts belong to the same user.

News trading is allowed on Challenge, Guardian X and Instant Starter.

It is NOT allowed on Instant Standard and Funded accounts. On those, do not open or close trades within 5 minutes before or 5 minutes after a red folder (high-impact) release. Profits made during that window or significantly influenced by the news will be removed, even without an account violation. Same 5-minute window applies around FOMC speeches, statements and news events on Funded accounts.

Note: Instant Standard accounts purchased after November 13, 2025 cannot do news trading at all.

For new accounts purchased after the rule change announced on 30 September 2026, trading high-impact (red-folder) news is prohibited during the 5 minutes before and after the event. A news trading add-on is available at checkout for Instant Funding Static and 1 Step. Accounts purchased before the change retain their previous news trading permissions.

30 days

At least one open trade or pending order is required every 30 days to keep the account active.

Consistency rule applies to: 1 Step Nano evaluation and funded (50%), 2 Step Nano funded (50%), 2 Step Pro funded (25%), Guardian X and Instant Standard funded (20%), Instant Starter funded (15%), $300K and $400K Instant funded (15%).

Does NOT apply to: 2 Step Nano evaluation, 1 Step Standard, 1 Step Pro, 2 Step Standard, 2 Step Classic, 3 Step funded accounts, nor to any other challenge phase.

Calculation: a single trading day cannot equal or exceed the threshold of total profits in the payout cycle. If exceeded, the payout button is blocked until the highest day drops below the threshold. Violating it does NOT terminate the account.

Profit Consistency Rule

• 1 Step Evaluation: no single trading day can make up 50% or more of total profits, in both evaluation and funded phases.
• 2 Step, Instant Funding Static and EA Challenge: a trading day cannot equal or exceed 25% of total profit for the payout period.
• Instant Funding Lite: 15%.
• Instant Funding Trailing and Buy Now, Pay Later: 20%.
• Instant Funding Zero under the new terms announced on August 20, 2026: no consistency rule.
• Futures Style 1 Step Pro Evaluation: none in evaluation; 40% in funded status.

There is no lot size consistency rule.

• Platform or data freezing exploits (using a Demo Server error).
• Use of delayed data feed or trading on delayed charts.
• Tick scalping (trades closed under 2 minutes), high-frequency trading, arbitrage bots.
• Reverse arbitrage, latency arbitrage, hedge arbitrage and any emulators.
• Hedging between accounts (within one account is fine).
• Password changes (the password sent by email is the only one accepted).
• Gambling: any trading where margin usage exceeds 80% on running trades.
• Shared devices, VPS or accounts: each trader must use only their personal device. Shared usage across accounts results in payout disqualification, suspension or termination.
• Bypassing copy-trading or signal-trading rules using VPN/VPS.
• Account inactivity: at least 1 trade every 30 days (otherwise breach).

• Tick scalping / ultra-short trades
• High-frequency trading (HFT)
• Latency arbitrage
• Reverse arbitrage
• Martingale
• Account management
• Third-party copy trading or mirrored group trading
• Exploiting pricing, execution, latency or platform errors
• Manipulative hedging patterns designed to game payouts or risk limits