Source: https://whitepips.com/blog/how-to-pass-a-two-step-challenge Summary: A plan for a two-step evaluation: each phase's figures in dollars, sizing against a 4.5% daily limit, the pace to set and the rules that end attempts. Last updated: 2026-10-28 # How to pass a two-step prop firm challenge The step that turns an account into a record. What it depends on, what delays it, and why the first one is worth more than its cash value. - October 20, 2026 - 5 min read - 6 sections - Getting funded **In this article 6** 1. Know the figures for both phases in dollars 2. Size for the whole evaluation, not for Phase 1 3. Set a pace for each phase 4. What ends two-step attempts 5. Edge 2 Step or Prime 2 Step 6. Questions traders ask Back to top October 20, 2026 5 min read Getting funded ## In short - Write the four figures in dollars: both targets, the daily limit and the Max Loss. - Risk about 0.5% a trade, and keep the same size in Phase 2. - At a 50% win rate and a 2:1 target, expect around 30 trades for Phase 1 and 20 for Phase 2. - Each phase needs two days of +0.5%; a phase that reaches its target early waits for them. - Close positions before 4:45 PM New York on Friday unless the account has Weekend Holding. A two-step challenge asks you to reach a profit target twice: first in Phase 1, then a smaller one in Phase 2, without touching either loss limit in either phase. On our Edge 2 Step the targets are 7.5% and then 5% of the starting balance, the Max Daily Loss is 4.5% and the Max Loss is 9%, static and measured from the starting balance. There is no time limit, and each phase needs two trading days that close at least 0.5% up. Phase 2 is where two-step attempts are thrown away. The target is smaller, the limits are not, and a trader who has just passed Phase 1 tends to trade the second phase as a formality. The plan below treats the two phases as one evaluation with a checkpoint in the middle. Every figure here is from the published [Edge 2 Step](https://whitepips.com/cfds/ch_two_step) plan. The method carries to any two-step evaluation; the numbers are ours. ## Know the figures for both phases in dollars Percentages hide the size of the problem. On a $100,000 Edge 2 Step the four figures are: - **Phase 1 target:** **$7,500**. - **Phase 2 target:** **$5,000**. - **Max Daily Loss:** **$4,500**, from the day's opening balance. - **Max Loss:** **$9,000** below the starting balance, static. The daily limit is measured from the day's opening balance, which is the previous day's closing balance at 17:00 New York. The Max Loss does not move up as you make profit. Both are measured on equity, so an open loss counts the same as a closed one, and reaching either ends the account. The Max Loss is exactly two daily losses: two bad days at the limit, in either phase, end the attempt. On a $10,000 account the same figures are $750, $500, $450 and $900. The percentages are the same on every size from $2,500 to $200,000, so the sizing below works on all of them. ## Size for the whole evaluation, not for Phase 1 Work back from the daily limit. Risking 0.5% a trade, $500 on $100,000, nine losing trades reach the $4,500 daily limit and eighteen in a row reach the $9,000 Max Loss. At 1% a trade, five losers are past the daily limit and nine end the account. A string of nine losses across two days is ordinary variance for a strategy that wins half its trades. Keep the same size in Phase 2. Its target is two thirds of Phase 1's, so it needs fewer winning trades, and there is no reason to trade bigger to finish sooner. Turn the risk into lots per instrument once, from your stop distance: the [position size calculator](https://whitepips.com/tools/position-size-calculator) or the [trading calculator](https://whitepips.com/calculator) does the arithmetic. Phase 2 needs its own two profitable days. Check the phase's figures on the dashboard's rule cards before its first trade, and write the lot sizes down again rather than trusting memory. ## Set a pace for each phase At 0.5% risk and a target of twice the risk, a winning trade adds 1% and a losing one costs 0.5%. A trader who wins half their trades nets about 0.25% a trade: around 30 trades for the 7.5% of Phase 1 and around 20 for the 5% of Phase 2. At two or three trades a day that is roughly two to three weeks for Phase 1 and one to two for Phase 2, losing days included. Each phase also needs two days that close at least 0.5% up, $500 on $100,000. At this size one clean winner makes such a day. If you reach a phase's target on your first day, the phase still waits for its second profitable day: the pass is not lost, it waits. There is no deadline in either phase, which removes the reason to double up in a final week. [Why there is no deadline, and what to do with it](https://whitepips.com/blog/no-time-limit) is about using that well. ## What ends two-step attempts - **A good day turned bad.** A loss, a larger trade to win it back, and a third that was never planned: 4.5% is two trades at an angry size. - **Phase 2 complacency.** The smaller target invites bigger size to finish it. The limits did not get smaller with the target. - **Max Exposure.** The combined value of open positions is capped, $1,250,000 on $100,000. A first breach is a warning that resets any profit to the starting balance; a second closes the account. - **Friday's close.** Without the Weekend Holding add-on, positions still open at 4:45 PM New York time on Friday are closed by the system. The first time is a warning, the second closes the account. - **Thirty quiet days.** Thirty days without a closed trade ends the account, in either phase. Every rule, with a drawing for each, is on [Trading rules, explained](https://whitepips.com/rules) . ## Edge 2 Step or Prime 2 Step Both have the same two targets and two profitable days in each phase. Prime 2 Step allows a 5% daily loss and a 10% Max Loss, $5,000 and $10,000 on $100,000, and costs $744 for that size against $597 for Edge. Once funded it adds a monthly salary of 1% of the account size and a split of 80% for the first 30 days, then 100%, and its fee is refunded once the account is funded and in profit after 30 days; in return it has a weekly consistency rule and a quarterly profit target. Edge pays 80%, up to 95% as you scale, and its fee is not refunded. [Edge, Prime or Instant](https://whitepips.com/blog/edge-prime-or-instant) compares the families in full. ## Questions traders ask **Is there a time limit on a two-step challenge?** Not on Edge 2 Step or Prime 2 Step. Trading days are unlimited in both phases; the only clock is the inactivity rule, which needs one closed trade every 30 days. **What happens if I hit the Max Daily Loss in Phase 2?** The account is closed, the same as in Phase 1. On CFD plans both loss limits are hard, and passing Phase 1 does not soften them. **Is a two-step challenge easier than a one-step?** Its targets are smaller and its limits wider: 7.5% then 5%, against 10% on Edge 1 Step, with a 4.5% daily and 9% maximum loss against 4% and 7.5%. It takes two passes instead of one. [One step, two step, three step](https://whitepips.com/blog/one-step-two-step-three-step) works through the arithmetic. **When can I request a payout once funded?** On demand once the account is funded and its two profitable days are done, then weekly. Edge 2 Step has no minimum payout amount. **Can I use an expert advisor?** Yes, one you developed and control yourself; bought, rented or mass-market bots are not allowed. [Expert advisors and copy trading](https://whitepips.com/blog/expert-advisors-and-copy-trading-on-funded-accounts) has the detail. More in Getting funded [Profitable days: the minimum trading days rule, explained](https://whitepips.com/blog/profitable-days-explained) [Instant funding or an evaluation: what you trade away](https://whitepips.com/blog/instant-funding-or-evaluation) [Choosing an account size you can actually trade](https://whitepips.com/blog/choosing-an-account-size) [Read next How to pass a one-step prop firm challenge Getting funded ยท 7 min read](https://whitepips.com/blog/how-to-pass-a-one-step-challenge) Educational content, not financial advice. Trading carries risk and most people who attempt an evaluation do not pass it. Accounts are simulated; the rules that bind yours are the ones printed on your plan and in the trading rules. [All articles](https://whitepips.com/blog) ## Related articles Getting funded October 4, 2026 7 min read ### How to pass a one-step prop firm challenge A practical plan for a one-step evaluation: the three numbers to know, how to size, what pace to set and the rules that end most attempts. [Read the article](https://whitepips.com/blog/how-to-pass-a-one-step-challenge) Getting funded September 6, 2026 3 min read ### One step, two step, three step: which route is actually easier More steps means more targets but smaller ones. Here is how the arithmetic works out, and why the cheapest evaluation is not always the one to take. [Read the article](https://whitepips.com/blog/one-step-two-step-three-step) Risk August 29, 2026 2 min read ### The daily loss limit, and the hour it resets A smaller number than the drawdown, and the one that ends more accounts. What it measures, when the day rolls, and why that matters. [Read the article](https://whitepips.com/blog/the-daily-loss-limit) ## Ready to see the plans? Every plan, size and price, with the rules printed before you buy. [See the plans](https://whitepips.com/#plans) [Trading calculator](https://whitepips.com/calculator) --- WhitePips provides skill-based trading evaluations on simulated accounts; payouts are real money based on simulated performance. Nothing here is financial advice or a promise of profit, passing an evaluation does not guarantee funding, payouts or income, and trading leveraged products carries significant risk. Not offered in the restricted jurisdictions listed at https://whitepips.com/legal/restricted-jurisdictions.