Standard is 10%, and Pro is already 8%
AquaFunded 2-step Standard is a 5% day and a static 10% maximum, the same headline as FTMO's 2-step. AquaFunded Pro is a static 8% maximum, which is $8,000 on $100,000, not $10,000. Traders buy Pro because the name sounds stricter and then risk as if they still own the Standard floor. Three extra $700 losers that Standard would have survived are the Pro account.
Both firms can reprice the next day from open profit, in different words. AquaFunded uses the higher of day-start balance or equity at 00:00, GMT+2 or GMT+3. FTMO uses day-start balance plus floating PnL at 00:00 CE(S)T. A $2,800 Aqua winner held through midnight can lift the next $5,000 hole. Partial it. The 90% split does not insure that float.
An $8,000 target and a 24-hour payout promise
AquaFunded Phase 1 is 8% and Phase 2 is 5%, so $8,000 then $5,000, with three minimum days. FTMO is $10,000 then $5,000, with four minimum days. The $2,000 target gap is larger than the $142 fee gap, and it is the better reason to prefer Dubai if your edge grinds. AquaFunded pays 90% by default and can reach 100% with an add-on. The first payout is after 14 days, or 7 days, with a 24-hour payout guarantee. FTMO pays 80% to 90% starting 14 days after the first funded trade.
Instant and selected rapid tiers at AquaFunded add a 40% best-day rule. Forty percent of an $8,000 phase is $3,200. FTMO's 2-step has no hard best-day formula. A green day that would be a good FTMO session can stall an Aqua instant payout. Open a Venasri account and label Instant separately from 2-step Standard.
Five minutes in Dubai, two minutes in Prague
AquaFunded restricts a five-minute window around red-folder news on funded accounts. FTMO Standard uses two minutes, and FTMO Swing does not. Weekend holding is allowed at AquaFunded on evaluations and funded accounts. FTMO Standard must be flat. If you swing gold from Thursday to Monday, AquaFunded will accept the hold and may tax you at midnight via the higher equity mark. FTMO Standard will reject the hold before the weekend starts.
Personal EAs and risk managers are allowed at AquaFunded on MT5, Match-Trader, cTrader, and TradeLocker, inside 2,000 messages a day. HFT and latency bots are banned. FTMO's EA rule is the same request ceiling on its own platform list. Bot controls should refuse a funded entry inside the news window that belongs to that login, five minutes on Aqua and two on FTMO Standard.
Flatten Standard at $4,250 and Pro at a smaller life
Equity Guard on either 5% book should flatten near $4,250 of the $5,000 day. Pro's problem is the maximum, not a different daily headline. If your Aqua contract is the 8% maximum, stop treating $90,000 as survival. Equity at $92,000 is already the end. The 1-step at AquaFunded is a 4% day and a 6% trail, $4,000 and $6,000. FTMO's 1-step is a $3,000 day and a 10% end-of-day trail.
The $142 you saved at checkout is gone the first time a midnight float lifts the Aqua floor and Monday gives it back. Bank the open gain before 00:00. Keep the 40% instant ceiling in the same note as the loss guard. One number protects the red day. The other protects the green day on the tier that counts it.
