The $499 fee is smaller than the risk unit
Half a percent of $100,000 is $500. One loser at that size costs more than the $499 fee for this challenge. Ten losers are the entire daily line, with nothing left for spread. The maximum during the challenge is a static $10,000, so twenty full units end the account even if they are spread across a month. Phase 2, after the $8,000 Phase 1, asks for another $5,000.
At $10 per pip, $500 is 1.00 lot with a 50-pip stop, or 2.50 lots with a 20-pip stop. Gold at $10 per 0.10 move is 1.00 lot on a 50-pip stop. People who "round up" to 1.50 lots on that gold stop risk $750. Bot controls should hard-stop any ticket whose cash risk prints above $500.
Three minimum days and no consistency score
You need at least three trading days. You do not need to smear the $8,000 across a long consistency formula, because Classic 2-Step does not impose one. That freedom is how traders try to make $3,000 in an afternoon and then donate it back. A $3,000 green day is legal. The $5,000 red day that follows, if you size up to hurry Phase 2, is the end of the session.
Sixteen 1R winners at $500 are exactly $8,000. A real sequence includes losers, so plan on more than sixteen tickets or on winners that pay more than 1R. Create a Venasri login before the evaluation starts and write both targets, $8,000 and $5,000, next to the $5,000 daily line so Phase 2 does not get traded with Phase 1 leftovers in your head.
Being up $8,000 does not widen today's $5,000
The challenge daily loss is 5% of the initial balance, not 5% of current equity. After you have booked the Phase 1 gain, the day is still $5,000. Traders treat the cushion as permission. The firm does not. A giveback of $5,000 from a high that was never closed still has to be judged against the rule you actually signed, including open loss if equity is what the desk marks.
The reset at 17:00 New York is the rollover that matters. Weekend holding is allowed, and a 40-pip gap on 1.00 lot of gold is about $400, almost one unit, at the Sunday open. News still blocks opens and closes for two minutes around the release. A CPI stop that slips 30 extra pips on 1.00 lot of gold adds about $300 to a plan that had no spare $300.
Flatten at $4,250 and rewrite the floor after funding
Equity Guard should flatten near $4,250, 4.25% of $100,000, leaving $750 before the official $5,000. That pocket is the gold spread and the late news fill. Using $5,000 as the flatten level means you discover the breach from the firm, not from your own flat.
When the account becomes a Signal Provider book, the 10% maximum stops being the static $90,000 line and starts trailing the end-of-day balance. A close at $115,000 sets a floor near $103,500. Keep the $500 unit until a real scale changes the starting balance, then rebuild 0.50% from the new number the same day.
