Tradeify Crypto Instant Funding vs 1-Step vs 2-Step: Which Account to Buy (2026)

Tradeify Crypto offers three paths to a funded account — 1-Step Evaluation, 2-Step Evaluation, and Instant Funding — and the wrong choice wastes money while the right choice matches your skill level, trading style, and budget perfectly.

I've tested evaluation models across multiple prop firms over 12+ months, and the answer is almost never "the cheapest one." It's the one that fits how you actually trade. Instant Funding sounds amazing until you realize you're paying a premium for an account with the same drawdown rules but no evaluation buffer.

The 2-Step sounds safer until you realize two phases means twice the opportunities to breach. This breakdown covers pricing, rules, and the realistic scenarios where each account type makes sense — based on the mistakes I've made choosing the wrong one.

Learned from live trading: I've been navigating Tradeify's rule structure for over a year on their futures platform and now on Tradeify Crypto since launch. The rule breakdowns here reflect actual trading experience — including where I've come close to breaching and what saved me.

The single most important thing to understand is how the 3% daily drawdown and 6% EOD trailing max loss interact in a 24/7 crypto market — it works differently than futures. I broke it all down with real scenarios and position sizing math in my definitive Tradeify Crypto rules guide. For the absolute latest, check Tradeify Crypto's website or their help center.

The Three Account Types at a Glance

Notice that the daily drawdown (3%), max trailing loss (6%), leverage (5:1), and profit split (80%) are identical across all three account types. The only differences are: how you get to funded status and how much you pay for it. Once funded, every account type operates under the same rules.

1-Step Evaluation: The Default Choice

The 1-Step is the most popular evaluation type across all prop firms, and for good reason — one phase, one target, one outcome. Hit 12% profit while staying within the drawdown limits and you're funded. No second phase to worry about.

Why it works for most traders: Simplicity reduces confusion-related errors. You know the target ($3,000 on a $25K account), you know the limits (3% daily, 6% trailing), and you trade until you get there. No phase transitions, no rule changes between phases, no momentum resets.

The 12% challenge: This is Tradeify Crypto's biggest ask. Most competitors use 8-10% targets. At 1% daily returns, you need 12 profitable trading days to complete the evaluation — roughly 2.5-3 weeks of disciplined trading. At 0.5% daily returns, that stretches to 24 days. The math works, but the psychological journey of trading for three weeks without a slip-up is harder than the numbers suggest.

My experience: I chose the 1-Step for my $25K evaluation because I have 12+ months of prop trading experience and a tested BTC strategy. The 12% target doesn't intimidate me because I've passed 6% futures evaluations multiple times — the target is higher but the timeline is unlimited. Patience is free.

Cost efficiency: The 1-Step hits the sweet spot between affordable entry and realistic completion. On the $25K account with LAUNCH discount, $215 gets you unlimited time to hit a $3,000 target. If you pass and earn $2,400 in your first payout cycle (80% of $3,000), you've recovered the account cost immediately.

2-Step Evaluation: The Psychological Safety Net

The 2-Step splits the evaluation into two phases with lower profit targets per phase. This addresses the single biggest cause of evaluation failure: the psychological weight of a large single target.

Why traders choose it: Hitting 6% twice feels more achievable than hitting 12% once, even though the total profit required is similar. Each phase is a smaller, more manageable goal. If you tend to tighten up, overtrade, or make emotional decisions when you're at 8-9% and "so close" to the target, the 2-Step reduces that pressure.

The downside — two breach opportunities: Each phase has independent drawdown limits. You can pass phase 1 cleanly and then breach phase 2 on a bad week. That's two separate evaluation periods where the account can die, versus one on the 1-Step. Statistically, more phases means more chances for something to go wrong.

Who it's actually for: Traders who have breached 1-Step evaluations within 5% of the target. If you consistently build accounts to 8-10% profit and then breach from overtrading near completion, the 2-Step's lower per-phase targets might prevent that pattern. It's a structural solution to a psychological problem.

My honest recommendation: Most traders should start with the 1-Step. If you breach two 1-Step accounts within 70% of the target (meaning you built significant profit but couldn't close it out), switch to the 2-Step on your third attempt. Don't start with the 2-Step based on fear — start with it based on evidence that you need smaller milestones.

Instant Funding: Premium Price, Immediate Access

Instant Funding skips the evaluation entirely. You pay a higher one-time fee and receive a funded account on day one. No profit target to hit, no evaluation to pass — just trade and withdraw once you meet the payout requirements (3 profitable days at 0.5% minimum).

The appeal is obvious: no evaluation risk. You can't fail a challenge that doesn't exist. Your first trade is on a funded account with real payout potential.

The hidden reality: the rules on the funded account are identical to evaluation accounts. Same 3% daily DD. Same 6% trailing max loss. Same 5:1 leverage. The only thing you're skipping is the profit target — you're not skipping any of the drawdown rules that actually kill accounts. If you can't stay within 3% daily DD and 6% trailing on an evaluation, you can't stay within them on an Instant account either.

When Instant Funding makes sense:

• You have verifiable crypto trading results showing consistent profitability over 3+ months
• You've already passed evaluations at other firms and want to skip the redundant proving phase
• Your time is worth more than the price premium — if you can earn $2,000 in a funded month, paying an extra $200 to skip a 3-week evaluation is a net positive
• You want to start building payout history immediately without evaluation delays

When it doesn't make sense:

• You're new to crypto prop trading and haven't proven you can manage prop firm drawdown rules
• You're buying it because you "just want to skip the hard part" — the evaluation isn't the hard part, the drawdown management is, and that doesn't change
• The price premium exceeds what you'd earn in the time saved

The ROI Comparison

The key insight: all three account types break even on the first successful payout regardless of account cost, because even a modest $2,000 payout ($2,500 profit × 80%) exceeds every account price with the LAUNCH discount. The question isn't "which account has the best ROI?" — they all have excellent ROI if you reach a payout. The question is "which account gives me the best probability of reaching that payout?"

For most traders, that's the 1-Step. It's affordable enough to absorb a breach ($215 lost), straightforward enough to execute without confusion, and the unlimited timeline removes urgency-driven mistakes.

My Account Selection Framework

Here's how I decide, and it applies whether you're buying your first account or your fifth:

Default to 1-Step. Unless you have a specific reason to choose otherwise, the 1-Step offers the best balance of cost, simplicity, and completion probability. It's the Toyota Camry of prop accounts — reliable, efficient, and gets the job done.

Switch to 2-Step if you've breached two or more 1-Step evaluations after reaching 70%+ of the profit target. This pattern suggests you can trade profitably but struggle to close out large single targets. The 2-Step gives you smaller goals.

Choose Instant Funding if you have 3+ months of verifiable profitable crypto trading results (exchange account history, other prop firm payouts, or documented demo results showing consistency). Skip the proof phase, start earning immediately.

Start with the $25K account. It offers the best balance of affordable pricing ($215 with LAUNCH), workable drawdown limits ($750 daily, $1,500 max), and meaningful payout potential. The $5K is too small for realistic income. The $100K is too expensive for a first account. The $25K is the testing ground — prove your process, then scale.

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