Passing a challenge proves you can hit a target under rules. Keeping a funded account proves you can do it again and again without breaking them. Many traders lose their first funded account in the first two weeks, not because the strategy stopped working, but because they changed how they traded the moment real payouts were on the line.
This plan assumes an Axora Funded account: your first payout can be requested 14 days after the account is activated and then every 14 days, you need 5 winning days of at least 0.5% of the initial balance in the cycle, your best day may not be more than 40% of the cycle's profit, and a 3% buffer stays in the account.
Week 1: trade smaller than in the challenge
The first week has one goal: do not lose the account. Cut your risk per trade to half of what you used in the evaluation. If you risked 1% per trade to pass, risk 0.5% now. You lose nothing by being slow: the first payout cannot be requested before day 14 anyway.
- Risk 0.25–0.5% per trade.
- Maximum two losing trades per day, then stop.
- Only your best setup: the one you used most in the challenge.
- No trades in the 30 minutes before and after high-impact news.
Week 2: build the buffer and your winning days
To withdraw, you need profit above the 3% buffer and at least 5 winning days of 0.5% or more. That shapes the second week: you want several modest green days, not one big day. A +0.6% day five times is worth more for your payout than a single +4% day, because the consistency rule limits your best day to 40% of the cycle's profit.
Day 14: request the payout, then reset your head
If the conditions are met, request the payout as soon as you can. After a payout your maximum loss is locked at the initial balance, so the account gets safer, not riskier. Take the payout as proof that the process works and go back to week-1 size for a few days: the most common mistake after a first payout is trading bigger to make the next one faster.
Weeks 3–4: the boring repeat
- Keep the same risk per trade as week 2; increase it only after two paid cycles.
- Review your journal every weekend: which setup made the money?
- Avoid holding through the weekend unless your programme allows it and your plan needs it.
- If you hit half of the daily limit, the day is over.
The three things that end funded accounts
- Oversizing after a loss to win it back the same day (revenge trading).
- Trading around high-impact news because the account feels 'safe' with profit on it.
- Ignoring the trailing or static floor after a few good days.
A funded account is a business with fixed rules. The traders who get paid month after month are not the ones with the best entries, they are the ones who make the fewest unforced errors.