IC Funded 1-Step vs 2-Step: Which Program Should You Pick?
The short version: IC Funded’s 2-Step Professional program is cheaper than the 1-Step Accelerated program at every size they share, gives you looser drawdowns (8% then 10% maximum against a flat 6%) and more forex leverage (1:50 against 1:30), carries no consistency rule, and is now the only one of the two sold below $10,000 or above $100,000. The 1-Step’s single advantage is speed, one phase instead of two, so it suits traders who want funded fast and can trade tightly inside a 3% daily and 6% overall drawdown. Pick the 1-Step for pace, the 2-Step for room and price. Since September 2026 there is also a third route, Instant Funded, which skips the evaluation altogether and sits in the tables below so you can price it against both. Last verified: September 3, 2026.
Disclosure: fundedverify.com is an independent affiliate site run by Myx, a member of IC Funded’s affiliate program. We are not IC Funded and we are not IC Markets. We earn a commission if you buy a challenge through our links, and our code Myx takes 30% off any of the three programs. That is exactly why this comparison points out where the cheaper program is also the better one.
| 1-Step Accelerated | 2-Step Professional | Instant Funded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phases to funded | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Profit target | 10% | 10% then 5% | None |
| Max daily drawdown | 3% | 4% (Step 1), 5% (Step 2 and Funded) | 3% |
| Max overall drawdown | 6% | 8% (Step 1), 10% (Step 2 and Funded) | 5% |
| Consistency rule | 45% (soft), evaluation only | None | None |
| Forex leverage | Up to 1:30 | Up to 1:50 | Up to 1:30 |
| Account sizes | $10K to $100K | $5K to $500K | $5K to $100K |
| Minimum profitable days | 3 | 3 per phase | No phase to pass |
| Time limit | None | None | None |
| Profit split | Fixed 80/20 | Fixed 80/20 | Fixed 80/20 |
| Price at $100K | $809 | $689 | $879 |
One change since our July check reshapes this comparison: IC Funded withdrew the $200,000 1-Step tier, so the program now stops at $100,000 and the 2-Step is the only route to anything larger. Everything else that separated the two in July still separates them, price, drawdown room and forex leverage included.
What all three programs share
Before the differences, it helps to know that most of the IC Funded model is identical whichever path you buy. All three give you:
- A fixed 80/20 profit split from your first funded account, with no scaling tiers.
- Payouts every 14 days through RISE, with your first payout 14 days after funded activation and your one-time fee refunded with the third payout.
- MetaTrader 5 and cTrader (no MT4), a one-time fee with no subscription, and a maximum total allocation of $500,000 per trader across accounts.
- The same funded-stage rules: a Friday flatten, a 3-minute news cool-off, and mandatory KYC before payouts.
So the choice is not about how you get paid or which platform you trade. It is about how hard the evaluation is, how much room you get, and what you pay to start.
Speed: the 1-Step’s real advantage
The 1-Step Accelerated program has one job, and it does it well: get you funded in a single evaluation. You hit one 10% target, log your three profitable days, and you are funded. There is no second phase to grind through and no reset of momentum between stages.
The 2-Step Professional program splits the work: 10% in Step 1, then 5% in Step 2. The total profit you have to produce is higher (15% across two phases versus 10% in one), you need three profitable days in each phase rather than three in total, and you have to stay inside the rules across two separate evaluations. For a trader who is confident and wants to start earning a split quickly, that is the case for the 1-Step.
Worth being precise about that day count, because IC Funded changed the wording between our July and September checks. The rules page asks for minimum profitable days, not minimum trading days. A day you traded and closed flat or down does not count toward the three on either program. On the 2-Step that requirement lands twice, which is the quiet cost of the extra phase.
Room: where the 2-Step pulls ahead
Speed comes at the cost of breathing room, and this is the trade-off that decides most challenges.
The 1-Step gives you a 3% daily and 6% overall drawdown, and the 6% overall is a hard, static floor. On a $100,000 1-Step account, your equity can never drop below $94,000 for the life of the account. That is tight. One bad session, or one oversized trade that runs against you, and the account is gone.
The 2-Step is more forgiving. Per IC Funded’s pricing and rules pages, Step 1 gives you 4% daily and 8% overall, and Step 2 and the Funded stage give you 5% daily and 10% overall. On a funded $100,000 2-Step account, your floor sits at $90,000 rather than $94,000, so you have $4,000 more room before a breach. (One honest caveat: IC Funded’s FAQ states the 2-Step maximum as size-based, 10% below $100,000 and 8% at $100,000 and above, which contradicts the phase-based numbers on the pricing and rules pages. We treat the pricing and rules pages as primary and cover the discrepancy in full in our IC Funded rules guide; confirm your exact figure with support before you trade.)
The 2-Step also carries no consistency rule, while the 1-Step caps any single day at 45% of your total profit during the evaluation. That 45% rule is soft, so it will not fail your account outright, and it stops applying once you are funded, but it is one more constraint the 2-Step trader never has to think about.
The 2-Step also allows more forex leverage, up to 1:50 against the 1-Step’s 1:30, and that gap survived our September re-read of the rules pages. Indices, metals and commodities are capped at 1:20 and crypto at 1:2 on both, so forex is the only class where the choice of program changes your sizing.
Instant Funded is the tightest of the three: 3% daily and 5% overall, static on your initial balance. On a $100,000 account that is a $95,000 floor, barely more room than the 1-Step’s $94,000, for $70 more and no evaluation to prove yourself on first.
Price: the 2-Step is cheaper at every shared size
This is the point most comparisons miss. At every account size the two programs share, the 2-Step Professional is the cheaper option, not the more expensive one.
| Account size | 1-Step Accelerated | 2-Step Professional | Instant Funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | Not offered | $74 | $109 |
| $10,000 | $154 | $125 | $159 |
| $25,000 | $309 | $249 | $339 |
| $50,000 | $469 | $449 | $519 |
| $100,000 | $809 | $689 | $879 |
| $200,000 | Not offered | $1,275 | Not offered |
| $500,000 | Not offered | $2,999 | Not offered |
Prices are one-time fees in USD, read on IC Funded’s live checkout on September 3, 2026. The 1-Step is now sold from $10,000 to $100,000 only, down from $200,000 in July, so the two big tiers are 2-Step territory and so is the $5,000 entry. Instant Funded is the most expensive line at every size it appears on, which is the price of not sitting an evaluation. Our code Myx takes 30% off all three programs at checkout; the current discounted figures are on our IC Funded promo code page.
Which program to pick
Strip it down and the decision is simple, because the 2-Step wins on almost every measurable axis:
- Choose the 1-Step Accelerated if getting funded in a single phase matters more than anything else, you trade tightly, and you are comfortable defending a 3% daily and 6% overall drawdown with a consistency rule in play. You are paying a little more for speed.
- Choose the 2-Step Professional if you want more drawdown room, more forex leverage, no consistency rule, a lower price at the same size, or an account smaller than $10,000 or larger than $100,000. You are trading one extra phase, and one extra set of three profitable days, for materially better conditions.
- Choose Instant Funded if you are certain you would never finish an evaluation and you want the account open today. You pay the highest fee of the three and accept the tightest drawdown, which is a hard combination to trade out of.
For most traders, and especially anyone new to IC Funded or to prop challenges in general, the 2-Step is the more sensible starting point: the wider drawdown is worth more than the time saved by skipping a phase, and it costs less. The 1-Step is a deliberate choice for confident, disciplined traders who value pace, and it is a narrower choice than it was in July now that it stops at $100,000. Whichever you pick, read the full IC Funded rules before your first trade, and see the complete review for our overall verdict on the firm.
Is the IC Funded 1-Step or 2-Step easier to pass?
Neither is strictly “easier,” because they trade difficulty for room. The 1-Step asks for a single 10% target but enforces a tight 3% daily and 6% overall drawdown plus a 45% consistency rule. The 2-Step asks for more total profit (10% then 5%) across two phases and three profitable days in each of them, but gives you a wider 8% to 10% overall drawdown, more forex leverage and no consistency rule. Tight-and-fast versus roomy-and-longer is the real choice.
Is IC Funded 1-Step or 2-Step cheaper?
The 2-Step Professional is cheaper at every size the two programs share. For example, a $100,000 account is $689 on the 2-Step versus $809 on the 1-Step, and a $50,000 account is $449 versus $469. The 1-Step is sold from $10,000 to $100,000, while the 2-Step ranges from $5,000 to $500,000. All prices are one-time fees, read on the checkout on September 3, 2026.
Do the 1-Step and 2-Step have the same profit split?
Yes. Both programs pay a fixed 80/20 split in the trader’s favor from the first funded account, with no scaling tiers, and both settle every 14 days through RISE with the challenge fee refunded with the third payout. Instant Funded pays the same 80/20. The split does not depend on which program you choose.
Which IC Funded program has higher leverage?
The 2-Step Professional. IC Funded caps forex at 1:50 on the 2-Step against 1:30 on the 1-Step Accelerated, and its third program, Instant Funded, is held to 1:30 as well. Indices, metals and commodities run up to 1:20 and crypto up to 1:2 on all three, so forex is the only place the program you pick changes what you can size. If maximum forex leverage matters to your strategy, the 2-Step is the one to buy.
Is there a third IC Funded program?
Yes. Alongside the two challenges, IC Funded sells Instant Funded: no evaluation, no profit target, and a funded simulated account from the moment you pay, priced $109 at $5,000 up to $879 at $100,000. It runs the tightest limits of the three, a 3% daily and 5% overall drawdown static on your initial balance, and pays the same fixed 80/20 split.
Can you switch between the 1-Step and 2-Step at IC Funded?
The program is chosen at checkout for each challenge, so you select 1-Step, 2-Step or Instant Funded when you buy. Because IC Funded allows multiple simultaneous challenges within the $500,000 total allocation, nothing stops you running one of each, but there is no mid-evaluation switch from one program to the other on the same account.
Verification Log
Program targets, drawdowns, leverage, sizes and prices were re-read against IC Funded’s official pricing and rules pages and its live checkout on September 3, 2026; the page was first published against those pages on July 18, 2026. The 2-Step drawdown discrepancy between the pricing/rules pages and the FAQ is documented in full on our IC Funded rules page.
Changelog
- 2026-09-02: Re-checked at the source. Removed the $200,000 1-Step Accelerated tier, which IC Funded no longer sells: the program now runs $10,000 to $100,000. Added the third program, Instant Funded (no evaluation, $109 to $879, 3% daily and 5% overall drawdown), to the comparison and price tables. Corrected “minimum trading days” to minimum profitable days. Re-read the leverage caps and found them unchanged since July: forex 1:50 on the 2-Step against 1:30 on the 1-Step, with Instant Funded also at 1:30.
- 2026-07-18: Page published. Verified 1-Step and 2-Step profit targets, daily and overall drawdowns, leverage caps, account sizes and one-time prices against icfunded.com. Confirmed the shared 80/20 split, RISE payout cycle and fee-refund milestone, and noted the pricing/rules-versus-FAQ drawdown conflict.
Related: IC Funded Rules · IC Funded Payout · Accepted Countries · IC Funded Promo Code