What instant funding changes
- No profit target before funding: you are funded on day one.
- A much higher fee for the same nominal size, often several times an evaluation fee.
- Tighter rules on the funded account: smaller drawdown, sometimes a lower first split, a first-payout wait, or a consistency rule.
What an evaluation changes
A lower fee ($30 to $1,000 on 2 and 3 Step routes at VaultX, before discounts), weeks of trading before any payout, and then the full 80% split with 35% to 80% funded drawdown depending on the route. The evaluation is also a dress rehearsal: you learn the limits on a simulated account before they cost you a funded one.
The maths that decides it
Price the probability. If you pass evaluations two times in three, an evaluation's expected cost is 1.5 fees. If an instant account costs five times the fee, the evaluation is cheaper unless the weeks of waiting cost you more than 3.5 fees in missed profit. For most traders they do not. If you pass one time in four, the picture changes, but so should the question: a trader who fails three in four evaluations is not ready for either.
Who instant funding suits
Traders with a long verified record who value time over fee, and who have read the funded rules closely enough to know the tighter limits fit. For everyone else the evaluation is the cheaper education.
When VaultX's direct route opens, its rules and price will sit on the rules page next to the evaluation routes so the comparison is one table. Until then, the route comparison covers the paths on sale.