Challenge vs Instant Funding: What's the Difference?

Both paths get you trading with Polywards' capital, but they differ in how you get there. A Challenge asks you to hit a profit target first, on your own trading, before you're funded — the traditional prop-firm evaluation, adapted to prediction markets. Instant Funding skips that step entirely: you're funded from your very first trade.

Because Instant Funding skips the evaluation, its risk rules are slightly tighter: a 5% trailing total loss limit measured against your highest end-of-day balance ever reached, and a 3% daily loss limit — both stricter than a Challenge's fixed 8% total loss and 5% daily loss against your starting capital.

Consistency also differs slightly: no single day can account for more than 20% of a cycle's profit on Challenge/funded accounts, versus 15% on Instant Funding — the same principle, calibrated a bit tighter since Instant Funding traders never had to prove themselves in advance.

Whichever path you take, the payout cycle system, the high-water mark, and the profit split (up to 90%) work identically once you're funded.