How to Pass AceTrader's Evaluation Challenge: Targets, Resets, and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Getting funded on AceTrader starts with one milestone: passing the Evaluation (paper trading) challenge. It's a simulated crypto perpetuals environment where you trade with real market data and zero personal risk — but the account still has to earn its way to a live Trade Fund by hitting a defined set of targets.

Most traders who fail the challenge don't fail because their strategy was bad. They fail because they didn't fully understand the rules going in. Here's what actually determines a pass or a fail, and how to avoid the traps.

The Targets You Need to Hit

Every Evaluation plan has the same three requirements, scaled to account size:

Paying with MEME token unlocks a larger starting capital boost and faster payout eligibility once you're funded, on top of the same evaluation targets.

The Profit Goal Counts Realized Profit Only

Your Profit Goal is measured against realized profit — the P&L locked in once a position is actually closed. An open position sitting in the green doesn't count toward the target yet, no matter how large that floating gain looks on your screen.

In practice, this means:

• A big unrealized gain on an open trade is not progress toward your Profit Goal until you close some or all of that position.

• You need to actually take profit — partially or fully — to convert paper gains into the realized number that's checked against your target.

• Waiting too long to close a winning position is a real risk: a move in your favor can reverse before you lock it in, and until you do, it hasn't moved you any closer to funding.

This is different from the MLL below, which tracks your live Account Value (realized and unrealized) — so the two rules are watching different numbers, and it's worth keeping that distinction in mind as you trade.

Understanding the MLL (Your Real Constraint)

The Max Drawdown figure above is your Maximum Loss Limit (MLL) — a trailing drawdown, not a fixed one. It's the single biggest reason evaluations fail, so it's worth understanding precisely:

• Your MLL starts a fixed dollar amount below your starting balance (e.g., $600 below on the Standard plan).

• It only moves up as your end-of-day wallet balance reaches new highs — it never moves back down, and it's capped at your full starting capital.

• Throughout the day, your live Account Value (realized + unrealized P&L) is tracked against this line. Drop below it, even intraday, and the account is flagged as failed — regardless of where you end the day.

The practical implication: a big winning day raises your floor permanently. That's good for a disciplined trader, but it also means you can't "bank" a cushion and then trade loosely — the goalposts move with you.

What Counts as a Trading Day

Only active trading activity — opening or closing a position — counts toward your minimum trading days (3 days on every plan). Simply holding an open position overnight does not count as a new trading day. If you're trying to satisfy the day count quickly, you need to actually execute trades on each of those days, not just stay in a position and wait.

If You Fail: Resets, Explained

Failing isn't the end of the road, but it's worth knowing the mechanics before it happens:

• Every plan renewal includes one free reset, and reset credits never expire and can be stacked — so if you don't use one cycle's reset, it carries forward.

• Beyond your free reset, a paid reset costs the same as your plan price.

• If you fail, you can still place trades, but they won't count toward your targets until the account is reset.

Common Reasons Traders Fail

Based on how the rules above interact, the most frequent failure patterns are:

• Chasing the MLL after a drawdown. Since the floor never moves down, traders who dip early often try to "trade their way back" aggressively — increasing the odds of breaching the trailing limit entirely.

• Padding the trading-day count with idle positions. Opening a trade and then waiting it out across multiple days only counts as one trading day, not several.

• Oversizing positions relative to the MLL. The tighter your drawdown allowance (especially on the Starter plan), the less room a single oversized position leaves before you touch the limit.

After You Pass

Once you've hit every target — profit goal, MLL, and minimum trading days — the process to get funded is straightforward:

1. Close any open positions while still holding your targets, then stop trading.

2. You'll receive a verification form to complete.

3. Once reviewed, you'll be prompted to confirm a social share on X.

4. Your Trade Fund account is then assigned, and you keep up to 90% of profits going forward (with MEME payment) or 80% on standard terms.

Trade the Challenge Like It's Real

The evaluation isn't a formality — it's designed to mirror the discipline required to manage AceTrader's actual capital. Treat the MLL as your real risk management framework, not just a gate to get past, and the transition to a funded Trade Fund account will feel a lot more natural.

Ready to start? See current plans and pricing, check live, on-chain payout data from traders who've already made it through, or review full plan details on the pricing page.