Our Verdict

The biggest factor to weigh before buying a challenge at The Upside Funding is the platform. This firm does not support MT4, MT5, cTrader, or DXtrade. It runs on a proprietary simulation environment. If you have spent years building a MetaTrader setup, customised indicators, or an expert advisor that runs on MT5, none of that transfers here. For traders who are platform-agnostic or who trade discretionally without relying on third-party tools, this is a smaller obstacle. But for the majority of forex and CFD traders, this is a meaningful trade-off and the main reason the firm scores lower than better-established competitors in the CFD and forex prop firm category.

The payout structure has two friction points worth understanding before you commit. First, the $50 RISE fee applies to every single withdrawal. On a $10,000 account where the first payout threshold is 4% ($400), that fee represents 12.5% of the minimum first payout before the 85% split even applies. The effective return on that first withdrawal is considerably lower than the headline numbers suggest. Second, the evaluation fee is not refunded until the third payout. Most firms refund it with the first. The 24-hour payout guarantee with $1,000 compensation is a genuine differentiator, but the fee mechanics mean traders on smaller accounts need to factor in real costs per cycle.

What stands out positively is the institutional credibility behind the firm. The founders are former Citigroup Managing Directors with verifiable careers in institutional trading. That background is rare in a space where many operators have no disclosed trading history. The mentorship element and the remote proprietary trader path (up to $350,000 per year for top performers) suggest the firm is building something beyond a pure challenge-fee business model. Whether that executes at scale is still to be proven given the firm only launched in 2024 and has fewer than 50 Trustpilot reviews.

The 1-step evaluation suits traders who prefer simpler rules and can handle tight trailing drawdown. At 4% trailing from the highest equity watermark, a strong run early in the challenge raises your drawdown floor and reduces your wiggle room for subsequent sessions. The consistency calculator can help you model this if you are unsure how your trading history maps to a trailing drawdown structure. The 2-step is better suited to traders who want more drawdown room overall (8% static vs 4% trailing), are comfortable with a daily loss limit, and trade over a longer timeframe. No time limits on either programme is a genuine advantage.

This firm suits traders who trade discretionally or use EAs that are not platform-specific, who want low upfront fees, and who value a payout guarantee over a high default split. It is less suited to MetaTrader-dependent traders, high-frequency or news-straddle strategies, and anyone trading primarily on crypto (Bitcoin is the only asset, and leverage drops to 1:1 on funded accounts). Overall score of 6.8 reflects a firm with solid foundations and a genuine long-term vision, held back for now by the platform gap and the small track record that comes with being less than two years old.