Reset Fee
The fee charged to restart a challenge after a drawdown breach — usually 30-50% of the original challenge fee.
Definition
A reset fee is the cost of resetting a challenge account to its starting state after a drawdown breach. The fee is typically 30-50% of the original challenge fee — cheaper than buying a new challenge at full price. Not all firms offer resets; some close breached accounts permanently with no restart option. Reset fees apply during the evaluation phase only; a breach on a funded account is almost always terminal. The reset returns the account to the starting balance and resets all drawdown limits and phase progress.
Example
Why It Matters
Reset fees can make multiple attempts substantially cheaper than buying new challenges — but only if the trader has diagnosed and fixed the mistake that caused the breach. Firms that aggressively market resets often rely on resets as a profit center: traders who blow up and reset repeatedly can pay more in cumulative reset fees than the original challenge cost. Apex Trader Funding is known for its reset model in the futures prop space.