A reset restarts an evaluation from the beginning, under the same rules, so a trader whose attempt has failed can take the same test again. At Phoenix Trader Funding a Classic, Daily or Spark evaluation can be reset, a Classic can also come back through its monthly renewal without paying separately for the reset, and a Merit assessment is the one evaluation that can never be reset at all. Knowing which route applies to your account decides what a failed attempt actually costs you.
What a reset is for
An evaluation is the trading test an account has to pass before it is funded. On most accounts that means reaching a profit goal without closing below the loss floor, over at least a minimum number of trading days: two on a Classic or a Daily, one on a Spark.
A breach is the moment an account breaks one of those hard limits. During an evaluation, a breach means that attempt will not be funded, and the reset is the ordinary way back into the test. The ways an account breaks, and why most of them come down to the loss floor, are set out in our answer on breached accounts.
A reset is not something you need because the calendar ran out. Classic and Spark challenges carry no time limit, so an evaluation that is going slowly has not failed and there is nothing to restart. The reset exists for an attempt that has actually ended.
It is also an evaluation mechanic rather than a funded one. On a funded account the documented consequence of a breach is different: a denied payout, closure of the account, or both, with the reason for a denied payout sent by email.
The routes back into an evaluation
There are three, and only the first applies to every account family that can be reset.
- A paid reset. Every Classic, Daily and Spark evaluation can be reset for a charge set by its account size, and the rules for each size are laid out on the Phoenix evaluations page. This is the route a Spark always takes, because a Spark is paid once rather than billed monthly and so has no renewal to come back through.
- A Classic that has failed by its renewal. A Classic challenge renews every 30 days and can be cancelled at any point. When the challenge stands failed at its monthly renewal, the reset comes free with that renewal rather than being charged on top of it.
- A reset earned by a clean renewal. Renewing a Classic challenge that has not failed earns one free reset, and those resets accumulate. A trader who renews through several months without failing carries several resets into the month they finally need one.
The last two are easy to misread in the same direction, so the distinction is worth stating plainly. The renewal itself is never free: it is the ordinary monthly charge for the challenge. What costs nothing is the reset attached to it. Both renewal routes are Classic rules, and neither reaches an account that was paid for once.
Merit is the evaluation with no reset
Merit is a 30 calendar day assessment with no profit goal, and it allows one attempt for the life of the account. Through the month the Phoenix Trader Funding risk team and an AI review every trade on the account, and a human then decides on live funding.
There is no reset on Merit at any stage and at any price. Where every other family treats a failed attempt as something to restart, Merit treats the first attempt as the only one, and a trader holding it knows that before the month begins.
A Merit attempt that does not end in funding still ends with something: the Performance Review, a written report built from the trader's own trades over the month.
The Practice account: unlimited resets, nothing at stake
A Practice account is a simulated copy of the challenge, with the same parameters, that comes with every Classic, Daily and Spark challenge. Its resets are unlimited and cost nothing, and a trader can hold as many Practice accounts as they want.
It can never be funded. That is the whole difference between a Practice reset and a challenge reset: one restarts a rehearsal, the other restarts an attempt that can lead to a funded account. No result on a Practice account carries over into the challenge, and none of it counts toward a pass.
What it is good for is learning a rule on something that does not matter. Watching where the loss floor sits after a green close, or how close a bad session takes you to it, is cheaper to learn there than on the attempt itself. Merit comes with no Practice account, because Merit is itself a single fixed assessment with nothing to rehearse against.
On Phoenix Labs, a reset is fine and rolling is not
Phoenix Labs runs stricter strategy rules than the main firm, and one of them touches resets directly.
Account rolling, also called stacking, is buying, resetting or rotating through accounts one after another, each one risked in full on the same kind of bet, until one of them hits. It is prohibited on every Labs account, in evaluation and once funded. Holding several accounts at the same time is allowed. Treating each reset as the next spin of the same bet is not.
Martingale across accounts is prohibited alongside it. That means re-entering the same trade on another account after one is stopped out, or trading bigger on the next account to win back the last one's loss, whether the earlier account was at Labs, at another Phoenix account, or at another firm.
The consequences are stated plainly. A pass built on either pattern does not go through and the account is closed, a payout built on such trades is refused, a funded account is closed, and further purchases can be refused. The full wording sits in the Phoenix Labs strategy rules, and it applies to every Labs account whenever it was bought.
The line between the two is not how many times a trader resets. It is whether each attempt is a trader coming back to the same test, or one more account spent in full on the bet that ended the last one.
Common follow-up questions
Is renewing a Classic challenge free when it earns a reset?
No. The renewal is the ordinary monthly charge for the Classic challenge. What it earns, when the challenge has not failed, is one free reset that can be used later, and those resets accumulate from one renewal to the next.
Does a Spark challenge renew every month like a Classic?
No. A Spark is paid once rather than billed monthly, so it has no renewal and neither renewal route reaches it. A failed Spark evaluation comes back through the paid reset, and a Spark challenge is disabled after 90 calendar days with no trade.
Can I buy a second Merit account after an attempt that did not reach funding?
Not straight away. The first Merit purchase deactivates any other Merit account, and buying another one later requires holding a different Phoenix account type first. Merit allows one attempt for the life of the account and no reset at any price.
Does a result on a Practice account count toward passing the challenge?
No. A Practice account runs on the same parameters as the challenge and resets without limit, but it can never be funded and nothing on it carries over. It is a rehearsal of the rules, not an attempt at the evaluation.
Is holding several Labs accounts at the same time treated as account rolling?
No. Holding several accounts at once is allowed on Phoenix Labs. Rolling is going through accounts one after another, each risked in full on the same kind of bet until one hits, and that pattern is what the strategy rules prohibit.
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