TL;DR: Lark Funding is a Canadian forex and CFD prop firm that has been selling simulated evaluations since 2022. On October 11, 2026 it sold four account types: Instant funding (no evaluation, $200 to $4,500), a 1-Step evaluation ($200 to $1,500), the cheaper 1-Step Max ($99 to $599) and a 3-Step evaluation ($105 to $750). Every drawdown on the evaluations is static, none of them has a consistency rule or a minimum number of trading days, and news trading is allowed. The 3-Step has no daily loss limit. Funded traders keep 80% (90% on Instant), paid through Riseworks every 14 days with a flat $40 fee. You trade on DXTrade, cTrader or Match-Trader, not MetaTrader. Trustpilot shows 4.3 from 520 reviews. Until October 31, 2026 the firm refunds the evaluation fee with your first eligible payout. It also runs a monthly trading competition with evaluation accounts as prizes. The firm is open and paying traders on the public evidence. The rules that catch people are the $10,000 daily gain cap, the 1% per-trade limit on 1-Step Max, the Instant drawdown lock and the weekend close.
Research status: We checked this review on October 11, 2026 against Lark Funding’s own pages: the homepage plan cards (every account size clicked), the 1-Step Max, fee-refund, 100K Road and Lark Base pages, the Terms of Use, the Refund Policy, and all 64 articles in the Lark Funding help centre. We read Trustpilot, Reddit and the Prop Firm Match listing the same day. We did not buy an account or request a payout, so anything that only shows after purchase (add-on prices, the dashboard, the competition sign-up) is printed as Lark Funding publishes it and was not tested. Prices and programs at this firm change often, so recheck them at checkout.
Lark Funding review verdict: is it legit?
Lark Funding is a real, operating business. It names the company that runs it (Lark Dashboards Inc., a corporation registered in Quebec, Canada), publishes its Terms of Use and Refund Policy, keeps a help centre whose rule articles were updated as recently as September 2026, and has a CEO, Matt L., who answers complaints publicly under his own name. Its Trustpilot profile was claimed in June 2022 and holds 520 reviews, with 75% at five stars. Many reviews and the firm’s own results page show payouts sent through Riseworks.
That does not make it the right firm for every trader. These are the points that decide it:
- The rules are loose where most firms are strict. Every evaluation drawdown is static, and there is no consistency rule, no minimum trading days, no time limit and no news ban. The 3-Step has no daily loss limit at all.
- The risk rules sit somewhere else. A $10,000 daily and per-trade gain cap, an “All-or-Nothing” trading ban with margin guidelines, a 1% per-trade loss limit on 1-Step Max, and automatic closing of open trades on Friday afternoons unless you pay for a weekend add-on.
- It is a CFD firm only. You trade forex, indices, metals, energies, crypto and US stock CFDs. There are no futures and no MetaTrader.
- Funded accounts are simulated. The help centre says plainly that no client ever trades live capital. Payouts are a share of simulated gains.
- Programs get retired. The 2-Step was discontinued in early 2026, and funded 2-Step accounts were closed after a four-month run-off. Some of the firm’s older pages still describe it.
- The complaints that exist are about enforcement. Most one-star reviews describe accounts closed or prizes refused for hedging across accounts or multiple accounts, and the firm replies to each one with its side.
Our view: Lark Funding is a transparent, low-friction forex prop firm with cheap entry points and unusually relaxed evaluation rules. It suits disciplined traders who keep risk per trade small and can live with a 14-day payout cycle. It suits traders who hold large positions into news, run several accounts against each other, or need MetaTrader much less well. On the evidence we read, it is not a scam. As with any prop firm, a payout depends on the firm’s review of your trades.
Who runs Lark Funding
| Item | What Lark Funding publishes |
|---|---|
| Operating company | Lark Dashboards Inc., “a Canadian corporation registered in the Province of Quebec”, which runs the site, payments and accounts under licence from Lark Funding Inc. (Terms of Use, section 1.2) |
| Card statement name | LF Dashboards Inc. |
| Founded | “Operating since 2022” (help centre). The Trustpilot profile was claimed in June 2022 |
| CEO | Matt L., who publishes trading and prop firm videos on YouTube and replies to reviews himself |
| Contact | support@larkfunding.com, the help centre, the on-site chat assistant and Discord. Support is advertised as 24/7 |
| Regulation | Not registered with a securities regulator. The firm says it does not need to be because it handles no live capital, gives no investment advice and holds no client funds |
| Disputes | Courts of Canada in Montreal (Terms of Use, section 14.1) |
| Trading servers | Platform logins run on gooeytrade.com hosts (DXTrade, cTrader and Match-Trader) |
One detail is worth knowing. The operating company is registered in Quebec, yet Quebec is on the firm’s own list of places it does not serve. That is a business choice, not a red flag, but Quebec residents cannot buy an account.
On the money side, the help centre says funded accounts are “a completely simulated account featuring real market quotes”. Trading data “is sent off to a partnered proprietary trading firm where trades are copied at their own discretion”. It also says the firm may use aggregated trader data for its own trading, and that this does not change your account or pay.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Static drawdown on every evaluation, so your floor does not move up as you profit | Instant accounts use an 8% trailing drawdown until the first payout or +8% |
| No consistency rule, no minimum trading days, no time limit | $10,000 daily and per-trade gain cap, so large accounts cannot pass in one day |
| News trading allowed on all programs | Open trades are closed at 3:45 PM EST on Fridays unless you buy the weekend add-on (10% of the fee) |
| Low entry prices: $99 for a $10,000 1-Step Max, $105 for a $10,000 3-Step | Flat $40 payout fee on every withdrawal, which hurts small accounts |
| Free restarts on 1-Step and 1-Step Max, a 75% surrender discount on 3-Step | Restarts only count if no trade lost more than 1% and drawdown stayed better than -5% |
| Lark Base: a monthly fixed reward on 1-Step funded accounts, even without new profit | Lark Base needs three +0.5% days every 30 days and a streak, and is paid on request |
| Payouts “most handled in under 6 hours”, per the help centre | Riseworks is the only payout method |
| Three platforms and 100+ US stock CFDs | No MT4 or MT5, no futures |
Lark Funding account types compared
These are the four programs on the homepage on October 11, 2026. Percentages are of the starting balance unless noted.
| Rule | 1-Step | 1-Step Max | 3-Step | Instant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account sizes | $10K to $200K | $10K to $100K | $10K to $200K | $5K to $100K |
| Profit target | 10% | 12% | 5%, then 4%, then 3% | None |
| Maximum drawdown | 7% static | 12% static | 5% static | 8% trailing, locks at starting balance |
| Daily loss limit | 5% | 5% | None | 5% |
| Per-trade loss limit | None | 1% per trade setup | None | None |
| Minimum trading days | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Time limit | None | None | None | None |
| Consistency rule | No | No | No | No |
| Profit split | 80% | 80% | 80% (90% upgrade at checkout) | 90% |
| Payout cycle | 14 days | 14 days (weekly add-on) | 14 days (weekly add-on) | First on demand, then 30 days |
| Free retries | 3 free restarts | 3 free restarts | 75% off a restart | None |
| Monthly Lark Base | Yes, once funded | No | No | No |
| Forex leverage | 30:1 | 30:1 | 50:1 | 50:1 |
The daily loss limit is measured on equity (closed trades plus floating profit and loss) against the balance at 5:00 PM EST the day before, and it resets at 5:00 PM EST. A daily-limit hit is a hard breach. When floating equity touches the profit target, the system marks the phase as passed. This is the “Pass Assist” feature, so you do not need to close the trade.
Lark Funding pricing by account size
All fees are one-time fees, not subscriptions. These are the list prices on the homepage plan cards on October 11, 2026.
| Account size | Instant | 1-Step | 1-Step Max | 3-Step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | $200 | Not sold | Not sold | Not sold |
| $10,000 | $400 | $200 | $99 | $105 |
| $25,000 | $1,125 | $300 | $249 | $175 |
| $50,000 | $2,750 | $500 | $389 | $280 |
| $100,000 | $4,500 | $800 | $599 | $370 |
| $200,000 | Not sold | $1,500 | Not sold | $750 |
Add-ons are chosen at checkout. The help centre prices one of them: holding trades over the weekend costs 10% of the account fee. The weekly payout add-on and the 90% split upgrade on 3-Step are named but not priced on public pages. All add-ons must be bought before you pass, not afterwards.
What you pay per $1,000 of drawdown
A fee only means something next to the room you get to lose. Here is the $100,000 size of each program, priced per $1,000 of maximum drawdown.
| $100K program | Fee | Max drawdown | Fee per $1,000 of drawdown | Gross gain to cover the fee at your split, after the $40 payout fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Step Max | $599 | $12,000 | $50 | $799 (0.8%) |
| 3-Step | $370 | $5,000 | $74 | $513 (0.5%) |
| 1-Step | $800 | $7,000 | $114 | $1,050 (1.05%) |
| Instant | $4,500 | $8,000 | $563 | $5,045 (5.0%) |
The break-even column assumes an 80% split (90% for Instant), one payout, and a $40 fee. For example, on 1-Step: 80% of $1,050 is $840, minus $40 leaves $800. The evaluations are cheap per dollar of drawdown, and 1-Step Max is the cheapest of all. Instant is expensive by comparison, because you pay to skip the evaluation.
Current offers, discounts and the 100K Road
Lark Funding published two offers of its own on October 11, 2026.
- October fee refund. If you buy a 1-Step, 1-Step Max or 3-Step evaluation by October 31, 2026 at 23:59 UTC, “the evaluation fee you pay comes back to you with your first eligible payout”. Instant accounts are excluded. The refund is one per evaluation, equals the fee you actually paid, and depends on passing and meeting the payout rules. It is not a refund for a failed evaluation. The deadline is for buying, not for passing. Source: the refundable fee page.
- 100K Road, Season 1 (October 1 to December 31, 2026). You buy a $10,000 account for $99. Passing it unlocks a $50,000 account for $299, and passing that unlocks a $100,000 account for $399. The page compares that with an $800 list price, which matches the 1-Step $100K. Each unlock comes as a coupon valid for 45 days. If you breach an unlocked account, you keep 20% off any account for 14 days. The page lists Lark Base, no consistency rule, no time limit and “3 free Restarts*” for every step. Source: the 100K Road page.
Two rules limit stacking. The help centre says “Discount codes cannot be combined with any active promotion” and only one offer can be used per purchase. It also says an account that uses the free-restart or surrender feature “will no longer be eligible for the promotion applied to the original purchase”. So a restart can cost you the October fee refund.
Coupon sites and listing sites publish other Lark Funding codes. BestProps could not confirm those codes with the firm, so we do not reprint them. A code you find elsewhere also cannot be combined with the October refund.
The firm’s challenge fee is otherwise non-refundable. The Refund Policy says no refund is given once your login details are emailed. The only exception is “some special circumstances” where no trades were placed, handled by email.
The 1-Step evaluation and the Lark Base
The 1-Step (called the “1-Step Career Evaluation” in the help centre) is a single phase with a 10% target, a 7% static maximum drawdown and a 5% daily loss limit. On a $100,000 account, the target is $10,000 and the floor stays at $93,000 however high the balance goes. The help centre’s own example: if a $50,000 account falls to $48,000, you still have $1,500 of room before the $46,500 floor.
Once funded, you keep 80% of simulated gains and can request a payout every 14 days. The 1-Step also comes with the TrackAlpha.AI trading journal.
How the Lark Base works
The Lark Base is a fixed monthly reward on funded 1-Step accounts, paid on top of the 80% split. The trader-rewards page says it is “Only Available On Our 1-Step Evaluation”.
| Account size | Monthly Lark Base | After the $40 Riseworks fee |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $50 | $10 |
| $25,000 | $125 | $85 |
| $50,000 | $250 | $210 |
| $100,000 | $500 | $460 |
| $200,000 | $1,000 | $960 |
To qualify in each 30-day period, you must keep overall drawdown better than -3.5% and record at least three profitable days of +0.5% or more. Eligibility is sequential: miss one month and the streak ends, so you are not eligible the month after. You request it by email, and it is processed in two to three business days. The help centre calls it a contractor fee for “consistent simulated market data”, not a wage. On a $10,000 account the $40 fee eats most of it, so the Base only matters on $50,000 and up.
Free restarts on the 1-Step
Every 1-Step and 1-Step Max purchase includes four attempts: the original and three free restarts. You qualify if no single trade setup lost more than 1% of the balance and your overall drawdown stayed better than -5%. A “Surrender Account” button then appears in the dashboard, and pressing it gives you a 100% discount code for a new evaluation. Dipping to -6% and recovering to -5% or better still qualifies, as long as no trade broke the 1% rule. The limit is three restarts per purchased evaluation, even if the button keeps appearing.
1-Step Max and the 1% per-trade limit
1-Step Max is the program Lark Funding labels “Most popular”. It has a 12% target, a 12% static maximum drawdown, a 5% daily loss limit and three free restarts, from $99. The trade-off is a hard cap on each trade.
- The 1% limit. No trade setup may lose more than 1% of the starting balance. On $100,000 that is $1,000, and it stays at $1,000 even if the balance grows.
- Evaluation: a setup that hits the limit is closed automatically and logged as a soft breach. Two are allowed. The third is a hard breach.
- Funded: there are no soft breaches. The first time a setup goes past 1%, the account is breached.
- What counts as one setup: similar trades (same instrument, same direction) opened and closed within 1 to 2 minutes of each other are added together. The help centre’s example: two XAUUSD sells closed at -$100 and -$150 within a couple of minutes count as one -$250 setup.
The help centre also tells traders to leave a buffer under 1%, because commissions and swaps can show up differently on each platform. On a $100,000 account, sizing stops to about $800 to $900 of risk is the practical ceiling.
Lark Funding describes this rule in two ways. The help centre says “per trade setup”. The homepage and the 1-Step Max page say “1% Per-Symbol Loss Limit”. If you trade two instruments at once, ask support which reading applies before you rely on it.
After passing, you complete KYC in the dashboard and the funded account is issued “within 48 business hours”.
The Lark Funding 3-Step (3-stage) evaluation
The 3-Step, which older pages call the 3-Stage Program, is the cheapest way into large accounts: $370 for $100,000 and $750 for $200,000. It has three phases with falling targets and no daily loss limit.
| $100,000 3-Step | Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Funded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit target | 5% ($5,000) | 4% ($4,000) | 3% ($3,000) | None |
| Maximum drawdown (static) | 5% ($95,000 floor) | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| Daily loss limit | None | None | None | None |
| Forex leverage | 50:1 | 50:1 | 50:1 | 50:1 |
New credentials for the next phase arrive by email within about 10 minutes of passing. After Phase 3 you sign the trader agreement and complete KYC in the dashboard. Funded 3-Step traders keep 80%, or 90% if they bought the upgrade at checkout, every 14 days (or weekly with the add-on).
Two things to plan for. First, with no daily limit, one bad day can take the whole 5%, so your own daily stop matters more here than at most firms. Second, the 3-Step does not get free restarts. It gets the Surrender Account feature instead: if you are not down more than 3.5%, no trade lost more than 1%, and all trades are closed, you can surrender and receive a 75% discount code to restart at Phase 1. It works in every phase, including the funded account, and always sends you back to Phase 1. On a $100,000 account that restart costs about $92.50 at list price.
Lark Funding instant funding
Instant accounts skip the evaluation. You pay more ($4,500 for $100,000) and trade a funded account from day one with a 90% split. The help centre calls it “direct access to a simulated Master account”. Sizes run from $5,000 to $100,000, and $100,000 is also the most you can hold in instant accounts at once.
- Daily loss: 5% of the previous day’s closed balance at 5:00 PM EST.
- Maximum drawdown: 8% of the starting balance, trailing the highest closed balance. Floating highs do not move it. If a $100,000 account closes at a high of $105,000, the floor is $97,000.
- The lock: once the account is up 8%, or as soon as you request your first payout, the floor locks at the starting balance and stays there.
- Payouts: the first one is on demand, then one every 30 days, with a $100 minimum.
The lock is the rule that matters most. Say a $100,000 Instant account is up $8,000. The floor is now $100,000. If you withdraw all $8,000, the balance lands on the floor and the account is breached. You still get paid, but the account ends. The help centre’s alternative is to withdraw, say, $3,000 and leave $5,000 as a cushion. Ask early for a small payout and you lock the floor while your cushion is still thin.
A separate $1,000 Instant account exists (it is a competition prize). Its total withdrawals are capped at $100, its minimum payout is $50, and it has no $40 fee.
What happened to the 2-Step
Lark Funding used to sell a 2-Step evaluation: a 10% “Lark Challenge” followed by a 5% “Verification”, with a 10% maximum loss and 5% daily loss. Its How It Works page still describes that path, and the help centre’s payout article still lists 2-Step payout timing. It is not on the homepage, and the CEO wrote on Trustpilot in February 2026 that “the legacy 2-Step program was officially discontinued”. Funded 2-Step accounts were kept running for four months and then closed, with requested payouts processed first. If you read about a 10%/5% two-phase Lark challenge, that is the old program.
Rules that apply to every account
| Rule | What the help centre says |
|---|---|
| News trading | Allowed on all programs, subject to the All-or-Nothing ban |
| All-or-Nothing trading | Banned: positions large enough that one trade could breach, or nearly breach, the drawdown. Suggested margin use: up to 50% on forex and metals, 75% on indices, oil, crypto and stocks. Suggested risk per trade idea: up to 1.5% |
| Gain cap | $10,000 per day and per trade, measured at 5:00 PM EST, with gains across phases on the same day added together. Evaluation: one violation means a restart from Phase 1 with a free evaluation. Funded: gains over the cap are removed, and three violations breach the account with no payout |
| Overnight holds | Allowed. Swaps apply unless you have a swap-free account |
| Weekend holds | Only with the Hold Over The Weekend add-on (10% of the fee). Without it, trading is disabled at 3:45 PM EST on Friday and open trades are closed |
| Expert advisors | Allowed at your own risk. There is no public API, and HFT or arbitrage EAs are banned |
| Copy trading | Only between accounts you own. External accounts can copy into one Lark evaluation, or into several funded or instant accounts |
| Hedging | Allowed inside one account. Opposite positions across accounts or firms are banned |
| Multiple evaluations | Allowed, but each must be passed on its own trades. No identical or overlapping trades across evaluation accounts |
| Capital limit | $200,000 of funded evaluation accounts active at once. Extra passed accounts wait until one ends |
| Stock CFDs | Close before earnings, dividends or other corporate actions (by 3:50 PM ET). Holding through one is a hard breach |
| Stop loss | A 2023 article says trades opened without a stop loss are closed automatically and logged as a soft breach |
| Inactivity | At least one trade every 30 days, or the account is breached. Reinstatement on request is not guaranteed |
| Margin | Margin call at 110% (no new trades), stop-out at 100% |
| Scalping | Allowed |
| VPN or VPS | Allowed but discouraged, and not allowed during KYC |
| Age | 18 or older |
A funded account follows the same rules as the evaluation it came from, without a profit target.
Common breach traps, worked through
- The gain cap on big accounts. A $200,000 1-Step needs $20,000 to pass, and a $100,000 1-Step Max needs $12,000. Both are above the $10,000 daily cap, so neither can be passed in one day. A single huge day restarts you at Phase 1. On a funded account, gains above $10,000 in a day are simply removed.
- The daily limit includes floating losses. On a $100,000 1-Step that closed yesterday at $102,000, the daily floor is $102,000 minus 5% of $102,000 ($5,100), or $96,900 in equity. An open trade that dips below that breaches the account even if it would have recovered.
- Splitting a losing trade does not help on 1-Step Max. Two sells on the same pair, closed within a couple of minutes for -$600 and -$500 on a $100,000 account, are one -$1,100 setup. That is a soft breach in the evaluation and a hard breach once funded.
- Friday afternoon. Without the weekend add-on, a swing position still open at 3:45 PM EST on Friday is closed by the system at whatever price it gets.
- Instant withdrawals. Withdrawing your whole cushion after the drawdown locks ends the account (see Instant funding).
- Two accounts, two directions. Long on one Lark account and short on another, or against an account at another firm, is “group hedging”. It is the reason the CEO gives in several one-star Trustpilot replies for permanent bans.
- Thirty quiet days. A funded account you leave alone for a month is breached for inactivity. One 0.01-lot trade resets the clock.
- Using a restart can cost a promotion. Surrendering an account removes the promotion attached to the original purchase, such as the October fee refund.
Lark Funding payouts
| Item | What Lark Funding publishes |
|---|---|
| Payout cycle | Every 14 days on 1-Step, 1-Step Max and 3-Step, from the first payout onward. Weekly with the add-on |
| Instant | First payout on demand, then every 30 days |
| Profit split | 80% on evaluations (90% upgrade on 3-Step), 90% on Instant |
| Minimum | $100 |
| Fee | $40 flat per payout (Riseworks processing), taken from the payout |
| Method | Riseworks only |
| Processing time | “Most payouts are handled in under 6 hours, but please allow up to 3 business days” |
| Payout cap | None once funded, according to the homepage (“no cap on simulated gains”) |
| Trading after a request | “Zero Pause Trading”: you can keep trading once the request is approved, before the money arrives |
The help centre lists two more features. They come from older articles, so confirm them with support before you rely on them. The “Lark Gain Protector” (2023) lets a trader whose funded account breached the daily limit still withdraw the gains left in it. That requires at least five trading days and no loss over 1% of the balance. The “Funded Reset” (2024) lets a breached funded account be restored for three to five times the challenge fee, after a manual review that the firm says is not guaranteed.
A first payout, worked through
Take a $100,000 1-Step bought for $800 during the October offer.
- Pass by reaching $110,000 in equity without dipping under $93,000 or losing 5% in a day. No minimum days apply, but a one-day pass would land right on the $10,000 daily gain cap, so plan on at least two trading days.
- Complete KYC and the trader agreement. The funded account is usually active within 24 to 48 hours.
- Trade the funded account to, say, $106,000 over the first 14 days.
- Request a payout: 80% of $6,000 is $4,800, minus the $40 fee, leaves $4,760.
- Under the October offer, the $800 fee is added to that first eligible payout, for $5,560 in total.
- If you also met the Lark Base conditions that month, request the $500 base by email. You receive $460 after the fee.
The same gain on a $100,000 Instant account pays 90% of $6,000, or $5,400 minus $40 = $5,360. But you paid $4,500 up front, so you are only $860 ahead, against roughly $3,960 on the 1-Step even without the refund.
Lark Funding forex and the other markets
Lark Funding is a forex and CFD prop firm. Every account trades contracts for difference on forex pairs, indices, metals, energies, cryptocurrencies and more than 100 US stock CFDs. The help centre says “Futures or spot stocks trading is not supported.” Pricing comes from aggregated third-party liquidity providers, and the firm publishes a demo login so you can check live spreads before buying.
| Market | 1-Step and 1-Step Max | 3-Step | Instant | Commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex | 30:1 | 50:1 | 50:1 | $7 round trip per standard lot |
| Gold (XAUUSD) | 10:1 | 10:1 | 10:1 | $7 round trip per lot |
| Silver (XAGUSD) | 5:1 | 5:1 | 5:1 | $7 round trip per lot |
| Indices | 10:1 | 20 |