Next Level Funded Prop Firm Review 2026 - Rules, Fees, Payouts & Profit Split

Next Level Funded (NLF) is an Australian proprietary trading firm that sells simulated funding accounts in two shapes: multi-phase evaluations and instant funding, where the first purchase is already the funded account. It runs five current programmes - 1-Step Flex and 2-Step Flex evaluations plus Instant Flex, Instant Pro and Instant Crown - with account sizes from $5,000 to $500,000.

The firm is a trading name of Next Lvl Funded PTY LTD (ACN 685 007 710), registered in Rosanna, Victoria and operating from Heidelberg, Melbourne, and it describes itself as a wholly owned subsidiary of Leverage Markets Ltd, an International Business Company registered in Saint Lucia. NLF was founded in late 2024 by Spencer Todd, who fronts the brand through weekly live streams and publishes the firm's blog in his own name.

Pricing is aggressive for the instant range - the headline $10K Instant Flex account has a $19.80 list price before promotions - while the evaluations sit closer to mid-market at $98 to $998 list depending on size. Payout claims and public sentiment diverge: the site advertises more than $4.2 million paid to traders, while its Trustpilot profile sits at 3.1 out of 5 from 252 reviews, with complaints concentrated on rule enforcement rather than non-payment.

Next Level Funded Best suited for:

Best for traders who want to be funded on day one rather than complete an evaluation, with instant funding accounts starting at a $19.80 list price for $10K.
Suited to traders who mainly trade forex and indices and want generous per-trade leverage of 1:30 on evaluations and 1:25 on instant accounts, with indices and commodities at 1:10.
A fit for swing and news traders, because weekend holding and news trading are both permitted on every current programme, although instant accounts deduct profit above 0.5% earned on red-folder news at payout review.
Good for traders who dislike fixed payout calendars, since Flex and Instant Pro payouts are on demand, and Instant Crown allows every 10 days by default or on demand with the add-on.
Less suitable for scalpers, high-frequency traders, EA users and copy traders: the 2-minute minimum hold rule, mandatory stop loss, 21-day inactivity breach and a firm-wide ban on automation are enforced with profit-split cuts and hard breaches.

Join Next Level Funded

Pros of Next Level Funded

Pros

Instant funding from a $19.80 list price for $10K
100% profit split on Flex and Instant Flex
on-demand payouts with a 12-hour guarantee
news trading and weekend holding allowed
leverage up to 1:30 on evaluations and 1:25 on instant

Cons

Trustpilot only 3.1/5 from 252 reviews
mandatory stop loss and 2-minute hold rule
trailing drawdowns and payout caps by size
21-day inactivity breach
not verified on Prop Firm Match

How Does Next Level Funded Work? (Step-by-Step Guide)

Pick an account type, model, platform and size on the pricing picker; the checkout link for that exact variant is served from payment.nextlevelfunded.com.
Pay the one-time account fee. Instant accounts are tradable within minutes, while evaluation accounts start phase one immediately.
Trade the objective - 10% for 1-Step Flex, 6% per phase for 2-Step Flex - inside a 6% or 8% maximum drawdown and a 3% or 4% trailing daily drawdown depending on the programme.
Passing accounts go through a review, typically 48 hours for evaluations, then KYC and the funded-trader agreement before the funded account is issued.
Request payouts on demand once eligibility is met, including 10 qualifying trades of at least 0.5% each for Flex accounts and 7 for Instant Pro.

Next Level Funded Account Types & Funding Options

1-Step Flex runs $50,000 to $500,000 with a 10% profit target, 6% maximum drawdown and a 3% daily drawdown at $50,000 rising to 4% above that.
2-Step Flex runs the same $50,000 to $500,000 sizes on a 6% phase-one and 6% phase-two target with an 8% maximum drawdown and 4% daily drawdown.
Instant Flex is the volume product: $10,000 to $500,000, a 4% trailing maximum drawdown, 3% daily drawdown and a 15% consistency rule.
Instant Pro covers $5,000 to $200,000 with a 3% daily and 6% overall drawdown that both trail, a 15% consistency rule and a 7-trade payout minimum.
Instant Crown covers $5,000 to $200,000 with the tightest risk limits - 2% daily and 4% trailing maximum drawdown - but no consistency rule or minimum trading days.
Instant funding accounts are capped at $500,000 for Flex and $200,000 for Pro and Crown, and any single account can be scaled to $1,000,000.

Profit Targets & Payouts

1-Step Flex pays out after a 10% profit target; 2-Step Flex requires 6% in phase one and a further 6% in phase two.
Instant programmes have no profit target at all - the account is funded on purchase - but payouts require qualifying trades and a minimum profit threshold.
Profit splits are 100% on both Flex evaluations and Instant Flex, 80% by default on Instant Pro rising to 100% with the add-on, and 90% by default on Instant Crown.
Flex payout caps are fixed by size: $500 at $50,000, $1,000 at $100,000, $1,500 at $200,000, $2,500 at $400,000 and $3,000 at $500,000 per cycle.
Instant Pro caps a payout at 2.5% to 6% of balance depending on size, and Instant Crown caps every request at 3% of the account balance permanently.
Instant Crown pays every 10 days by default, or on demand with the add-on once 3% profit is reached; Instant Flex and Instant Pro are on demand.
NLF promises a 12-hour payout guarantee: if an approved withdrawal has not arrived in 12 hours it adds a $1,000 bonus, excluding KYC time.
The minimum withdrawal is $125 after split and fees, there is a $15 withdrawal fee, and payouts run through Rise for bank transfers or crypto.

Leverage & Trading Conditions

Evaluation leverage (1-Step and 2-Step Flex) is 1:30 on forex, 1:10 on indices and commodities, and 1:2 on crypto; instant accounts use 1:25 forex, 1:10 indices and commodities, and 1:2 crypto.
Daily drawdown is trailing from the highest balance or equity at 5:00 PM EST: 3% at $50,000 and 4% above on 1-Step Flex, 4% on 2-Step Flex, 3% on Instant Flex and Instant Pro, and 2% on Instant Crown.
Maximum drawdown is 6% on 1-Step Flex and Instant Pro, 8% on 2-Step Flex, 4% trailing on Instant Flex and Instant Crown.
A stop loss is mandatory on every trade, trades must stay open at least two minutes, and evaluation accounts carry a 2% floating PnL limit in the funded phase.
The NLF Safeguard force-closes all positions at 1.5% combined floating loss (1% on Flex and giveaway accounts); a breach is a reviewable soft breach, not an automatic fail.

Allowed & Restricted Trading Strategies

Allowed Trading Strategies

News trading is allowed on every current programme, with profit above 0.5% on red-folder events deducted at payout review on instant accounts.
Weekend holding is permitted across all programmes, which suits swing traders holding positions over the close.
Expert Advisors are stated as allowed in the 1-Step and 2-Step Flex programme FAQs, subject to the general rules - confirm before relying on automation.
Accounts can be merged, and funded accounts scale 25% per cycle up to a $1,000,000 balance after 10% total profit over four months.
Top-up products let a funded trader restore drawdown, and the profit-split add-on raises Instant Pro and Instant Crown to 100%.

Restricted Trading Strategies

Copy trading, signal services and third-party trade replication are banned at every stage and can terminate the account immediately.
Martingale-style stacking, all-in positions and excessive concentration in a single instrument are prohibited.
Excessive scalping and high-frequency trading are treated as abusive, alongside latency arbitrage and exploitation of platform glitches.
VPNs, VPS services and proxies are prohibited, and geolocation must stay consistent between evaluation and funded phases.
Multiple identities, multi-account hedging and third-party payments are banned - one verified identity and payment method per trader.
The firm-wide FAQ also lists automated bots and EAs as prohibited, which conflicts with the Flex programme FAQ; traders should get written confirmation before automating.

How Long Does It Take to Get Funded by Next Level Funded?

Instant accounts are tradable within about 10 minutes of payment, with credentials emailed to the registered address.
Evaluation results are reviewed in up to 48 hours, then KYC and the funded-trader agreement are completed by email before funding.
Payout requests are processed by the payouts risk team Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, typically within three business days.
The 12-hour payout guarantee applies after approval, with a $1,000 bonus if the funds are late, excluding time spent in KYC.
The account purchase fee is refunded alongside the third successful withdrawal, so the effective cost falls for traders who reach three payouts.

How Long Has Next Level Funded Been Around?

Next Level Funded was founded in November 2024 in Melbourne by Spencer Todd, a trader who had been funded elsewhere since 2022, and it began selling accounts under the Next Lvl Funded PTY LTD entity with ACN 685 007 710. Growth came from cheap instant accounts - a $19.80 list price for the $10K Instant Flex - combined with a public-facing founder who streams weekly. The firm now reports traders across 110+ countries, led by Nigeria and India, and says it has paid out more than $4.2 million, while its own FAQ cites 20,000+ traders and $3 million paid - the two first-party counters do not agree.

Who Owns Next Level Funded? (Founder & Company Background)

Next Level Funded is a trading name of Next Lvl Funded PTY LTD, an Australian company (ACN 685 007 710) registered at 39 Mountain View Pde, Rosanna, Victoria 3084 and operating from Suite 7, Level 1, 486 Lower Heidelberg Road, Heidelberg. The firm states it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leverage Markets Ltd, an International Business Company registered in Saint Lucia under number 2025-00487. Ownership is founder-led: Spencer Todd is founder, director and chief executive, listed on LinkedIn as Director of Next Lvl Funded PTY LTD since January 2025 and named as CEO in the firm's own blog posts. NLF is explicit in its terms that it is not a broker, holds no client funds and runs all trading on simulated accounts, with rewards paid from its own funds as discretionary performance compensation.

What Can You Trade with Next Level Funded? (Supported Markets & Assets)

Trading is on simulated capital across forex majors and crosses, metals and energy under commodities, cash indices such as US500, US30 and GER30, and digital ETFs priced as crypto pairs at 1:2 leverage. The instrument list is published in full on the FAQ - 39 forex pairs, 17 commodities, 14 indices and 10 digital ETFs - and trading costs are near-raw spreads with $7 per lot commission on forex and metals, no commission on crypto and indices, and zero swap.

Does Next Level Funded Offer Education & Trader Support? (Learning Resources & Coaching)

Education is community-led rather than course-based. NLF runs a Discord with more than 15,000 members used for giveaways, announcements and weekly webinars, and the founder hosts weekly live streams. The blog publishes a steady stream of strategy and prop-firm explainers - market structure, risk-reward, position sizing, platform guides for Match-Trader, Platform 5 and TradeLocker - and a partner programme gives creators free accounts and revenue share in exchange for content.

How Good is Next Level Funded's Customer Support? (Response Time & Availability)

Support runs through a help desk at deskwoot.com plus support@nextlevelfunded.com, and the site advertises 24/7 coverage. In practice the payouts risk team works Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, so payout decisions land in US business hours. There is a Discord community with moderator support and a documented escalation path for missing credentials, duplicate accounts and payout disputes, and reviews@nextlevelfunded.com handles Trustpilot responses.

Is Next Level Funded a Scam or a Legit Prop Firm?

Legitimacy here rests on a traceable corporate structure rather than a long track record: an Australian proprietary company with a checkable ACN, a named founder who fronts the brand, and a stated parent in Saint Lucia. The firm publishes its full terms, AML, refund and privacy policies, runs a documented payout-guarantee programme, and issues rewards certificates it says are verifiable. What it does not yet have is time in market - it has operated since late 2024 - or a strong independent review record.

Public sentiment is mixed and should be read carefully. Trustpilot rates the firm 3.1 out of 5 from 252 reviews, with complaints centred on the 2-minute hold rule, mandatory stop losses and payout caps rather than on non-payment, and the firm replies to most of them. The site counters with a 4.8 average across 600+ reviews and $4.2 million paid, and it is not listed on Prop Firm Match, which means it has not completed that platform's verification. Treat the cheap instant pricing as a rules-heavy product rather than a shortcut.

Alternatives to Next Level Funded – How It Compares

FTMO remains the benchmark for a structured two-phase evaluation with stricter risk limits and a far longer payout record than NLF.
FundedNext also sells instant funding alongside evaluations, with larger maximum allocations but higher entry prices than NLF's $19.80 instant tier.
The 5ers suits traders who want a scaling-led path and a longer operating history, at the cost of smaller starting account sizes.

Final Verdict – Should You Trade with Next Level Funded?

Next Level Funded is a credible but young Australian firm whose proposition is cheap instant access: a $19.80 list price for a $10K Instant Flex account and $98 to $998 evaluations up to $500,000, all with 100% splits on the Flex and Instant Flex ranges. The trade-off is rule density - 2-minute holds, mandatory stop losses, trailing drawdowns, consistency and floating risk limits all bite - and 3.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot shows that friction. It suits disciplined traders who want a low-cost funded account and will read the rules; it is not a good fit for scalpers, automation or anyone who needs a verified long payout history.

FAQ

Who owns Next Level Funded?

Next Level Funded is a trading name of Next Lvl Funded PTY LTD, an Australian company with ACN 685 007 710, registered in Rosanna, Victoria and operating out of Heidelberg, Melbourne. The firm states it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leverage Markets Ltd, an International Business Company registered in Saint Lucia under number 2025-00487. Day-to-day ownership is founder-led, with Spencer Todd listed as director and named as CEO in the firm's own published articles.

When was Next Level Funded founded?

The firm's own about page gives November 2024 as its founding date and places the decision to establish NLF in December 2024, after founder Spencer Todd had spent over a year as a funded trader elsewhere. That timing fits its Australian company registration and a LinkedIn directorship starting in January 2025. It means NLF has roughly two years of operating history, which is short relative to established firms.

What account sizes and programmes does Next Level Funded offer?

There are five current programmes. The 1-Step Flex and 2-Step Flex evaluations run from $50,000 to $500,000, Instant Flex runs from $10,000 to $500,000, and Instant Pro and Instant Crown both run from $5,000 to $200,000. Individual accounts can be scaled to a $1,000,000 balance, and the total instant allocation is capped at $500,000 for Flex and $200,000 for Pro and Crown.

How much do Next Level Funded accounts cost?

List prices are $19.80 for the $10K Instant Flex, $98 to $998 for the Flex evaluations from $50,000 to $500,000, $59 to $1,199 for Instant Pro, and $99 to $1,799 for Instant Crown. The site currently promotes a 50% reduction at checkout with its own code, so advertised prices are frequently half the list figure. PFC records the undiscounted list price for each variant.

What profit split does Next Level Funded pay?

Both Flex evaluations and Instant Flex pay a 100% split. Instant Pro starts at 80% and Instant Crown at 90%, with a profit-split add-on available to raise either to 100%. The split is applied to payouts capped by account size, so the headline percentage is not the same as uncapped profit - Flex caps run from $500 at $50,000 to $3,000 at $500,000 per cycle.

How fast are Next Level Funded payouts?

Payouts are requested on demand for Flex, Instant Flex and Instant Pro, or every 10 days on Instant Crown unless the on-demand add-on is bought. The payouts risk team processes requests Monday to Friday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM EST, typically within three business days, and the firm promises a $1,000 bonus if an approved withdrawal has not arrived within 12 hours. KYC time is excluded from that window.

What are the most important Next Level Funded trading rules?

A stop loss is mandatory on every trade, and each trade must stay open for at least two minutes - a first breach cuts the profit split to 50% and a second is a hard breach. Drawdowns are trailing: for example 3% daily and 6% maximum on 1-Step Flex at $50,000, 4% and 8% on 2-Step Flex, and 2% daily with a 4% trailing maximum on Instant Crown. Twenty-one days without trading breaches the account, and the NLF Safeguard closes all positions at 1.5% combined floating loss.

Is Next Level Funded trustworthy?

The corporate trail is checkable - an Australian ACN, a named founder, a stated Saint Lucia parent and published terms, AML and refund policies - and the firm pays out with a documented 12-hour guarantee. Independent sentiment is more mixed: Trustpilot shows 3.1 out of 5 from 252 reviews, with complaints focused on the 2-minute rule, stop-loss enforcement and payout caps rather than missing payments. The firm is also not listed on Prop Firm Match, so it has not passed that platform's verification.