How to read a challenge fee

Compare the initial fee with your budget first. Then list activation, reset, subscription, data and payment costs on their own lines. If two lines use different currencies, do not add them until you have chosen a rate and written it down. Keel’s fees are in USDT. Adding them to a USD column is a conversion you have not made.

A fee stack from the demonstration set

Sable’s activation fee is a second charge when the reward stage opens. It is not a deposit and, on that record, not described as refundable. Harborpath’s data fee starts after a pass. A trader who budgets only the evaluation price has undercounted both.

Do not prorate by nominal balance

Northline’s own demonstration schedule says fees are set per version and are not a ratio of nominal balance. The 50k is USD 279. Half of the 100k’s USD 499 would have been 249.50. The firm did not charge that, and you should not ‘correct’ it. Price per 1,000 of nominal balance is a ratio people invent to rank products. It ignores that the 200k also carries a consistency cap and tighter loss percentages. You would be ranking a different contract.

The calculator’s manners

The true-cost tool keeps each line separate. It does not convert currency. It does not invent a reset fee when the sources do not publish one. A second attempt on Sable’s 100k cannot be priced from the initial fee. The tool should show an unknown, and an unknown is not zero.

• Open the true-cost calculator
• What a second attempt costs