Lark Funding Review

Lark Funding is a Montreal-based prop firm that has run since 2022. You trade forex, metals, indices, commodities, stocks and crypto CFDs on DXtrade, cTrader or Match-Trader, with leverage up to 50:1 on forex. It sells four programs: a 1-Step, a cheaper 1-Step Max, a 3-Step and an Instant account. Entry starts at $99, none of the evaluations has a consistency rule, a time limit or minimum days, and news trading is allowed.

The cheap evaluations come with costs that show up later. Every payout loses a flat $40 fee, holding over the weekend needs a paid add-on, the fee isn't refundable outside a promotion ending 31 October 2026, and the Instant account is very expensive for what you get. Some of Lark's own pages also show outdated numbers, so this review sticks to the current help center and walks through each program in dollars.

The short version

• Best for: forex and index day traders who want a low-cost evaluation with static drawdown, no consistency rule and free restarts if they fail carefully.
• Not for: swing traders who hold over weekends without paying extra, and anyone who wants frequent small withdrawals.
• Biggest strength: the rulebook is simple. No consistency rule, no minimum days, no deadline and no news restrictions on any program.
• Biggest risk: the costs around the edges. A flat $40 fee on every payout, a $10,000 daily gain cap, and Instant prices of $40 to $55 per $1,000 of funding.
• Our score: 3.9 out of 5. It does well on rules and track record, and loses points on payout speed and fees.

Who runs Lark Funding

Lark's terms of use name Lark Dashboards Inc., a Canadian corporation registered in Quebec, as the operator. It runs the services under licence from Lark Funding Inc., which provides the content. The terms give an address at 3 Place Ville-Marie, Suite 400, Montréal, and say disputes go to the courts of Canada in Montreal. They don't give a registration number or name a governing law. Oddly, Quebec itself is on Lark's list of places where it isn't available.

Every account is simulated. The footer says Lark uses "exclusively simulated demo accounts" and doesn't provide brokerage services. Funded traders are treated as independent contractors, and the help center describes Lark's monthly base reward as a business-to-business fee rather than wages.

The help center says Lark has operated since 2022, and its Trustpilot profile was claimed in June 2022. Finance Magnates has covered the firm several times, naming its CEO as Matt L. In February 2024 it reported that Lark had stopped selling to US clients after its MetaTrader broker relationships changed, and FinanceFeeds reported on 1 March 2024 that Lark would welcome US clients again.

The rulebook lives in a public help center, with one article per program. Use those over the marketing pages: our research found an older /how-it-works page still showing 10% and 5% targets with a 10% max loss, which no current program uses.

Programs and prices

Prices below are list prices from Lark's live homepage, checked on 27 October 2026, before any coupon. Every program is a one-time fee. An October offer refunds your evaluation fee with your first eligible payout on the 1-Step, 1-Step Max and 3-Step, for enrollments by 31 October 2026.

1-Step

The 1-Step (called the 1-Step Career Evaluation in the help center) is Lark's main one-phase plan.

• Make 10%, measured on floating equity.
• 5% daily loss, measured from your balance at 5:00pm Eastern (Lark writes EST). A hard breach.
• 7% max loss, static from the initial balance.
• No minimum days, no time limit. Forex leverage 30:1.
• Funded: 80% split, payouts every 14 days (weekly as an add-on), plus a monthly base reward if you trade steadily.
• Smart Restart: up to three free restarts if you fail carefully (see below).

The monthly base reward, which the homepage calls Lark Base, is 0.5% of the account size, paid every 30 days if your overall drawdown stays better than -3.5% and you have at least three profitable days of 0.5% or more. You request it by email, the $40 fee applies, and missing a month ends your streak.

Worked example, $50,000 1-Step. Your floor is $46,500 and never moves. Each day you can lose $2,500 from your 5pm balance. Hit $55,000 on floating equity and the account passes. Once funded, make $2,000 in two weeks and you're due $1,600 at 80%; after the $40 fee you receive $1,560. Keep your drawdown above $48,250 and log three days of $250 or more, and you can also claim the $250 base reward, which arrives as $210.

1-Step Max

The 1-Step Max is the cheapest way in, with more room and a hard per-trade rule.

• Make 12%.
• 5% daily loss (hard breach) and 12% max loss, static.
• 1% per-trade-idea loss limit on the initial balance. A losing setup is closed automatically. Two soft breaches are allowed in the evaluation and the third fails it; once funded, the first breach ends the account.
• No consistency rule, no minimum days. Forex leverage 30:1.
• Funded: 80% split, payouts every 14 days. Three free restarts included.

Worked example, $25,000 1-Step Max. Your floor is $22,000 and you pass at $28,000. You can lose $1,250 in a day, but no single setup can lose more than $250. The 12% room is generous, but the 1% cap means you'd need at least 12 maximum-loss trades to reach the floor, so the real constraint is the per-trade rule, not the drawdown. The homepage calls it a "per-symbol" limit while the help center says "per trade setup", so plan as if all your open risk on one symbol counts together.

3-Step

The 3-Step has the smallest targets and no daily limit.

• Targets of 5%, 4% and 3% in the three phases.
• No daily loss limit.
• 5% max loss, static from the initial balance.
• No minimum days, no time limit. Forex leverage 50:1, indices 20:1.
• Funded: 80% split, or 90% with an upgrade at checkout. Payouts every 14 days (weekly as an add-on).

Worked example, $100,000 3-Step. Your floor is $95,000 in every phase. Pass phase 1 at $105,000, phase 2 at $104,000 and phase 3 at $103,000. With no daily limit, a bad day only matters if it takes you to $95,000. The ratio improves as you go: by phase 3 you need $3,000 with $5,000 of room. The homepage card also lists 3 free restarts and a "gain protector" as included, which the help center article doesn't explain.

Instant

The Instant account (called the Instant Master Account in the help center) skips the evaluation.

• No target. 5% daily loss from the previous day's closed balance, checked against equity, resetting at 5:00pm Eastern.
• 8% trailing max loss that follows your highest closed balance, not equity. It locks at the starting balance once you're up 8% or when you request your first payout.
• 90% split. First payout on demand, then every 30 days, with a $100 minimum.
• Forex leverage 1:50. No lot limit beyond leverage.

Worked example, $10,000 Instant. Your floor starts at $9,200. If your closed balance peaks at $10,300, the floor moves to $9,500. Once your balance reaches $10,800, the floor locks at $10,000. Requesting your first payout also locks it at $10,000, so if you withdraw everything above $10,000, your balance sits right on the floor. A $500 first payout pays $450 at 90%, or $410 after the $40 fee.

Which Lark Funding plan should you pick?

The 3-Step is the best value. The $100,000 costs $370, there's no daily limit, and the targets shrink each phase. It suits patient traders who can make 12% in total without a 5% drawdown.

The 1-Step Max is the cheapest ticket and has the most room (12%), but only if you already cap every trade at 1%. If you do, it's an easy fit; if you don't, the funded account ends at the first breach.

The 1-Step fits traders who want one phase without a per-trade cap. Its 7% floor against a 10% target is reasonable, and it adds the monthly base reward, but it costs more than the Max at every size.

Instant is hard to recommend. A $50,000 Instant costs $2,750, more than seven times the $389 1-Step Max at the same size, and it uses a trailing floor.

By cost per $1,000, the cheapest plan is the $100,000 3-Step at $3.70 per $1K ($370 divided by 100), just ahead of the $200,000 3-Step at $3.75. That's also the best value with real room to trade.

Trading rules in practice

Drawdown and the daily reset

The trading day and the daily loss reset at 5:00pm Eastern. Lark writes "EST" throughout, so confirm with support whether that shifts with US daylight saving time. Daily breaches on the 1-Step and 1-Step Max are hard: the account stops.

Leverage and commissions

Forex and metals cost $7 per standard lot round trip, stocks $0.02 per share, and crypto, indices and oil are commission-free. A 2-lot EUR/USD trade costs $14 round trip. Five of those a day on a $10,000 1-Step would cost $70, or 14% of your $500 daily limit. Swaps apply overnight unless you have a swap-free account.

News, overnight and weekends

• News: no restrictions on any program, as long as you don't size up into an "all-or-nothing" trade around the release.
• Overnight: allowed.
• Weekends: not allowed by default. Trading is disabled at 3:45pm Eastern on Fridays and open trades and orders are closed automatically. The Hold Over The Weekend add-on costs 10% of your account fee, at checkout or by email. With it, crypto stays tradable over the weekend apart from scheduled breaks.
• Earnings: stock CFDs must be closed by 3:50pm ET before earnings, dividends or other corporate actions. Holding through one is an immediate hard breach.

The $10,000 gain cap

Gains above $10,000 in a day or on a single trade, measured at 5:00pm Eastern, aren't counted. Trades opened at similar times or closed in parts count as one trade, and gains across phases on the same day are added together. In an evaluation, one violation sends you back to phase 1 on a free evaluation. When funded, the excess is excluded and the third violation ends the account with no payout. On a $200,000 1-Step, a 6% day would be $12,000, and $2,000 of it wouldn't count.

EAs, copy trading and hedging

EAs are allowed on all three platforms, though Lark has no public API and connections are at your own risk. HFT and arbitrage EAs are banned. Copy trading is allowed only between accounts you own and control, including your accounts at other prop firms; signal services, account-passing services and group trading are banned. Hedging inside one account is allowed, but opposing trades across accounts, at Lark or across firms, are not.

Risk guidelines and "all-or-nothing" trading

Lark bans trades that could breach, or nearly breach, your drawdown in one go. Its guidelines suggest keeping margin use under 50% on forex and metals and 75% on other assets, and risking up to 1.5% per trade idea. These are guidelines, but continued breaches can get an account closed with fees forfeited.

Smart Restart

On the 1-Step and 1-Step Max, each purchase includes up to four attempts. If you fail but no single trade lost more than 1% of the balance and your drawdown stayed better than -5%, a "Surrender Account" button gives you a 100% discount code for a new evaluation. A dip to -6% still qualifies if you recover to -5% or better. You can use it up to three times per purchase, but surrendering forfeits any promotion on the original order.

How payouts work

Minimum and fees. The minimum withdrawal is $100, and every payout carries a flat $40 fee. That's painful on small payouts: a $100 withdrawal loses 40%, a $1,000 one loses 4%.

Method and speed. All payouts go through Rise (Riseworks). Lark says most are handled in under 6 hours, and you should allow up to 3 business days. Rise must operate in your country.

KYC. You complete KYC and sign a trader agreement in your dashboard after passing. On the 1-Step Max, the funded account is set up within 48 business hours of KYC.

Fee refund. The help center says the fee "is not currently refundable", and the terms say there are no refunds on any service. The exception is the October offer on the 1-Step, 1-Step Max and 3-Step, for enrollments by 31 October 2026, which returns the fee with your first eligible payout.

Scaling. No formal scaling plan is published. The monthly base reward on the 1-Step is the closest thing to a loyalty bonus.

Who can sign up

Lark isn't available in Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Russia, Belarus or Quebec, according to its countries article. The United States isn't on the list, and FinanceFeeds reported Lark reopening to US clients in March 2024 after a brief pause. Because every payout goes through Rise, check that Rise works in your country before buying.

Reputation

Lark has a TrustScore of 4.3 out of 5 from 517 reviews on Trustpilot, checked on 28 October 2026, with 104 reviews in the last 12 months. The split is 75% five-star, 13% four-star, 2% three-star, 2% two-star and 8% one-star. The profile has been claimed since June 2022, and Lark had replied to 82% of negative reviews, usually within a week. The ten most recent reviews, from 21 August to 19 October 2026, were all five-star.

Positive reviews mostly mention helpful support, fast payouts and clear rules. Negative ones mostly describe accounts closed after rule or program changes, a funded account breached over a restart-limit dispute that the CEO defended in a reply, slow email support, and payout trouble after a payment provider stopped serving a reviewer's country.

Lark's homepage claims more than $1 million paid in rewards, 5,625+ traders and 33+ countries, and shows payout certificates up to $12,890.35. These are the firm's own figures. We found no regulator action and no complaint coverage in Finance Magnates, FX News Group or FinanceFeeds beyond the platform and US-access reports above.

Mistakes to avoid at Lark Funding

1. Leaving trades open into Friday's close. Without the add-on, everything closes at 3:45pm Eastern on Friday.
2. Taking tiny payouts. The $40 fee eats 40% of a $100 withdrawal. Let profit build before requesting.
3. Scaling into a losing idea on the 1-Step Max. The homepage measures the 1% limit per symbol, so several entries can add up to one breach, and once funded, the first breach ends the account.
4. Holding a stock CFD through earnings. Close by 3:50pm ET before the event, or it's a hard breach.
5. Withdrawing all profit from Instant. The first payout locks the floor at your starting balance, so leave a cushion.
6. Ignoring the $10,000 cap on big accounts. Partial closes and similar-time trades count as one trade.

Before you buy: checklist

• Read the help center article for your program, not the older marketing pages.
• Check that your country, and Rise, are available.
• Decide on add-ons at checkout: weekend holding (10% of the fee), weekly payouts, or the 90% split on the 3-Step.
• If you're buying before 31 October 2026, check the fee-refund offer applies to your program.
• Size every trade at 1% or less if you want Smart Restart to protect you.
• Use code SCOUT at checkout. See our Lark Funding coupon page for how to apply it.

Our verdict

Lark Funding is a good fit for disciplined day traders who want a cheap, simple evaluation. The 3-Step, at $3.70 per $1,000 with no daily limit and shrinking targets, is excellent value, and Smart Restart rewards traders who keep their risk small even when they fail.

Its weak points sit around the payouts: a $40 fee every time, payouts every two weeks at best without the add-on, no weekend holding by default and an Instant account priced well above the market. Pick an evaluation, keep your trades small and let profit build before you withdraw.