The free practice round offers one attempt per day, cut over at 17:00 Chicago time, and an attempt you do not use does not roll over. It carries no entry fee, it does not occupy a paid challenge slot, and practice profits cannot be withdrawn.
How does "one a day" actually work?
The official rules state the frequency plainly: one attempt per day, unused attempts do not accumulate. At the same time only one practice account may be open, and a practice account does not occupy a paid challenge slot.
Those three rules together define the opportunity structure. First, it is a daily allowance — not once a week, not a few times a month, but one attempt each day, resetting across days. Second, an attempt left unused on one day is not carried into the next, so the idea of skipping twice this week and saving them for the weekend does not hold. Third, practice accounts and paid challenge slots are two separate ledgers — using the practice round yesterday does not affect opening a paid challenge today.
The cut-over time is 17:00 Chicago time, the same trading-day boundary the rest of the assessment system uses.
What are the practice parameters, and how many are there?
The practice round is a one-step evaluation covering the challenge stage only, with no funded-account stage. It has a single 50,000 tier.
| Rule | Practice value | Common misreading (not correct) |
|---|---|---|
| Account tier | 50,000, this tier only | Misread as "the practice round has three tiers" — not correct, there is only one |
| Profit target | 10%, closing balance at or above 55,000 | Misread as "you get paid for passing" — not correct, the practice round pays no trading profit |
| Daily loss limit | 4%, i.e. 2,000 | Misread as "the practice round has no loss limit" — not correct, the daily cap applies in full |
| Total drawdown | 6% static, floor 47,000 | Misread as "the practice drawdown is looser" — not correct, same basis as the one-step challenge |
| Minimum trades | 20 valid trades | Misread as "reaching 55,000 is enough" — not correct, 19 trades fails even at the target |
| Minimum days | No limit | Misread as "you must trade for a set number of days" — not correct, no minimum |
| Frequency | One per day, cut at 17:00 Chicago time | Misread as "you can make it up later the same day" — not correct, unused attempts do not accumulate |
| Practice P&L | Not withdrawable, not transferable to a funded account, not offset against entry fees | Misread as "practice profit can be credited" — not correct, all three are excluded |
The launch checklist has a line dedicated to this: 19 trades in the practice round fails even if the balance reaches 55,000. Meeting the target and meeting the trade count are two separate requirements.
What counts as a valid trade?
This is where the practice round is most often caught short. The official core definition: counted per instrument, one trade runs from opening a position to closing it fully (position back to zero).
Three constraints follow. First, adding to or reducing a position mid-way does not create a new trade — as long as the position is not fully closed, it is the same trade. Second, a position must be held more than one minute from open to full close for it to count as a valid trade. Third, closing in tranches still counts as one trade.
The official examples make it concrete: opening 2 lots of Nasdaq, cutting to 1, adding back to 3, then closing everything counts as 1 trade rather than 3; opening 1 lot of gold and closing it after 30 seconds does not count; closing after 2 minutes counts as 1 valid trade.
A qualifying day uses the same definition plus two further conditions: at least one position opened and closed on the day, and a peak margin requirement of at least 1% of the initial account value. This applies to one-step, two-step, the practice round, and funded-account payouts alike.
| Scenario | Counts as a valid trade? | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Open 2 lots → reduce to 1 → add to 3 → close all | Yes, 1 trade | Adding or reducing mid-way does not split the trade |
| Open 1 lot of gold, close after 30 seconds | No | Held for less than 60 seconds |
| Open 1 lot of gold, close after 2 minutes | Yes, 1 trade | Held for more than one minute |
| Close a single position in tranches | Yes, 1 trade | Tranche closes still count as one trade |
What does the daily attempt actually yield?
The output of the practice round is draw eligibility, not cash profit. The rules state: complete the round in the current period with a PumpkinScore of 60 or above, and you qualify for a draw, with prizes of 100 USDT in cash or a 100 USDT voucher.
Several boundaries are worth keeping in mind. The cash prize carries a 10% winning probability. The voucher cannot be withdrawn, offsets up to 50% of a challenge entry fee on a single use, and the remaining balance stays usable — the official example: using it once on the 19 USDT tier consumes 9.5 USDT, leaving 90.5 USDT for a later use. Practice rewards are also no longer paid by ranking: there is no longer a distinction between the 100th place and the 101st to 1,000th. The precondition remains completing the round with a score of 60 or above. A trader scoring below 60 takes no part in the draw and receives neither cash nor voucher.
One more boundary matters: the practice round has no funded stage. Passing ends it, and you do not enter the funded stage. Practice profit cannot be withdrawn, cannot be transferred into a funded account, and cannot offset entry fees.
Does a low score carry over into a paid challenge?
No. The launch checklist addresses this directly: a user whose practice score falls below 60 still has their paid challenge and any resulting funded-account payout assessed under their own rules. Low scores do not carry across.
The practical significance is that the practice round is safe to treat as a trial run — it measures your readiness and leaves no mark on what follows.
Which details can be checked in the official rules, and which are platform statements?
PumpkinVine is operated by Killara Securities PTY LTD, holding ASIC licence number 001322159, searchable in the public register of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The practice tier, target, daily loss limit, total drawdown, trade-count requirement, the definition of a valid trade, the draw rules and the cut-over time all appear in the published rules and can be checked line by line.
Account size, number of regional operating centres and the size of the protection fund are platform disclosures. They cannot be independently verified from outside and should be read at the scale of "according to platform disclosure".
This content is for general information only and does not constitute investment advice. The parameters described above come from the official published rules; where the rules are updated, the official text governs.
Author: PumpkinVine Content Team | Last updated: 2 November 2026