A one step prop firm asks you to pass a single evaluation phase rather than a target followed by a verification stage. It is a genuine convenience and it is routinely mistaken for a difficulty rating. The number of phases tells you how many hurdles there are; the drawdown rule tells you how high they are.
Which firms publish it
Take Profit Trader describes itself on its home page as a one step, no nonsense funding company. OneUp Trader publishes that you prove your trading skills in only one step and pass a one step evaluation. Those are the two firms in this index that publish the term. Two is below the three firm floor this site uses before a segment earns an indexed page of its own, so there is no separate one step lattice page here and the two firms are named instead.
Why phases are the wrong measure
A single phase inside a trailing drawdown can be materially harder than two phases inside an end-of-day rule. These two firms illustrate that precisely: Take Profit Trader publishes end-of-day drawdown with no buffer requirement, while OneUp Trader publishes a trailing drawdown that increases at a defined distance as the account balance increases. Both are one step, and they are not remotely the same difficulty for a trader who holds positions through a retracement.
What to compare instead
Compare the profit target and the drawdown together, because neither is meaningful alone, then check the minimum trading days and any consistency rule. A one step evaluation with a tight trailing limit and a consistency rule is a harder product than a two step evaluation with an end-of-day limit and neither, whatever the marketing implies about the number of stages.
Questions people ask about one step prop firm
Which firms are one step?
In this index, Take Profit Trader and OneUp Trader publish the term on their own pages. Others may operate single phase evaluations without using the phrase.
Is one step easier than two step?
Not necessarily. It removes a stage, not the loss limit, and the loss limit is what ends evaluations.
Do one step firms pay the same split?
Both firms here publish 90%, the same as every other firm in this index that publishes a split.