If you are looking to capture short to medium-term movements in the price of a stock or any other financial instrument then you, my friend might be a swing trader. As a swing trader, you know that it takes a fair bit of capital to make these trades as you take less number of trades but with more capital.
This article gives you a good idea of the firm you need to look towards to get that capital. If you are looking to become a swing trader, this article is going to help you out as well. Keep reading!
Best Prop Firm For Swing Traders In 2022
 (Editor's Choice For 2022) | - 400,000$ Trading Capital - 80% profit sharing - Forex, Commodities, Indices, and Crypto | |
 | - 200,000$ Trading Capital - 85% profit sharing - Forex, Metals, Indices & Cryptos | |
 | - 200,000$ Trading Capital - 90% profit sharing - Forex, Indices, Commodities, Stocks, Crypto |
#1. TheFundedTrader
Any trader wishing to start trading with TheFundedTrader needs to pass their trading challenge which is an industry-standard 2-phaser. The fee that you pay will be refunded once you pass the challenge.
You can choose between the standard challenge that starts with $315 for a $50,000 trading balance, a rapid challenge costing $299 for the same balance, and a royal challenge that has lesser trading restrictions and costs $289 for $50,000.
With the selection of the swing trading account, weekend holding is allowed, unlike the regular account. But you need to decide which plan works best for you. With the rapid challenge, the leverage is reduced to 30x compared to 60x in the standard challenge and there are 0 minimum trading days which should be a relief for swing traders.
With the royal challenge, you get 200x leverage and a minimum of 5 trading days, this plan is mostly for a trader that is more confident in their work and depends on EA (expert advice) trading.
Once the trading challenge is completed and profit targets are reached, the profit split can be scaled up from 80% to 90%.
If you are a swing trader looking to TheFundedTrader for your trading needs, you might want to look to the rapid challenge that does not have a restriction on the number of trading days so you can take your trades with adequate planning essentially increasing your chances of profit.
#2. FTMO
If you are interested in swing trading on FTMO, one of the premier prop trading firms out there, you still have to pass the 2-step evaluation test that all their traders have to pass. Once done you can choose the FTMO Account Swing and have the perks that go with it.
The bonuses include but are not limited to being able to hold trades over the weekend, trade during new releases or news, and no restrictions on trading style. The swing account does have lower leverage compared to the regular one (1:30 compared to 1:100 on the regular account) but it should not be too much of a bother for swing traders.
This is because the stop losses are already high for swing traders and most trades have a high risk-to-reward ratio to make up for the small number of trades and higher margin involved.
You have a choice of either a €155 (refundable) fee for a trading balance of $10,000 up to €1,080 for $200,000 for a normal account. You need a minimum of 10 trading days in total during the evaluation period, with an 80% profit share that can go up to 90%, and monthly payments
If you are unable to make up your mind, a free trial is available to help you.
The 10 minimum trading days can make it difficult for swing traders as they take trades less frequently but people are making it work so try it if you think you can do this.
#3. BluFx
BluFX functions on the understanding that paying for a monthly subscription for a funded account allows the platform to not have any time constraints or minimum trading days for its traders. Also, the lack of an evaluation test makes it super easy to get started as soon as the fee is paid.
Once you can complete the intended profit target of 10% three times, you are upgraded to a Fund Manager position where there are no more monthly subscription fees, no trading restrictions, and no minimum withdrawal targets. These growth metrics are only available on the Pro packages and not the Lite ones.
You might want to steer clear of the Lite package as a swing trader anyway because apart from the growth plan not being applicable, the trading hours are also restricted to between 6 am and 9 pm UTC.
For swing traders, the pros of the account are the low leverage (1:3), and the lack of a daily maximum drawdown which allows you to have more leeway with your stop losses. A few significant cons are the lack of hedging in the account and according to the platform, “Two or more opposing positions that result in margin limit breaches are deemed to be unauthorized trading activity.”. Another con is the requirement to close all trades over the weekend and Friday at 9 pm UTC for the Lite package.
There are 4 plans in total and 2 of them are swap-free Lite (£139 for $25,000) and Pro (£329 for $50,000) while the others include swaps and are divided into the Lite (£99 for $25,000) and Pro (£249 for $50,000) packages. These fees are to be paid until you can become a Fund Manager.
The profit splits are 50/50 but the platform can command that price as the funding is instantaneous and there are no evaluation tests for this Prop trading firm. So the risk-taking from them needs to be compensated monetarily as well.
#4. City Traders Imperium
The City Traders Imperium is offering a challenge with a maximum duration of 1 year for their classic evaluation test and 6 months for their standard evaluation which removes trading restrictions but gives you only a 5% margin of error where drawdown is concerned.
You can choose to go through the classic evaluation (1 year evaluation period) starting with £109 for a $2,500 evaluation trading balance and going up to £649 for a $17,500 balance. These balances are 4x-ed as soon as you pass the evaluation which requires a minimum of 30 active trading days and not breaking any other trading rules.
Or you can opt for the standard evaluation (6 months evaluation period) that starts with £119 for a $2,500 evaluation trading balance and has a higher profit target.
As a rule, any of the fees paid on the platform is non-refundable but when you fail an evaluation, it gives you a 5% discount on your next evaluation. If you fail as a portfolio manager or with a direct funded account, you get a 10% discount on the next evaluation test you take.
The lowest account in both these cases only allows you to trade gold and forex. From the second one onwards, indices are included. Also, the leverage on all City Traders Imperium accounts is capped at 1:10 which works in the swing trader’s favor.
If you want to skip the evaluation altogether and just start your journey with direct funding, you might want the Direct Funding program that charges you £999 for a $20,000 trading balance going up to £3,099 for $70,000 in direct funding.
The scaling plan at the firm doubles your account for every 10% profit target achieved and believes in educating its traders by offering a huge amount of support and education.
Some things that are great for swing traders to have, like the ability to trade during news releases and holding positions over the weekend, are allowed. The profit splits start a little low at 50% but can scale up to 100% with consistent wins.
#5. The5%ers
At one point, The5%ers was one of the only forex prop firms offering funding for swing traders and this shows you how important this subset of traders is to them.
Swing traders will be happy to hear that the platform allows them to hold forex and gold trades overnight and over the weekend, as well as trade the news events. You are also allowed to use any algorithms that you might have created, or have access to. Just keep hitting the profit targets (10%) and The5%ers will double your account up to $4 million.
As a trader, you can either choose the instant funding model that has low risk (1:10 leverage, mandatory stop losses, 180 days to achieve profit target) or aggressive (1:30 leverage, no mandatory stop losses, 60 days to achieve profit target) variants.
They both start with €235 in non-refundable fee for $6,000 of instant funding which gets 4x-ed once you achieve your profit targets in the stipulated period. The plan with the highest funding costs you €745 for $20,000 in instant funding that is similarly 4x-ed. The payout split is on the lower side at 50%.
For a higher payout ratio (up to 100%), you can choose the boot camp model. This requires you to pass a 3 stage challenge in a matter of 12 months with a 6% profit target and a 5% maximum loss. You are only allowed leverage of 1:10.
You need to pay a non-refundable €85 to take this challenge and a further €215 after you pass the evaluation so that you can get access to a funded account beginning at $100,000 and going up to $4 million.
#6. SurgeTrader
SurgeTrader requires you to ‘audition’ for them in a one-step challenge that starts with paying a one-time, non-refundable ‘audition fee’ starting at $250 for their Starter plan ($25,000 trading balance) up to $6,500 for their Master plan ($1,000,000 trading balance). These plans all have the same rules with profit targets at 10%, maximum daily drawdown at 4%, and maximum trailing drawdown at 5%.
Although the maximum daily drawdown might not be helpful for swing traders, there is no minimum number of trading days, no 30-day assessment period, and no number of unique trades placed. You can take trades at your convenience until you do not breach any of the daily or trailing stop loss rules.
All trades do need to be closed for the weekend (Friday, 3:55 pm EST) which is not ideal for swing traders.
The profit share of 75% is right up there with a lot of other firms. In addition to this, the platform also provides its traders with a regularly updated blog, webinars for differing levels of trading, and message boards for fellow traders to discuss the pros and cons of each other’s strategies.
Their scaling plan is a little convoluted so make sure you understand it properly before you take the plunge. As you begin your audition you select the account size you are auditioning for. Once you achieve the required 10% profit target, you are offered the chance to either get access to the funded account and start earning your profits, or keep auditioning and work towards the next higher funding balance by achieving a further 10% profit.
Once you get access to the funded account there is no option to scale which is something that seems to have been overlooked.
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Conclusion
Taking on further funding is actually more essential for swing traders than any other style of trader due to the fact that swing traders and position traders have such a lower frequency, they need to be trading higher levels of capital to scale up their career
With the increase in the popularity of this strategy, a lot of the traditional prop firms are dropping the whole ‘no weekend holding’ rule.
For now, if you think your style of trading requires you to hold trades over the weekend, and the 1:30 leverage works for you, you might want to look towards TheFundedTrader as your platform of choice.
If you are more of an algorithmic trader and still want to hold trades over the weekend, The5%ers are there for you. But you do need to put in the mental work to decide which of their plans works for you.
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