BluFX and FTMO are both top-tier prop trading firms which can make it difficult to choose between the two. Not to worry, this article is here to help, having done the comparative research between the two.
You will need to have your KYC documents ready because BluFX requires them at the time of registration and FTMO only needs them when you pass the challenge.
Read through the article to definitively know which platform best fits your needs.
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BluFX vs FTMO: Trading Instruments
BluFX has a much smaller range of trading instruments compared to the offerings by FTMO.
BluFX is a prop firm that allows the trading of 29 major, and minor forex pairs as well as gold. With FTMO, you can trade commodities, indices, forex pairs, crypto, stocks, and bonds.
BluFX vs FTMO: Account Types & Maximum Account Size
BluFX has four plans including two swap-free Lite and Pro plans that cost £139 for $25,000 and £329 for $50,000 respectively. The plans that charge you for swaps cost £99 for $25,000 for the Lite plan and £249 for $50,000 for the Pro plan.
The maximum account for BluFX off the bat is $50,000 but it can go up to $1,000,000 with their scaling plan.
FTMO requires you to complete a two-phase challenge before you can get funded and you can choose the rules of the game you wish to play. The Normal challenge costs €540 for the $200,000 trading balance and the Aggressive challenge costs €1,080 for the same balance. The rules are different for the two plans. For example, you have a profit target of 10% for Phase 1, and 5% for Phase 2 when you have selected the Normal challenge. The Aggressive challenge on the other hand requires a 20% profit in Phase 1, and 10% in Phase 2.
Once the challenge is completed, you get to select whether you want a Regular funded account or a Swing account that has no restrictions on holding positions overnight, over the weekend, or trading the news.
The maximum account size for FTMO starts at $200,000 and is capped at $400,000.
BluFX vs FTMO: 100k Account Challenge / Evaluation Prices & Period
BluFX does not have a 100k account but the platform makes up for it by not having you jump through any hoops to get funding. The highest account available is the $50,000 Pro account which has a $150,000 buying power courtesy of the 3:1 leverage.
This kind of plan has a £249 monthly fee and this makes sure that there is no time period in which you need to achieve your profit goals.
FTMO allows you to access an account with a $100,000 in trading balance by paying €540 for the Normal plan and €1,080 for the Aggressive plan. Anyone hoping to get funded by FTMO has to pass their two-step challenge and withdraw any profits or even get back their challenge fee.
There are two variants of the challenge, Normal and Aggressive where the rules are slightly different. The Normal variant requires you to make 10% in profits in Phase 1 in a maximum of 30 days, and 5% in Phase 2 in a maximum of 60 days. You need to make 20% profits in Phase 1 in 30 days, and 10% in Phase 2 in 60 days to qualify for the FTMO trader account for the Aggressive variant.
BluFX vs FTMO: 100k Account: Challenge Rules
BluFX does not have a 100k account or a challenge for that matter. All it has for you is a monthly fee that you pay to get funded instantly and start trading from the moment the fees are paid. There are no daily drawdown limits but only a 10% total drawdown limit which you should not breach.
FTMO has a two-phase challenge which has a normal variant that costs €540 and you get 30 days to pass Phase 1 with 10% in trading profit in a minimum of 10 trading days and the second phase lasts for 60 days, a minimum of 10 trading days and a 5% profit target. Both phases have a daily loss limit of 5% and a total loss of 10%.
The Aggressive variant costs €1,080 and you get the same number of days in Phases 1 and 2 and the same number of minimum trading days. The daily loss limit is increased to 10%, the maximum loss is 20% and profit targets are 20% in Phase 1, and 10% in Phase 2.
BluFX vs FTMO: Profit Sharing Ratio
With BluFX, both the trader and the platform divide the profits equally. There is a 50/50 profit split that does not increase or decrease as long as you are trading with them. It makes sense that the platform takes a profit cut that is much higher than its counterparts but it also takes up most of the risk and provides instant funding to its users.
In the case of FTMO, the profit share begins with it 80% in your favour but if you keep achieving the profit targets as set by your plan of choice, the scaling plan enables you to make the profit split even better in your favour. The numbers can go up to 90% in the trader’s favour and 10% is what the platform ends up keeping.
BluFX vs FTMO: Scaling Plan
BluFX has two scaling plans that you can choose when beginning your trading journey, namely Rapid growth which scales fast but does not allow withdrawals during the scaling process. Conversely, there is a steady growth plan that allows for 5% withdrawals at every 10% growth. The withdrawals are disbursed at a profit split of 50/50.
With Rapid growth, your account starts, like all Pro trading accounts on BluFX do, with $50,000 in trading balance. When you make a 10% profit and your account balance is $55,000, your trading balance will get upgraded to $100,000 and your new balance will be $105,000. Similarly, on achieving the next 10% target, your balance becomes $200,000.
After you achieve the 10% profit target with the $200,000 balance, you then become a Fund Manager with BluFX and control an account with a trading balance of $1,000,000. At this point, you stop paying monthly fees and will not be demoted to a lower funding level unless you breach the 10% drawdown limit.
The Steady Growth plan is as the name suggests, steadier and allows for withdrawals of 5% profits at a 50/50 split at any stage. The account starts with $50,000. The next phases are achieved with every 10% profit target, and are $75,000, $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, $300,000, and $1,000,000.
These scaling plans are only available on the Pro package and not the Lite package so make your choice accordingly.
FTMO requires a trader to achieve their 10% profit target which will make FTMO increase your trading balance by 25% every four months. One rule of this is that the trader should have processed at least two payouts in these four months. Your account can scale to a maximum of $400,000.
BluFX vs FTMO: Allowed Leverage & Max Daily Drawdown & Total Drawdown
BluFX has a low allowance for leverage and only allows you to use a maximum of 3:1 leverage. So the $25,000 Lite package has a maximum buying power of $75,000. One of the pros of BluFX is that there is no maximum daily drawdown on their accounts and the total drawdown is fixed at 10% of the initial account balance. So in the case of the $25,000 Lite package, the total drawdown is $2,500.
The FTMO Normal account has a maximum leverage of 100:1 and a daily drawdown of 5%. The maximum drawdown is capped at 10% of the starting balance.
The FTMO Aggressive account also has the same amount of maximum leverage of 100:1, but the daily allowance is doubled to 10%. The total drawdown is also doubled and is set at 20%.
FTMO calculates its drawdowns on a calculation of current daily loss which is the sum of the closed positions for the day and the open positions at the end of the trading hours.
BluFX vs FTMO: Trading Hours
If you get their Lite package, BluFX only allows trading between the hours of 6 am – 9 pm London time but instead if you go for the Pro package you can trade 24 hours a day but only between Monday-Friday.
All positions on the Lite and Pro package must be closed by Friday 9 pm London time as the platform does not allow trading on the weekends. Only promoted traders are allowed to hold trades over the weekend.
With an FTMO Challenge or Verification account, you are allowed to stay in your trades overnight, over the weekend, or even trade volatile events like the release of macroeconomic data. Once you pass the challenge, get funded by FTMO, and decide to get either a regular FTMO Account or an FTMO Account Aggressive, you need to close all your positions over the weekend, or if the rollover time is longer than two hours.
These restrictions do not apply to the FTMO Account Swing variant as it is designed to give the edge swing traders look for and appreciate. This account also allows you to trade the news, and hold trades overnight or over the weekend.
BluFX vs FTMO: Payout/Payment methods
With BluFX your payouts are dependent on how quickly you can make profits and not on the number of days elapsed after the last payout. Any time your account has at least 5% in profit, you can place a request for withdrawal and the amount will be removed from the trading account.
Your 50% profit share will then be transferred to you via Deel, PerfectMoney, USDT, or local bank transfers if you reside in the UK, Nigeria, India, or Pakistan. Payouts are made every Friday and the platform does not place any limit on the number of withdrawal requests as long as you keep making profits
FTMO has a different way of doing payouts where a trader is eligible for payouts on-demand if they have held their account for more than 14 days. You can also choose your own Profit Split Day to make sure that you receive your profits on your most convenient day.
BluFX vs FTMO: Allowed EAs & Rules
BluFX does not allow the use of EAs, scripts, or bots with their monthly subscription accounts but EAs are permissible with their Anniversary package that has a one-time fee instead of the monthly fee which starts at £269 for the Basic plan, and £349 for the Swap free plan that gives you $20,000 in trading balance.
BluFX does not allow the use of hedging as it considers two or more opposing positions that result in margin breaches are considered to be unauthorized trading.
FTMO allows the use of EAs and discretionary bots to allow you to make profits quicker.
BluFX vs FTMO: Trading Platforms
BluFX currently only uses the cTrader platform for its traders so you should be acquainted with it before you pay the fee.
FTMO allows the use of cTrader in addition to MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 on your trading journey.
Conclusion
If you are looking for instant funding and are comfortable trading forex pairs and gold on cTrader with a 50/50 profit split, BluFX is here to help. FTMO does have a higher profit split but also requires you to pass a 2-step challenge before getting funded and making profits.
With BluFX, you can request to be paid out every time you make 5% in profit compared to FTMO where you are paid on the day you have decided as your Profit Split Day.
Overall, if you are comfortable paying a monthly fee and believe in your trading skills to become a Fund Manager at BluFX where there is no more fee, register on BluFX and you will be on your way to making profits faster than with FTMO.
Find out how FTMO stack up against the other prop firms:
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