If you want to start trading forex or other trading instruments with a prop firm, then this write-up is for you. This article discusses FTMO and The 5%ers and comparing both these programs will help you select the right one for you.
FTMO has been funding traders since 2015 and needs you to KYC after you have passed the second phase of their challenge. The 5%ers has been established in 2016 by forex day traders to solve the lack of funding for forex trading.
This article compares data of both these primarily forex prop firms to give you a clear idea of which one is a frontrunner.
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The5%ers vs FTMO: Trading Instruments
The 5%ers allow forex trading, indices, gold, and silver pairs on their platform with their instant funding program, and major forex pairs, gold, and silver with the Boot camp plan.
FTMO has a large variety of trading instruments that include indices, bonds, cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, and forex pairs.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Account Types & Maximum Account Size
There are two types of accounts on offer at The 5%ers where one has a refundable subscription fee of €235 for a balance of $6,000 which funds your account instantly, or the boot camp model that charges a fee of €85 for taking the challenge, and €215 to start funded trading once you pass the challenge.
As part of the instant funding account at The 5%ers, you can choose between a low-risk account or an aggressive account. The low-risk account needs mandatory stop losses, unlike the aggressive account. When you achieve the targets according to your account, your balance is increased by 400%, provided you have not broken any trading rules.
The risk-averse accounts at The 5%ers provide a maximum leverage of 1:10 along with 180 days to achieve the profit target, and the aggressive account on the other hand allows maximum leverage of 1:30 with 60 days to achieve the profit targets.
FTMO requires you to make a choice between two types of accounts, both of which are part of a two step evaluation process. There is either the Normal challenge which costs a one-time participation fee of €155 for $10,000 in trading balance or the Aggressive challenge which has a participation fee of €250 for the same amount of balance.
The aggressive accounts are for the trading personality that belongs to experienced traders and is dependent on them making money that is twice as much as traders that choose the normal accounts. The profit target is 10% in Stage 1, and 5% in Stage 2 whereas the trading objectives are doubled for the aggressive Aggressive challenge, 20% in Stage 1, and 10% in Stage 2.
Once the profit targets are achieved, traders can pick either a Regular account or a Swing account which as the name suggests is better equipped for swing trading. The Swing account has no restrictions on positions being held overnight, over the weekend, or on news trading.
FTMO will refund you your one-time fee if you pass the challenge and make your first profit withdrawal.
The maximum account size on The 5%ers is $80,000 in the instant funding program, or you can opt for the boot camp model where you start with $25,000 and can work up to $100,000 when you finish the challenge. Irrespective of which program you choose, you can take advantage of The 5%ers scaling plan to get to $4,000,000, unlike FTMO.
FTMO starts its traders at a maximum of $200,000 if the largest account is selected, but this can go up to a maximum of $400,000 if the trading objectives are met and no rules are broken.
The5%ers vs FTMO: 100k Account Challenge, Prices & Period
The Bootcamp challenge at The 5%ers is a three-step challenge that starts with a fee of €85 for taking the challenge, and a further €215 after you pass it. There is no minimum number of trading days or a minimum number of trades you must make to pass the challenge but you must complete the three stages in less than 12 months.
Once you pass the challenge at The 5%ers you are given access to a $100,000 trading account.
FTMO allows you to start trading with the prop firm’s own capital only after you complete their two-step evaluation process. Once you complete the challenge you can also get your fee refunded. There are a couple of variants you can choose from, depending on your trading personality.
FTMO charges you €540 and €1,080 for the Normal and Aggressive plans respectively. These payments will give you access to $100,000 of trading balance. The Normal challenge needs you to make 10% profits in Phase 1, and 5% in Phase 2 whereas the Aggressive variant gives traders profit targets of 20% in Phase 1, and 10% in Phase 2.
Once you complete either of the challenges, you are eligible to become an FTMO-funded trader.
The5%ers vs FTMO: 100k Account: Challenge Rules
In the Boot camp model at The 5%ers, you need to trade with a profit target of 6% on the risk-averse plan, and 12% on the Aggressive one, with a maximum loss of 5% and maximum leverage of 1:10.
While you are part of the challenge at The 5%ers, either completing it or beginning your funded trading journey, a stop loss is required in all positions and orders.
Also, you can not risk more than 2% of the account balance in one trade. If you open a position without a stop loss or break any of the above rules, it will be a risk violation, 3 of which will cause the automatic termination of the account.
You are allowed to trade the news with The 5%ers, and hold trading positions open overnight and over the weekend. If your account is inactive for more than 21 days, it will cause the account to be closed irrespective of whether the profit target has been achieved.
You can have a maximum of three active accounts per trader on The 5%ers, and each of the accounts must have a different trading method.
The Normal variant of the FTMO challenge gives traders 30 days in Phase 1 while maintaining a minimum of 10 trading days. Your risk management needs to sustain your account within the 5% daily loss limit, and the 10% total loss limit.
Phase 2 of the Normal variant allows you 60 days, needing you to trade for a minimum of 10 trading days and to maintain the account below the same percentage of daily and total loss.
In the Aggressive variant, the number of days in Phases 1 and 2 are the same, as are the minimum number of trading days in each phase. You need to make a profit of 20% in Phase 1 and 10% in Phase 2 and keep your daily loss below 10% of your initial trading balance and a maximum loss of 20%.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Profit Sharing Ratio
The profit share at The 5%ers starts at 50% and can reach a 100% profit split when you have sufficient capital totalling $2,500,000. The share might seem a little on the higher end compared to other prop firms but it is necessary to cover the risk the prop firm is taking by allowing instant funded trading.
The profit split at FTMO is set at 80:20 for a new account that has just passed their evaluation process, but for most traders that stay within the rules, it can go up to 90:10 which is one of the highest amongst the reputable prop firms.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Scaling Plan
If you select the Boot camp plan at The 5%ers, your account balance is increased every time you have a 5% gain up to a maximum of $4 million.
With the Instant Funding plan, The 5%ers doubles your account balance for every 10% profit in the risk-averse plan and a 25% gain for the Aggressive plan up to a maximum of $4 million.
As far as scaling plans go, FTMO has one that is slow in comparison to other prop firms. They will increase the balance in your funded account by 25% if the profit target of 10% as per your trading objectives is hit. With this plan, you can reach a maximum of $400,000.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Allowed Leverage & Max Daily Drawdown & Total Drawdown
For the Boot camp accounts, The 5%ers allow 1:10 leverage, a maximum drawdown of 5% during the challenge, and 4% after it is completed. This plan does not have any maximum daily drawdown.
For the instant funding accounts at The 5%ers, the maximum allowed leverage is 1:10 for the risk-managed accounts, and 1:30 for Aggressive ones. Although there is no maximum daily drawdown, the total drawdown is calculated as 6% of the initial balance on levels 1 and 2, and 4% on levels 3 and above.
The FTMO Normal account allows maximum leverage of 1:100, a daily maximum drawdown of 5%, and a maximum drawdown of 10%. For the Aggressive account, you also are allowed maximum leverage of 1:100, a daily drawdown is 10% of the initial balance, and a total allowed drawdown is 20%.
FTMO calculates drawdown as the sum of the results of closed positions during the day, and the result of the open positions when the trading day ends.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Trading Hours
There are no restrictions on trading hours at The 5%ers when it comes to forex trading, gold, or silver. Hours only apply when it comes to trading indices where you are allowed to carry positions overnight but not over the weekend as this involves high swap costs.
When your account is still in the evaluation stage at FTMO, either in the Challenge stage or the Verification stage, you can keep trades running over the weekend, overnight, or dabble in news trading to make your profits.
Once you have a funded trading account with FTMO, you can not hold positions over the weekend, or when the rollover time is greater than two hours.
These restrictions are for the FTMO Account Regular or the FTMO Account Aggressive and do not apply to the FTMO Account Swing which is for swing traders to use their trading skills effectively while keeping it risk averse.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Payout/Payment methods
On reaching your target with The 5%ers, profits are paid out to your account of choice at the next payment cycle.
When your level 1 account at The 5%ers has any open positions once the challenge period is up, the account is closed immediately and you will receive your profits on closing your open positions.
FTMO will allow its traders to request payout on-demand if they have had a funded account for more than 14 days.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Allowed EAs & Rules
EAs are allowed on The 5%ers trading account when it is the Boot camp variant if the expert sets a stop loss on each position and does not copy trades of another person, does not do tick scalping, or does not perform latency, reverse, or hedge arbitrage trading.
The selected expert should not use emulators either. If any of your accounts use these EAs, your account will be terminated by The 5%ers.
With FTMO, you can start trading with EAs or discretionary bots once you are out of the evaluation process to make your profits.
The5%ers vs FTMO: Trading Platforms
The 5%ers use the Meta Trader 5 platform as it offers significant advantages over Meta Trader 4 which will help your trading results overall.
You can trade with MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, or cTrader on the FTMO platform.
Conclusion
The 5%ers offers only one trading platform, which is Meta Trader 5 but has a maximum profit split of 100% if you work your way up. FTMO, on the other hand, has a larger variety of trading instruments but requires you to pass a challenge if you want to trade with them.
The 5%ers is famed for trading forex, but FTMO has an overall better reputation with regards to reviews left by traders on websites like Trustpilot.
Both services provide you with sufficient capital to practice and earn from your skills, and it is a matter of personal preference which one you select.
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