TL;DR: Funded Trader Markets (FTM) is a forex and CFD prop firm that launched in August 2024. It sells simulated accounts through companies in Cyprus, the UAE and Saint Lucia. On October 11, 2026 its checkout listed five programs: 1 Step Nitro, 2 Step Plus, and the Instant Standard, Instant Pro and Instant Plus accounts. List prices ran from $43 to $1,872.50, and the site-wide code OCT cut them by 45% to 75%, so a $5K Instant Pro cost $24 and a $100K 1 Step Nitro cost $249. Payouts are on demand from a 1% profit minimum, paid through Rise or USDT, and FTM reports $8.9 million paid across 6,042 rewards. The catches are in the rules: a 1-minute minimum hold, a 15% consistency rule on instant accounts, a 1% floating-loss “Shield” rule that can cut your split to 20%, and strict rules on trading the same pair across accounts. Trustpilot has suspended FTM’s rating for a breach of its guidelines and says it removed fake reviews, and Prop Firm Match does not list the firm. FTM is a real, operating firm that pays traders, but read every rule before you buy.
Research status: On October 11, 2026 we checked this review against FTM’s own website: the programs matrix, the checkout program data, its FAQ categories, terms and conditions, refund policy, promo terms, the instruments page and the rewards ledger. We read Trustpilot, Prop Firm Match and Reddit the same day. Prices, codes and rules change often, so recheck them at checkout. We did not buy an account to test anything on this page.
Funded Trader Markets review verdict: is it legit?
Funded Trader Markets is a legitimate, operating prop firm in the basic sense. It names three registered companies with registration numbers, publishes a long and detailed FAQ, sells accounts through a working checkout, and runs a public rewards ledger. On October 11, 2026 that ledger showed $8,895,014.80 paid across 6,042 rewards since its first payouts in August 2024, with on-chain links for crypto payouts. Traders on Reddit and Prop Firm Match describe payouts arriving in minutes or hours, and that matches what the firm advertises.
Is it a good prop firm? That depends on how you trade. The prices are low, especially with the current code, and there are no time limits, no activation fees and no general ban on news trading. FTM also says it has no lot-size rule, no margin-usage rule and no “gambling” rule. The cost of that freedom shows up elsewhere:
- Profits from trades held under 1 minute are voided on funded accounts.
- Instant accounts carry a 15% best-day consistency rule.
- Two programs carry a 1% floating-loss rule that steps your split down for good.
- Strict “sequential trading” rules cover anyone who trades the same pair on more than one account.
The most serious complaints we read were payouts cut or rejected under those rules, or accounts breached by daily-drawdown maths that counts floating profit. We did not find complaints that FTM had simply stopped paying.
Two outside signals are weak. Trustpilot has suspended FTM’s rating for a breach of its guidelines and says it removed fake reviews. Prop Firm Match does not list the firm and shows three community warnings. FTM’s own pages also disagree on several points that matter: which company you contract with, whether fees are refundable, the restricted-country list and the maximum allocation. BestProps does not give Funded Trader Markets a numeric score. Our review methodology explains how we check firms.
Who runs Funded Trader Markets
The site footer lists three companies:
- FTM Funded Trader Markets LTD, registered in Cyprus (HE462185) at 56 Alekou Konstantinou, Strovolos, Nicosia. The footer calls it a payment agent.
- Formed Technologies INT FZCO, registered in the UAE (36580) at Dubai Digital Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis. It holds the cTrader and TradeLocker arrangements, and the footer names it as “the contracting entity for all clients”.
- Funded Trader Markets LTD, registered in Saint Lucia (2025-00239). It holds the MetaTrader 5 licence.
The terms and conditions describe the setup differently. They say the website is owned by the Cyprus company and that buying a program creates “a binding agreement with FTM Funded Trader Markets LTD”. They give the Saint Lucia company a different address from the footer. Disputes go to arbitration under Cypriot commercial arbitration rules, with an arbitrator drawn from a list kept by the DIAC (the Dubai International Arbitration Centre). If the contracting party matters to you, for example for a chargeback or a dispute, ask support which company is on your invoice.
FTM says it is not a broker and does not hold client funds. Every account, including funded and instant accounts, trades in a simulated environment, and payouts are “performance-based rewards” paid from the firm’s own money. The rewards ledger dates the first payouts to August 9, 2024. No founding year is published.
The name is easy to confuse with other firms. The Funded Trader, Funded Traders Global and FTMO are separate companies. FTM’s official site is fundedtradermarkets.com, its dashboard is at dashboard.fundedtradermarkets.com, and its X account is @FTMarketslive.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Low prices: $20 to $749 for evaluations and $24 to $442 for instant accounts with the October code | Trustpilot rating suspended for a guideline breach; fake reviews removed |
| On-demand payouts from 1% profit, with a public ledger averaging 22 minutes | Payout guarantee covers rewards up to $1,000 only |
| No activation fee, no time limit, swap-free accounts | Profits from trades held under 1 minute are voided on funded accounts |
| News trading, EAs, weekend holds, martingale and hedging within one account allowed | Sequential-trading rules across accounts have led to large payout deductions |
| 2 Step Plus has no consistency rule in either phase | Instant accounts need a 15% best-day consistency score |
| Four platforms: MT5, cTrader, Match-Trader, TradeLocker | US traders cannot use MT5 or cTrader; Indian traders cannot use cTrader |
| 76 instruments including 39 crypto pairs that trade at weekends | Shield rule cuts the split for good on 2 Step Plus and Instant Plus after floating-loss breaches |
| Monthly free-reset giveaways in Discord | Own pages disagree on refunds, contracting entity and country list |
Funded Trader Markets account types compared
FTM groups its accounts into 1-Step, 2-Step and Instant. The table shows the rules for the five programs that were on sale on October 11, 2026, taken from the programs matrix and the matching FAQ pages. Percentages are of the starting balance.
| Program | Profit target | Daily loss | Max drawdown | Min trading days | Consistency | Profit split | Sizes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Step Nitro | 10% | 4% (3% on $300K) | 6% trailing, locks at starting balance after +6% | None in evaluation; 5 when funded | 50% of target (evaluation), 45% of profit (funded) | 90% on first $10,000, then 80% | $5K to $300K |
| 2 Step Plus | 8%, then 5% | 4% | 10% static | 3 per phase; 5 when funded | None | 70%, or 90% with a free add-on | $5K to $200K |
| Instant Standard | None | 3% | 5% trailing | 5 | 15% | 50%, rising to 80% by the 4th reward | $5K to $100K |
| Instant Pro | None | 3% | 3% trailing | 5 | 15% | 50%, rising to 80% by the 4th reward | $5K to $100K |
| Instant Plus | None | 3% | 6% trailing, locks at starting balance after +6% | 5 | 15% | 80%, kept only while the Shield rule is followed | $5K to $100K |
A trading day counts toward the minimum only if it closes with at least 0.5% profit. That is stricter than firms that count any day with a trade.
The 1-Step page also advertises 1 Step Nitro X. Its FAQ is still live: 6% target, 3% daily loss, 3% trailing drawdown that locks after +3%, a 100% split on withdrawals but a rule to leave 50% of profits in the account, a $5,000 cap per payout, a 25% consistency rule and an activation fee after passing. Nitro X was not in the checkout’s program list or the comparison matrix on October 11, 2026, so treat it as unavailable unless the checkout shows it to you.
A plain way to choose between them:
- Want the most room and no consistency rule? 2 Step Plus has a 10% static floor and no best-day rule, but takes two phases and pays 70% unless you take the 90% add-on.
- Want one phase and the biggest sizes? 1 Step Nitro goes to $300K and pays 90% on the first $10,000. Expect a trailing floor until you are 6% up, and a 45% consistency rule when funded.
- Want to skip the evaluation? Instant Plus has the widest instant floor (6%) and starts at 80%, but carries the Shield rule. Instant Standard and Instant Pro start at 50% and trail all the time.
Allocation and scaling. FTM caps simulated capital at $1,000,000 per person: $600,000 across evaluations and $400,000 across instant accounts. Per program the caps are $300,000 for 1 Step Nitro, $300,000 for 2 Step Plus, $200,000 for Instant Standard, and $100,000 each for Instant Pro and Instant Plus. Traders in Indonesia are capped at $100,000 per program. Profits on every account in a program are voided if you trade more than its cap. We found no published scaling plan that grows an account after it performs well, so growth means buying more accounts within these caps.
Funded Trader Markets pricing and the OCT code
These are the list prices from the checkout data on October 11, 2026, with the price after the site-wide code OCT. The code was shown on the site banner, and the checkout data listed the discounted price under that code for every size. FTM published no expiry date, and Reddit coupon posts show it has run different sales in earlier months.
| Program | $5K | $10K | $25K | $50K | $100K | $200K | $300K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Step Nitro, list | $80 | $116 | $236 | $480 | $622 | $1,096 | $1,622 |
| 1 Step Nitro, with OCT | $20 | $29 | $59 | $120 | $249 | $439 | $649 |
| 2 Step Plus, list | $100 | $152 | $392 | $784 | $997.50 | $1,872.50 | – |
| 2 Step Plus, with OCT | $25 | $38 | $98 | $196 | $399 | $749 | – |
| Instant Standard, list | $52 | $70 | $176 | $360 | $723 | – | – |
| Instant Standard, with OCT | $29 | $39 | $97 | $198 | $398 | – | – |
| Instant Pro, list | $43 | $60 | $143 | $300 | $600 | – | – |
| Instant Pro, with OCT | $24 | $33 | $79 | $165 | $330 | – | – |
| Instant Plus, list | $62 | $98 | $228 | $456 | $884 | – | – |
| Instant Plus, with OCT | $31 | $49 | $114 | $228 | $442 | – | – |
The discount steps down with size. The banner says “up to 75%” on the 1-Step and 75% on the 2-Step, but in the checkout data both are 75% off only up to $50K and 60% off from $100K. Instant Standard and Instant Pro are 45% off and Instant Plus is 50% off. For example, a $100K 1 Step Nitro at $622 list costs $622 × 0.40 = $248.80, shown as $249. A $50K 2 Step Plus costs $784 × 0.25 = $196.
The fees are one-time. The checkout data shows no activation fee and no reset fee on any of the five programs. If you fail, you buy a new account; FTM also runs monthly free-reset giveaways in its Discord. The 2 Step Plus 90% split add-on costs nothing extra, but it applies the Shield rule during the evaluation as well.
The prices in the site menu (“from $24”, “from $33”, “from $47”) do not match the checkout’s lowest prices ($20, $25 and $24). Trust the price shown at the final checkout step. Coupon sites list other FTM codes that we could not confirm with the firm, and FTM’s promo terms say promotions cannot be combined unless stated.
Payment methods. FTM accepts credit cards, debit cards and crypto: BTC, ETH, SOL, LTC and TRX, plus USDT and USDC on several networks. It is not responsible for crypto sent on the wrong network. Credentials arrive by email shortly after payment. Your purchase IP must be in the same country as your later identity check, and you may not buy through a VPN or VPS.
Drawdown and daily loss rules
Daily loss. On every program the daily limit is a fixed dollar amount (3% or 4% of the starting balance) subtracted from the higher of your balance or equity at 5 PM EST. On a $100K 1 Step Nitro, the first day’s floor is $96,000. If you end a day with balance $101,000 but equity $106,000 because a trade is open in profit, the next day’s floor is $106,000 − $4,000 = $102,000. That is already above your balance, so the account breaches straight away if the open trade gives back its gains. FTM’s own FAQ uses this example. Several Trustpilot complaints describe the same thing happening at the daily reset.
Static drawdown (2 Step Plus). The floor stays at 90% of the starting balance for the life of the account: $90,000 on a $100K account, whatever your profit.
Trailing drawdown (Instant Standard, Instant Pro). The floor follows your highest recorded balance and never moves down. On a $100K Instant Pro it starts at $97,000. After a run to $103,000 it sits at $100,000, so a 3% pullback from any new high ends the account. Instant Pro’s trail never locks. After a full withdrawal, both instant accounts reset their drawdown to the starting level. Partial withdrawals are not allowed on either.
Trailing lock (1 Step Nitro, Instant Plus). The floor trails your highest balance until you are 6% up. Then it locks at the starting balance. On a $100K Nitro, a balance of $103,000 means a $97,000 floor. Once you reach $106,000 the floor becomes $100,000 and stays there.
Breaching any drawdown limit closes the account. A margin stop-out at 100% margin level closes your positions but does not breach the account.
For background on how these models compare across firms, see our guide to trailing drawdown rules.
The consistency rule, with worked numbers
FTM measures a day’s profit as the balance at 5 PM EST minus the balance at 5 PM EST the day before. Your best day is divided by your total profit. If the share is too high you do not fail. You just cannot pass or request a payout until more profitable days bring it down.
| Program and phase | Limit | Example | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Step Nitro, evaluation | No day above 50% of the target | $100K, target $10,000, best day $6,000 | Keep trading until total profit tops $12,000 |
| 1 Step Nitro, funded | Best day under 45% of total profit | Best day $2,000 | Total profit of at least $4,445 before a payout |
| Instant Standard, Pro, Plus | Best day under 15% of total profit | Best day $1,500 | Total profit above $10,000 before a payout |
| 2 Step Plus | None | Any | No best-day limit in either phase or when funded |
The 15% instant rule is the one to plan around. It means at least seven solid days for every payout. On a $25K Instant Standard, a single $300 day requires $2,000 of total profit before you can be paid. Partial closes used only to adjust your consistency score break a separate rule, and so do overnight hedges.
See our consistency rule explainer for how other firms set this limit, or the list of prop firms with no consistency rule.
The Shield Risk Protocol (1% floating loss)
On funded 2 Step Plus accounts and on Instant Plus, your open losses must never exceed 1% of the account balance. That is $1,000 on a $100K account and $500 on a $50K account. If floating loss goes past the limit, every position is closed automatically and your split steps down for good:
| Shield breach | Your split |
|---|---|
| None | 70% (2 Step Plus) or 80% (Instant Plus) |
| 1st | 50% |
| 2nd | 40% |
| 3rd | 30% |
| 4th | 20%, permanently |
FTM says the cut still applies if slippage or a system delay closes the trade past the limit. If you take the 90% add-on on 2 Step Plus, the Shield also runs during the evaluation. A first breach is a soft breach, but a second fails the evaluation. In practice, a stop loss sized to lose no more than about 0.8% to 0.9% of balance leaves room for slippage. 1 Step Nitro, Instant Standard and Instant Pro have no floating-loss limit.
News, EAs, weekends, hedging and copy trading
- News: allowed on every program, with no blackout window and no profit cut. News scalping is banned, meaning many positions opened and closed within seconds of releases such as NFP or CPI.
- Overnight and weekends: allowed on all programs. Crypto trades through the weekend.
- EAs and bots: allowed, except high-frequency, news-scalping, arbitrage, tick-scalping and demo-exploiting bots and emulators. Running the same bot as another FTM trader counts as group trading.
- Minimum hold: profits from trades closed in under 1 minute are voided on funded accounts, while losses still count. In an evaluation, if more than 20% of profit comes from such trades you must redo the challenge. For 2 Step Plus the 20% is measured against the combined target ($13,000 on a $100K account, so $2,600).
- Martingale, layering, lot sizes, margin: allowed within one account. There is no lot-size limit beyond your margin. A margin call at 110% blocks new trades.
- Same pair across accounts (“sequential trading”): if you trade the same pair in two accounts, the second position must open within 5 minutes of the first or after the first is fully closed. Breaking this voids the profit on every account involved. FTM’s own Trade Copier is exempt if copied trades open and close together. The copier is not available on TradeLocker.
- Hedging: allowed inside one account. Opposite positions across your own accounts are banned and can lead to rejected payouts and terminated contracts. Hedges held overnight on funded or instant accounts do not count toward payouts.
- Partial closes: allowed, but a position held overnight must still be 100% open. Once part is closed, the rest must close the same trading day.
- Rollover gaps: opening within 5 minutes before the daily rollover and closing within 5 minutes after is banned.
- Copy trading: you may copy your own trades from another firm or broker. Signals and other people’s trades are banned.
- IP and household: no shared IPs with other users, and no VPN or VPS for purchases, identity checks or the dashboard. A VPN on the trading platform is allowed if it does not exit in a restricted country. More than one trader per household must be declared, and the combined allocation cap applies to the household.
- Inactivity: 30 days without activity can end the account unless you warn support first.
Breach and payout traps to plan around
- Withdrawing everything at the lock point. On 1 Step Nitro and Instant Plus, the floor locks at the starting balance once you are 6% up. If you withdraw all $6,000 from a $106,000 balance, you land on the $100,000 floor and breach. FTM’s FAQ spells this out. Withdraw part, for example $4,000, and you keep $2,000 of room.
- Withdrawing before the lock. Below +6% the trailing floor stays where your peak put it. With a peak of $105,000 and $4,000 profit, the Nitro floor is $99,000. After a full withdrawal your balance is back at $100,000 with only $1,000 of room left.
- Floating profit at the 5 PM reset. An open winner raises the next day’s daily-loss floor. Close or protect it before 5 PM EST if you cannot afford that floor.
- Big Nitro payouts. Once profit passes $30,000, a payout request must be at least 80% of eligible profit.
- The 36-hour reply window. If FTM emails you about a payout and you do not reply within 36 hours, the request is rejected automatically. Watch your spam folder.
- Names and wallets. A Rise name that differs from your FTM name, or a crypto wallet or near-identical email shared with another user, can forfeit the payout.
Funded Trader Markets payouts
Payouts are on demand on every FTM account. There is no fixed cycle. You can ask whenever all of these hold:
- Your profit is at least 1% of the starting balance, before the split.
- You have the minimum number of profitable days.
- Your consistency score passes.
- All trades are closed.
FTM says it approves, processes and sends payouts within 24 business hours. Business hours are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern, Monday to Friday. If it misses that, it promises to double the payout and give you a free account of the same size, but that guarantee covers payouts of up to $1,000 only.
| Item | What FTM publishes |
|---|---|
| Frequency | On demand |
| Minimum payout | 1% of starting balance in profit (before split) |
| Processing | Within 24 business hours; ledger average 22 min 24 sec, 99.2% under 1 hour |
| Methods | Rise (crypto or bank transfer) or USDT on TRC20 |
| Fees | 5% on every crypto payout, taken from your share |
| Splits | Nitro 90% then 80%; 2 Step Plus 70% (90% with add-on); Instant Standard and Pro 50/60/70/80%; Instant Plus 80% |
| Caps | No general cap published; 1 Step Nitro X (not on sale) had $5,000 per request |
Worked example, Instant Standard. A trader on a $50K Instant Standard ($198 with the code) makes $2,500 profit (5%) over at least five profitable days. If the best day is under $375, they can ask for a payout. At 50% the first payout is $1,250. Taken in USDT, the 5% fee leaves $1,187.50. On the same $2,500 profit, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th payouts would pay $1,500, $1,750 and $2,000 as the split rises. The drawdown resets to the starting level after each full withdrawal.
Worked example, 1 Step Nitro. A $100K Nitro ($249) that passes and makes $8,000 when funded pays 90% = $7,200, once five 0.5% days are in and no day exceeds $3,600. Profit beyond the first $10,000 is paid at 80%.
FTM’s rewards ledger listed $6.42 million paid through Rise and $2.48 million in crypto. The largest single payout was $40,513 on February 2, 2026, and the most in one day was $83,592 across 42 payouts on September 24, 2026. The firm publishes these figures itself and they are not audited, though crypto entries link to the blockchain. Our guide to how prop firm payout caps work explains caps and buffers at other firms.
Fee refund, money-back policy and promotions
FTM does not refund the fee the way many firms do. Instead, the payments FAQ says you get a “performance bonus” equal to 100% of the fee with your third payout, or more on some promotions. The bonus does not apply to instant accounts or Nitro X. So on 1 Step Nitro and 2 Step Plus, the $249 you paid for a $100K Nitro comes back only if you reach a third payout.
FTM’s pages disagree on refunds before trading. The refund policy offers a “14-day risk-free money-back guarantee” if you have not started trading and have not broken the terms. The terms say “All sales are final; the Company does not issue refunds”. Accounts moved to another platform are never refundable. A chargeback can get you barred. If you might want your money back, ask support in writing before you place a trade.
The promo terms add two points:
- A “100% lifetime profit split” applies only to the account bought with a code that includes it. It is capped at the first $10,000 of profit on $200K to $300K accounts and ends if the account is breached.
- “Buy one get one” free accounts are issued with your third payout.
The 1-Step page’s line “You keep 100% of your first $10,000 in profits” describes such a promotion. The standard Nitro split is 90%.
Platforms, instruments, commissions and leverage
FTM offers MetaTrader 5, cTrader, Match-Trader and TradeLocker, and you choose before you buy. The checkout data blocks MT5 for the United States and cTrader for the United States and India. FTM also says your trading IP must not be in the US on MT5 or cTrader, even through a VPN. US traders are left with Match-Trader or TradeLocker. You can switch platform only on an account with no trades, or after a full withdrawal returns it to the starting balance. Funded 1 Step and Instant Plus accounts must be completely untraded to switch.
The instruments page listed 76 symbols:
- 27 forex pairs
- gold and silver
- Brent and WTI oil
- 6 indices: US30, US100, US500, GER40, UK100 and JAP225
- 39 crypto pairs, from BTC and ETH to SOL, XRP and smaller coins
There are no stocks or futures.
| Item | FTM terms |
|---|---|
| Commission | $7 per lot round turn on forex, metals and oil; none on indices and crypto |
| Swaps | None; all accounts swap-free |
| Leverage, forex | 1:100 (1:50 on funded $200K and $300K accounts) |
| Leverage, commodities | 1:30 in evaluations, 1:20 funded (1:10 on large funded accounts) |
| Leverage, crypto | 1:5 on BTC and ETH, 1:2 on other coins |
| Margin call / stop-out | 110% / 100% |
FTM publishes no average spreads. Traders on Reddit called spreads “a bit wide” against larger firms. Trustpilot complaints include slippage past stop losses, and a Reddit trader lost a $100K evaluation to slippage during the November 28, 2025 CME outage and was refused a reset. Check spreads on a live account in your trading hours before buying a large size.
Funded Trader Markets restricted countries
The FAQ and section 2.C of the terms list 12 restricted jurisdictions: Cuba, Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, North Korea, Cyprus, Myanmar, Belarus, Vietnam and Russia. The site footer lists only nine and leaves out Myanmar, Belarus and Vietnam. Treat the longer list as the one that applies. People with criminal records tied to financial crime or terrorism, under sanctions, or previously banned by FTM are also excluded. You must be 18 or older.
Platform limits apply on top of the country list. US residents cannot use MT5 or cTrader, and Indian residents cannot use cTrader. Indonesian traders are capped at $100,000 per program. Your purchase IP and identity-check country must match, so buy from your country of residence.
Funded Trader Markets Trustpilot reviews
On October 11, 2026, FTM’s Trustpilot page showed a warning: “This company’s rating is unavailable due to a breach of our guidelines”. A second notice said Trustpilot had removed a number of fake reviews for the company. The page listed 432 reviews, 274 of them in the last 12 months. The star split was 62% five-star, 6% four-star, 2% three-star, 1% two-star and 29% one-star. A Reddit post from June 2025 quoted a 4.6 rating, before the suspension.
The positive reviews mostly praise payout speed (several mention minutes), cheap instant accounts and the platform choice. The recent one-star reviews mostly describe:
- accounts breached by slippage beyond a stop loss
- daily-loss breaches caused by floating profit at the reset
- positions closed by the risk team
- payouts cut for sequential trading
- slow or unsatisfying answers from support
With a suspended rating and removed fake reviews, read the individual reviews rather than any star average.