The best instant funding prop firms have a unique selling proposition by offering proprietary accounts without challenge.
Here is the thing. Typically, if you join one of the best prop trading firms, you start with a challenge in a simulated environment where you have to prove your skills before your account gets funded by the proprietary trading firm.
When joining a prop firm with instant funding, you get directly funded from day one. But what are the best instant funding prop firms without challenge? Let’s get into it.
Best Instant Funding Prop Firms
- The5ers (5% Off)
- FundYourFX
- OFP Funding
- FTUK
1. The5ers
- Instant-funded forex accounts
- Low-cost Bootcamp program to test the waters of prop trading
- Excellent reviews and user feedback
- No minimum trading days are required. The account value always doubles when the profit target is reached.
Overview
The5ers is a trustworthy prop firm and provides the full range of funded accounts, including instant funding forex accounts, a two-step evaluation with high-risk reward leveraged trading, and a low-cost boot camp program with two challenges before getting funded.
The one-time fees for the instant funded account are as follows: the 5k account for $260, the $ 10k account for $450 and the $20k account for $850. All fees are one-time fees. The profit splits range from 50/50 to 100/0, and there are also bonus payments for every milestone target reached.
The5ers confirmed that their traders get funded with real-money accounts, and they trade forex pairs via contracts for the difference using MetaTrader.
Prop Firm
The5ers is a reputable prop firm founded back in 2016 and one of the market innovators that come up with improved features and trading capabilities. Private equity funds provide funded accounts with account sizes of up to $4,000,000.
5% Off On All Account Sizes
2. FundYourFX
- Instant funded forex accounts
- No trading challenge. You start with a live account
- 3 account sizes available
Overview
FundYourFX offers only instant funded forex accounts ranging between 197 GPB for the $6k account and 577 GBP for the $30,000 account. Their website has been online since late 2021.
The profit share ranges from 50/50 to 90/10. The starting fees are refundable for those who pass the first level of the prop firm scaling plan in the live account. The trading platform and broker used is Eightcap.
Prop Firm
FundYourFX is an award-winning proprietary trading firm specializing in instant funding. The account balances start at $6k-$30k but can be scaled up to $500k-$2 million. FundYourFX confirmed via chat that they fund accounts with real money and that all trades are executed via contracts for difference (CFD).
3. OFP Funding
Benefits
- Flexible account sizes and prices to get started
- No fixed limit on risk
- 3 possible account currencies
Overview
OFP funding provides instant funded accounts without evaluation, with account sizes ranging from $5k to $100k starting capital. The profit split with OFP ranges between 26/74 to 80/20. The price you pay mainly impacts the profit split. So, the more you pay, the better the profit split.
The total account options are so complex that it would be too much to write it down here. The trading platforms are MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. ICMarkets is the official broker of OFP Funding.
Prop Firm
OFP calls itself the world’s leading instant funding program, stating $14 million in payouts to OFP traders since it was set up in February 2022. The company behind OFP is OverviewFX Ltd., with offices in London, UK.
OFP confirmed via chat that their instant funded accounts are demo accounts, where their traders trade CFDs. That means your orders are not being placed on a real exchange.
4. FTUK
- Instant-funded accounts and lower-price evaluation accounts are available
- Sart trading on a live account
- No time limits
Overview
FTUK confirmed via chat that the accounts are set up with real money, and orders are routed to the exchange. All trading takes place via CFDs. The Available platforms are MetaTrader 4 and 5. The profit split with all FTUK programs is 50/50 on the lower levels and 80/20 on the top tiers.
The $14k instant funding account costs $200, the $40k $550, $60k $750 and $90k $1,200. When choosing the program, it’s important to select instant funding and not continue with the evaluation pre-setting since, with evaluation, you have to go through a challenge before getting funded.
Prop Firm
Other than the name FTUK might suggest, the company is not located in the United Kingdom. Instead, they are located in Dubai Silicon Oasis, in the United Arab Emirates. FTUK was founded in February 2021 but officially started doing business in 2022 based on research when their website got online.
Instant Funding Prop Firms Summary
The results of my research about the best instant funding prop firms came, to some extent, as a surprise. All instant funding prop firms are forex prop firms offering only trading forex based on CFDs (contracts for difference). Not one instant funding prop firms allows futures trading.
Having all instant funding prop firms without challenges and evolution offering only CFD trading also has its benefits since now you can compare based on things that are important to you. The most important thing is that the prop firm pays out the profits, and from those companies featured, the reviews and user feedback let us conclude that this is the case. The cheapest prop trading firms are also worth considering.
As long as the prop firm pays out profits, it’s less important if an instant-funded account is traded with real or paper money. As long as profits are paid out, everything is good.
Overall, the best prop accounts for futures traders are the better choice for traders who want to be sure that the orders are placed fo real since their traders trade real futures contracts with orders physically placed on futures exchanges like the CME.
Instant Funding Prop Firms Explained
Knowing this industry for over 7 years now, I want to share my opinion about instant funding prop firms and accounts with you. The word instant can be seen with different meanings, and what you understand of instant might differ from a prop firm’s perspective.
Like me, you likely expect to get a real-money account at your fingertips when you pay a fee to get into an instant account challenge. That means you’d expect your orders for stocks, forex or whatever underlying you trade to be placed on the exchange, generating real-existing profits and losses.
That being said, the reality is that you can look out for instant funding prop firms with a magnifying glass, and you will work hard to find a wide variety of firms to choose from when it comes to the requirement to get an account funded with real money but not paper money.
Below, you will find my list of the best prop firms that either have an instant funding option or at least come as close as possible to “instant.” Some of them confirmed to fund the instant accounts with real money. Some provided feedback that traders trade paper money in instant-funded accounts.
The main difference between instant funding prop firms is that traders don’t have to go through a challenge and can benefit from a profit split in their favor from the first trading day on. So, you don’t have to go through an evaluation to access an instantly funded account of the prop firm or venture capital firm’s capital.
All of the companies listed make this possible.
Simulated Instant Funded Accounts vs. Real-Money Funded Accounts
The things that happened with My Forex Funds (MFF) shook up the whole industry, and thankfully, it led quickly to a more transparent situation, where traders now more often know if their funded accounts are real money or paper accounts that trade with paper money. The good news is if a prop firm funds your account with real money, then you are relatively safe that you can withdraw your profits.
But with paper trading or simulated accounts, it was kind of a grey area so far. Luckily, now firms are more transparent, and if they officially state on their website that all trading activities take place in a simulated environment, but all paper profits are paid out with real money, then that’s good for the trader.
Not even one prop firm officially claims that their funded accounts are funded with real money. You will read about terms such as “fully funded account,” “real funding,” or “live accounts”. But none of those terms actually means that it is a fully funded, real or live account with real money.
Ultimately, it is not the most important aspect since it’s more important that the prop firms pay out the profits made by the trader and that the prop firm does not manipulate slippage, data feeds, or trade executions.
One Word about CFD Trading in the Prop Firm Industry
If a prop firm offers trading CFDs, then that means that you do not trade the real security or financial underlying asset. So, let’s say you want to trade forex pairs. USD/EUR, for example. Your order gets routed to a liquidity provider if you do it with a standard forex broker. A real-existing one since your order has to be placed in the order book.
With CFD trading, you know the broker is legally required to hedge those positions against real stocks. However, you don’t know if that is required in all legal entities worldwide, and you don’t know if the broker might hedge against in-house stock inventory. The best prop trading firms specializing in futures trading can be the better choice since they place their futures contact orders on the futures exchanges.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some instant funding prop firms that are reputable?
The5ers has the most extended prop firm history, with a founding date of 2016. FundYourFX, OFP funding and FTUK are the new prop firms on the block with launching their business around 2021 and 2022.
Is there any point at all in getting an evaluation account instead of an instant funded account?
Yes. The instant funded account entitles you to pay out the earned profits to your account based on the agreed profit split, while in the evaluation mode, the profits are initially only used to prove your skills.
Are prop firms the get rich quick scheme of forex?
No prop firms are not getting rich quick schemes of forex since traders face the same challenges other traders have who start forex trading with $100 or more real-money capital-based prop accounts.
Do prop firms really pay in any case?
No, prop firms do not pay in any case. That’s why it is important to read the terms and conditions first before signing up. I can depend on your trading results, frequency, regional jurisdiction, available payout methods and more if you get paid or not.
What is the fastest paying prop firm?
The fastest paying prop firm, based on research, is currently Topstep.
Is CFD prop trading illegal for U.S. citizens?
CFDs are not traded on regulated exchanges, and CFDs are not regulated by traditional financial institutions like FINRA. That’s why U.S. citizens are not allowed to trade contracts for difference. If you do it as a U.S. citizen, it’s illegal.
It might be a grey area, though, since the account you trade is not necessarily on your behalf and name since, as a prop trader, you trade the prop firm’s capital as a contractor. If you have any doubts, contact a tax consultant or lawyer if you want to clarify the situation entirely before getting started.
What’s the catch with instant funding?
The catch with instant funding is that the account sizes are relatively small compared to challenge account sizes. Yet, since CFDs are traded, the leverage with some firms is up to 1:100, which means that a trader can trade a 100 multiple of the account size (e.g., control 100 * $5k = $500k in trades).
