In the world of prop firms, there are hardly two firms quite as reputable as City Traders Imperium and FTMO.
If you’re shopping around for prop firms and are wondering which of these two to go for, we’ve broken down the key features, pros, and cons for each prop trading firm.
City Traders Imperium Overview
City Traders Imperium offers two types of accounts: a funded trader program with an evaluation, and a direct funding model.
The evaluation account is just a single step and gives you one year to reach the profit target. Once you hit the target, you receive your funded trading account with a 60-40 profit split.
Evaluation accounts are 5 different sizes:
- $10,000 for £109
- $20,000 for £199
- $40,000 for £379
- $50,000 for £449
- $70,000 for £649
In each of these accounts, you start with a much smaller account(25% of the full account) during the evaluation period.
You have to reach a profit target of 7% and avoid a max loss of 5%.
The best thing about City Traders Imperium is that you have a whole year to reach the target, so there’s no rush to take hasty trades or risk more than necessary.
Once you hit the profit target, you’ll receive your full-sized account and can start trading. Here, you’ll scale up every time you hit 10% profits.
The other option offered by City Traders Imperium is Direct Funding:
- $20,000 for £999
- $40,000 for £1,799
- $50,000 for £2,199
- $70,000 for £3,099
With direct funding, you scale up at every 10% profit, and you must avoid a drawdown of 5%.
It’s important to note that the 5% drawdown is relative, meaning your cutoff will move up the more your balance increases.
For example, if you start at $10,000 and increase your balance by 5% to $10,500, your 5% drawdown will now be at $10,000.
There’s also a stop-loss rule which stipulates that you must have a maximum 1.5% stop-loss for every position you take.
The biggest advantage of City Traders Imperium is the scaling plan. With the exception of the $10,000 account which only scales up to $450,000, all other accounts scale up to $2,000,000 in trading capital.
There’s a 10% target to move from the first tier to the next, and you’ll receive your profit split at each milestone.
There’s a 60% profit split up to the final stage, where your split increases to 70%.
Pros
- One year to complete the evaluation
- Great trader education and support
- Flexible trading rules(overnight, weekend, and EAs allowed)
- Direct funding options for experienced and confident traders
Cons
- Entry costs are on the higher side
- Profit split is less compared to other firms
- Maximum drawdown is tighter than other prop trading firms
FTMO Overview
FTMO is probably the most well-known funded trading program out there. The FTMO challenge is almost like the gold standard for all prop traders, and they have a generous profit share of 80 to 90%.
The only way to get a funded trading account with FTMO is by passing a two-step evaluation.
In Phase 1, you must make 10% profit while avoiding a 5% daily drawdown and a 10% maximum drawdown. You have 30 days to hit the target.
In Phase 2, you must make 5% profit while avoiding a 5% daily drawdown and a 10% maximum drawdown. This time, you have 60 days to hit the target.
FTMO has the following account sizes:
- $10,000 for €155
- $25,000 for €250
- $50,000 for €345
- $100,000 for €540
- $200,000 for €1080
After you pass the stage 2 evaluation, you’ll receive a refund of your challenge fee with your first withdrawal.
FTMO does not scale quite as much as City Trader’s Imperium does. FTMO’s scaling plan works as such: every quarter, FTMO will review your trading performance. If you were profitable to a certain extent, FTMO will increase your balance by 25%.
You can manage up to $500,000 in capital through scaling and taking multiple challenges.
More: Is FTMO Worth it?
Pros
- Excellent reputation and fast payouts
- Largest customer base
- Great trading dashboard and customer support
- Relaxed trading rules: EAs and overnight trades allowed
Cons
- Challenge fee is a little higher than other prop firms
- 10% profit target is higher than other firms
Major Differences Between City Traders Imperium vs FTMO
Profit share
In the world of Forex trading funded trading programs, City Traders Imperium and FTMO are at opposite ends of the profit split spectrum.
City Traders Imperium has one of the lowest profit splits at just 60%, whereas FTMO has a higher profit split of 80% and it even goes up to 90% for their best traders.
Evaluation period
Even though City Trader’s Imperium has a lower profit split, they have a much longer evaluation period. So if you’d like to take your Forex trading to the next level by getting access to more capital but are not confident enough to hit 10% in one month, CTI is a better option since you have a lot more time to pass the challenge.
Direct funding options
If you’re already a profitable trader, then you can skip hitting any trading objectives and just pay the higher fee to get access to instant funding.
Of course, you can still lose the funded account if you hit the 5% drawdown, so you still have to manage your risk very well.
Trading objectives
CTI is meant for traders to seriously scale up their accounts. Even after you receive your funded account, you’ll still be working towards gaining 10% to scale up your account.
With FTMO, once you’ve passed the evaluation process, there are no longer any trading objectives as such. You can trade as much or as little as you like and take your profit split at the end of every period.
Scaling plan
Traders who are looking to work their way up to significant trading capital may prefer CTI because they have a clear path to $2,000,000.
FTMO has a scaling plan, but it takes a whole year to double your capital, and that too if you’re very consistent with your trades.
Why you should choose City Traders Imperium
If you’re a professional trader looking for instant funding or the potential to trade up to $2,000,000, then CTI is a good prop firm to work with.
Alternatively, if you’re still gaining experience as a trader and want to take a challenge that does not put too much pressure on you, CTI’s evaluation process gives you a whole year to complete the objectives.
You will make less money in the short term, but a lot more money in the long term.
Why you should choose FTMO
If you’re looking for higher profits at the start of your trading career, then FTMO is a good prop firm to choose.
From the moment you get funded, you’ll be able to withdraw up to 80% of your profits.
FTMO also has a much larger community and better trader experiences for how to pass the challenge.
City Traders Imperium vs FTMO: Conclusion
Both FTMO and CTI are great prop trading firms for trading forex, indices, and other instruments. They both let you profit from trading forex without needing to risk your own capital.
CTI is a better option for longer term profits, provided that you are consistent in your trading. You’ll make less money in the short term, but as soon as you hit those significant levels of capital, you’ll be able to make lots of money, even though the profit share is less.
On the other hand, you can start making decent money every month if you go for FTMO, but your income will not scale quite as much.