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Summary

I registered with The5ers in May 2024 and purchased my first challenge in June 2024. As of February 2026, I have received approximately $18,000 in total payouts.

There have been no payout rejections, but some payouts took close to a week to process.

One of their strengths is trading costs. I personally track the trading costs across multiple firms, and The5ers consistently ranks as one of the lowest-cost options available.

Their email communications include a confidentiality notice stating that unauthorized disclosure may result in legal action. For this reason, I will not be sharing any email exchanges in this article.

Timeline

May 28, 2024　

I registered with The5ers.

At the time, I did not have as much capital as I do now, so I mainly used $5,000 accounts, occasionally purchasing $20,000 or $60,000 accounts. Looking back, managing accounts with such different balances at the same time was not good for my mental state. Winning on a small account while losing on a large one felt more frustrating than losing on all of them — though I was also less experienced back then than I am now.

November 2024

I was contacted by the risk management team, who indicated that trading activity had been detected from a location outside my country. I had never left the country and had only been trading from my home PC. After I explained this, the misunderstanding was quickly resolved.

I do not consider this type of error a reason to lose trust in a company. System errors and human mistakes can always lead to misunderstandings like this. As long as you know you have done nothing wrong, you can calmly explain the truth and have the issue resolved.

September 2025

I received an email from the risk team indicating that my trading activity had been identified as one-sided betting. The email asked me to confirm that I was aware of their guidelines and to review the rules. It also stated that there would be no restrictions or penalties on my account.

I explained that I take full responsibility for my trades, that I use appropriate leverage, and that my risk is always around 1%. Honestly, I do not know which specific trades triggered their flag. I already review each firm’s rules at least once a month, but I went through them again and confirmed that my trading was not in violation.

Since receiving that email, I have continued to receive payouts without any issues or restrictions.

February 10, 2026

I was contacted by the risk team for a video interview. Whether I was randomly selected or whether there was a concern about my trading, I do not know.

I cannot speak English at all. I can only understand Japanese. When I explained this, they used AI to translate in real time during the interview. I had a similar experience with Alpha Capital Group, where they also used AI translation during a video call. This means that even if you cannot speak English, you can still communicate with them face to face. I found this very considerate and appreciated it greatly.

I will not go into the specific details, but the interview consisted entirely of questions that any real trader would be able to answer.

It has been almost two years since I started using The5ers. They are without a doubt one of the firms I will continue to use going forward.

I will continue to update this post if I have any additional experiences to share.

Summary

I have been using FundedNext since August 2024. As of February 2026, I have received over $60,000 in payouts — with no delays and no rejections. See my full payout history below.

They are one of the firms I trust the most.

I tend to ask a lot of questions because I worry about things, and their support team always responds clearly, kindly, and quickly. They do not simply rely on AI or template responses. They genuinely listen to traders and address concerns on an individual basis.

Their rules are clearly defined. On a personal note, I also find their dashboard to be the most user-friendly among all the firms I have used.

Timeline

I purchased my first FundedNext account on August 14, 2024.

What attracted me was their unique feature of receiving 15% of profits earned during the challenge phase. I also liked that they promise an additional $1,000 if a payout is not processed within 24 hours — it showed confidence in their own system. Over the past year and a half, I have received $60,000 in payouts, and every single one was processed within a few hours to half a day. So I have never received that extra $1,000.

Here are some of my recent payout records as evidence.

I frequently reach out to their support team. This is partly because English is not my first language and I want to make sure I fully understand the rules, and partly because I tend to worry about things.

It is not uncommon for them to reply within an hour. I have never been kept waiting for days. Their responses are always friendly, clear, and feel like they genuinely care about the trader’s perspective.

Some prop firms offer a free challenge account after meeting certain conditions — such as passing the challenge or receiving your first payout. In most cases, you need to apply for it yourself. I have no complaints about that process. However, at FundedNext, the free challenge account was granted automatically and immediately without any application. I am not sure whether this is still how it works today, but this kind of experience is one of the reasons I like FundedNext. It feels like they are always thinking from the trader’s perspective.

VPS Detection Issue

On February 20, 2025, I received an email from FundedNext regarding suspected VPS usage on my account.

I had never used a VPS and did not even fully understand what one was. I was very worried, but they gave me the opportunity to explain my situation, and they understood that there was no issue.

I assume this was triggered by a system detection error. I think most people would agree that such errors are better avoided, but realistically, it is extremely difficult to eliminate all system or human errors entirely — especially when a company is serving tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of users.

What matters, in my opinion, is how a company responds when these issues arise — whether they are willing to look at each user’s situation individually and work toward a resolution. In that regard, I felt their handling of this matter was excellent. Ironically, this false detection actually increased my trust in FundedNext.

Risk Rule Violation

On December 31, 2025, I received an email notifying me that I had violated the 3% cumulative risk rule.

I keep my risk at 1% on every trade, so at first I thought it must be a mistake. However, it turned out that because I had not set a stop loss within three minutes of opening the position, the trade was automatically treated as carrying 100% risk. I had bought 0.1 lots of USD/JPY on a 100k account. At that lot size, I assumed a stop loss was temporarily unnecessary.

However, since this was my first violation, the penalty was limited to a 50% deduction of the profit from the violating trade and a formal warning.

If a second violation occurs on any of my accounts, stricter restrictions will be imposed: margin usage must remain below 30%, and cumulative risk must not exceed 1%. I already keep my risk below 1% per trade, but the 30% margin usage cap would make trading Gold somewhat more restrictive.

So I see this as an opportunity to enforce even stricter risk management, and I will continue working toward scaling my FundedNext 100k accounts.

I will keep updating this post honestly as my experience with FundedNext continues. I am also gradually working on articles about other firms. Thank you for reading.

Summary

Started using FTMO on September 24, 2025. Purchased 10 challenge accounts (100k each) between September 2025 and February 2026, and received approximately $7,500 in payouts and approximately $2,500 in refunds, totaling approximately $10,000. However, FTMO classified my trading as “one-sided betting” and terminated three funded 100k accounts and one 100k challenge account. I asked which specific trades were problematic, but FTMO stated that they could not disclose the details. My relationship with FTMO has ended.

Timeline

I had known about FTMO since I first discovered prop firms in 2024, but I avoided it because it was more expensive than other firms, and at the time I did not fully appreciate the importance of its reputation and track record.

As I gained experience with other prop firms, I began to realize how much those things mattered. Still, the cost remained a barrier. Then, around September 2025 (I don’t remember the exact timing), they began offering a 20% discount, so I decided to purchase.

When I had questions about payment methods, their support responded quickly and left a very positive impression.

On November 22, I received my first payout. It was a small amount, but things were going smoothly.

I received several more payouts after that. The largest was approximately $2,000 on January 29.

On February 5, I received an email stating: “We have observed a pattern of frequent or potentially excessive ordering activity on your registration.” My risk per trade was around 1%, and my daily risk was around 2–3%, but due to the high volatility of Gold, some accounts hit their disqualification limits in a short period. Specifically, I purchased a challenge on January 29, another on February 2, and attempted another purchase on February 5.

I reached out to ask about this, and received a response along the lines of: “Please be assured that the email you received was a precautionary notice intended to promote a disciplined trading environment; it is not a restriction on your account. You are welcome to purchase a new FTMO Challenge whenever it aligns with your trading plan, and to continue following your risk management strategy.” This put me at ease.

Between September 2025 and February 2026, I purchased a total of 10 challenges. I understood the warning as simply the system flagging three purchases in quick succession, and felt reassured. I then purchased another challenge on February 11.

On February 17, I received an email titled “FTMO Notice.” It stated that FTMO had classified my trading activity as not genuine trading but “one-sided betting,” and that as a result, my three funded 100k accounts and one 100k challenge account would be terminated, along with the entire business relationship.

I responded by explaining that I believed my trading was conducted with strict risk management and that I had not violated any rules.

However, they responded that they could not disclose the details of their review process, that they had identified issues with my overall trading activity, and that they had concluded my trading was not genuine.

To give some context about my actual trading: on my 100k accounts, I traded Gold at 0.5 to 1 lot, and pairs like EUR/USD at 3 to 6 lots, always keeping my risk at 1% per trade. I typically placed one to two trades per day. I did not gamble on news events. I did not scalp. I did not use hedging or martingale strategies. Since I can no longer log into MT5, I am attaching screenshots from the FTMO dashboard as evidence of my trading activity.

English is not my first language, so there may be parts I have not understood correctly. With that in mind, there are two issues that I feel are important.

The first is that my account was suspended without what I felt was a clear, specific explanation. That said, I can understand their position. If the details of their review process were made public, it could potentially be exploited.

The second issue is something I consider more serious. The notice email stated that the final payout would be made on the condition that I acknowledge the notice and agree to refrain from hostile behavior towards FTMO aimed at causing harm to the company and its reputation. While the email did not explicitly say “do not publicize,” I interpreted this wording as effectively discouraging me from speaking openly about my experience.

Again, English is not my native language, so my interpretation could be wrong. If it is, I would appreciate being corrected.

But if the message means what I think it means, most traders do not have the time, money, or knowledge to enter into a dispute with a company as large as FTMO. On top of that, the final payout is typically only a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Going public could be seen as hostile behavior — which would mean losing even that.

As a result, I imagine many traders, even if they did not agree, would accept the terms, take the final payout, and say nothing.

I sometimes wonder if this might be one reason why FTMO’s reputation online is overwhelmingly positive, with very few negative voices. Of course, this is purely my speculation. I hope I am wrong.

I accepted the account termination and the refund process. However, this does not mean that I acknowledged any wrongdoing in my trading. My time and resources are limited, and unfortunately I was not in a position to decline this offer.

They proceeded with the reward payout and the refund. I have already received the payment.

This is everything I experienced while using FTMO. I do not believe they are a fraudulent or malicious company. I do not think such a company could have built the track record they have. However, human or system errors can occur, and there is always a possibility that traders may be disadvantaged as a result. I believed that with FTMO, such a possibility would be extremely low — but the reality is that my relationship with them ended over a violation I could not identify.

From this experience, I learned that rather than relying on a single “perfect” prop firm, it is important to use multiple firms, understand how each one operates, diversify risk and capital, and continue to grow both your assets and your trading skills.