Why traders leave FTMO
FTMO's rules are some of the strictest in the category: no weekend holding, no copy trading, EAs must be original. For a discretionary day trader those rules are invisible. For everyone else they add friction. The four reasons traders shop alternatives: (1) FTMO does not offer instant funding; (2) weekend holding is disallowed even for a Sunday-night gap defence trade; (3) the cheapest tier is $89 — there are firms half that price; (4) FTMO is FX/CFD only — futures traders need a different vendor.
Cheaper entry: FundingPips, FundedNext
Both undercut FTMO on entry-tier pricing. FundingPips starts at $39 for a $5K account. FundedNext starts at $59 with a 15% initial profit bonus (which counts toward target but not drawdown — read that twice). The trade-off: FundingPips has a 15% consistency rule on Phase 1 that FTMO does not.
Weekend holding: FundedNext, MyFundedFX, The5%ers
If you trade swing setups or crypto, the FTMO Sunday flat-close is a deal-breaker. FundedNext, MyFundedFX, and The5%ers all allow weekend holding. For crypto specifically, MyFundedFX is the most lenient.
Instant funding: Funded Trading Plus, Bespoke Funding
FTMO has no instant tier — every account goes through Evaluation. If you want to skip the assessment, Funded Trading Plus and Bespoke Funding both offer instant plans. Pay 2-3× more upfront, get half the drawdown room — math rarely works for new traders, but for experienced ones with a tested edge, it can shorten the path to a payout.
Futures: Topstep, Apex
If your edge is in ES/NQ/CL/GC, the futures-prop incumbents play by different rules — drawdowns in USD not percent, dollar daily-loss limits, no overnight holding. Topstep is the long-tenured incumbent; Apex offers 100% on the first 25K and up to 20 funded accounts per trader.
Frequently asked
Is FTMO still the best overall?+
For a discretionary day-trading FX/CFD account at the $100K tier, FTMO still has the strongest payout track record and the deepest broker liquidity. For everyone else, the alternatives in this guide beat it on specific axes.
Which alternative has the best payout history after FTMO?+
Topstep, by a margin — 13+ years of continuous payouts. FundingPips and FundedNext are newer (post-2020) but both have public payout proof feeds.
What about firms not in this list?+
Our directory adds firms continuously. If a firm is not tracked here yet, that usually means we have not finished snapshotting their pricing pages or could not verify their payout track record. We do not list firms we cannot verify.