We compared FTMO, FundedNext, The5ers, Alpha Capital and Atlas Funded on the terms that actually decide whether you get paid — entry cost, profit targets, splits, drawdown and payout rules. One firm came out ahead on cost and profit retention.
We reviewed five of the most-searched prop firms on the market. Rather than score them on reputation, we used the five criteria that directly determine your take-home:
Every competitor figure below is taken from that firm’s own website, help centre or product API and linked at the foot of this page, so you can check any line of it yourself.
Five criteria that directly impact your real-world returns:
Most traders fail their first attempt. A lower entry fee means you can afford two or three goes instead of one — and more attempts means better odds of ending up funded.
An 8% target versus 10% sounds small, but it is two or three fewer winning trades. Easier targets mean less pressure to overtrade and blow the account.
Keeping 90% of your profit instead of 80% adds up. On $10,000 a month that is an extra $1,000 — $12,000 over a year, for doing nothing differently.
Getting paid every 14 days instead of monthly means better cash flow. What matters more is whether a firm will show you how often it actually pays — and how often it does not.
Clear rules that do not trip you up on purpose. No hidden consistency requirement, no mystery violations. Trade your strategy without worrying about a random termination.
Every prop firm advertises what it has paid out. Almost none publish how many requests they turned down to get there. Atlas publishes both — every payout request handled between January 2025 and August 2026.
Four of the five are avoidable by reading them before you fund an account. One closes the account permanently.
A single day made up more than the permitted share of total profit. Applies to Instant Funded (20-25%) and Access (25-30%) accounts only — never to a standard 1-, 2- or 3-Step account.
Position size exceeded the account's per-trade risk ceiling. Logged with the exact date, symbol and the figure against the limit — e.g. 'XAUUSD $855.60 / $750'.
Trades mirrored from a third-party signal or another firm's account. The largest single category by value. Unlike the others this one is not recoverable — the account closes rather than the request simply being denied.
Payout requested before the required trading days were complete. The request is denied, not the account — trade the remaining days and request again.
Requested under the $100 floor. Denied automatically. Wait until the balance clears $100.
Because a paid-out total on its own tells you almost nothing about your odds. Roughly two in three requests were denied, every one with a specific logged reason, and all five are listed above so you can avoid them. No other firm in this comparison publishes an equivalent figure — which means for the other four, you cannot check.
Flagship $100K plan at each firm. Competitor terms come from each firm’s own website, help centre or product API — never from a review aggregator.
Atlas FundedTop pick 2-Step · $100K | FTMO 2-Step Challenge · $100K | FundedNext Stellar 2-Step · $100K | The5ers High Stakes · $100K | Alpha Capital Alpha Pro · $100K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cost, $100K What a trader actually pays to start. | $359 average actually paid, last 60 days (low: $221) | ◷ verifying JS-rendered pricing — confirm at ftmo.com | $549.99 official checkout catalogue | $149 Summer 2026 promo, not standing price | ◷ verifying multi-step JS checkout — confirm at source |
Profit target Phase 1 / Phase 2. | 8% / 5% | 10% / 5% | 8% / 5% | 10% / 5% | 6-10% varies by Pro variant chosen at purchase |
Profit split Starting → maximum. | 90% flat, from the first payout — no scaling required | 80% → 90% 90% only via Scaling Plan or Premium | 80% → 90% | 80% → 100% 100% reachable on Hyper Growth | 80% → 90% |
Consistency rule Caps how much of your profit can come from one day. | None on 1-, 2- and 3-Step. Applies only to Instant/Access. | None on 2-Step. 1-Step has a 50% Best Day Rule. | None on Stellar 2-Step | 50% once funded no rule during the phases | 40% best day on-demand payouts only, not bi-weekly |
Max drawdown And whether it moves against you as you profit. | 8-10% static static through evaluation; trails end-of-day once funded | 10% static breached on equity — floating losses count | 10% balance-based from initial; floating losses count | ◷ verifying static vs trailing never stated on plan page | 6-10% static equals the variant you buy |
Min trading days | 5 any trade counts | 4 any trade counts | 5 per phase | 3 profitable a day only counts at ≥0.5% of balance — materially harder | 3 per phase |
Payout cadence | Every 14 days $100 minimum | From day 14 then any later day | 21 days, then 14 | Bi-weekly $250 minimum | Bi-weekly or on-demand |
News trading | Allowed when funded restricted during evaluation | Restricted when funded allowed in evaluation | 40% profit credit ±5 min of high-impact news: 40% of profit, 100% of loss | No execution ±2 min holding through news is fine | Allowed short restriction windows |
Weekend holding | Allowed | Standard: no Swing accounts: yes | Allowed | Allowed | Not when funded allowed in evaluation — soft breach strips profit |
Platforms | TradeLocker, MT5 | MT4, MT5, cTrader | MT4, MT5 cTrader/Match-Trader +$25, not on $100K tier | MT5 only hedging accounts | MT5, cTrader, DXtrade, TradeLocker |
Time limit | None | None | None | None but expires after 30 days inactive | None |
Four cells are marked ◷ verifying. Those firms render pricing through client-side scripts a server fetch cannot read — a visible gap is better than a number that cannot be sourced. Check the firm’s own site, linked in Sources.
No firm wins on every axis. If one of these matters more to you than entry cost or profit split, the other firm is the better buy.
FTMO has been running since 2015 and has paid traders through multiple market cycles. Atlas started in 2025. If an unbroken track record is what you weight most heavily, that is a real argument for them. They also carry a 4.8 Trustpilot against Atlas's 4.0.
Their Hyper Growth programme reaches a 100% split. Atlas stops at 90%. They also run a genuine scaling programme with a longer history behind it. The trade-off is a 50% consistency rule once funded and MT5-only access.
Four platforms against Atlas's two, and payouts on demand rather than on a 14-day cycle. If you want cTrader or DXtrade specifically, Atlas simply does not offer them.
They pay 15% of the profit you make during the evaluation itself, released with your first funded withdrawal. Nobody else in this comparison does that, Atlas included.
A $100K 2-Step that traders paid an average of $359 for over the last 60 days, 90% of profit from your first payout, payouts every 14 days with a $100 floor, and no consistency rule on the standard 1-, 2- and 3-Step evaluations.
Trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Evaluation fees are generally non-refundable. Past payout figures describe traders who have already qualified and are not a prediction of your result — most traders do not pass an evaluation.