Best Funded Trader Programs in South Africa

Best Funded Trading Programs in South Africa

SurgeTrader - provides $25,000 or more to manage

SurgeTrader Review

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Your capital is at risk.

SurgeTrader offers a 75% profit split to funded traders who meet their trading criteria. It's the perfect prop firm to diversify your investment portfolio with a variety of tradable assets. SurgeTrader has only one phase of evaluation, unlike many other prop firm trading entities that require traders to pass several levels of evaluation.

Traders can choose from six packages. With the Starter Package, you get $25,000 in instant funding and a 10% profit target. There’s a maximum trailing drawdown of 5% allowed. The Starter Package is ideal for beginners who want to avoid overly aggressive trading. With a $1 million funding size and a 75% profit split, the Master Package is the highest-tier account. A 10% profit target is set, along with a four-percent daily loss limit and a five-percent maximum trailing drawdown allowance. If you have a lot of confidence in your abilities, then this package may be for you.

This prop firm offers a wide variety of tradable securities, including crypto and gold, as well as popular stock indices. It’s possible to access leverage up to 1:10.

A top proprietary trading firm, SurgeTrader requires all of its clients to undergo evaluation. You need to pass only one phase of the SurgeTrader Audition process. It’s not necessary to earn over 10% of your account balance in order to pass the audition.

Audition fees range from $200 to $6,500 per account. There’s no limit to how many times you can take the audition. You can use credit/debit cards and PayPal to make payments and withdrawals.

FTMO - great option for experienced traders

FTMO Review

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Your capital is at risk.

FTMO is a prop trading firm that specializes in Forex trading, and has won several awards in the field. FTMO traders received over $23,000,000 in payouts in 2021 with an average payout processing time of 8 hours.

To qualify for a funded trading account at FTMO, you must complete three steps.

• Within 30 days, you must reach the defined profit goals of the FTMO Challenge.

• Once you've successfully completed the FTMO Challenge, you enter the 60-day Verification process.

• FTMO will offer you an account range of $10,000 to $400,000. This is after you pass the two-step evaluation process with the Challenge and Verification.

• Traders keep 80% of their profits for withdrawal according to the 80:20 profit split. In addition, for funded accounts with account sizes of $2,000,000 or greater, traders have the option to increase their profit split up to 90:10 with a Scaling Plan.

There are 44 currency pairs and 10 cryptocurrencies you can trade. You can also trade stock CFDs, commodities, and indices.

FTMO excels at currency trading, while Topstep excels at futures trading.

Free versions are available of the three most popular trading platforms, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader.

In order to participate in the FTMO Challenge, traders must pay a one-time fee. USD, GBP, EUR, CZK, CAD, AUD and CHF can be used to fund the account, but only Euro can be used to pay the challenge fee. For the $10k account, the participation fee starts at 155 EUR. For the $25k account, the cost is 250 EUR, for the $50k account, 345 EUR, for the $100k account, 540 EUR, and for the $200k account, 1,080 EUR.

Earn2Trade - the best choice for futures trading

Earn2Trade Review

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Your capital is at risk.

For $150 a month, Earn 2 Trade offers a Gauntless Mini account with $25K. When you choose the $350 a month option, you can get up to $150K.

In the beginning, you might want to settle for the $150 monthly fee option if you are still developing your trading confidence. Within the first month of receiving this, you might aim for $1750 and above according to the mentorship you’ve been provided with.

By doing so, you won't need to spend any additional money to upgrade your account to the $350 a month option.

Additionally, achieving this feat will give you access to proprietary trading partner accounts.

Upon reaching this point, you'll have access to:

• A beginner crash course that would otherwise cost $249

• Access to a trading simulator

• Access to Journalytix

Try Day Trading - offers one-on-one coaching

Forex trading is the sole focus of Try Day Trading. Unlike other funded trading programs, Try Day Trading doesn’t only allocate cash to you. Upon joining, they'll guide you through a 12-week course.

This course will prepare you for success once you start trading with real money. Getting to know the company's trading culture is also an important factor in success.

Try Day Trading has been around since 2008 and has evolved ever since. Trader Executive, the company's one-to-one training program introduced in 2016, consists of individual training from the company's Lehi, Utah offices.

Following graduation from the training program, students can receive funded accounts worth up to $100,000 and keep 80% of their profits.

OneUp Trader Funding - partners keep 90-100% of earned profits

OneUp Trader Review

Open an account

Your capital is at risk.

A decade of experience makes OneUp Trader one of the most reliable prop firms to fund your account. By encouraging the use of different schools of thought in decision-making, this program promotes independence.

In addition to its uniqueness, this platform places a lot of trust in its users. This program provides a softer learning curve than other programs that require traders to meet unrealistic trading targets.

As a OneUp member, you'll feel like part of a big family. When it comes to building your confidence, that’s quite important.

In addition, you can decide how you want to share your profits. There are two profit-sharing options - 50-50 and 80-20.

Moreover, their tiers are quite affordable, especially if you choose the 50-50 arrangement. The 50% profit split arrangement would cost you $95 per month for a $25K account. On the other hand, a $25K account with the 80% option would cost you $125 per month.

Rules and Regulation

Funded Trading Programs in South Africa Compared

For a quick overview of the funded trader programs discussed here, we compiled a table highlighting the important points.

How Do I Become a Fully Funded Trader in South Africa?

Obtaining funding as a trader involves a number of steps. Here are more detailed instructions:

• Open an account. First, choose a reliable company and open an account. For a beginner, it is recommended that you try out your skills on a demo account. When choosing a firm, consider factors such as regulation, its reputation, and the tools, resources, and educational materials available.

• Prove your trading skills. You must show how well you understand the intricacies of trading and how well you can calculate and control risks.

• Pass a test. To gain access to a funded account, you will need to undergo testing. This process often includes an evaluation of your trading strategy, risk management practices, and overall approach. Also, some firms ask applicants for credentials. For example, certificates of completion of trading courses.

• Get funding. Once you have successfully completed all the steps, you will be able to obtain financing. However, remember to treat your capital responsibly: follow the rules and regulations set by the company, avoid excessive risks and stick to a clearly defined trading plan.

What Is The Logic Behind Prop Trading?

An excellent question we ask today is - what is the logic behind prop trading? Why would a firm offer traders their funds to trade on? It’s simple. The idea behind it is to generate profits for the trading firm by taking advantage of market opportunities and utilizing the skills and expertise of the firm's traders.

Here are some key points that explain it further:

Profit generation

Prop trading firms aim to maximize their profits by using one tool in their arsenal - understanding the traders’ thinking. Because the users are not using their own funds to trade, they are more likely to take more risks, which helps the firms gain insight into their reasoning and leverage that to gain maximum profits.

Research and development

By allowing users to take more risk in their trading, prop firms are able to gather information on how users make trading decisions, what they are more likely to invest in, and even the most preferable trading hours. This research can be then used to further develop the tools of the account.

Talent attraction and retention

The idea of providing traders with funds to trade on such that they don’t have to dig into their pockets attracts multiple untapped talents in the industry. Once they gain the profits, these talents have the potential of turning into repeat users for the account.

Maintain all gains

Because everything is traded on the firm’s account, the firm gets to maintain all the gains and maximise their profits from the trades.

Have an edge over competitors

Firms engaged in proprietary trading have an edge over their competitors in terms of the insightful information they gather from their users which they leverage to maximise their profits, retain the customers and develop their accounts.

How Much Money Can I Make?

One question that always nags at potential traders is how much money they can make when they set out to become funded traders. The response to this question is complex and dependent on a number of important variables. For instance:

Funding Level

The foundation of the funded trader programs lies in the financing amount provided by the trading firm. These values range widely, from a few thousand dollars to large sums in the six figures. For example, some might provide traders a $25,000 beginning capital, while the most outstanding companies give over $1 million per account.

Profit split

Profits are split between the trader and the trading firm in funded trader programs. The profit split ratio is fixed and specified in the program agreement. Traders typically receive up to 70%-90% of the profits they make.

Trading Strategy

Choosing a suitable trading strategy is also critical. High-risk strategies may create huge short-term rewards, but they also carry a higher risk of loss. Conservative techniques produce more steady, consistent growth over longer time spans. Your strategy must balance risk and reward so that you can profit from multiple deals while avoiding catastrophic losses.

Effective risk management is essential as profits can be greatly increased with a well-defined and properly researched approach. Keep in mind that trading tactics are governed by different regulations and guidelines at different trading firms. Also traders should consider strict rules of most funding programs. Usually, they limit maximum loss to 4-10%.

How to Choose a Funded Trading Program in South Africa

Keep the following tips in mind when choosing a funded program in South Africa:

• Explore reviews from former and current program participants to fully appreciate the pros and cons of the program.

• Ensure that the company providing the funding operates in accordance with current South African legislation.

• Analyze the requirements for candidates.

• Evaluate the financing structure, including the amount of capital provided and profit sharing arrangements.

• Consider the level of support and training offered by the program.

• Check the trading tools, software and availability of additional resources. This may include access to analytics, educational materials and market research.

• Be guided by your personal preferences, goals, and level of experience.

Are Funded Trading Programs Trustworthy?

If you choose the right company to work with, funded trading programs can be very trustworthy. Nonetheless, this is a new business model for this industry. Program quality varies from company to company. It is also possible that some scam their customers just out of greed. Due diligence and proper research are, therefore, highly recommended.

Methodology for compiling our ratings of prop firms

Traders Union applies a rigorous methodology to evaluate prop companies using over 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria. Multiple parameters are given individual scores that feed into an overall rating.

Key aspects of the assessment include:

• Trader Testimonials and Reviews. Collecting and analyzing feedback from existing and past traders to understand their experiences with the firm.

• Trading instruments. Companies are evaluated on the range of assets offered, as well as the breadth and depth of available markets.

• Challenges and Evaluation Process. Analyzing the firm's challenge system, account types, evaluation criteria, and the process for granting funding.

• Profit Split. Reviewing the profit split structure and terms, scaling plans, and how the firm handles profit distributions.

• Trading Conditions. Examining leverage, execution speeds, commissions, and other trading costs associated with the firm.

• Platform and Technology. Assessing the firm's proprietary trading platform or third-party platforms it supports, including ease of use, functionality, and stability.

• Education and Support. Quality and availability of training materials, webinars, and one-on-one coaching.