City Traders Imperium interview: Prop trading then, now and next

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City Traders Imperium interview

Building trust and credibility

1. Looking back at CTI’s journey, which milestones have had the greatest influence on the company it has become?

The first one is simply starting. We launched CTI in 2018, before prop trading became what it is today. Back then there were only a few firms and not much attention on the space. We were building something we believed traders needed, without knowing how big the industry would get.

The second milestone is one people don’t see. It’s every difficult period we got through without changing who we are. Over the years we’ve seen markets go wild, rules tighten across the industry, and a lot of firms come and go. Each of those moments was a test, and surviving them shaped us more than any launch did.

If I’m honest, CTI is not the result of one big moment. It’s the result of a lot of small decisions, made again and again, to put traders first. That part never changed.

2. “Trusted since 2018” is part of CTI’s positioning. What does trust mean in practical terms for a prop firm, and what does it take to maintain that trust over time?

Trust is a word every firm uses. Anyone can put it on a website. What matters is what happens after a trader signs up.

For me, trust comes down to three simple things. Traders get paid when they earn it. The rules they sign up with are the rules they trade under. And when something goes wrong, they get a straight answer from real people.

Trust over time is about consistency in every payout, and support reply. So “trusted since 2018” isn’t something we earned once. It’s something we have to keep earning.

Transparency, payouts, and trader relationships

3. Where do you think transparency matters most in the relationship between a prop firm and its traders, and where does the industry still have room to improve?

It matters most in the rules. A trader should be able to read the rules once and know exactly what they can and can’t do. If a rule needs a long explanation from support, it’s probably not written clearly enough.

The second place is payouts. Traders want to know when they’ll get paid, how much, and what could delay it. No surprises. The worst feeling in this industry is hitting your target and then finding out about a condition you never knew existed.

The third is change. Firms change things, and that’s normal. Markets move and businesses have to adapt. But traders should not face changes backwards.

Where can the industry improve?

Honestly, in the small print. Too many firms still hide important conditions in places nobody reads, and some change rules quietly when it suits them. That might help a firm for a month, but it damages trust in the whole industry, not just in that firm.

4. Payouts are a key part of the trader experience and can influence how a prop firm is perceived. How does CTI approach payouts, and has that approach changed as the company has grown?

Our approach is simple. If a trader earns it, they get paid. That has been the rule since day one, and it’s the one thing we will never compromise on.

A payout is the moment of truth in this business. Everything before it is a promise. The payout is where you find out if the promise was real. So we treat every payout as part of our reputation, not a cost to the business.

What has changed as we’ve grown is the process behind it. In the early days things were more manual, and we were a small team doing a bit of everything. Today we have better systems, more payment options and clearer steps, so traders know what to expect and when to expect it.

5. How does CTI approach communication when questions, disputes, or unexpected issues arise, and what have these situations taught you about the relationship between firms and traders?

The first rule is to answer. It sounds obvious, but silence is the fastest way to lose a trader’s trust. Even if we don’t have the full answer yet, we tell people we’re looking into it and when they’ll hear back.

The second rule is to be honest, even when the answer isn’t what the trader wants to hear.

Some disputes go in the trader’s favour and some don’t. Either way, they deserve a clear explanation of why, in plain language, not a copy and paste of the rules.

When something unexpected happens on our side, like a technical issue or a platform problem, we own it. We tell traders what happened, what we’re doing about it and how it affects them. Trying to hide a problem always makes it bigger.

What these situations have taught me is that traders don’t expect a firm to be perfect. Things go wrong in every business. What they remember is how you behaved when it did.

Adapting to changing market conditions

6. CTI has operated through different market cycles and periods of volatility. What have those periods taught you about running a prop trading firm across changing market conditions?

The biggest lesson is that you have to build the firm for the bad days, not the good ones. When markets are calm, almost any business model looks fine. It’s when volatility hits that you find out if your model actually works.

7. How have the needs and expectations of prop traders changed during your time in the industry, and which of those changes have had the greatest impact on CTI’s approach?

Traders today are much better informed than they were in 2018. Back then a lot of people were new to prop trading and simply happy to get a chance. Now they compare firms, read reviews, talk in communities and ask hard questions before they buy anything.

I think that’s a great change. It forces every firm to be better.

The first big shift is around payouts. Traders don’t just want to hear that a firm pays. They want to know how fast, how often and through which methods. Speed and reliability have become a basic expectation, not a bonus.

The second shift is choice. Traders want different ways to get funded, different platforms and programs that fit their own style. One model for everyone doesn’t work anymore.

The third, and maybe the most important, is that traders want to feel heard. They want to know there are real people behind the firm who listen and actually change things based on feedback.

The future of prop trading

8. What do you think the prop trading industry will look like five years from now, and which parts of today’s model are most likely to change?

I think it will be smaller, but stronger. Over the last few years a lot of firms entered the industry very quickly. Not all of them were built to last, and we’ve already seen many disappear. I expect that to continue until the firms left standing are the ones with solid foundations.

I also think regulation and oversight will grow. That’s not something to fear. Clearer standards will protect traders and make it harder for bad actors to damage the industry’s reputation.

As for the model itself, I think the biggest change will be in how firms make money. Any model that depends mostly on traders failing is under pressure. Traders are smarter now and they can see it. The firms that survive will be the ones that do well when their traders do well.

9. Against that backdrop, what role do you envision for CTI, and what are the company’s main priorities for the next five years?

My goal is simple. I want CTI to be the most trader friendly prop firm in the industry. Not just in our marketing, but in every decision we make.

For me, being trader friendly means that we only win when our traders win. That’s the model we want to keep building. If our success depends on traders failing, we’ve built the wrong business.

So our priorities follow from that.

First, rules that are fair, clear and stable, so traders can focus on trading instead of worrying about small print.
Second, payouts that are fast and reliable, every time.
Third, support from real people who actually care about solving the problem.

We also want to keep giving traders more ways to succeed. That means better tools, programs that fit different trading styles and an environment where a failed challenge is a lesson, not the end of the road.

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