Frequently Asked Questions About Prop Trading
Through the information provided on our pages, we’ve endeavored to leave no stone unturned. However, if there are still topics of uncertainty, this FAQ should have you covered!
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Through the information provided on our pages, we’ve endeavored to leave no stone unturned. However, if there are still topics of uncertainty, this FAQ should have you covered!
Welcome to our archive of knowledge. Any remaining queries you may still have about Ultimate Traders you’ll find here. We answer everything related to your funded journey, from registration to evaluation, through to the funded account and prop trading with us thereafter. And if you still need further information, just get in touch with us directly!
Proprietary trading (prop trading) is trading that is funded by a third party, with the agreement of a gains-split on the revenue generated. The third party can be a group of investors, a company, bank, firm, or even an individual, and the funds provided to the trader can range anywhere from a fraction of the total account size, to the full amount. In turn, the agreed gains-split can also vary. The incentive for traders to participate in prop-trading is that they minimize their financial risk whilst gaining the opportunity to profit from the larger account size that they would not have afforded relying on just their own capital.
A prop trading firm is a group of investors that offers traders the opportunity to participate in prop-trading. Their aim is to invest in the most skillful of traders, since the firm’s profits rely on the success of their traders. With skilled traders, prop trading can be a profitable venture for both firm and trader alike. Therefore prop trading firms, especially those who provide 100% funded accounts, have a careful and rigorous selection process that relies on a practical evaluation before funding.
There is no mandatory academic requirement for any form of trading. Whilst an education in finance, economics or business can give useful context to a trader, it does not guarantee success. A practical knowledge of fundamental and technical analysis, risk management and experience are the key attributes for a successful trader.
Ultimate Traders is a proprietary trading firm. Through the Ultimate Traders challenge, exceptional traders are given the chance to prove their abilities in a risk-free trading environment, with only a minimal upfront fee paid to register. Upon successful completion of the evaluation phases, traders can then move onto live funded accounts where they can manage funds of up to $400k. Up to 90% of the profits are kept as an Ultimate Trader (the minimum share is still a generous 80%).
We accept anyone who is at least 18 years or older. We do not look for any special qualifications as we believe that talented traders come from all walks of life – however – we do not advise novices or those still relatively new to financial markets to choose this as their introductory route to trading since they are unlikely to be successful. A knowledge of the MT4/MT5 platforms and the practical application of its tools is essential.
Ultimate Traders does not provide services to OFAC listed countries, to any persons listed on sanctions lists, persons with criminal records related to financial crime or terrorism, and to persons previously banned from our service.
Mutual gain is the purpose of any investor funding – it’s just a question of identifying profitable people to invest in. We know there are extremely competent individuals out there, whose only constraint is their capital. We are therefore solving this issue by removing the barrier of limited funds. If you believe that you are one of these individuals who could benefit from this opportunity, then Ultimate Traders is here to help you realise your potential. With access to significantly funded accounts, a variety of instruments to trade, favourable spreads, and leverage of up to 1:100, you will have everything you need to succeed. If your trades are profitable, we will pay you up to 90% of the earnings. We are fully aware that there are periods during trading which may not be profitable, which is why the evaluation rules are designed to encourage candidates to manage and minimize their losses effectively. Additionally, traders are free to trade according to their own preferences and make use of automated tools like EAs, hedging, etc. Our rules are not overly demanding but you should be careful not to trade too aggressively, to avoid any risky mistakes. Once you begin trading with us, we will also help you learn how to manage risk better.
To start, you’ll first need to register for one of our Ultimate Trader challenges – the Classic Challenge (2-phase) or the Speedy Challenge (1-phase). These challenges are designed for you to show that you can be profitable whilst adhering to predefined risk-management criteria. If you meet the evaluation criteria and profit targets of your challenge successfully, you’ll then be invited to become an Ultimate Trader and trade with an Ultimate Traders live funded account of up to $400,000.
If you aren’t ready to start a challenge right away, we also offer a 14-day Free Trial through which you
can put your trading skills to the test. Once you’ve gained more confidence, you can then move on to entering one of our Ultimate Trader Challenges!
MetaTrader is arguably the world’s most popular currency trading popular among millions of traders. T4Trade is our regulated broker of choice due to their super low spreads and minimal fees. The MT4/MT5 platforms are available to you during the evaluation phases and on our live accounts.
Multiple trading accounts or challenges are permitted under the same registration. However, you are not permitted to create multiple registrations. Each user is only permitted to have one profile with Ultimate Traders. If we detect multiple registrations by the same person, we reserve the right to suspend the accounts as per our T&C’s.
Upon request, a trader may combine accounts that have passed through the evaluation phases into one live funded Ultimate Trader account. For this to happen, the merged accounts must have a minimum account balance. The merged account must not be in drawdown and there must be no profit due. All merged accounts must have identical risk parameters and be in the same base currency. You will not be required to withdraw your profits before the accounts are merged..
On a single MT4 account, hedging is allowed, however hedging between 2 or more accounts is prohibited. After passing or breaching a challenge, our Risk and Review team will review your trading activities to ensure that accounts were not leveraged against each other, since this will not be a viable strategy during the funded stage.
The funded account will be the same as the account size chosen for the Evaluation stage. Once you start trading as an Ultimate Trader, you will be provided with a live trading account. You can trade using the funds within that account and withdraw up to 90% of any profits generated. Please ensure that you choose the desired account size from the start since you will not be able to upgrade later. If you demonstrate that you can deliver consistent profits and you are a talented trader, we can increase the account balance on a case-by-case basis.
The Funded stage is run by our third-party partner.
As an Ultimate Trader you are entitled up to 90% of the gains you generate on the account. A withdrawal request can be made via the Client Area. Once your request is processed you can then withdraw using any of their available methods at your discretion.
You are eligible for a withdrawal request once a month. Our third-party partner will also withdraw his share of gains as well.
Note that we highly encourage traders to be mindful of the Max Loss level and that they account for a buffer on their account so that the withdrawal does not trigger a breach of their account. For example, if you have a $100k account in profit with a balance of $120k (meaning your Max Loss has already trailed up to $100k) it would not be advisable to withdraw $20k as this will result in a breach of the account.
The Max Loss is also fixed to the starting balance upon the first withdrawal of profits, so traders should be cautious to leave themselves enough room between their remaining balance vs max drawdown limit. E.g. for a $100,000 Classic Funded Account, if the trader increases their equity to $110,000, their max drawdown level will increase from $88,000 to $98,000. If they withdraw any amount, the drawdown level will automatically be set to $100,000. So say they withdraw $8,000, the remaining balance is $102,000, meaning an effective max drawdown level of 2% (until further profits are generated).
The Max Loss is also fixed to the starting balance upon the first withdrawal of profits, so traders should be cautious to leave themselves enough room between their remaining balance vs max drawdown limit. E.g. for a $100,000 Classic Funded Account, if the trader increases their equity to $110,000, their max drawdown level will increase from $88,000 to $98,000. If they withdraw any amount, the drawdown level will automatically be set to $100,000. So say they withdraw $8,000, the remaining balance is $102,000, meaning an effective max drawdown level of 2% (until further profits are generated).
The minimum gains-split all Ultimate Traders are entitled to is 80%. This can be increased to 90% if the prop trader produces consistent monthly results. All traders also have the option to guarantee a 90% gains share from the start, by purchasing an add-on upon registration, for a 10% premium on the fee.
If the live account is breached due to exceeding the Max Loss or Daily Drawdown limit, the account will be closed and any remaining funds will not be withdrawable. Whilst this may seem harsh, it is a risk-management countermeasure to offset the fact that, unlike other firms, Ultimate Traders does not withdraw their share of the gains balance on a periodic basis (so as not to disrupt the Margin Level). We only receive our share upon trader withdrawal. This should therefore encourage the trader to withdraw at sensible intervals.
A breach of the Daily Drawdown and Max Loss limits is considered a hard breach. The account will automatically be placed into read-only mode and the Dashboard will be updated to indicate that the account has “Failed”. For a retry another account may be purchased from our website.
Every 24-hour period your equity (balance + floating P&L) will be ‘recorded’ and your losses during the next 24-hour period should not exceed 6% of the initial balance for the Classic Challenge and 4% for the Speedy Challenge. If the daily drawdown limit is exceeded, the account will be considered ‘failed’.
Example: if you open a $100,000 account and select Classic Challenge, Daily Drawdown is calculated at $6,000, meaning your equity is not allowed to drop below $94,000 within the first 24-hour period. If you have closed positions in 2K profit and have open positions in 4K profit at the time of the reset, your equity will be recorded at $106,000 and should not fall below $100,000 during the next 24-hour period.
This applies to both phases of the challenge and to the Ultimate Trader live account.
For the Classic Challenge, Maximum Loss is calculated at 12% of the opening balance.
For the Speedy Challenge, Maximum Loss is calculated at 6% of the opening balance.
This limit is calculated just once, based on your original account size, and trails up until it equals the original opening balance, after which it remains permanently fixed there.
Example: if you open a $100,000 account and select Classic Challenge, Max Loss is calculated as $12,000 and your equity is never allowed to fall below $88,000. If, after successful trading, your equity (balance + floating P&L) rises to $102,000, this threshold trails behind to $90,000. Once your equity reaches $112,000 and the corresponding threshold reaches $100,000 (equaling the original account balance) this remains fixed there permanently. So even if you then reach $150,000, your permitted max loss would be $50,000 (a 33% max drawdown) – provided the daily drawdown never falls below 6% and the all-time equity never falls below $100,000, the account will remain active.
This applies to both the evaluation account and to the Ultimate Trader live account.
The Max Loss is also fixed to the starting balance upon the first withdrawal of profits, so traders should be cautious to leave themselves enough room between their remaining balance vs max drawdown limit. E.g. for a $100,000 Classic Funded Account, if the trader increases their equity to $110,000, their max drawdown level will increase from $88,000 to $98,000. If they withdraw any amount, the drawdown level will automatically be set to $100,000. So say they withdraw $8,000, the remaining balance is $102,000, meaning an effective max drawdown level of 2% (until further profits are generated).
The Max Loss is also fixed to the starting balance upon the first withdrawal of profits, so traders should be cautious to leave themselves enough room between their remaining balance vs max drawdown limit. E.g. for a $100,000 Classic Funded Account, if the trader increases their equity to $110,000, their max drawdown level will increase from $88,000 to $98,000. If they withdraw any amount, the drawdown level will automatically be set to $100,000. So say they withdraw $8,000, the remaining balance is $102,000, meaning an effective max drawdown level of 2% (until further profits are generated).
We require that a stop loss is placed on all trades. We consider this to be a prudent risk management strategy. If a stop loss is not placed on a trade, the trade will automatically be closed. We do not consider this to be a breach of regulation and you can continue trading on your account.
Traders that wish to trade without the need for a stop loss are permitted to do this via the purchase of an add-on on their account, for a 10% premium on the registration fee.
Every 24-hour period your equity (balance + floating P&L) will be ‘recorded’ and your losses during the next 24-hour period should not exceed 6% of the initial balance for the Classic Challenge and 4% for the Speedy Challenge. If the daily drawdown limit is exceeded, the account will be considered ‘failed’.
Example: if you open a $100,000 account and select Classic Challenge, Daily Drawdown is calculated at $6,000, meaning your equity is not allowed to drop below $94,000 within the first 24-hour period. If you have closed positions in 2K profit and have open positions in 4K profit at the time of the reset, your equity will be recorded at $106,000 and should not fall below $100,000 during the next 24-hour period.
This applies to both phases of the challenge and to the Ultimate Trader live account.
The maximum number of open positions at any time is 200, whilst the maximum number of pending orders is 2000. This is more than enough for a pragmatic trading strategy whilst safeguarding against any potential abuse.
Option 1: Classic Challenge
The trader pays an initial fee after which they are sent login details to finalise the purchase and enter the evaluation phase.
Phase 1 Challenge:
The trader must meet the targets below and abide by the relevant rules to proceed to Phase II:
Phase 2 Verification:
The trader must meet the targets below and abide by the relevant rules to gain access to the live Funded Account:
Funded Live Account:
Once you have successfully completed evaluation phases 1 and 2, you will be invited to become an Ultimate Trader and gain access to a live account, funded with the same capital opted for during the challenge phase. This account can be scaled up to $400,000 based on performance. The Funded stage is being run by our third-party partner. Onboarding will be handled via a 3rd party once the KYC is process is completed.
Option 2: Speedy Challenge
The trader pays an initial fee after which they are sent login details to finalise the purchase and enter the evaluation phase.
Phase 1 Challenge:
The trader must meet the targets below and abide by the relevant rules to gain access to the funded live account:
Funded Live Account:
Once you have successfully completed the evaluation phase, you will be invited to become an Ultimate Trader and gain access to a live account, funded with the same capital opted for during the challenge phase. This account can be scaled up to $400,000 based on performance. The Funded stage is being run by our third-party partner. Onboarding will be handled via a 3rd party once the KYC is process is completed.
For example, if the profit target is 10%, that means the account balance on a 100k account must reach 110k or more, once all positions have been closed. If the equity is 115k but you still have open positions, the challenge phase will not register as complete until they are all closed (provided the remaining challenge criteria have been met).
Yes, all evaluation phases are run on a demo account since the purpose is simply to be able to test a trader’s ability to generate profit while managing risk. The demo account simulates a real trading environment, but you are not able to withdraw any profits.
No, however no weekend holds are permitted during the challenges. Traders that wish to hold trades over the weekend are given this option for a 10% premium on the registration fee. Traders must respect the market timings. Every asset class and its respective instruments may have different trading hours that you need to follow. The tradeable hours of every individual instrument can be found on your MetaTrader platform. When you open Market Watch (Ctrl+M), right-click on your favourite instrument, and choose ‘Specification’. In the dialogue window, scroll down and you can see the ‘Trade’ hours of the subject instrument.
We impose no limitation to your trading style or strategy. Traders can trade all instruments and assets made available by the MetaTrader trading platforms. Should your trading comply with all rules and regulations, we may choose to copy your trades on live corporate accounts. If you intend on incorporating 3rd party Expert Advisors (EAs) that are also in use by other traders, you stand the risk of not passing the challenge should the maximum capital allocation rule be exceeded.
Classic challenge (two phase)
Classic Challenge | |
Account Size | Refundable fee |
· $10,000 | · $99 |
· $20,000 | · $149 |
· $50,000 | · $299 |
· $100,000 | · $499 |
· $200,000 | · $899 |
· $400,000 | · $1,799 |
Speedy challenge (one phase)
Speedy Challenge | |
Account Size | Refundable fee |
· $10,000 | · $129 |
· $20,000 | · $199 |
· $50,000 | · $399 |
· $100,000 | · $659 |
· $200,000 | · $1,299 |
· $400,000 | · $2,199 |
Your challenge account is typically created within a few hours after we receive your payment. When we create your trading account, you will receive an email notification which will include a link to download the trading platform as well as relevant login details. You can also find your login credentials for the trading platform directly in your Client Area. You should monitor your mailbox, including spam/junk folders. Make sure you protect your login credentials and don’t grant permission to anyone else to access them.
Apart from the one-time fee required to enter the challenges, there are no membership fees or any other recurring expenses.
We offer the choice for traders to include certain add-ons, each for a 10% premium on the registration fee. These include the options of trading without a mandatory stop-loss, holding positions over the weekend, and beginning with an immediate 90% profit share if they progress to the funded account.
The registration fee is refundable to those traders that complete the Evaluation process. This can be withdrawn as part of the first profit split in the Funded Account Phase.
The leverage permitted to traders during the evaluation phase will also apply if they progress through to the funded account.
Below, we list the max leverage available for each asset class:
Leverage | ||
Classic Challenge | Speedy Challenge | |
Forex | 1:100 | 1:30 |
Commodities | 1:10 | 1:5 |
Indices | 1:10 | 1:5 |
Crypto | 1:3 | 1:2 |
If you cannot find an answer to your question in our FAQ, you can always contact us.
Risk Disclaimer: The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, recommendation or solicitation to engage in any investment activity. Trading in financial markets carry a high level of risk.
The information on this site is not directed at residents of any country and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local laws or regulations.
This website is operated by Ultimate Traders Evaluation Ltd a UK based company with registration number 14665391 and address 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom WC2H 9JQ.
Please note that all accounts we provide to our clients are demo accounts with fictitious funds and any trading is in a simulated environment only.
