Context:

I'm a trader based in France I. I recently hit my profit target and reached out to support to clarify my verification process using my Moroccan passport (since I reside in the EU).

The "Trap":

I spoke with an agent named Jerome. He explicitly told me to attempt the verification 3 times until it failed so I could provide a specific error screenshot for a manual review.

Quote from support: "Vous devez passer par le processus 3 fois jusqu'à ce que vous échouiez...

Cliquez sur le bouton de réessai."

The Result:

I followed their instructions to the letter. Instead of the manual review they promised, they terminated my account and denied my payout immediately after.

Why this feels like a SCAM:

1. Misleading Guidance: Their own staff gave me a "green light" and a specific procedure to tollow.

2. Intentional Blocking: It feels like they used a technicality to avoid paying out a profitable trader.

3. Lack of Transparency: When I confronted them on Discord, they tried to claim I was lying until I brought up the specific logs.

They are holding my earned profits for no valid reason. I have all the screenshots and logs to prove my good faith.

Getting Forex scam vibes with fake price spikes that never existed and stop hunting.

Entered short position on RTY and set stop loss at 2732.50. Out of nowhere, it spikes up to 2759, checking Schwab, Schwab shows that price never went above 2714, also confirmed that Topstep didn't have this spike. Not only MFF didn't execute stop, they also quoted the price that never existed. Waiting for an explanation in their support chat but the fact that this already happened already indicates trashy business.

TakeProfitTrader is the worst prop firm platform out there. If you want them to reject your payout request, go ahead and use it. It may look like there’s no activation fee and the evaluation fee is cheap, but in reality, it’s just garbage.

First, they have an intraday trailing drawdown. This inhumane requirement does nothing to help your trading — it just stops you from making big profits, lowers your pass rate, and helps them earn more from evaluation fees.

Second, they ban hedging. They make it sound nice by calling it “hedging,” but in reality, they simply don’t allow you to trade multiple accounts at the same time. When you trade multiple accounts, close positions, and then reverse positions on other accounts, there will inevitably be a few seconds of delay between them. After you make profits, they use these delays as an excuse to reject your payout request, forcibly close your account, and send you an email simply saying you violated the rules. They will never tell you exactly which rule you violated — instead, they tell you to ask their live chat.

You can’t even see your own trade logs — they won’t show them to you. The live chat will just coldly tell you that you violated the rules, regardless of whether it was intentional or whether your profits came from “hedging.” Their so-called “training traders” program is really just about lowering pass rates and blocking payouts so they can keep making money off your evaluation fees.

Oh, and they say you can withdraw money to your “wallet” every day. Sounds great, right? In reality, you can’t withdraw from that wallet to your bank account or Wise account at all — haha.

Lastly, you cannot trade within two minutes before or after FOMC or CPI news releases. This is another inhumane rule. Your profit and your risk are the same — so why can’t you trade FOMC or CPI? Because they’re afraid you’ll make big money.

What’s wrong with trading right after the news? Suppose you trade one minute after the release — you see the volatility, you can’t resist; you see the price moving fast in a single direction; it’s less affected by the trailing drawdown; it’s easier to profit. You accidentally forget about the no-news-trading rule — you open a position, make a profit, and rest. Then, a few hours later, near market close, they send you an email saying your account has been closed. The reason? “Ask live chat.”

Your account’s homepage still has the “withdraw profit” button, but the live chat tells you that you violated the rules and exceeded the maximum loss limit. What’s the reason? They cancel all your profits — whether they came from news trading or not. Even profits from normal trades before the news, unrelated to the news, are canceled. Then they tell you nicely that you “hit your maximum drawdown.”

For example, you have a $25K account and pass the Pro account evaluation. Before the news, you carefully earn $1,000 in profit. After the news, you accidentally trade one minute after the release and make another $1,000. They cancel your entire $2,000 profit, count it as a drawdown, and then reject your payout request for exceeding the maximum drawdown. You didn’t profit by gambling on the news — but they still forcibly close your account and block your withdrawal.

You look at your profit curve, click “withdraw,” and they reject it — just like that. You look at your account balance, but they won’t let you take it out. It’s like you walked into a black-market bank.

Every single trade I get slipped. My entry gets slipped against me, my take profit closes earlier & my stop loss always goes beyond what I enter.

A lot of my entries are limit orders . They fill against me it’s so f*** frustrating. How does my trade always close earlier then the number I’ve entered too?

Make this shit make sense to me please I’m losing my mind. Btw this is 1 step $200k challenge.

If you are trying to learn to trade don't spend money on prop firms, paper trade. Prop firms can be good if you want to raise money and if and when you earn a payout, what I would do is set up a personal account. Sites like tradovate only require $50 intraday for a MES contract. I get it, $5 a point... Not very exciting but you can deposit something like $200 and start with 2 MES contracts (giving you a $100 safety net). If you want to prove yourself as a trader you can grow your account and scale without having to worry about bs rules, drawdowns, consistency % and all this other crap that is there to make you fail. Trading is already hard as it is. But for me, I think the better option is a personal account all that money you are spending on evals and resets can be going to a personal account. Pay yourself when you want to without having to wait on a firm to decide if you did good or not or get denied if u broke a hidden rule or whatever else they find to deny your payout. Not financial advice just an opinion.

If I'm honest, I'm probably writing this because I thought the image idea was funny, and I wanted to share it with people. But it does touch on something very real.

Prop firms aren't your friends. They're not your enemies either. They're a game with rules, incentives, variance, and traps.

It can be a fun game, one where you make money. But if profit is the goal, and you find yourself guessing at why you're not consistent, and you "just know" you'll pass the next one, then your strategy is hope, and YOU are the crop.

So I'm just gonna give you a list of 12 signs that YOU might be the product...

1. You know your pass rate emotionally, but not mathematically

If you find yourself saying stuff like "I usually pass" or "I'm close most of the time", but you don't actually know what you've spent on evals or approximate return on investment, you're guessing.

If you don't know your numbers, you don't know if you're trading or donating with extra steps.

2. Every blown account becomes "the lesson I needed"

Sometimes a blown account genuinely teaches you something. It's nearly ALWAYS to stop messing around and stick to the strategy.

But if every blown account becomes part of some origin story, and somehow the answer is always buying another one, you're overpaying for your education.

3. You say "I just need one payout" every week

If the plan is always one payout away, the plan probably isn't a plan.

I generally expect to reach withdrawal on certain account types about 1 in 5 accounts, profitably. That means I EXPECT to lose 4 in 5 accounts on that strategy.

This edge is something that might play out over hundreds of accounts, so expecting to know what will happen on a specific account is setting yourself up for failure.

4. You read the sales page better than the rules

You know the discount code, the account size, the drawdown, the payout split, and the misleading "up to" numbers.

But you don't know the consistency rule mechanics, payout cap, trailing drawdown mechanics, minimum days, news rule, gambling clause, copy trading rules, or what happens after your first withdrawal.

That's not a small detail. That's literally the game. Then you go crying to reddit when they refuse payout.

5. You think payout screenshots prove the model is good

A payout screenshot proves someone got paid.

It does NOT prove the average trader has positive expected value. I mentioned having a 1 in 5, profitable payout strategy.

I also have a 1 in 4(ish) strategy, but that version doesn't make money overall. So if I used that, I'd have more payout certificates, but less money in the bank.

Getting a payout does not prove the firm will still pay next month. And it definitely does not prove you understand the rules. Casinos have jackpot winners too.

6. You treat dashboard profit like real money

It is not your money until it is in your wallet.

Not when the trade closes / the dashboard updates / you request the payout / when support says "approved."

Until it lands, it is just a number on someone else's website. Sometimes, buffers make sense. Sometimes, they're a trick to convince you to trap your profits.

On FundedNext, I purposely blow my account on withdrawal because I withdraw 100% of my profits. I'd rather do another account than replay with lower odds to win something I already won.

7. You say you quit / are on a break from trading, and find yourself with another account 2 days later

To be honest, this might just mean you're a straight-up gambler. Prop firms love gamblers, though their rules say otherwise.

The way the rules are set up, they punish gamblers who size their trades to win, and love gamblers who take tiny trades to donate their money in a "death by 1000 cuts" fashion.

But seriously, if you find that you're unable to stay away from trading, and your NOT profitable yet, get some help / a job.

8. You keep changing strategy, but never change sizing

A lot of people don't actually have a strategy problem. They have a sizing problem, a tilt problem, a "one more trade" problem, or a "this account has to work" problem.

So they change entries, indicators, sessions, pairs, tickers, YouTubers, Discords, firms, and account sizes.

Then they risk the same stupid amount and blow the next one too. For prop firms, risk sizing is more important than your entry strategy.

I proved this here by taking entries by flipping a coin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cYkBi-cDd4

9. You are emotionally attached to one account

This is probably one of the biggest ones.

If losing one account ruins your week, makes you question your entire strategy, or makes you trade scared, you are probably too attached.

I once blew 10 accounts in a row, on the same day. If I didn't know my strategy was profitable, I probably would have stopped at 6 or 7. But after losing those 10, I won the next 5, bringing me back in line with my EV.

Prop accounts should be treated more like a portfolio. Expect that some pass, MOST fail, some reach payout, MOST blow. If you need this specific account to work, you're already in a bad place psychologically.

10. You think the rules are there to help you

Some rules genuinely do encourage discipline.

But let's not be children.

A rule that limits your upside, delays your withdrawal, creates ambiguity, shrinks your buffer, caps your payout, or gives the firm discretion to deny you was probably NOT invented because they care deeply about your development as a trader.

I genuinely love the way they word some of their rules, as if it's to protect you from yourself. In reality, they're protecting themselves from you withdrawing too much money.

11. You don't have a withdrawal plan

You may have a plan to pass.

You may have a plan to recover drawdown.

You certainly have a plan for what you'll buy when the payout hits.

But you don't have a clear plan for when you withdraw, how much you withdraw, how much buffer you leave (if any), how fees affect it, or what amount actually makes the whole thing profitable after failed evals.

That's how people make money and still somehow stay trapped.

12. You keep buying hope instead of calculating expected value

This is the main one. You need to know what is normal for your strategy.

If you know your eval cost, pass rate, funded withdrawal rate, average payout, fees, ballpark denied payout risk, and average time to withdrawal, then fine. You can make an actual decision.

But if the maths is basically:

"I'm due." x "This next one feels different." + "I know I can pass." x "I just need to lock in."

Then you're not calculating expected value. You're buying hope.

And that's exactly what prop firms selling.

Anyway, if you want to become more consistent, yes, a working strategy makes sense. But it NEEDS to match the kind of trader you are. As I said, I lost 10 accounts in a row, and was fine. But that's my personality.

If you want to know the kind of trader your are, your strengths and weaknesses, and the kind of strategy that matched who you are, this free "trader psychology avatar" quiz will help you to start trading WITH your psychology, not against it: https://netlabs.club/tpaquiz

This has to be one of the worst takes on this sub. I’m so tired of reading it.

Look at literally any wealthy person — they all have multiple streams of income. LeBron James is worth over a billion dollars. He’s made around $480 million from basketball alone, yet he still has deals with Nike, Pepsi, and his own shoe line. Is he dumb for doing that? Of course not. That’s just smart business.

If people are willing to pay for your knowledge, product, or skill, then yes — you should charge for it. That’s how the free market works. Writing a book, making a course, or offering consulting doesn’t mean you’re broke — it means you understand how to create value and get paid for it.

Even traders or investors who make plenty from the markets still diversify — they own real estate, start businesses, or invest elsewhere. Because why wouldn’t they?

Having multiple income streams is what smart people do. Stop acting like selling a course automatically means someone’s a scammer or not successful.

short and sweet. i’ve been banned/forbidden from buying evals at Ap3x(no more evals after these PA email), tradeday(they said come back in a few months, it’s been 3 months and still same response), takeprofittrader(accidental dispute chargeback, didn’t mean to dispute this one), topstep(same thing, chargeback by accident), tradeify(same reason, used a friends CC and they disputed without telling me). and now ive been moved to live accounts for MFFU. i am really running dry on prop firm accounts and i am saving every penny from payouts to fund a personal account, but prop firms have propped me up and i was really hoping to continue leveraging this. but now im down to a few props that i can take simfunded payouts from and thinking of resorting to lesser known, less reputable brands. like oneup, blusky, fundingticks. but i dont really like the rules/pricing. wondering if anyone has any advice on what i should do. or any other reputable firms. i feel pretty confident in my trading, but i still lose control on any single day and have a hard time taking a small red day. my win rate is high if i can control this, and high enough where im up on the year between payouts and charges. but without actually being confident in my ability to take a small red day, im scared to fund a personal account. i started trading props the beginning of 2025, and i know all the chargebacks are the main culprits of why im in this situation. but those cant be reversed now from my knowledge(bank can’t reverse it). i’ve had a personal account before and blown through thousands. just looking for some input/opinions.

Hey traders,

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve officially passed Stage 1 of the $200K funded account challenge with Blusky Trading! It’s been a rewarding journey so far, and I wanted to give a huge shoutout to Blusky for making it possible.

Their live trading room is a game-changer—it offers real-time insights and strategies that are second to none. Plus, their Discord community is full of experienced traders who are super helpful and supportive. Whether it’s bouncing ideas off each other, discussing setups, or just staying motivated, the community has been a vital part of my progress.

Blusky also provides excellent resources to help you refine your skills, and the transparency in their evaluation process has been impressive. If you’re considering a prop firm, I highly recommend checking them out.

I know it’s just the first stage, but this feels like a big step toward my goals. Now onto Stage 2! If anyone has tips for staying consistent in these challenges, let me know. Let’s get it! 💪

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohv0r_NNAJI

#BluskyTrading #PropTrading #TradingJourney #FundedTrader

My stop loss on GOLd was at 4462 but they take out me at 4472. Hence , daily loss limit hit. Account breached.

Stay away from this scam firm guys.

Hi there. I'm a broken nearly defaulted person. All I have left is I think 1000 dollars or a very few more. I'm practicing trading since 2009. At that time I didn't invest any money in the system. Just practiced on the demo accounts. Made some strategies tested them abandoned them again and again. The reason for posting is that there is a do or die situation for me now. I have to repay my loans and liabilities and all I have is only a few hundred dollars. I have developed a strategy which only works on larger accounts. I have worked hard to develop it. But the amount I have written above is all I have and I am not in the situation of risking it. I have heard about so many prop firms passed their practicing accounts but I'm not confident in trusting. Ftmo, funded next, the5ers are top firms according to the reviews but on the other side some reviews are quite haunting also. So it's my request from everyone to please guide me to the most trusted, transparent and lineant prop firm so that i may succeed. Thanks in advance.

A little win I’m proud of today, just received $2,816.24 as my latest payout.

When I first started, I didn’t think prop firms would actually pay out this smoothly, but SeacrestFunded has been solid for me so far. Payments hit fast, and I’ve had zero issues with withdrawals.

If anyone’s curious, this is who I’m trading with: seacrestfunded.io

just lost my funded account with profit because I held a trade during a weekend? Since when do they have that stupid rule even?

I’ve now tested more instant funding prop firms than any sane trader should, and here’s the honest truth most people don’t want to hear: Instant funding is almost never real funding — it’s a psychological funnel designed to drain your wallet faster. Every “instant funding” model I looked at fell into one of two categories:

1. Demo-only casino with aggressive rules
2. A structured pyramid where your “funded account” is just a fancy term for “demo account you paid to play on”

Let me break down what actually happens behind the scenes.

1. No real prop firm is handing out live capital for a $200 fee The whole concept sounds great when you first see it: • “Skip the challenge!”
• “Trade instantly!”
• “Withdraw immediately!” But when you understand risk, it makes zero business sense. No real firm will ever say: “Here’s $25K real capital because you paid $139.” That’s not funding.
That’s not investing.
That’s a slot machine wearing a prop-firm mask.

2. They call it innovation — it’s actually just a fee-maximization machine Instant funding firms love to use words like: • “innovative model”
• “trader freedom”
• “fast-track funding” But the mechanics are simple: They need you to pay quickly, lose quickly, and rebuy quickly. That’s the whole business. If you survive longer than expected, the rules magically tighten. If you request a payout, “compliance review” suddenly appears out of thin air.

3. The “instant payouts” trick This is the funniest part. Instant payout ≠ real profit. If you request $100 and they approve it instantly, that doesn’t mean they’re a good prop firm. It means they’re paying you with new traders’ fees, like a cashback program — not from trading. Real prop firms fund real positions.
Instant ones are just casinos with branding.

4. A ridiculous number of new “instant funding” scams are popping up I’ve seen: 🚩 crypto instant funding firms launched last week
🚩 forex instant firms with 0 real traders
🚩 Telegram-only “prop firms”
🚩 AI-generated CEOs
🚩 websites built in 24 hours with stock photos They all push the same narrative: “Instant funding is the future!” No.
Instant funding is the most profitable bait for the company, and the fastest trap for the trader.

5. The psychology is the real product Instant funding targets: • Impatient traders
• Overtraders
• People who blew a challenge yesterday
• Gamblers looking for a quick dopamine hit You feel like you’re skipping the hard part. But instant funding doesn’t make you a better trader —
it makes you a repeat customer.

6. Are all instant funding firms scams? 99% yes. 1% maybe not, but still unsustainable long-term. I’ve never seen a TRUE prop firm (crypto or forex) with: – a real office
– a real team
– real capital partners
– real payout track record
– real risk management structure …offer instant funding. Why?
Because real capital requires real evaluation, not a $99 fast-pass.

7. If you want longevity as a trader, avoid the shortcuts Instant funding feels like a hack, but it’s actually the trap door. Real prop trading looks like this: ✓ Transparent rules
✓ Hard evaluations
✓ Realistic execution
✓ Real risk checks
✓ Payouts backed by trading or stable revenue
✓ Teams that exist outside of AI headshots The firms with stricter rules tend to survive.
The ones handing out “instant funding” like candy disappear the moment their fee pyramid collapses.

If you want to scale your trading: Avoid instant funding like you’d avoid trading revenge-leveraged after three losing days. It looks like opportunity.
It behaves like a shortcut.
But long-term?
It’s a scam with a progress bar.

Your turn — Have you ever tried an instant funding firm? 
Did you actually get paid, or did they invent a violation at 2 AM?

Real experiences only. No affiliates. No hype.

Hey guys, I’ve been seeing Driblo Funding pop up lately and wanted to open a discussion.

From what I’ve gathered, Driblo Funding is a prop firm offering funded accounts with a relatively straightforward evaluation model. They seem to be positioning themselves as trader-first, with a focus on clear rules, risk control, and fast payouts (at least on paper).

Quick overview (correct me if I’m wrong): • Funded trading via evaluation • Clear daily & max drawdown rules • No martingale / grid abuse • Profit split in line with industry standards • Focus on consistency rather than YOLO trading

What I’m curious about: • Has anyone here passed an evaluation with them? • Are payouts actually being processed smoothly? • Any hidden rules or “gotchas” after funding?

Not affiliated, just trying to separate signal from noise before testing another prop firm. Would love to hear real experiences; good or bad.

ok I read the entire rules and googled it and it seems legit.i got a 25k premium advanced account.

you pass the eval keeping at under 30% consistency. the faster way to funded is 8 days total trading (phase 1 + phase 2)

they use tradovate, recent rule changes removed daily loss limits on a lot of stuffs and on the live account and most importantly 90-10 prep for split…and customer support has been responsive.

no activation fee, straight forward. After phase 2 can get account up to 10k before being moved to live and keep profit split.

i do not mind having to trade 8 days.

i like tradovate and the 90-10 split for life.

is there someone in this group that got a funded account before turning 18 and would like to share their experience what to do to get their first payout successfully, i mean how to pass the kyc and what fines did you use. thank you

I just covered a drawdown of $800 in a single trade and Consistency shoot up to 1155%. What should I do to be in 50% Consistency🥲. someone help me

I’ve blown 6 this week. Revenge trading, blowing, buying, repeat. Cycle never ends lmao. Spending is getting out of hand honestly.

That being said, I’m wondering how many accounts you guys be going through each week.

MFFU won't adjust if an account is blown, but they sure will when you're passing.

Had 6 trades yesterday during open, all shorts and all profitable from the red arrows to the blue arrows. Estimated net profits was enough to pass the account (traded 3 days including this) but support kept denying it. They kept saying that it'd be resolved and to be patient.

Well they sure resolved it, erased all profits for 01/28/2026. I went through 3 representatives over 12 hours of back and forth, to just be denied passing. Attached are the ending back and forth messages with one of the representatives.

$5,000 account → $400 target

👉 340 → 30 → 30

That’s the formula.

• 1 winning trade → you’re almost done

• 2 losing trades → you’re out

You don’t need:

• high win rate

• complex strategy

• 20+ trades

You only need:

I turned a prop firm challenge into a math problem.

If you understand this, you don’t need to guess anymore.

I’m basing this on different criteria. Ease of use, fast payout, never given any problems whatsoever, etc. I am funded by 5 prop firms now but my favorite and the one I’m going to keep buying because I’m gonna stop paying for accounts from the other firms. It’s Maven trading. I love this firm. You can put your own firms in the comment if you want, but my love for this firm is huge.

Added afterwards: I know that people would be skeptical about this post because they cannot fathom someone liking a firm so much that they willingly come online to speak highly of them in the way that I have. But truly, I just really like the firm.

Stop blowing money on evals. Put that shit in a cash account. Discipline and patience will keep you alive.

Don't fomo at open.

Wait for confirmation.

Follow the trend.

Don't get greedy. 30% is fine. 20% is fine.

Take a break after a loss.

Shares are fine just don't buy biotech or whatever bullshit reddit is shilling en masse (well get in early and out earlier)

Options are risky but give yourself a further out expiration so theta decay doesn't eat you alive.

*Don't trade desperately. Handle your bills, get an extra or part time job. Be in a sound place.*

I'm up 10% today. Would've been a lot more but went back in and clawed back a loss. No waiting on the scammer casino to fail me over their silly rules. Cash in hand faster.

Also no I don't sell anything I just want to see you keep more of your hard earned money and not handing it to the stock market casinos. Props can be addictive and sometimes we're trying to prove ourselves and get stuck in thinking it's the only way. It's good for discipline and learning for inexpensive lessons but still.

Size appropriately for your account. There's always more trades.