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Best Free Challenge Prop firms in South Africa 2024
Luis Clark
Best For Professional South African Traders
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In this article, we cover the top free-challenge proprietary trading firms in South Africa.
To create the list of the top free forex prop firms, we got first-hand experience with each free prop firm, analyzed user reviews, and studied expert opinions on all the reviewed Forex prop firms.
Best Free Challenge Prop Firms in South Africa: Our Opinion
Through our direct experiences with these free prop trading firms, we picked E8 as the best prop trading firm, primarily for its fast payouts when compared to other top options.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in the Czech Republic, FTMO is an award-winning prop trading firm that offers forex traders up to $200,000 in trading capital with profit splits as high as 90%.
FTMO offers a free challenge trial to new prop traders who wish to test their Forex trading skills to see if they have what it takes to join the funded trading program on the platform.
The FTMO free trial is a shortened version of the FTMO Challenge. But it does not automatically make you eligible for the FTMO-funded account.
Even if you have good trading results in the free trial, you need to go through the evaluation process to become a FTMO trader.
The FTMO free challenge gives you access to all FTMO features and its unique applications.
You can test FTMO’s trading applications and also receive a shortened analysis of your performance in the free trial.
Key Features of FTMO
FTMO Trading Apps
FTMO Forex prop firm offers different trading apps that can enhance your trading experience on the platform. Available trading apps include:
- Account MetriX: This app allows you to monitor your progress to becoming an FTMO trader. This application serves every trader undertaking the free challenge and gives you access to the trading objectives.
- Account Analysis: This application formulates several indicators that can show you how to better optimize your trading strategies.
- Statistical App: The Statistical App displays useful number-based probabilities of the financial markets’ behavior that may be advantageous to your trading strategies hence increasing profitability.
- Mentor App: Just as the name implies, this app helps you achieve better results by strengthening your discipline.
- Equity Simulator: This helps you deal with the randomness of the equity curve and the associated drawdowns.
- Trading Journal: This app automatically keeps a record of the trading results of all your trades.
FTMO Security
FTMO is a registered forex prop firm that has won several awards in the industry.
Our first-hand investigation into this Prop Firm demonstrated that it is committed to the safety of users’ data and has several safety measures in place to that effect.
It has technical and organizational measures like data encryption in place to protect users’ information from unauthorized access, modification, and disclosure.
Pros
- Loose trading restrictions
- High leverage
- High-profit splits
Cons
- Tedious evaluation process
SurgeTrader - Best Free Trial Prop Trading Firm for No Time Limits in South Africa
SurgeTrader offers one of the highest evaluation fees when compared to other prop trading firms. However, just like other prop firms on this list, it offers a free trial that gives access to its challenges though with limited features.
The free trials start with a default balance of $100,000 and to accommodate paying customers, limited support is available to free trial accounts.
Prop traders can only access 1 free trial trading account.
Key Features of SurgeTrader
No Time Limits
Unlike a lot of free prop firms in South Africa, SurgeTrader does not require experienced traders to hit set profit targets in a particular time frame.
Rather, the audition or challenge process time frame is unlimited.
This means you can keep trading until you satisfy all trading objectives and hit the target of 10%.
Security of SurgeTrader
The SurgeTrader forex prop firm is partnered with EightCap, a forex broker regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). This partnership fosters a sense of trust and comfort for traders looking for a secure firm.
Also, just like other prop firms, SurgeTrader does not hold traders’ funds at any point.
Pros
- Up to 90% profit split
- Free trial available
- One step audition
- It supports news trading
Cons
- Expensive evaluation fee structure after the free trial expires
- Limited support for free trial traders
E8: Best Moderate Quick Payout Free Challenge Prop Firm
Founded in 2021, E8 is one of the newest Forex prop firms that caters to users from around the world including South Africa. E8 offers 4 funded account options, allows the use of Expert advisors, and offers a profit split of 80%.
E8 offers a free trial which allows traders to test the prop trading platform and its users without making any financial commitments.
As with most prop firms on this list, the E8 free challenge account gives you access to all the features of the platform and allows you to test your trading skills on both the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms without restrictions.
E8 offers a maximum leverage of 1:100 and a generous maximum drawdown of 14%.
Key Features of E8
E8 Track Account
The E8 Track account is the platform’s 3-phase evaluation process that offers low entry to traders who have proven themselves capable of managing capital. The track account has an extra phase of evaluation.
The E8 Track account is similar to the standard E8 which offers 2 phase evaluation process. And the major difference between these 2 accounts is their daily drawdown.
The daily drawdown on the E8 Track account is initially calculated by 5% of your starting balance on each new day.
E8 charges a one-time fee for the Track account based on the account type you chose. Aside from this one-time fee, there are no additional fees attached.
E8 does not support trading with signal services. It also does not support copy trading. Both copy trading and the use of trading signals are considered violations of the funding process.
You are entitled to keep 80% of the profit you generate at the end of each trading period as long as you adhere to the account rules and objectives.
You are eligible for a payout after 14 trading days.
E8 Track Account is available on the iOS and Android MetaTrader app as well as the MT5 web tracker and MT5 desktop applications.
Security of E8
E8 is a registered prop firm that offers traders a secure trading environment.
The prop firm has measures in place to ensure the security of user’s personal information. Users’ data are not stored for longer than necessary except if the data is required for the strengthening of security or the improvement of the functionality of the service.
Pros
- Generous maximum drawdown
- High leverage
- Suitable for advanced traders
Cons
- Limited support channels
- It does not support the use of Expert Advisors
Smart Prop Trader - Best Free Prop Trading Firm for All Trading Style Support in South Africa
Smart Prop Trader like SurgeTrader offers unlimited virtual maximum trading days as well as 0 minimum trading days but that’s not why it’s on this list.
The prop firm supports all trading styles and does not place limitations on any technique.
It also offers the evaluation process completely free under the same trading conditions via its free trading account.
Key Features of Smart Prop Trader
Scaling Plan
For traders who succeed in making consistent profits, Smart Prop Trader will increase the balance of their trading account by 25% every 3 months following its scaling plan.
It will also increase such traders’ Max draw by 2% every 2 months.
Smart Prop Trader Security
Smart Prop Trader is partnered with EightCap which is a CFD provider registered with and regulated by ASIC.
In addition, Smart Prop Trader is not a forex broker and does not accept or store financial deposits.
For traders, the prop trading firm has several risk management tools and account safety features like two-factor authentication and password protection.
Pros
- Offers a scaling plan for funding increase
- Unlimited trading days
- Supports all trading styles
Cons
- The free version is a shortened version of the paid challenge
Fidelcrest: Best Free Challenge Prop Firm For Professional South African Traders
Fidelcrest is best for professional traders looking for trading capital.
It gives traders access to large capital (up to $200,000 after evaluation and verification).
When compared with other proprietary trading firms, it has tighter trading rules and prohibits automated trading.
That said, Fidelcrest offers a demo challenge account where traders can trade using predefined rules.
The free challenge account gives you access to all supported transactions on the platform.
Our practical experience with this prop firm has shown us that the type of demo account offered varies based on the trading conditions of the platform you selected for trading.
You just need to adhere to all Fidelcrest rules when using the free account.
This includes the prohibition of the use of artificial intelligence, the opening of substantially larger position sizes or larger/ smaller numbers of positions compared to your other trades, and any prohibited trading strategy.
Key Features of Fidelcrest
Pro Trader Program
The Fidelcrest Pro Trader program allows you to manage up to $1,000,000 in proprietary trading company capital.
This program is suitable for experienced traders with excellent risk management skills.
Fidelcrest offers 2 Pro Trader account types based on the trading risk: Pro Trader Normal and Pro Trader Aggressive.
The start capital and minimum daily profit targets and loss for each account type vary.
Fidelcrest Security
Fidelcrest is a secure proprietary trading firm. It has won several awards including the Best Proprietary Trading Firm UK 2022, Best Micro Forex In Europe 2021, and People’s Choice Award 2021.
Fidelcrest stores users’ data in an encrypted database for only as long as the data is needed.
Once the data is no longer needed, it is securely destroyed or deleted.
Fidelcrest is compliant with anti-money laundering regulations and has a robust KYC verification process in place to ensure that the platform is not used for money laundering purposes.
Pros
- Suitable for experienced traders
- High trading capital
- It offers a demo account
Cons
- Strict trading rules
| Profit Split | Max. Funded Capital | Evaluation | Trading Platforms | No. of Challenges | Tradable Instruments | EA Allowed | Maximum Leverage | Profit Target | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelcrest | Between 80% to 90% Max. Funded Capital: Up to €2,000,000 | Up to $1,000,000 | Free trial | Fidelcrest trading platform | 2 (Phase 1 and Phase 2) | Forex, crypto, indices, and commodities | No | 1:100 | 10% |
| FTMO | Up to 90% | $400,000 | Free trial | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader | 2 FTMO challenges | Forex, indices, stocks, commodities, crypto, metals CFD, futures, cash CFD, Equities CFD, and custom instruments | Yes | 1:100 | $1,000 for Step 1 and $500 for Step 2 |
| SurgeTrader | 90% | Up to $1,000,000 | Free Trial | MetaTrader 4 and 5 | 1 per audition | Forex, select equities, indices, stocks, oil, metals and crypto | Yes but with limited use | 20:1 | 10% |
| Smart Prop Trader | up to 90% | Up to $200,000 | Free Trial | MetaTrader 4 and 5 | 2 phases | Forex, indices, stocks, commodities, and crypto | Yes | 1:100 | Up to $14,000 |
| E8 | up to 80% | Up to $300,000 scalable to $1,000,000 | Free Trial | MetaTrader 4 and 5 | 3 phases | Forex, indices, stocks, commodities, equities, and crypto | Yes | 1:50 | Up to $14,000 |
What is a Prop Firm?
A prop firm (short for proprietary trading firm), is a financial institution that provides trading capital and resources to individual traders to trade and split the profit.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Trading with a Prop Firm
The major advantage of a prop firm is that it gives traders access to larger capital, which means the opportunity to make higher profits. On the other hand, the disadvantage of Forex prop trading firms is the restrictions some platforms place on trading styles and performance-based compensation.
How to Choose the Right Prop Firm?
To choose the right Forex prop firms consider the following:
- Evaluation fees or free trial availability
- Maximum funding capital
- Trading rules required
- Profit split
- Required profit targets
- Supported trading instruments
- Number of trading challenge phases
Beyond the checklist above, you need to look at what other traders are saying about the prop trading firm. You can find other traders’ opinions about Forex prop firms on user review platforms like Trustpilot.
Look out for individual user reviews and not just the overall rating on TrustPilot of the platform. This will help you understand the individual experiences of the prop trading firm.
Final Thoughts
From our direct trials and assessments, we can confirm that the above-listed Forex prop firms are the best free prop firms for forex traders in South Africa.
To choose the best free prop firm use the parameters listed in the how to choose prop firms section based on your individual needs.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Popular prop firms in South Africa that offer free trials include E8, FTMO, SurgeTrader, and Fidelcrest.
Yes, however, most of them offer free trials, not forever free accounts.
No, it isn’t illegal to trade forex or use forex prop firms in South Africa as long as it isn’t used for money laundering.
E8 offers one of the fastest withdrawals for prop firms in South Africa.
There is no information on the City Traders Imperium website about a free trial.
We always try to provide the most accurate information available, and make sure our team follow through.
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