FTMO vs The5ers (2026): which forex prop firm fits you

FTMO is the forex prop firm everyone has heard of. The5ers is the one traders end up at after they have been burned somewhere else. Both were founded in the mid-2010s, both have paid through every industry shake-out since, and they have taken almost opposite approaches to the same business: FTMO sells one polished, expensive, rigid product; The5ers sells three programs at very different price points with slower scaling.

Read this first. The5ers pays us a commission if you sign up through our link: 5% to 15% of what you pay, depending on referred volume. FTMO does not. We are not in FTMO's affiliate program and every FTMO link here is a plain link. We score FTMO 86/100 and The5ers 81/100. Those scores were computed before we had an affiliate relationship with either firm, and the methodology has no input for "pays us". If we thought The5ers was the wrong pick for you, this page would say so, and for one common type of trader below, it does.

The quick verdict

What each firm actually sells

FTMO (founded 2015, Prague)

One evaluation product in two flavours. The classic 2-Step FTMO Challenge costs €155 for a $10,000 account up to €1,080 for $200,000, with €250, €345 and €540 for the $25k, $50k and $100k tiers in between; an entry-level plan on the $10k account is listed at €89. You pass a 10% target and then a 5% target, inside a 5% daily loss and 10% overall loss limit, with no time limit. Once funded you keep 80% and move to 90% through the Scaling Plan, and the challenge fee is refunded with your first payout. The newer 1-Step Challenge pays 90% from day one on a single-phase evaluation. Payouts are on demand after 14 days from your first funded trade and typically process in one to two business days.

FTMO's disclosure is the strongest in forex. Its CEO put cumulative payouts at more than $450 million in September 2025. The company reported nearly $213 million in 2023 turnover with close to $100 million in EBITDA, employs over 300 people, and registered 2.3 million accounts in 2024. Its site now claims $650 million+ paid. None of that is independently verified, but it is far more than the rest of forex offers.

The5ers (founded 2016)

Three programs that behave like three different firms:

• Bootcamp (3-step). The cheap entry; third-party listings put the smallest account under $50. Three phases at a 6% target each, 5% maximum loss per step, no daily rule during evaluation. Funded, the split starts at 50% and climbs to 75% and then 100% as you hit growth targets, with the account doubling at each one. Slow by design.
• High Stakes (2-step). The FTMO look-alike. 10% and then 5% targets, 10% maximum loss, and a 5% daily loss that terminates the account. 80% split from the first funded stage, 1:100 leverage, three minimum profitable days per step.
• Hyper Growth (1-step). A 10% target against a 6% stop-out, with a 3% daily "pause" that suspends the day rather than ending the account. The split starts low and doubles with each 10% growth target. Total funded balance is capped at $40,000 across accounts. The promotional 1-step plan on the5ers.com at our review was $249, with a 75/25 share, a $250 minimum withdrawal and a $2,000 first-payout cap.

All three pay bi-weekly with a $150 minimum. The5ers has never published a cumulative payout total, but because it pays through Rise, its payouts are visible on-chain: an independent tracker shows $93.45 million across 43,650 verified payouts as of 20 September 2026, with $3.49 million in the previous 30 days. That is a floor, not a total, since bank and card payouts are not counted.

Side-by-side

The rule that decides it for most people

Daily loss. FTMO's 5% daily limit on the 2-Step, and The5ers' 5% on High Stakes, both terminate the account. The5ers' Hyper Growth and Bootcamp use a 3% daily pause instead: hit it and you are locked out until the next session, but the account survives. Look at your own history. If the thing that killed your last evaluation was one bad day rather than a slow bleed, that single difference is worth more than any split percentage.

The price of that forgiveness is scaling speed and the split. FTMO gives you 80% to 90% from the first payout on a balance you chose at checkout. The5ers' growth programs start you at a lower split on a smaller balance and make you earn the rest, 10% at a time.

Where each one quietly costs you

FTMO: the fee is the risk

€540 for a $100k challenge is refunded with your first payout, which is a great deal for the traders who get there and a €540 loss for the ones who do not. FTMO does not publish a pass rate. It registered 2.3 million accounts in 2024 against a payout total that, spread across even a fraction of those, tells you most challenges are not passed. Buy the account size whose fee you can afford to lose, not the one whose funded balance sounds best.

The5ers: the scaling ladder is the product

The Bootcamp and Hyper Growth splits start at 50%. Nobody on the marketing pages leads with that. Getting to a meaningful account is a sequence of growth targets, each one doubling the balance, and a trader used to withdrawing profit monthly will find the early rungs frustrating. High Stakes avoids this with 80% from the start but gives up the forgiving daily rule. There is no version of The5ers that has both.

Our affiliate position, spelled out

The5ers' link on this page and on its firm page carries our referral code. If you buy through it, The5ers pays us between 5% and 15% of the fee depending on how much referred volume we send. That is the published rate; the "up to 40% lifetime" figure in affiliate round-ups is not what the program pays. The link is marked sponsored, and the disclosure at the top of this page is there because of it.

FTMO runs an 8% to 20% tiered program. We are not in it. If that changes, this page will say so on the day it does, and the FTMO links will become sponsored links with the same disclosure. Until then the honest reading of this comparison is that we earn if you pick The5ers and nothing if you pick FTMO, and we have still told you to pick FTMO if you have a proven strategy and a fee you can spare.

Who should pick which

You are an FTMO trader if: you have a strategy with at least six months of consistent results, you trade within a 5% daily limit without thinking about it, and you want the biggest funded balance and the fastest payout rail. FTMO's product is built for the trader who is already good.

You are a The5ers trader if: you want to pay under $50 to find out whether you can follow rules at all, you blow up on single bad days more than on slow drawdowns, or you are in a jurisdiction FTMO has restricted. Start on Bootcamp or Hyper Growth for the daily pause, not High Stakes, unless you specifically want the 80% split and are confident on the daily rule.

You are neither if: you have no demo track record. Both firms make most of their money from evaluations that fail. Do not be the funding.

Sources and what we checked

• FTMO pricing per tier: BrokerAnalysis, last updated 29 August 2026, matching the €155 to €1,080 range FTMO itself lists. Profit split, refund and 14-day on-demand payout rules from FTMO's published terms as summarised across TradersUnion and The Payout Report, 2026.
• FTMO cumulative payouts and financials: Finance Magnates, 29 September 2025 ("over $450 million", Otakar Šuffner). The $650M+ figure is from FTMO's own site as quoted by PropFirmsFinder, August 2026.
• The5ers program rules: the5ers.com "Challenge Programs" page and homepage, retrieved 21 September 2026.
• The5ers on-chain payouts: Payout Junction, The5ers page, retrieved 21 September 2026. Rise rail only; bank and card payouts not counted.
• Affiliate rates: The5ers affiliate terms (5% to 15% by volume); FTMO affiliate program (8% to 20% tiered). We are enrolled in the first and not the second.