Forex firms comparator
Pick two prop firms and see them side by side: rules, plans, platforms, leverage, commissions and payouts, next to each one's discount.
- Field by field, side by side
- Only the differences in one click
- Link to the written comparison
55 differences
Building A1, IFZA Business Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Core Markets LLC, a Delaware company. Address: 211 E 43rd St, 7th Flr #259, New York, NY 10017, United States. Offices in New York, Larnaca (Cyprus) and Dubai (UAE).
Jakub Zeliska
Youssef Moussa
United Arab Emirates
United States
2023
2025
200% Challenge fee refund after the 3rd fully approved payout on Challenge accounts (Ash, Thunderbolt and Phoenix). The trader must request it through support. A partially approved payout or a payout with a strategy violation permanently disqualifies that account. It does not apply to Instant Funding accounts.
The fee paid is reimbursed with the fourth payout. Purchases are final, except payment errors, undelivered services or mandatory legal rights.
- Bank Transfer (recommended): $19.90 + 2.49%.
- Cryptocurrency: $19.90 + 30% (higher due to limited UAE crypto liquidity).
- Returned payouts: $30 reprocessing fee (covers real bank/admin cost of reprocessing; not a penalty).
1293766PasswordUpcomers1.ServerUpcomers-Server- Withdrawal review by Risk Team: 24-48h (account trading is frozen during review).
- Bank transfers: 2-5 business days after approval.
- Crypto: faster, depends on blockchain network.
- Other programs: minimum 1% profit required per payout (resets after each payout).
- Turbo accounts: minimum 5 trading days per payout (each ≥0.5% profit).
- Vanguard (Instant Funding): minimum 5 trading days per payout (each ≥0.5% profit).
- Horizon and Odyssey: first payout 14 days after the funded account starts, then every 14 days. At least 3% profit of the initial balance is required before each payout, including between payouts, together with the required valid trading days.
On demand. After the first payout: 3 days with at least 0.5% realized net profit since the previous payout. No open positions or pending orders; identity verification required.
Payout cap progresses with each approved withdrawal on the same funded account:
- Payout #1: 1% of initial balance
- Payout #2: 2%
- Payout #3: 3%
- Payout #4: 4%
- Payout #5: 5%
- Payout #6: 6%
- Payout #7: account resets to initial balance with NO payout cap (unlimited from #8 onwards)
Cap only increases after a FULLY approved withdrawal. Partial or declined payouts do not progress the cap.
Up to 50% of profit per request. Capped at USD 2,500 for accounts up to USD 100,000; USD 5,000 for larger accounts. Remaining profit stays in the account.
Processed within 24 hours after account review and submission of all requested documents. If missed, 100% split for that payout. Bank and blockchain settlement times are excluded.
USD 25
All accounts are swap‑free
Resets are offered as an alternative to full suspension after a rule violation. The account continues trading, but every future payout on that account is permanently capped at 50% of the approved amount.
The Second Try add-on provides one reset if the account is breached. The rewards program Trader tier includes one free retry.
Paid add-ons: unrestricted funded news trading, 90% or 95% profit split, and Second Try.
Scaling Plan for Thunderbolt and Vanguard accounts:
- Apply every 4 consecutive months via help@upcomers.com.
- +35% increase on simulated initial balance per cycle.
- Maximum allocation scalable up to $4,000,000.
Requirements per cycle: - ≥15% cumulative account growth across the 4 months.
- ≥2 withdrawals completed in the 4-month period.
- Final cycle must end in profit.
Separate "4M on request" individual contract available after 6+ consecutive profitable months.
From USD 10,000 accounts: 12% profit within 3 months adds 25% of the starting balance. Elite is a separate performance-based benefits program.
Current CFD programs use two systems:
- Dynamic Risk Shield™: 6% on Ash and Thunderbolt, 10% on Phoenix Legacy, 8% on Vanguard, 5% on Oracle and 4% on Ember. It trails the equity high-water mark and locks at the initial balance where specified.
- Static maximum loss: 6% on Phoenix Classic. The floor is fixed from the initial balance.
Percentages and behavior are shown per phase in the challenge catalogue. - Horizon and Odyssey: Dynamic Risk Shield™ follows the highest equity, only moves upward and stops at the initial balance, in evaluation and funded phases.
Static against the initial balance; includes floating losses and costs. Pay After Pass funded accounts have a 6% limit.
Standard profit split: 90%. A trader can select 80% or 100% at checkout; changing the split also changes the Challenge price. The selected split remains linked to that account, and older accounts retain their original conditions.
Resets daily at 00:00 UTC and is calculated under the rules of each program. Current limits:
- Ash Classic/Turbo and Thunderbolt Classic/Turbo: 3%
- Phoenix Classic: 4%
- Phoenix Legacy: 5%
- Vanguard and Oracle: 4%
- Ember: no daily drawdown
- Horizon: 3% and Odyssey: 4%, in evaluation and funded.
Recalculated at 00:00 UTC from the higher of balance or equity, minus a fixed amount based on initial capital. Flex and Pay After Pass evaluation have no daily limit; funded Pay After Pass applies 3%.
Classic and Legacy challenges have no time limit. Ash Turbo and Thunderbolt Turbo have 30 calendar days and a maximum of 7 trading days.
No time limit to pass the evaluation.
No minimum trading days to pass the challenge in any Classic or Turbo program. Turbo challenges require only 1 trading day with real activity. For those programs, minimums apply only at the payout stage: see 'minimumProfitableDays'.
Horizon requires 2 valid trading days in its evaluation. Odyssey requires 2 valid trading days in each evaluation phase. A valid day earns at least 0.5% of the initial balance.
Payout eligibility requirements (a valid day has at least 0.5% realized profit):
- Vanguard, Oracle, Ember, Phoenix Legacy, Ash Turbo and Thunderbolt Turbo: 5 valid days
- Ash Classic, Thunderbolt Classic and Phoenix Classic: no valid-day minimum
The counter resets after each successful payout.
Horizon funded accounts require per payout 3 valid days up to $50,000, 4 above $50,000 and below $200,000, and 5 from $200,000. Odyssey funded accounts require 3 below $100,000 and 4 from $100,000. Each valid day earns at least 0.5% of the initial balance.
1-Step and 2-Step Standard: 3 per phase and in funded. Flex: 5 per phase and in funded. Instant: 5 before the first payout. Pay After Pass: 0 in evaluation and 5 in funded. Each day requires at least 0.5% realized net profit; days need not be consecutive.
7 XP tiers. Purchases and tasks earn XP; 1% to 20% cashback redeemable for discounts. Annual tier review. Higher tiers retain previous benefits.
Allowed, including third-party EAs, bots and trade or risk managers, as long as the trading rules are followed. HFT, tick scalping, latency arbitrage, emulators and running the same EA with the same settings as other traders are prohibited.
Not explicitly prohibited, but strongly discouraged. Use of VPN/VPS during KYC/AML verification is prohibited and can result in the account not being funded or being closed. If suspicious activity is detected, VPN usage will be used against the trader in the review.
Prohibited, also within the same account and across multiple accounts.
Allowed within the same account.
More than 50% of trades held for less than one minute is prohibited.
Multiple challenges and funded accounts combinable under a single user profile, as long as total funded capital does not exceed $1,500,000 across all Upcomers programs.
No aggressive scaling outside reasonable limits or 3 or more positions in one losing trading idea. Prior positions must be protected when adding.
Maximum loss per trade in the funded phase (all positions on the same instrument and direction count as one trade):
- Ash Classic, Thunderbolt Classic and Phoenix Classic: 3%
- Phoenix Legacy, Odyssey, Vanguard and Oracle: 2%
- Ash Turbo, Thunderbolt Turbo, Horizon and Ember: 1.5%
Exceeding the applicable limit is a hard breach.
Do not use more than 50% of available margin. The firm may impose a 1% maximum risk per trading idea after written notification.
Only between accounts owned by the same person (Upcomers, other prop firms or brokers). Copying to or from other people's accounts and signal services are prohibited.
Only between accounts held by the same person, including external accounts. EAs and external copiers are allowed; each account must comply individually.
Unrestricted in evaluation. In funded, no opening or closing from 5 minutes before until 5 minutes after high-impact news and FOMC events. The News Trading add-on removes this window. Without it, affected trade profits are removed.
35 consecutive calendar days without a trade closes the account automatically. Warning email sent 7 days before expiration.
Account closure after 30 days without trades, in both evaluation and funded.
Consistency is checked at payout and does not breach the account:
- 20% Best Day Rule: current Classic, Legacy and Turbo challenges, Vanguard, Oracle and Ember
The Best Day cycle resets after each successful payout. - Horizon and Odyssey: no consistency or Best Day Rule in evaluation or funded accounts.
Checked only at payout: Instant and Pay After Pass, 15%; 1-Step and 2-Step, 30%. Each day counts at its highest net profit reached during the day, even if it closes at a loss. Trading may continue until the ratio is met.
- Emulators, and running the same EA with the same settings as other traders to produce identical trades.
- Tick scalping (trades held under 2 minutes on Oracle) and high-frequency trading (HFT).
- Martingale, grid trading, one-sided bets, reverse trading and hedging (also within the same account).
- News straddling (bracket orders placed around economic releases).
- Signal services and copying trades from other people's accounts.
- Team/group trading or executing identical trades across accounts to bypass the $1.5M cap.
- Sharing passwords, account access or identity (KYC).
- Exploiting platform bugs, delays or pricing errors.
- Opening multiple user profiles (One Person, One Account policy).
- Splitting trades intentionally to bypass the 20% Best Day Rule.
Exploiting pricing or platform errors, latency arbitrage, insider trading, front-running, gambling without a strategy and all-or-nothing trading. The strategy must remain consistent between evaluation and funded.


















