Whether you’re new to prop trading or not willing/able to invest money in it yet, this article is for you. I’m going to outline 10 ways to get hold of a free prop firm challenge or even live funds, with zero investment.
There are a number of ways to achieve this, but in this guide, we’re going to look at a few key areas.
For starters, we will be giving a free prop firm challenge every month to our youtube subscribers. Hit the button below to subscribe now!
- Bonus Update: The Funded Trader Treasure Hunt
- Prop Firm Competitions
- Our Top Free Trading Competition – FunderPro
- 1. Smart Prop Trader Competition
- 2. MyFundedFX Competition
- 3. City Traders Imperium Competition
- 4. The Funded Trader Competition
- 5. Top Tier Trader Competition
- Get a Free Prop Firm Challenge with Giveaways
- 6. Prop Traders Club Social Media Giveaways
- Youtube
- Twitter / X
- Prop Traders Club Facebook Group
- Giveaway and Competition Facebook Page
- 7. Prop Traders Club Newsletter
- 6. Prop Traders Club Social Media Giveaways
- Other Ways to Get a Free Prop Firm Challenge
- 8. FundingU Free Prop Firm Challenge
- 9. Affiliate Marketing / Refer a Friend
- 10. Traders with Edge – Ambassador Program / Write to Trade program
- Conclusion
Bonus Update: The Funded Trader Treasure Hunt
This is a fantastic way to earn a free or heavily discounted prop firm challenge. With this method, you earn points/coins for completing various tasks. Tasks can include liking or sharing content such as YouTube videos or signing up for their competition.
There are tons of rewards and even a cool spin feature. Sign up today by clicking here.
Prop Firm Competitions
One popular way prop firms like to find the best traders and attract new talent is by running trading competitions. These typically operate in a similar style to the challenges they offer and will include rules such as:
- Drawdown limits – Check for daily and overall drawdown limits. Be sure you understand how they are calculated as well; some are relative, and some are absolute.
- Expert Advisors and Copy Trading – Make sure to check the rules around algo trading if that’s how you trade.
- Winning Criteria – Not all firms only care about raw profit. Many value consistency over the capital gained. Be sure to check how traders are ranked.
- Any Other Rules – There are countless other rules which may be included such as weekend holding, lot size restrictions, consistency rules, and many more. Make sure you understand the rules before starting the competition.
Now let’s look at which firms offer trading competitions.
Our Top Free Trading Competition – FunderPro
FunderPro are firm offering trades up to $200k of live trading funds upon passing a simple two-step evaluation. They are also one of the few places to use the TradeLocker platform, in which you can trade directly on Tradingview.
They have recently launched a new trading competition with prizes including a free $200k! This is the newest competition on the list, so it’s the easiest to get hold of a prize.
Current prizes include:
- $200k Challenge
- $100k Challenge
- $50k Challenge
- $25k Challenge
- $25k Challenge
At the time of writing, there are only 500 entrants in the competition, get your place now!
1. Smart Prop Trader Competition
Added by Markus Adrian
Thanks to Markus for suggesting this free competition! Make sure to check out his YouTube channel for some great content on prop firms and Forex trading.
Smart Prop Trading is the latest prop firm launched by prominent prop firm personality Blake Olsen. They also have the benefit of the highly qualified Ryan Lepper acting as COO.
On top of some very competitive prices, this firm offers a free monthly trading competition. The rules are quite relaxed with no maximum lot size and EAs allowed. The Prizes for the March 2023 competition are as follows:
- 1 – 2: $100k Challenge
- 3 – 4: $50k Challenge
- 5 – 6: $25k Challenge
- 7 – 10: $10k Challenge
2. MyFundedFX Competition
Another fairly new firm entering the market is MyFundedFX. They have proven extremely popular with their relaxed rules, fast support, and low costs.
MyFundedFX also runs a monthly competition with a total of 20 prizes to give away. Prizes range from discounts to 6-figure challenges and even cash! Check them out below:
- 1st- 200k Challenge and $500 USD
- 2nd- 100k Challenge
- 3rd- 100k Challenge
- 4th- 50k Challenge
- 5th – 50k Challenge
- 6th – 10th 10k Challenge
- 11th -20th 5k Challenge
Get started with the MyFundedFX competition by clicking here.
3. City Traders Imperium Competition
City Traders Imperium is a popular UK-based prop firm with years of experience in the industry. They regularly run competitions with prizes ranging from discounts to live-funded accounts.
They completed a world cup for traders on 18th November with the winner receiving a huge $400k live-funded account!
Keep an eye out on their website for future competitions. (Click here to visit City Traders Imperium)
4. The Funded Trader Competition
The Funded Trader is a hugely popular prop firm with an almost cult following. They have a slick website, a feature-rich dashboard, and a number of challenges.
Additionally, they have a free monthly competition where traders compete to be declared “King” (or “Queen”) of the kingdom.
There is a multitude of prizes available ranging from $10k challenges up to $300k challenges. Competition is fierce, but there’s no harm in putting your hat in the ring!
Click here to sign-up for the competition now!
5. Top Tier Trader Competition
Top Tier Trader is well-regarded in the prop trading industry. They offer a no-thrills two-phase challenge with simple rules and a great reputation for getting traders paid.
Their monthly trading competition is free to enter and has a top prize of a $200k challenge.
Why not head over to Top Tier Trader now and sign up?
Get a Free Prop Firm Challenge with Giveaways
Every now and then, to raise awareness for a new product or the company in general, a prop firm will do a giveaway. Usually, these can be found by following various firms’ social media and discord channels.
6. Prop Traders Club Social Media Giveaways
We consistently run giveaways across our social media network. This usually just involves liking or commenting on posts to have a chance of winning a free challenge.
We run two types of giveaways:
- Sponsored Giveaways – These are usually larger giveaways that are open for a month. We are provided with accounts to give away from our partnered prop firms in exchange for helping raise exposure for their business. This is a win-win for everyone!
- PTC Funded Giveaways – These are usually smaller giveaways in which we use our own funds to purchase accounts for our members. It could be a random member or a member who is active in the community. (Please do not message us asking for free accounts, however).
To keep up to date with our giveaways join as many of our socials as you can below!
Youtube
Twitter / X
Prop Traders Club Facebook Group
Giveaway and Competition Facebook Page
7. Prop Traders Club Newsletter
We also provide a free challenge account every month to a random email subscriber. You don’t need to do anything to enter this giveaway except subscribe to our emails! Join below.
Next Prize: 1x $10,000 Challenge with a partnered prop firm.
To enter, simply enter your email below.
Other Ways to Get a Free Prop Firm Challenge
So, if you don’t fancy competitions or trying your luck in a giveaway, let’s explore some more robust methods to get hold of some funds.
8. FundingU Free Prop Firm Challenge
FundingU is unique in the fact that they operate as a not-for-profit business. Instead, they use any profits to help fund new traders.
Every month, this firm will pick a number of traders to receive a free challenge. If the trader completes the challenge, they will receive one of the firms paid $25,000 challenges. Check out this video on how it works.
9. Affiliate Marketing / Refer a Friend
Many firms are willing to pay a commission to anyone who can bring traders to their firm. Typically, these firms will pay between 5% and 25% commission to anyone who signs up through your link.
What’s more, most of these firms are also happy to convert the commissions made directly into challenges with their firm. Here are some ideas on how you can promote your link:
- Social Media – This is a popular one. Do you have a lot of traders on your socials? Try to provide value to people by explaining what the benefits are which that particular firm. Avoid spamming as this rarely works.
- Forums – Another popular method is by posting on forums. Either make useful posts about the firm you are promoting or include a link/description in your signature.
- Blog/Website – A blog is a great way to promote firms. It takes a lot of time and effort to get started, but it is well worth the effort in the long run.
10. Traders with Edge – Ambassador Program / Write to Trade program
Traders with Edge have realized there are plenty of great traders out there who do not have enough capital to get started with a prop firm challenge. They are also keen to get the word out about their new firm.
With this they had an idea – you create content for their firm and in return, you will receive credits to use for a challenge. Here’s how it works.
Write or make video content for us to get a free funded account with Traders With Edge. We realize that in some countries it’s hard to save up enough money to get a funded trading account. This is not fair and we want to even the playing field, so we have developed our Write to Trade program.
We will pay you up to $22 per unique quality article, up to $40 per video, or up to $100 per content link about.
We do this by adding points to your account for every article or video posted. You can then use these points to get a challenge or instant funding account.
As an added bonus, Traders with Edge also award numerous prizes to those who contribute in their in-built forum.
Click here to head to Traders with Edge and see what they have to offer.
Update: This firm now also runs a competition – That makes three ways to get a free challenge with this firm!
Conclusion
This is far from a complete list. If you have put a lot of work into building a profitable strategy as well as the other vital parts of being a successful trader, there will always be someone looking for you.
There are also other places you can earn money from your skill alone, here are a few more ideas to think about:
- Providing Signal Services – There are a number of ways to get involved in delivering signals or allowing others to copy your trades. Check out the Metatrader signal service, for example.
- Share Your Trade Journal with Firms – If you were wise enough to keep a track of your trades, on myFXBook for example, try reaching out to various prop firms and ask if they are able to help.
- Take it Offline – Search for proprietary trading jobs in your area. If you are close to a major metropolitan city, there is a good chance of a live trading room searching for profitable traders.
In closing, if you have the ability to make money in the markets, don’t let the lack of capital prevent you from breaking into the industry.
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Our Facebook group is an ideal place to find giveaways, competitions and great promotions. Join today!