Best Funded Trader Programs for Crypto: How to Compare Them
Your strategy works. It has worked for a year on a $4,000 exchange account, and the only thing between you and a living from it is the size of the account. A funded trader program sells the size. You pay for a test, pass it inside strict loss limits, and trade an account ten or fifty times larger whose profits are paid out to you.
The trade-off is that the account is not yours and the rules are not negotiable, and the programs differ more than their adverts suggest. Knowing how they differ, before you pay, is the whole job.
A note on who is writing. We are HyroTrader, a firm that runs one of the four programs compared below. Our own facts come from our rules and pricing pages, and every fact about another firm comes from that firm's own website, read in October 2026. We say plainly where the others offer more than we do.
The short version
- A funded program is a paid test followed by a large simulated account. The profit you make on it is paid to you in real money, out of the firm's own revenue.
- Four things are worth comparing: the markets you can trade, the loss limits, how large your positions can be, and how soon you can be paid.
- For crypto, compare the coin list and the payout terms before the profit split. They differ far more between firms than the split does.
- No program here sets a time limit on its test, so a deadline is no longer a reason to choose one over another.
- Every program has limits that only show in the rules. Ours are a cap on position size once you are funded, and a cap on each payout request: profit of up to 5% of the account, with anything above that cancelled. On Hyro Instant there is a third: a closed trade may not lose more than 2% of the starting balance.
What is a funded trader program?
A funded trader program is a paid test that, once passed, gives you a simulated trading account of a set size and pays you most of the profit you make on it in real money. The firms that run these programs are called prop firms, short for proprietary trading firms. The process has four steps:
- You buy a challenge, the paid test, at an account size you choose.
- You reach a profit target without breaking two loss limits, one per day and one overall.
- You verify your identity and receive a funded account of the same size.
- You request payouts from your profit, and the firm pays you your share.
Much of the marketing in this industry describes the account as capital, so one fact is worth holding onto. The accounts are simulated. All four firms compared below say so on their own sites. At HyroTrader every account, in the test and after it, is a simulated (demo) account that follows live exchange prices, and your trades are never sent to the real market.
So where do payouts come from? From the firm. A payout is your agreed share of the simulated profit, paid in real money out of the firm's own revenue, and at HyroTrader that revenue comes from test fees. Losses stay on the simulated account, so you never owe the firm anything.
That is the honest reason the test is strict. Every payout is real money paid on a simulated result, so a firm has to be selective about who gets a funded account, and many traders do not pass. It is also why a payout record you can check, such as the payout record we publish, matters more than any promise.
Seven terms every program uses
Term | What it means |
|---|---|
Challenge (or evaluation) | The paid test: reach a profit target without breaking the loss limits. |
Daily loss limit | The most the account may lose in one day. Break it and the challenge ends. |
Maximum loss (drawdown) | The most the account may ever lose in total. A static limit never moves. A trailing limit follows your best balance upward. |
Profit split | The share of the profit that is paid to you, for example 80%. |
Scaling | Raising the size of a funded account after you have been profitable for a while. |
Leverage | Trading a position larger than the money backing it. At 10x, also written 1:10, $1,000 controls $10,000. |
Perpetual futures and CFDs | A perpetual future follows a coin's price with no expiry date and is the standard crypto contract on exchanges. A CFD, or contract for difference, is a similar product offered and priced by a broker. |
What to compare before you pay
Four things separate one program from another: what you can trade, how the loss limits work, how large your positions can be, and how soon you can be paid.
What you can trade
For a crypto trader the contract list comes first. The four programs below range from 30 crypto contracts to more than 700. If the coins you trade are not on a firm's list, nothing else about that firm matters.
Ask where the prices come from as well. Some programs follow a crypto exchange's prices. Others quote crypto through a trading platform such as MetaTrader 5, the software most forex traders use. Either can work, but ask the firm where the price comes from and how it calculates fees and slippage, the gap between the price you expect and the price you get.
How the loss limits work
Daily loss limits in the programs below run from 3% to 5%, and maximum losses from 5% to 10%. The method matters as much as the number, and an example shows why.
Take a $10,000 account. With a static 10% maximum loss, the account closes at $9,000 and nowhere else. With a trailing limit of $600, the closing line starts at $9,400 and follows your best balance upward: once the account has reached $10,300, the line sits at $9,700. Give back $600 from your best balance at any point and the account closes, so a good run leaves you no more room than you had on day one.
How large your positions can be
Account size is half of this and leverage is the other half. A $200,000 account that may hold twice its balance in open positions and a $400,000 account at 5x are very different amounts of buying power, so read the two together.
Read the scaling policy too. Some firms publish a ladder with fixed steps, and others raise accounts case by case. Either way, you want the condition and the ceiling in writing.
How soon you can be paid
Check the timing as carefully as the split. Most programs here start at 80%, but one pays on request from the first profitable day (ours, except the first payout on Hyro Instant, which comes after 3 qualifying trading days), one opens the first payout on the 14th day after your first trade, one after 15 traded days or 30 calendar days, and one 30 days after the first funded trade. Ask as well whether a firm limits how much one payout request can cover. Ours does, and the detail is further down.
How four crypto funded programs compare (2026)
Feature | HyroTrader | Crypto Fund Trader | BrightFunded | FTMO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Crypto contracts | 700+ USDT perpetual futures on Bybit and Hyro, 80+ on BloFin | 715+ crypto pairs | 48 crypto pairs | 30 crypto CFDs |
Other markets | Tokenized stocks, gold, silver and oil, as USDT perpetuals | Forex, indices, stocks, commodities | Forex, indices, commodities | Forex, indices, commodities, stocks |
Platforms | Bybit, BloFin, Hyro (our own), Tealstreet, Tiger.com | MetaTrader 5, Match-Trader, Bybit | MetaTrader 5, cTrader, DXtrade | The CFD platforms FTMO provides |
Crypto leverage | Funded accounts: 2x the starting balance across all open positions. In the test: up to 150x (selected pairs) | Up to 100x on some account types, 5x on others | 5x | 3.33x on Standard accounts, 1x on Swing accounts |
Largest account | $200,000 per trader | $200,000 per account, $300,000 per trader, and accounts with no test scale to $1,280,000 | $200,000 per account, $400,000 per trader (scaling advertised as unlimited) | $200,000; scaling to $2,000,000 across accounts |
Test versions | Hyro Core, One-Step, Two-Step (each one is a test), and Hyro Instant, an account with no test | One-phase, two-phase, and accounts with no test | 1-Step, 2-Step Bright, 2-Step Classic | 2-Step, 1-Step, and accounts with no test |
Time limit | None | None | None | None |
Loss limits (daily and total) | 3% and 5%, 4% and 8%, or 5% and 10%, all static | 4% and 6% trailing (one-phase); 5% and 10% static (two-phase) | 3% and 6% trailing (1-Step); 4% and 8% or 5% and 10% static (2-Step) | 5% and 10% static (2-Step); 3% and 10% trailing (1-Step) |
Profit split | 80%, up to 90% on Hyro Instant, One-Step and Two-Step at our discretion | 80%, up to 90% with a paid add-on | Up to 100% | 90% on 1-Step; 80% on 2-Step, 90% through its scaling plan |
When you can request a payout | Any time the account is in profit and your share is at least $25 (on Hyro Instant, after 3 qualifying trading days for the first payout). Each request covers profit of up to 5% of the starting balance, and profit above that is cancelled | After 15 traded days, or every 30 calendar days | 30 days after the first funded trade, then every 14 days | From the 14th day after the first trade |
Payout processing | Usually within 24 hours, weekends included | About 8 hours on average, up to 48 business hours | Within 1 day | 1 to 2 business days for review, then 1 to 2 for payment |
Payout currency | USDT or USDC | Bank transfer or crypto | USDC or EUR bank transfer | Bank wire, card transfer, Skrill, crypto |
Terms as of October 2026; check each firm's own page before you buy. Standard and Swing are FTMO's two account types, and Swing is the one for holding trades longer, at lower leverage.
Which program gives you the largest account
By capital per trader, BrightFunded: its accounts stop at $200,000, as at the other three firms, but one trader may manage up to $400,000 there, against $300,000 at Crypto Fund Trader and $200,000 at HyroTrader. After that it depends on how each scaling plan is written. BrightFunded describes its plan as unlimited but its Terms cap simulated capital at $400,000 per customer, FTMO's runs to $2,000,000 across all of a trader's accounts, and Crypto Fund Trader's accounts without a test can be scaled to $1,280,000. We stop at $200,000 per trader.
On position size once funded, we are also among the most conservative. Our funded accounts may hold twice their balance in open positions, against 3.33x on FTMO's Standard account and 5x or more at the other two. Only FTMO's Swing account, at 1x, allows less. If large positions are your priority, we are the wrong firm.
The gap between our test and our funded account matters here. During the test the 2x cap does not apply, and the platform's leverage goes up to 150x on selected pairs, usually up to 100x. Once you are funded, the cap applies. A method that passes the test with positions larger than twice the account cannot be traded the same way once you are funded, so size your test trades as you would size funded ones.
What a fair profit split looks like
On the split alone we are not the best offer in the table. BrightFunded advertises up to 100% and FTMO's 1-Step pays 90%, while HyroTrader, Crypto Fund Trader and FTMO's 2-Step start at 80%. Look as well at how a higher split is reached: on conditions, as a paid add-on, or at the firm's discretion, as ours is. Then look at how soon the money moves. An 80% split paid the day after you ask and a 90% split you can first request after two weeks are different offers, and which is worth more depends on how you use your profit. FTMO's 1-Step also carries a consistency rule into the funded account: a payout is approved only while your best day is no more than 50% of your total profit. Our funded accounts have no such rule.
One phase or two
A one-phase test asks for a single profit target, usually 10%, under one set of loss limits. A two-phase test adds a second phase with a smaller target. One phase is faster, and in the table above it usually comes with a tighter or trailing maximum loss.
We offer three versions. Hyro Core and One-Step are both single-phase. Hyro Core needs at least four trading days and One-Step three. Hyro Core has the lowest price, and its entry payment is a Challenge Fee that is not refunded once the challenge is activated. Two-Step has two phases, at least four trading days in each, and the widest loss limits. On One-Step and Two-Step the entry payment is returned with your first payout. We also sell Hyro Instant, an account with no test: it is funded from day one, identity verification comes before the account is issued, the first payout needs 3 qualifying trading days, and a closed trade may not lose more than 2% of the starting balance.
HyroTrader's program in detail
We launched HyroTrader in 2023 and operate from Dubai. Crypto is the core of the product, with tokenized stocks and metals on Bybit and the Hyro platform beside it, and three things define the program: exchange prices on more than 700 contracts, loss limits that are static on every version of the test, and payouts on request with no waiting period, except the first payout on Hyro Instant, which comes after 3 qualifying trading days.
The three versions, Hyro Instant and what they cost
Version | Phases | Profit target | Minimum trading days | Daily loss limit | Maximum loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hyro Core | 1 | 10% | 4 | 3% | 5% |
One-Step | 1 | 10% | 3 | 4% | 8% |
Two-Step | 2 | 10%, then 5% | 4 in each phase | 5% | 10% |
Hyro Instant | None, funded from day one | None | 3 qualifying days, before the first payout only | 3% | 5% |
Every loss limit is a static percentage of the starting balance, and the same loss limits carry into the funded account. Our list prices in November 2026, in US dollars:
Account size | Hyro Core | One-Step | Two-Step | Hyro Instant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$2,500 | $9 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
$5,000 | $19 | $69 | $59 | $169 |
$10,000 | $39 | $129 | $119 | $319 |
$25,000 | $99 | $299 | $249 | $699 |
$50,000 | $189 | $499 | $379 | $1,399 |
$100,000 | $349 | $749 | $579 | $2,799 |
$200,000 | Not offered | $1,299 | $969 | Not offered |
That one payment is the whole cost, with no monthly or hidden fees, and checkout often shows a discount on top. If you fail, the payment is not returned and a new attempt means buying a new test. We have listed only our own prices, because they are the only ones we can vouch for on the day you read this. Compare them with each firm's checkout price before you decide.
The rules that shape your trading
You can hold positions overnight and over the weekend and trade through news. Very short-term trading, bots and AI agents are allowed as long as the strategy is your own. Arbitrage, copy trading, purchased third-party systems and martingale, which means increasing size after a loss to win it back, are not allowed.
One rule needs an example. During the test, no single day may count for more than 40% of the profit target on Hyro Core, One-Step and Two-Step. Traders call this a consistency rule. On a $10,000 One-Step account the target is $1,000, so at most $400 from any one day counts toward passing. Anything above that stays in your balance and simply does not count. The rule can slow you down, but going over the cap cannot end your test, and funded accounts have no such rule.
Two limits apply once you are funded. All open positions together may not exceed twice the starting balance. And one payout request covers profit of up to 5% of the starting balance: on a $100,000 account that is $5,000 of profit, of which your 80% share is $4,000. When the payout is paid, the account balance returns to its starting amount, and any profit above the 5% is cancelled rather than saved for the next request. So request a payout each time your profit reaches 5%, and never let it build beyond that.
Where you trade
You choose when you set up the test. You can connect your own demo account at the Bybit or BloFin exchange, or trade on Hyro, our own platform, which needs no exchange account. Hyro is ours, but its prices are not: it follows live Bybit market prices and applies realistic fees and slippage. The dashboard shows your positions, loss limits, profit target and trading days almost instantly after a trade opens, so you always know where you stand.
Payouts and support
Payouts are usually paid within 24 hours of a request, weekends included, in USDT or USDC, with no withdrawal fees. Payouts sent on the Solana blockchain carry a public transaction ID, and our transparency page lists them next to the totals paid so far. A past payout does not guarantee the next one, but it is a record you can check for yourself.
Support runs 24 hours a day on weekdays by email, live chat and WhatsApp. The free HyroTrader Academy, recorded by funded traders and mentors, covers risk management, trading psychology, market structure and how to pass a crypto prop firm test.
The interviews we publish with funded traders show what the discipline looks like in practice. Kirill earned about $35,500 in withdrawals across the first eight months as a funded trader, after failing eight to ten tests at other firms. The system behind it takes one to three trades a day at a fixed 1% risk, and it wins 44% of the time.
The other three programs
Crypto Fund Trader, based in Zug, is the other program here built around crypto. It runs on MetaTrader 5, Match-Trader and a connection to the Bybit exchange, lists more than 715 crypto pairs, and sets no time limit and no minimum number of trading days. A first payout needs 15 traded days or 30 calendar days, and its one-phase test uses a trailing maximum loss.
BrightFunded, headquartered in Dubai, is a multi-market firm with three plans, five minimum trading days per stage and no time limit. Crypto leverage is 5x across 48 pairs, and high-frequency trading, grid trading, arbitrage and high-speed automated or AI tools are prohibited.
FTMO has operated since 2015 and covers forex, indices, commodities and stocks as well as crypto. Its 2-Step Challenge asks for 10% and then 5% with at least four trading days, on accounts from $10,000 to $200,000. Crypto is offered as 30 CFDs, and the first payout can be requested from the fourteenth day after your first trade.
If Crypto Fund Trader is on your shortlist, FundedNext may be the other name on it. Our FundedNext and Crypto Fund Trader comparison sets out their crypto pairs, loss limits and payout cycles.
Choosing a program for your trading style
If you make many very short trades, you need a firm that allows them and fees close to an exchange's. We allow this kind of trading, by hand or with a bot you built. What we prohibit is trading that only works because the account is a simulation, such as flooding it with orders faster than a real exchange could fill them.
If you hold trades for days, you need a firm that lets you hold overnight and over the weekend, loss limits with room for a multi-day position, and a scaling policy in writing. Ours reads: once your total profit has reached 20% of the account, counted across all your payouts, and the account is in profit when you ask, you may request a review. Increases are decided case by case, and the ceiling is $200,000 per trader. It is discretionary, and we would rather you knew that before you bought.
If you trade by program, you need API access (a way for software to place trades), stable connections and a firm that does not treat automation as suspicious. Your bot can trade our accounts through the exchange's demo API on Bybit and BloFin, or on Hyro, and the rule is the same everywhere: your own strategy only. A trend system you wrote is welcome. Someone else's signal is not.
Getting the most out of a funded program
Risk management decides who keeps the account. Risk a small fixed share of the account on each trade, so that no single position can reach the daily limit. Under a 5% daily limit on a $10,000 account, a $500 loss in one day ends the challenge, whatever leverage you used to get there.
Watch correlation, the trap crypto sets. Five altcoin positions in the same direction are one Bitcoin position when the market turns, and a book that looks spread out can hit the maximum loss in one move.
Keep a margin above the minimums rather than passing by a hair, track your win rate and the size of your average winner against your average loser, and treat a quiet week as a quiet week. A funded account does not need a trade every day. With us it needs one closed trade every 30 days to stay active.
The common failures are the same at every firm: trading out of boredom, ignoring correlation, and running a strategy that worked on a personal account but breaks a program rule. Read the rules before the first trade, and read what happens when an account is lost as well, because those terms differ from one program to the next.
Two changes in how we run our own program
Two recent changes at HyroTrader show where funded trading is heading. Payouts have moved onto a public blockchain: since April 2026, our payouts on the Solana blockchain each carry a public transaction ID, so a trader can prove a payout happened without relying on a screenshot.
Automation has moved from simple bots to AI agents. On Hyro, an AI assistant can check your test, your results and your trade history, and place trades for you once you authorise it, for your own strategy only.
We have also announced Hyro Protocol, a way to run prop trading on the Solana blockchain. It is a staged rollout rather than a finished product, so check its current status before you count on it.
Which program should you choose
If crypto is your main market, two of these programs are built for it: ours and Crypto Fund Trader's. Choose us if you want to be paid on request with no waiting period (on Hyro Instant, after 3 qualifying trading days for the first payout) and loss limits that are static on every version, and you can live with our two caps: positions of at most twice the account once you are funded, and profit above 5% of the account per payout request cancelled. Choose them if you want MetaTrader or more than $200,000 in funded capital.
If you trade forex and indices and want crypto on the side, the multi-market programs suit you better than ours. FTMO has operated since 2015 and scales to $2,000,000, and BrightFunded allows the most starting capital per trader and the highest profit split in the table. Our crypto prop firm comparison sets the wider field side by side on the same points.
If our rules fit the way you already trade, start a challenge at a size you can hold calmly through a losing day: Hyro Core, One-Step or Two-Step.
Note: the targets, loss limits, trading day counts, prices and payout terms quoted above are HyroTrader's as of November 2026, and the trading rules page is the current, binding version.
