Optimal Traders prop firm promises traders to offer up to 80% profit split, 14-day payouts, weekend trading, and educational programs. The firm offers diverse funding options from 5k to 200k USD and there is a scaling plan to increase maximum funding up to 400k USD. The total account size allowed is 2 million dollars per trader. Optimal Traders offers several funded accounts, including the 1-step algo funded challenge.
In this Optimal Traders review, we are going to assess the firm’s important features including safety, assets, rules, funding options, platforms, fees, support, and more.
Pros & cons of Optimal Traders prop firm
Pros
- Ability to withdraw with $0 fees
- Offers access to MetaTrader 5
- Fast and digital account opening/verification
- Most payment options are free and instant
- Lacks phone support and proper multilingual support
- Very lengthy profit withdrawals, requiring around 5 days
- A limited number of asset classes, lacks cryptos
Cons
- Low total loss limit of 4%
- Super low safety with many negative comments by traders
- Lacks experience, having established in 2023
- The pricing for algo challenges is expensive, starting from 199 dollars
Safety of Optimal Traders – 0
Optimal Traders reviews are lacking on the FPA, which is typically a red flag. The firm was launched in 2023 giving it minimal experience in the prop sector. On Trustpilot, Optimal Traders has got below 200 reviews and 20% of the mare 1-star evaluations, indicating serious issues with safety and quality of services. All funded accounts are virtual or simulated accounts, meaning traders only access demo trading even after getting funded. Therefore, the funded accounts are not backed by regulated brokers.
The firm gets a 0 score in this section for lacking all fundamental safety policies.
Optimal Traders Funding and Maximum Capital Allocation – 3
Optimal Traders funded programs include 2-step, 1-step Algo, and 1-step Standard funded challenges. The funded options are the same for 2-step and 1-step standards accounts and include 5k, 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, and 200k USD. The 1-step Algo challenges account starts from 10k and has the same ceiling of 200k USD funding. The 2-step challenge requires traders to hit the profit target in two distinct phases, while the 1-step only requires traders to hit the profit target once, making it a faster way to access virtual funded accounts.
Optimal Traders funding options lack higher amounts including 1 million USD, which is a downside for the firm.
Optimal Traders challenges allow both manual and automated trading and the existence of a 1-step Algo account is definitely a positive thing, but since the firm lacks safety, we do not recommend our reader to opt for this firm. Overall, the firm provides mediocre funding experience for both beginners and seasoned traders.
Optimal Traders scaling plan is active and allows the trader to increase their funded account size up to 400k USD, which is lower than other reliable firms.
The firm gets a 3 score in this section for offering a mediocre funding range.
Optimal Traders Assets – 2
Optimal Traders prop trading is only allowed on a limited number of asset types, including Forex pairs (majors and minors), metals, energies, and indices. There are no cryptos or stocks offered for trading, which is a downside for the firm. The leverage is capped at 1:33 for FX pairs, which is enough for decent trading volume.
Overall, the firm gets a 2 score in this section for offering a very small number of instruments.
Optimal Traders Trading rules and limitations – 1.2
Optimal Traders rules slightly differ for each funded challenge type. Let’s list and compare them below.
The 1-step Standard Optimal Traders funded challenge requires the following rules:
- Profit target – 10%
- Daily loss limit – N/A
- Maximum drawdown – 6% relative
- Minimum trading days – 0 days for phase 1, 5 days for funded phase
- EAs allowed – No
- Profit sharing – 80%
The 1-step Algo funded challenge requires the following:
- Profit target – 10%
- Daily loss limit – 4%
- Maximum drawdown – 8%
- Minimum trading days – 5 days
- EAs allowed – Yes
- Profit sharing – 50% | 70% | 80%
The 2-step challenge has the following rules:
- Profit target – 8%
- Daily loss limit – 5%
- Maximum drawdown – 10%
- Minimum trading days – 5
- EAs allowed – Yes
- Profit sharing – 80%
Overall, the rules for Optimal Traders differ for each account and the algo challenge offers lower overall profit sharing.
The firm gets a 1.2 score in this section for offering strict rules to get funded.
Optimal Traders Fees – 2.5
The pricing at Optimal Traders starts from 59 dollars for a 5k USD funded 2-step challenge. The algo challenges are the most expensive, allowing traders to employ EAs. Let’s compare pricing for each funded challenge to see the difference clearly.
The 1-step Standard Optimal Traders funded challenge requires the following one-time fees:
- Funded amount: 5k USD – One-time fee: 89 USD
- 10k USD – 189 USD
- 25k USD – 289 USD
- 50k USD – 389 USD
- 100k USD – 589 USD
- 200k USD – 999 USD
The 1-step Algo funded challenge requires the following fees:
- Funded amount: 10k USD – One-time fee: 199 USD
- 25k USD – 319 USD
- 50k USD – 429 USD
- 100k USD – 649 USD
- 200k USD – 1099 USD
The 2-step challenge has the following one-time fees:
- Funded amount: 5k USD – One-time fee: 59 USD
- 10k USD – 99 USD
- 25k USD – 159 USD
- 50k USD – 329 USD
- 100k USD – 509 USD
- 200k USD – 959 USD
As we can see, the pricing is within the industry-average amounts by Optimal Traders. The 2-step challenge has very competitive pricing, and the 1-step algo challenge is expensive.
Optimal Traders free trial is not offered at the moment and the Optimal Traders free repeat is not available either, which is a disadvantage for traders as they can not test the conditions or start over. Spreads are not raw and are quite expensive with this firm, which is another downside.
Overall, the firm gets a 2.5 score for offering competitive pricing but expensive trading commissions.
Optimal Traders Platforms – 4
The firm allows traders to access the advanced trading platform, MetaTrader 5 (MT5). EAs are allowed for algo challenges, enabling traders to employ the full capabilities of MT5. The firm also allows mobile trading with the MT5 mobile app, which is also useful.
Overall, the firm gets a 4 score in this section for allowing advanced trading platforms on both mobile and desktop devices.
Optimal Traders Profit-Sharing – 1.5
Optimal Traders profit split is 80% for 2-step challenge and 1-step standard challenge accounts. However, the profit sharing starts from 50% for the 1-step Algo challenge and traders can increase it gradually first to 70% and later to 80% at maximum.
The payout withdrawal times are very lengthy. First, the firm examines it in under 48 hours, and payouts are then processed within 3 business days, which is super inconvenient
Overall, the firm gets a 1.5 score in this section for having lengthy withdrawal times.
Education and trading tools at Optimal Traders – 1.4
From educational resources, the firm only offers blogs and economic calendars. While the economic calendar allows the trader to monitor fundamental news, the blog offers posts about various topics. However, the blog can not be used as a substitute for proper financial education.
There is a trader dashboard with some built-in tools, which is useful.
Overall, the firm gets a 1.4 score in this section.
Customer Support at Optimal Traders – 2.4
Support at Optimal Traders includes live chat and email options and is multilingual, supporting three different languages. There is no phone support offered at the moment. The firm has a built-in live chat plugin in their website and there is also a dedicated page of FAQs, which provide quick answers to many general questions.
In the end, the firm gets a 2.4 score in this section for lacking phone support and multilingual support with 5 or more languages.
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