Prop trading firms are a great way to give traders access to a decently funded account size to trade.
With the rising of remote work, most prop firm jobs as a trader can be done remotely. However, not all prop firms accept traders from all parts of the world.
For this reason, I created this list with the best prop firms to trade from South Africa.
The Top 3 Best Prop Firms In South Africa
Let’s start with the list of the 3 best proprietary trading firms in South Africa.
FTMO
Rating: 4.9
REVIEW
FTMO is a Forex prop firm, located in Prague, Czech Republic. It was founded in 2014. Read the full FTMO review
FEATURES
Instruments: Forex, Indices, Metals, Commodities, Stocks, Crypto.
Max balance: $2,000,000
Profit split: up to 90%
Cost: from €155
Platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader
Funded Trading Plus
Rating: 4.9
REVIEW
Funded Trading Plus is a Forex prop firm, located in London, UK. It was founded in 2021. Read the full Funded Trading Plus review
FEATURES
Instruments: Forex, Indices, Metals, Commodities, Crypto.
Max balance: $2,500,000
Profit split: up to 90%
Cost: from $119
Platforms: MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5
Topstep
Rating: 4.9
REVIEW
Topstep is a Futures prop firm, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 2010. Read the full Topstep review
FEATURES
Instruments: Equity Futures, Foreign Exchange Futures, Agricultural Futures, Energy, Interest Rates Futures, Metals Futures.
Max balance: $150,000
Profit split: 90%
Cost: from $165/month
Platforms: TSTrader, NinjaTrader, Quantower, TradingView, Sierra Chart, T4, Jigsaw Daytradr, Multicharts, R|Trader Pro, VolFix, Trade Navigator, ATAS OrderFlow Trading, MotiveWave, Bookmap, Investor/RT
Other Interesting Prop Trading Firms In South Africa
These forex prop firms are not at the top 3 for South Africa, but are also interesting, and generally not really far away from the previous ones in terms of quality and services provided.
How Should I Choose A Prop Firm
If you are undecided between two or more Forex prop trading firms to trade from South Africa, you can use our prop firm comparison tool. Just choose the firms that you want to compare and immediately check the results with a detailed comparison.
Compare Any Prop Firm
How Were These Prop Trading Firms Chosen And Rated
The prop firms that appear here were rated based on different factors, which include:
- Difficulty: How easy it is to pass the prop firm challenges or evaluations.
- Futures platforms: The range of forex trading platforms available.
- Customer support: How fast and reliable the prop firm’s customer support is in solving your problems and answering your questions.
- Profit split: How much of the profits the prop firm shares with you.
- Instruments: How vast the range of instruments available to trade is.
- Cost: How much does a forex funded account cost to apply and maintain.
- User Rating: How good the forex prop firm is rated by other users.
What Can You Trade On A Prop Firm
It depends on the type of prop firm that you are using to trade from South Africa.
If you are using a Forex prop firm, the instruments available in the vast majority of the proprietary trading firms are:
- Forex:All major, minor, and even exotic pairs are there if you are a Forex trader.
- Indices:Traded as CFDs, you have all the important indices available to trade including Dax, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, S&P500, FTSE, and others.
- Commodities:Natural Gas, Crude, and Brent Oil.
- Metals:Silver, Gold, and Palladium
- Stocks:On some prop firms you may have stocks available although the list is not big.
- Crypto:On some prop firms you have all the major cryptos available, like BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, ADA, DOT, DOGE, and a few more.
If you are trading using a Futures prop firm, you can trade CME Futures Assets. That includes CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX.
The instruments available in the vast majority of the futures proprietary trading firms are:
- Equity Futures
- Foreign Exchange Futures
- Agricultural Futures
- Energy Futures
- Interest Rate Futures
- Metals Futures
- Crypto Futures
How Big Are The Funded Accounts
The maximum Forex prop firm’s funded accounts can go up to $10,000,000.
These balances are only achieved after scaling though, after you get your initial account balance and keep trading without breaching any rule from the prop firm.
These high balances can be misleading, it’s worth paying attention to the leverage provided by the prop firm. Some provide high balances but very small leverage, which makes their accounts equivalent, in terms of buying power, to smaller accounts from prop firms that provide higher leverage.
How Much Is The Profit Split
For instant funded accounts, the profit split is not big, usually around 50%, when trading from South Africa.
For funded accounts after a challenge, the payout is between 80% and 90%. This means that the Forex proprietary firm only keeps 10% to 20% of the profits that you made.
Besides that, it’s also normal that the trader gets 100% of the first profits which is usually equivalent to the fee that you paid to pass the challenge.
What Trading Platforms Are Available?
Most of these South Africa prop firms give you access to the market using CFDs. This means that you typically can use the most popular Forex trading platforms:
- MetaTrader 4
- MetaTrader 5
- cTrader
In the case of a futures prop firm, you can use Ninjatrader, Rithmic, Bookmap, Agena Trader, Motive Wave, Photon, Collective2, InsideEdge Trader, Optimus Flow, ScalpTool, Medved Trader, Quantower, Trade Navigator, Overcharts, Sierra Chart, Volfix, TigerTrade, MultiCharts, QScalp, QST, TSLAB, and more.
Are Prop Firms Legit?
Yes, prop trading firms are legit and exist as real companies. They may not be registered directly in South Africa but they allow citizens from there to access their funded accounts.
If you read the individual review for each prop firm you’ll find more details about the company and how to contact them.
Advantages Of South Africa Prop Firms
- You get access to a wide range of products.
- You don’t need to risk your own capital to trade.
- You can get funded with big-sized accounts, so you don’t need to overleverage and gamble your small account to potentially make decent profits.
- You are forced to follow proper risk management rules.
Disadvantages Of South Africa Prop Firms
- Some challenges may be hard to pass, and make you trade more than what you would normally do.
- The firm keeps a small part of the profits for them.
Learn More
- What is prop trading
- Prop firms comparison tool
- List of thebest prop trading firms
