The5ers Alternative: City Traders Imperium (CTI) Vs 5ers

Why CTI is a Better The5ers Alternative

The forex trading world can be a rollercoaster ride with ups and downs. A lack of capital can be a significant stumbling block on the path to profitability and why many traders fail to maintain profitable careers. But, prop firms came in to solve this problem.

These firms came to offer traders the chance to trade with a higher amount of capital with no liability for losses because they take the risk. These benefits have resulted in an increase in prop firms over the last decade, with City Traders Imperium (CTI) and the5ers leading the pack. Both prop firms are among the most popular for funded accounts with exponential growth scaling plans. But how do you choose between the two? Well, fear not; we’ve got you covered.

If you are still deciding which to choose from. We will delve into the nitty-gritty of both firms, giving you an unbiased analysis of 2 of their funding programs. We will compare and highlight any differences and why City Traders Imperium “CTI” is superior to the5ers in many aspects when comparing their funding programs. If you don’t believe us, then continue reading. We’re sure you will have a different perspective by the end of this article.

Firstly, we will compare CTI’s Instant Funding Program with the5ers’ Instant Funding program. Then, we’ll also compare the CTI Challenge program to the5ers High-Stakes Challenge and highlight any differences.

We’ll provide a non-biased comparison and solid reasons why CTI funding options are far superior for funded traders. So, buckle up and prepare yourself as we explore these two prop firms and why CTI reigns supreme.

CTI’s Instant Funding vs The 5ers' Instant Funding

1. Prices

When it comes to funding programs, it’s essential to consider the entry cost. In this case, we’ve got some major differences to highlight. With CTI Instant Funding Program, you will be paying almost half the price that you would be paying with the5ers Instant Funding Program.

So, if you were to get the $75K funded account with CTI, it would still cost less and save some money than if you would guy the5ers highest funded account size ($40K Funded Account).

But when comparing similar account sizes, CTI is a much cheaper option. You would be saving roughly:

With CTI, you would get these savings while receiving the same or maybe better funding conditions.

So, with a mere $45, traders can start their journey to rising up the Portfolio Manager levels, making long-term funding much more accessible. It’s clear that CTI offers a more cost-effective option for traders.

2. Minimum Active Trading Days & Time Limits

While both companies do not impose any minimum trading days from the 1st level, CTI gives you unlimited time to pass the 1st level compared to the5ers, where they give you 12 months to pass.

3. Faster Scaling Plans

CTI and the5ers both have impressive benefits when it comes to scaling plans. But the real difference lies in the boost you will get once you pass the first level of the Instant Funding Program. CTI offers a whopping 5 times (x5) boost to your Instant Funding account balance after passing the 1st level.

On the other hand, the5ers only doubles (x2) your account size once you’ve passed the first level.

Let’s say you pass a $10K Instant Funding account with the5ers. The5ers will boost your account x2 to a $20K funded account. Unlike the5ers, CTI will boost your Instant Funding Account x5 to a $50K funded account. That’s more than double the capital you get with CTI compared to what you would get with the5ers!

Also, it’s worth mentioning that once you are on the 2nd level, both companies will double your account each time you hit a 10% profit target. But with the x5 boost of your initial account, you will scale up your account 2.5 times faster.

So, if you want to maximise your chances of success and scalability, CTI is definitely the way to go based on the offers currently given by both prop firms.

4. The 1st Level Profit Share

Unlike the Challenge, where you usually get a refund of your challenge fees, both companies offer to pay you 50% of the profit target as a profit share. So, while both prop firms have the same 50% profit share once you pass the first level of their Instant Funding Program, the way they pay out this profit share is quite different.

The5ers pays the 50% profit share as a credit given to the next level at PM Level 1. For example, when passing the5ers initial $10K Funded Account, the5ers pay the 50% profit share ($500) as a credit into the $20K funded account. This $500 is essentially added to the balance of the $20K funded account and can not be withdrawn.

Unlike the5ers, CTI will pay you the 50% profit share with your first withdrawal on the first PM Level. In this way, you will guarantee to get most of your fee back as soon as you ask for your first withdrawal.

5. The PM's Profit Share

With CTI, you can receive a 90% profit share once you scale up twice (x2) and reach level 3. As a Portfolio Manager, you can enjoy this feature regardless of the funded account chosen ($10K, $20K, $40K, $50K, and $70K). All traders will have the same opportunity to scale up twice (x2) to reach the 90% profit share option.

This a huge benefit when compared to the5ers, where getting a higher profit share depends on the funded account size chosen. For example, according to the5ers website, you can receive the 80% profit share once you scale up between 4 to 6 times, depending on the funded account chosen.

So comparing the profit share of both prop firms, it’s evident that CTI is the way to go because it offers far better options for funded traders. CTI pays a higher profit share %. Also, you can get to the higher profit share a lot faster than you would with the5ers.

6. The Profit Target

When passing the Instant Funding Level 1, time is precious, and every minute counts. It’s vital to know how long it would take for a trader to achieve the profit target within the specified time limit. This could be the main reason for them to pass or fail, especially for swing traders.

In terms of the time limit, both CTI gives you unlimited time to achieve a 9% profit target while the5ers gives you 12 months to achieve a 10% profit target.

Although the difference is only 1% between both profit targets, it could significantly impact the trader’s psychology and mind. With a 1% less profit target objective with CTI, you have a better chance of passing.

7. Max Drawdown

The Max Drawdown for both prop firms is identical in terms of how it is calculated. CTI and the5ers calculated their Max Drawdown as a max loss percentage from the initial balance.

However, when comparing both prop firms, the the5ers offers a higher max drawdown at 6% compared to 5% with CTI. The higher drawdown with the5ers could be beneficial for traders who might need more drawdown room for their strategy.

8. The Daily Pause

The5ers also have a new rule they call the “Daily Pause” of 3%. It could benefit those who struggle with controlling their emotions by stopping them from trading. It allows them to come back the next day to continue where they left off. This could be beneficial as it saves those struggling from losing their emotions while trading. But it could also be frustrating and limiting for other traders because it will interfere with their trading process. Thus disrupting their trading process, which could have a negative impact on the overall profitability of the trader.

On the other hand, CTI does not impose any Daily Pause allowing traders to trade freely without any restrictions. CTI understands that self-risk management is key to a funded trader’s success. Thus, CTI does not interfere in any way. In CTI Instant Funding, the funded trader has full flexibility as long as a 5% drawdown is not reached. So, It’s up to the funded trader to prove their profitable trading method.

The Verdict: CTI's Instant Funding vs The5ers Instant Funding

Based on the information provided, we can easily conclude that CTI’s Instant Funding is better than the5ers Instant Funding.

CTI offers lower prices for similar account sizes, faster scaling plans, a better profit share system, no daily pause restrictions, and slightly higher leverage. Additionally, CTI’s Instant Funding profit target is lower, making it easier to achieve within the specified time limit (especially for swing traders).

Now that we finalised comparing the5ers’ Instant Funding to CTI’s Instant Funding, we can move on to compare CTI Challenge to the5ers High-Stakes Challenge.

CTI's CTI Challenge vs The5ers High-Stakes Challenge

1. Salary

In the world of prop trading, CTI has been a game-changer since it introduced the salary feature for funded traders on 1 January 2023. Soon after, the5ers decided to follow suit and launched a similar feature in March 2023 with their High-Stakes Challenge. But what are the main differences between both prop firms?

The5ers offer a salary only on their last four levels at $350K, $400K, $450K, and $500K. Also, you have to make between 60% to 130% to reach those levels depending on the challenge chosen, according to the5ers website. Realistically, it seems almost impossible for any trader to achieve these levels, as most traders would fail.

With the CTI Challenge, things are different and better. CTI wanted to provide a way for funded traders to perform well and focus on their trading full-time without facing financial pressure. CTI believes that having no financial pressure will help funded traders excel and transition to being full-time.

So, CTI offers the opportunity for all funded traders to receive a salary regardless of how much profit they make. For CTI, a trader making an average of 3% consistently over a year is far better than one who risks it all to make a huge % return only to fail soon after. This is why CTI offers a salary of up to $1,000 per challenge account for anyone who passes phases 1 and 2 and qualifies for the weekly payouts.

2. Prices

Both companies offer very competitive prices on their challenges when compared to other prop firms. However, The5ers challenge prices are slightly lower than the CTI Challenge.

The difference in price is minimal when comparing both prop firms’ challenge pricing plans. On average, you can save around $13 with the5ers. But if you are looking for a lower entry price, then CTI is the way to go. With merely $159, you can get a $25K challenge with CTI compared to $165 to get a 20K challenge with the5ers.

3. The Challenge Time Limit and Profit Targets

As for the Challenge time limit, the5ers offers the standard 30 days for phase 1 to achieve an 8% profit target and 60 days for phase 2 to achieve a 5% profit target.

On the other hand, with the CTI Challenge, you get unconditional 45 days for phase 1 to achieve a 10% profit target and another 45 days for phase 2 to achieve a 5% profit target. Now, CTI has 45 days for phases 1 and 2 because CTI believes in offering traders more time to demonstrate their trading skills instead of pressuring them to achieve high percentage returns within a very short time limits.

So, it depends on your trading style and which one would fit you better to pass phase 1. With the5ers, you have a short time limit on phase 1 to achieve 8%, while with CTI, you have a longer time limit to achieve 10% in phase 1 as well.

4. Minimum Trading Days vs Minimum Profitable Days

With the5ers, you must achieve three minimum “profitable” days. This essentially means that no matter how many trading days you have, you won’t pass without at least 3 profitable trading days.

However, with CTI, you have only to make 5 minimum trading days to pass, regardless of how many good or bad days you had.

CTI’s mission is to give traders the freedom to express themselves in their trading without limiting their success to unnecessary parameters.

5. The Scaling Plans & Profit Share

The5ers requires you to make a 10% net profit to scale up to the next level. Each increase is by $10K for the accounts below the $100K challenge (50% increase for the $20K Challenge and 16.67% for the $60K Challenge) and by $25K for the $100K Challenge (25% increase).

On each level, the5ers offers the trader an 80% profit share, which can increase to 100% on the last four levels. To increase your profit share to 90% with the5ers, you must scale up to the $250K Challenge (level 13). Finally, you would get a 100% profit share on levels 13 to 16th.

On the other hand, CTI sees that a lengthy process to receive a 90% profit share is unnecessary, and the scale-up process for all challenges is the same regardless of the account size.

Therefore, CTI increases the profit share to 90% and the account balance by 30% from the 1st time the funded trader scales up. Once the account is scaled up for the 1st time, the funded trader continues to receive a 90% and 30% increase in the funded account capital. Also, once the trader scales up three times (x3), the funded trader will be eligible for a 100% profit share.

So, all in all, according to the above, CTI also has a better offer for funded traders as the capital increase is higher and quicker to achieve. Also, CTI requires fewer steps (x3) compared to (x13) with the5ers to reach the 100% profit share.

6. News restrictions & holding trades over the weekend

It’s important for the traders; success to be free to trade without restricting them to specific rules in regard to news or how long the trades should be held. As long as the trader is not using prohibited methods such as Copy Trading, arbitrage systems, etc… At the end of the day, traders welcome volatility, and without volatility, traders can’t trade and make a profit.

CTI doesn’t impose any new restrictions whatsoever during the challenge phases or when you get funded on any of its funding programs. CTI also allows holding trades over the weekend for all symbols (Yes! even for indices).

Meanwhile, the5ers restrict news trading to not execute any orders 2 minutes before and 2 minutes after high-impact news. On top of that, traders cannot carry open any index trades over the weekend, which can

7. Max Drawdown and Max Daily Drawdown

One of the main features of the challenge model is allowing traders to have higher drawdowns and higher leverage than they would get with the Instant Funding model. This results in more risk-taking, but the potential rewards are also faster and higher.

In this regard, both companies offer the same 10% max drawdown. However, the5ers provides a slightly higher max daily drawdown of 5% compared to the 4% offered on the CTI‘s Challenge.

The Verdits: the5ers High Stakes Program vs CTI's Challenge

In conclusion, while both CTI and the5ers are major players in the prop trading world, CTI consistently outshines the5ers in several key areas in the Challenge.

The salary feature offered by CTI is more accessible and realistic for traders, making it a more attractive option for those looking to trade full-time. Additionally, CTI provides a more flexible trading environment with a longer time limit for phases 1 and 2, fewer restrictions on minimum profitable days, and no news restrictions or limitations on holding trades over the weekend.

Furthermore, CTI’s scaling plans and profit shares are more attainable and generous compared to the5ers.

Although the5ers has a slightly lower price and higher max daily drawdown, these factors are not enough to outweigh the numerous advantages provided by CTI.

Ultimately, for traders looking for a better opportunity to succeed and excel in the Challenge, CTI stands as the superior choice.

Other funding programs CTI offers: Direct Funding

If you are of those who don’t like to be evaluated at all and want to start earning right away, then CTI also has Direct Funding Program. CTI offers an opportunity for those traders who don’t have a profitable track record but are confident about their performance.

This is a feature not available with the5ers. With our Direct Funding accounts, you skip the first level and become a Portfolio Manager with CTI right away. Also, what makes Direct Funding unique, is that you can request for withdrawals at any time without having to wait until you hit any profit targets.

The main and only rule to follow is not to lose more than 5% of your initial account balance.

In terms of the scaling plans, it follows suit with CTI’s Instant Funding Program, where CTI will double your funded account every time you hit a 10% profit target. You start with a profit share of 70% and can go up to 100% profit share as you scale up.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have shown why City Traders Imperium is the far superior funded trading service to the5ers. We have assessed the critical differences between the two programs and highlighted the advantages of CTI.

CTI offers a much more cost-effective option for traders, with significantly cheaper pricing for similar account sizes and a faster scaling plan that boosts your account capital four times over. This is higher than the5ers, which only doubles your account size.

Moreover, CTI pays out your 50% profit share, while the5ers only credit it into your next level funded account, a risky move if you struggle to stay profitable on that level.

Additionally, CTI offers a much higher profit share, which is a huge benefit compared to the5ers.

Choosing the right funded trading program is essential for long-term success in the forex trading industry. By going with City Traders Imperium, you are choosing a service that provides traders with the tools they need to achieve their goals. In fact, CTI’s trading conditions are more favourable than many other prop firms. But don’t take our word for it; we have many success stories to demonstrate this!

So why wait? Join City Traders Imperium today and take your trading career to the next level!

The5ers Alternative: City Traders Imperium (CTI) vs 5ers

Why CTI is a Better The5ers Alternative