ActualTraders

[VPhantom]

Hi all!

I just received a mass e-mail from Elite about ActualTraders, but I didn't see a thread about them yet, nor a sponsor link at the bottom. I assume they are a brand new sponsor here.

As for what they offer, they seem to be more or less the Forex equivalent of TopstepTrader:

• TST offers 100% of the initial $5K, 80% thereafter, whereas ActualTraders (AT) offers 50% initially, ramping up to 80% after $20K.
• AT has two "combine" levels called "TraderTryOut" plans: €185/month for 500K in size and €350/month for 1M in size. €100 for resets. Both have profit targets and maximum losses and require a minimum of 10 trading days of activity.
• One interesting TraderTryOut rule not seen at TST: "A single day’s profit must not account for more than 80% of your 10 days’ profit."
• In addition to the TraderTryOut, they also offer "Express" plans: €185/month for 25K in size and €300/month for 50K in size. Both offer 70% profits to the trader, tight loss limits.

I'm not too sure why anyone would go for their Express offering, which within 2 months becomes more expensive than opening a tiny OANDA account, for example.

As for who ActualTraders is; according to their web site all we know is:

ActualTraders (Oy Bolsador AB, business ID 2491319-7) was founded in 2012 in Helsinki, Finland, and the company's headquarters are still in Helsinki.

Not sure what they did between 2012 and 2017.

 

[Overnight]

Yeah, I got the same e-mail.

FAQ# 36..."We want to keep the trading environment straightforward, simple and liquid for you."

FAQ# 2...

"AUD/USD
EUR/AUD
EUR/CAD
EUR/CHF
EUR/GBP
EUR/JPY
EUR/USD
GBP/AUD
GBP/JPY
GBP/USD
NZD/USD
USD/CAD
USD/CHF
USD/JPY
XAU/USD
XTI/USD"

I don't know forex pairs... are all of these really liquid on the FX side? On the futures side they are not that great, aside from 6E and maybe 6J.

 

[hhiusa]

That seems pretty liquid to me.

GBP/USD

 

[Overnight]

Well then, I guess so!

 

[algofy]

Ugh, enough of these companies.

 

[tradethetrade]

Ugh, enough of these companies.

Why? You don't like their model?

 

[traderjo]

Why? You don't like their model?

Business model questionable if not illegal...

 

[VPhantom]

Business model questionable if not illegal...

I wouldn't go that far. They certainly charge a lot for sim trading under the promise of funding, under rules which rookies probably underestimate, but their rules are clear upfront and anyone with a calculator can figure out if it's worth it for them.

Some of them like Apiary are mostly in it to sell training material, but again going through their site and FAQs reveals that, so they're not too difficult to avoid. (Though I admit I had to dig deeper than I would've liked at Apiary to discover the large fees.)

 

[traderjo]

I guess what I am saying is it is more of a Pretend Prop than true blue prop and the somewhat "questionable part" is people get lured by "Get funded" carrot and also even if you are getting funded it is notional funding using internal leverage of the product which actually provided by the exchange/ broker not by the so called props so in reality many would spend hundreds going through he test and those fees are basically used as margin money.. how ethical is that? also why are they not regulated by SEC? like Bright or T3?

 

[VPhantom]

It would be interesting indeed if one of these shops upped their game to sponsor "funded traders" into getting their license to become actual proprietary traders. Might be a nice competitive advantage, too.