IC Funded vs FTMO: which prop firm wins on price and rules?
IC Funded vs FTMO comes down to a trade-off between the industry’s freshest broker-backed challenger and its longest-standing incumbent. FTMO (founded 2015, Czech Republic) wins on track record, payout flexibility (on-demand from day 14, paid in 1–2 business days), a 90/10 split on its 1-Step program, unlimited free trials, and a fee refund with your very first payout. IC Funded (the prop firm launched in partnership with broker IC Markets, live since May 11, 2026) wins on cheap entry ($74 for a $5,000 2-Step challenge; FTMO’s cheapest ticket is €155 ≈ $177), a fixed 80/20 split from day one with no scaling hoops, a $500,000 single-account tier FTMO doesn’t offer, a no-evaluation Instant Funded product FTMO has no equivalent to, and eligibility for traders in Indonesia and Kazakhstan, whom FTMO bans. The IC Funded side of this page was re-checked on September 3, 2026, on its live checkout and rules pages, and three things had moved: the $200,000 1-Step tier is gone, Instant Funded is new, and the day requirement is now worded as profitable days. The FTMO figures still date from July 18, 2026, against the live pages of ftmo.com, and are labelled as such below.
Disclosure: fundedverify.com is an independent affiliate site. We are not IC Funded, IC Markets, or FTMO, and we are not operated by any of them. We are an affiliate of both firms compared here, and we earn a commission whichever one you pick, at no extra cost to you, which is exactly why we have no reason to push you toward either. Written by Myx.
To our knowledge this is the first full, source-verified comparison of these two firms. IC Funded is under four months old in its current form, and no established review site has put it head-to-head with FTMO yet. It is also the first entry in our versus series (IC Funded vs FundedNext is coming next).
IC Funded vs FTMO: head-to-head table
| Criterion | IC Funded (checked September 3, 2026) | FTMO (checked July 18, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Founded / launched | May 11, 2026 (relaunch of a 2024 beta) | 2015 |
| Backing | ”In partnership with IC Markets” (separate legal entity, Saint Lucia) | Independent, Prague, Czech Republic; US product via OANDA partnership |
| Programs | 1-Step Accelerated, 2-Step Professional, Instant Funded (no evaluation) | FTMO Challenge: 1-Step, FTMO Challenge: 2-Step |
| Account sizes | $5K–$500K (2-Step); $10K–$100K (1-Step); $5K–$100K (Instant Funded) | $10K–$200K |
| Cheapest entry | $74 ($5K 2-Step) | €155 ≈ $177 ($10K) |
| Fee currency | USD | EUR |
| Profit split | Fixed 80/20 from the first funded account, all three programs | 2-Step: 80/20, scales to 90/10 via Scaling Plan; 1-Step: 90/10 from the start |
| Fee refund | With your 3rd payout | 2-Step: with your 1st payout; 1-Step: never refunded |
| Payout cycle | Every 14 days; 1st payout 14 days after activation (needs 5 profitable days of ≥0.5% each), 2nd needs 3 profitable days, 3rd+ no minimum | On demand from day 14 after your first trade; reviewed and paid within 1–2 business days each |
| Payout methods | RISE | Bank wire, Visa Direct / Mastercard Send (≤$20K), Skrill (≤$3K), crypto |
| 2-Step drawdowns | Step 1: 4% daily / 8% max; Step 2 & Funded: 5% / 10% (max is static on initial balance, daily is measured on end-of-day equity)* | 5% daily / 10% max (static), all phases |
| 1-Step drawdowns | 3% daily / 6% max (static) | 3% daily / 10% max (end-of-day trailing) |
| Instant funding | Instant Funded, $109–$879, no evaluation, 3% daily / 5% max (static) | No equivalent product |
| Time limit | None | None |
| Minimum days per phase | 3 profitable days (a flat or losing day does not count) | 4 trading days (2-Step), profit not required |
| Consistency rule | 45% soft rule, 1-Step evaluation only (excess added to target, no auto-fail, does not apply once funded) | Best Day ≤50% rule, 1-Step only, applies on the funded account too (not a breach; you must keep trading) |
| Platforms | MT5, cTrader | MT4, MT5, cTrader |
| Max FX leverage | 1:50 (2-Step) / 1:30 (1-Step and Instant Funded) | 1:100 (Standard) / 1:30 (Swing) |
| Paid rule upgrades | Yes: wider daily drawdown +10%, wider max drawdown +20%, faster payouts +15%, higher split +20% | Not offered |
| News trading (funded) | 3-minute block around high-impact news, all accounts | 2-minute block, Standard accounts only; Swing exempt |
| Weekend holding (funded) | No: Friday flatten required on all accounts | Standard: no; Swing: yes |
| Max allocation | $500,000 per trader | $400,000 per trader (up to $2M via Scaling Plan) |
| Free trial | None advertised (14-day refund if no trades placed) | Unlimited free trials |
| Notable banned countries | USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium (+ ~35 more) | Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Russia; US only via FTMO US (OANDA) |
| Notably accepted | India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan | India, Canada, Australia, Belgium |
| Trustpilot | Young profile (~112 reviews, July 2026), scores contested across aggregators | 4.8/5 displayed on ftmo.com |
| Environment | Simulated/demo, virtual funds (not a broker) | Simulated/demo, virtual funds |
* IC Funded’s own site is internally inconsistent on 2-Step drawdowns: the pricing and rules pages state the phase-based numbers above, while the FAQ states size-based maximums (below $100K: 10%; $100K and above: 8%). We treat the pricing/rules pages as primary and have flagged the discrepancy to their support. Full detail in our IC Funded review.
Price comparison at equal account sizes
Both firms charge a one-time fee, no subscriptions. FTMO bills in EUR, IC Funded in USD. IC Funded’s 2-Step prices below were re-read on its checkout on September 3, 2026 and had not changed since July. FTMO’s EUR tiers and the USD equivalents are July 18, 2026 figures at the ECB reference rate of 1.1435, so the crossover points move a little as EUR/USD moves.
| Size | IC Funded 2-Step (USD) | FTMO 2-Step (EUR ≈ USD) | Cheaper at list price | Discount that flips it to IC Funded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | $74 | not offered | IC Funded (only option) | n/a |
| $10,000 | $125 | €155 ≈ $177 | IC Funded, −$52 (29% less) | already cheaper |
| $25,000 | $249 | €250 ≈ $286 | IC Funded, −$37 | already cheaper |
| $50,000 | $449 | €345 ≈ $395 | FTMO, −$54 | ≥ 12.2% off |
| $100,000 | $689 | €540 ≈ $617 | FTMO, −$72 | ≥ 10.4% off |
| $200,000 | $1,275 | €1,080 ≈ $1,235 | FTMO, −$40 | ≥ 3.2% off |
| $500,000 | $2,999 | not offered | IC Funded (only option) | n/a |
The honest read: at list price, IC Funded is the cheaper firm at the bottom of the ladder ($5K–$25K) and the only firm at the top ($500K in a single 2-Step purchase; FTMO caps accounts at $200K and total allocation at $400K before scaling). FTMO is modestly cheaper at $50K–$200K at July exchange rates.
That changes with a discount code. Our code Myx returned 30% at IC Funded’s checkout on September 3, 2026, which clears every threshold in the last column above and makes IC Funded the cheaper firm at every shared size. The same code returned 35% in July, so the margin has narrowed while the conclusion has not. We test it at checkout and date each test on our IC Funded promo code page.
One product difference has no FTMO column at all. IC Funded’s third program, Instant Funded, hands you a funded simulated account with no evaluation, from $109 at $5,000 to $879 at $100,000, in exchange for the tightest drawdown of anything on this page (3% daily, 5% maximum, static on the initial balance). FTMO sells no equivalent: at FTMO you pass a challenge or you do not trade. Whether that is a win for IC Funded depends entirely on whether you would rather buy a funded account or earn one.
One more fee difference that outlasts the sticker price: FTMO refunds your 2-Step fee with your first payout (never on 1-Step). IC Funded refunds the challenge fee after your third payout. If you fund and cash out even once, FTMO’s effective cost drops to zero faster.
Start an IC Funded challenge with code Myx (30% off) →
Rules: where each firm is stricter
Neither firm imposes a time limit on any evaluation phase, and both run 10% (then 5% for step two) profit targets on their 2-Step programs. The differences live in the details.
Where FTMO is stricter
- Days per phase, on the count: 4 per phase on the 2-Step, versus IC Funded’s 3. But read the next section before scoring this one, because IC Funded’s three have to be profitable days and FTMO’s four only have to be traded.
- 1-Step consistency on funded accounts: FTMO’s Best Day Rule (your best day may not exceed 50% of your positive days’ profit) applies not just to passing the 1-Step Challenge but to every reward request on the funded 1-Step account. IC Funded’s 45% consistency rule applies only during the 1-Step evaluation, and it is soft: the excess is added to your profit target rather than failing you.
- No fee refund on 1-Step, ever. IC Funded refunds the fee on its programs after the third payout.
- EUR billing: if you earn and think in USD, FTMO’s pricing carries exchange-rate noise; IC Funded charges flat USD.
Where IC Funded is stricter
- Weekend holding: IC Funded requires a Friday flatten on all accounts: every position closed before the weekly close, with auto-close possible. FTMO’s Swing account type holds through weekends and news with no restrictions. If you swing trade multi-week positions, this alone decides the comparison in FTMO’s favor.
- News windows (funded): IC Funded blocks opening/closing trades 3 minutes before and after high-impact releases on all funded accounts. FTMO’s window is 2 minutes and only applies to Standard accounts; Swing accounts trade straight through NFP.
- Profitable days, not trading days: IC Funded’s rules page now asks for a minimum of 3 profitable days per phase, where it said trading days in July. A day you traded and closed flat or down does not count. FTMO’s 4 days per phase carry no such condition, so its higher number is the softer requirement, and this is the one line in the comparison where a bigger figure is the friendlier one.
- Payout gates: IC Funded’s first payout requires 14 days plus at least 5 profitable days, each a net gain of ≥0.5% of the balance; the second requires 3 profitable days. FTMO has no profitable-day requirements at all: from day 14 after your first trade you can request a reward on any day the account is in profit with positions closed.
- Tighter step-one drawdown: IC Funded’s 2-Step Step 1 allows 4% daily / 8% max, versus FTMO’s 5% / 10% throughout. On the 1-Step, IC Funded’s 6% static maximum is the tightest total drawdown in this comparison (FTMO’s 1-Step allows 10%, though it trails end-of-day, so its floor rises as you bank profit, a different kind of pressure).
- Payout rail: RISE only. FTMO offers wire, card payout rails, Skrill, and crypto.
- Leverage: FX capped at 1:50 on the 2-Step and 1:30 on both the 1-Step and Instant Funded, versus FTMO’s 1:100 on Standard accounts. Whichever IC Funded program you pick, FTMO’s Standard account gives you at least twice the forex leverage.
Both firms ban the same family of toxic strategies (arbitrage of every flavor, HFT/tick scalping, copy trading between accounts, account sharing, martingale-style risk escalation), and both are simulated demo environments, not brokers. Neither firm, and no honest affiliate, can promise you’ll pass or profit.
Eligibility: the country gap nobody documents
This is where the two firms genuinely serve different traders, and where most 2026 articles are wrong. We pulled both firms’ restricted-country lists from their live official pages on July 18, 2026.
| Country | FTMO | IC Funded |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Not on FTMO Global; separate FTMO US product via OANDA (ftmo.oanda.com) | No |
| India | Yes: India is not on FTMO’s live restricted list, despite many 2026 guides claiming otherwise | Yes |
| Indonesia | No (explicitly restricted) | Yes |
| Kazakhstan | No (explicitly restricted) | Yes |
| Canada | Yes | No |
| Australia | Yes | No |
| Belgium | Yes | No |
| Russia | No | No |
| Iran, Syria, North Korea | No | No |
| Saint Lucia | No | No: IC Funded’s own registered jurisdiction is on its restricted list |
Three findings worth underlining:
- Indonesia and Kazakhstan are the clean switches. FTMO explicitly restricts both; IC Funded’s list includes neither. If you trade from Jakarta or Almaty, IC Funded is available and FTMO is not.
- India is a widespread myth. Multiple 2026 “FTMO banned countries” guides list India as restricted. FTMO’s own who-can-join FAQ, checked live on July 18, 2026, does not include India: its business-restriction list runs alphabetically from Holy See straight to “the Republic of Indonesia.” Both firms currently accept Indian traders. If you’re in India, confirm at signup, but don’t rule FTMO out based on a recycled listicle.
- The mirror image: FTMO accepts Canada, Australia, and Belgium; IC Funded bans all three (plus the USA outright, with no OANDA-style side door). IC Funded’s full ~40-country restricted list is in our IC Funded review.
Track record vs freshness: the honest trust gap
There is no way to spin this: FTMO has a ten-year head start. Operating since 2015, it reports 4.5M+ customers, more than $650M paid in rewards, support in 20 languages, and displays a 4.8/5 Trustpilot score on its site. It has survived every prop-industry shakeout of the past decade, including the 2024 MetaQuotes crackdown and the US market pullback (which it answered with a dedicated FTMO US product through OANDA in 2025). When you wire FTMO €540, a decade of processed payouts stands behind the transaction.
IC Funded’s current form is under four months old. It soft-launched in beta in 2024, was put on hold, and relaunched on May 11, 2026 with rebuilt infrastructure under General Manager Petros Kalaitzis, a hire with real prop pedigree (ex-Deputy CEO & Chief Strategy Officer of FunderPro, with prior stops at eToro, Saxo Bank, Tickmill, and NAGA). The “in partnership with IC Markets” backing is the strongest brand endorsement any new prop firm launched in 2026 can claim, but note the structure: IC Funded is a separate legal entity registered in Saint Lucia, with what Kalaitzis describes as a “Chinese wall” between the firms. You are trusting IC Funded, adjacent to but not identical with the broker.
Its Trustpilot profile reflects the firm’s age: roughly 112 reviews as of July 2026, with reported scores varying so widely across aggregators (from the mid-2s to the mid-4s) that we won’t print a single number until we can verify it directly. Early reviewer themes: successful payouts, responsive support, and tight spreads on the positive side; KYC friction and some post-payout account terminations (with arbitrage/VPS accusations) on the negative side. We track this in detail, complaints included, in our review.
The practical takeaway: FTMO is the lower-variance choice on trust. IC Funded is the asymmetric bet: a broker-backed operation with senior management and everything to prove, priced aggressively at entry level. Size your first purchase accordingly; a $74 or $125 challenge is a cheap way to test a two-month-old firm with your own payout experience rather than anyone’s marketing.
Verdict: who should choose which
Choose FTMO if you:
- want the longest track record in the industry (2015) behind your fee
- swing trade and need weekend/news holding (Swing account type)
- want payouts on demand from day 14, paid in 1–2 business days, with no profitable-day quotas
- want 90% of profits from day one (1-Step) or the fee back with your first payout (2-Step)
- trade on MT4, want up to 1:100 leverage, or want to rehearse with unlimited free trials
- are in the USA (via FTMO US/OANDA), Canada, Australia, or Belgium, since IC Funded won’t take you
Choose IC Funded if you:
- want broker-backed infrastructure: the IC Markets partnership is unique among 2026 prop launches
- want the cheapest entry in this comparison ($74 for $5K, $125 for $10K) or the biggest single account ($500K 2-Step)
- prefer a fixed 80/20 split immediately, with no scaling requirements to memorize
- want a funded account without an evaluation at all, which is what Instant Funded sells and FTMO does not
- like fewer evaluation hoops: no time limit, no consistency rule on the 2-Step, and 3 days per phase rather than 4, provided you can make those three days profitable ones
- pay in USD and want USD pricing
- are in Indonesia, Kazakhstan, or India: IC Funded takes all three (and FTMO’s live list, contrary to popular belief, also allows India)
Our position as an affiliate is on record, so weigh it as you will, but the numbers above are the numbers. For traders outside FTMO-only jurisdictions who want a low-cost first funded attempt with a top-tier broker’s name adjacent to it, IC Funded is the better-priced ticket at the small end, and the discount closes the gap at every other size.
Get 30% off any IC Funded challenge with code Myx →
Enter Myx in the coupon field at checkout after selecting your program, size, and platform. One code per order. Not available in restricted countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, and Belgium.
FAQ: IC Funded vs FTMO
Is IC Funded better than FTMO?
Neither is better outright. FTMO is better on trust (founded 2015, 4.8/5 displayed Trustpilot, $650M+ paid out), payout flexibility (on demand from day 14), the Swing account’s weekend holding, its 90/10 1-Step split, and a day requirement that only asks you to trade rather than to profit. IC Funded is better on entry price ($74 vs ≈$177 minimum), a fixed 80/20 split with no scaling conditions, a $500K account tier, an instant-funding product FTMO does not sell, and availability in Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and other countries FTMO excludes.
Is IC Funded cheaper than FTMO?
At small sizes, yes: $125 vs €155 (≈$177) at $10K and $249 vs €250 (≈$286) at $25K, plus a $74/$5K tier FTMO doesn’t sell. At $50K–$200K, FTMO is $40–$72 cheaper at list price at July 2026 exchange rates. The IC Funded code Myx changes the math: it returned 30% at checkout on September 3, 2026, which is more than enough to make IC Funded cheaper at every shared size. FTMO refunds its 2-Step fee at the first payout; IC Funded refunds at the third.
Which pays out faster, IC Funded or FTMO?
FTMO. It accepts reward requests on the 14th day (or any day after) following your first trade on the funded account, with review and payment each taking 1–2 business days and no profitable-day requirements. IC Funded runs a bi-weekly cycle: the first payout comes 14 days after funded activation and requires at least 5 profitable days of ≥0.5% each, the second requires 3 profitable days, and only from the third onward is there no minimum. Payouts go through RISE.
Can Indian traders join IC Funded or FTMO?
Both, as of July 18, 2026. India is not on IC Funded’s restricted list, and, contrary to many 2026 articles, India does not appear on FTMO’s official restricted-country FAQ either. Indonesia is the real dividing line: restricted at FTMO, accepted at IC Funded.
Does FTMO still offer MT4 in 2026?
Yes. FTMO’s live platform pages list MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader (verified July 18, 2026). IC Funded offers MT5 and cTrader only, no MT4. If your strategy or EA is MT4-native, FTMO is your only option of the two.
Which firm is better for beginners?
FTMO offers unlimited free trials and a decade of educational content, the safest way to learn the funded model before paying. IC Funded’s $74 (5K) and $125 (10K) challenges are the cheapest real attempts in this comparison, with no time limit and no consistency rule on the 2-Step, though a beginner should note that its three days per phase have to close in profit. A defensible path: rehearse free at FTMO, then buy whichever firm’s rules fit the strategy you actually trade. No challenge, at any firm, comes with a guarantee of passing or profit.
Do both firms refund the challenge fee?
FTMO refunds the 2-Step fee with your first reward withdrawal but never refunds the 1-Step fee. IC Funded refunds the challenge fee after your third payout, processed with that payout, on both programs.
How we verified this comparison
All FTMO facts were pulled from live ftmo.com pages on July 18, 2026: the trading objectives page (targets, drawdowns, minimum trading days, Best Day Rule), FAQ articles on withdrawals, fee refunds, news trading, weekend holding, platforms, account limits, and the who-can-join restricted-country list, plus the Scaling Plan page. FTMO’s EUR price tiers were cross-checked against multiple 2026-dated pricing trackers. All IC Funded facts come from our own reading of icfunded.com (pricing, rules, FAQ, terms) and its live checkout, first on July 18, 2026 and re-checked on September 3, 2026; where the two dates disagree, the page carries the September figure and says what it replaced. The country lists on both sides are still the July reading. Full workings in our IC Funded review and current tested codes on the IC Funded promo code page. EUR→USD conversions use the ECB reference rate of 1.1435 (July 18, 2026). If you spot a rule change we’ve missed, tell us and we’ll re-verify within 48 hours.
Changelog
- 2026-09-02: IC Funded side re-checked on its live checkout and rules pages; FTMO figures left at their July date and labelled. Added Instant Funded (no evaluation, $109 to $879, 3% daily and 5% maximum drawdown), which FTMO has no equivalent to. Removed the $200,000 1-Step tier: IC Funded’s 1-Step now runs $10,000 to $100,000. Reworded the day requirement to 3 profitable days per phase and flagged that FTMO’s larger figure of 4 is the softer rule because it does not require profit. Recorded the code discount at 30%, down from 35%, and re-read IC Funded’s leverage caps as unchanged (1:50 on the 2-Step, 1:30 on the 1-Step and on Instant Funded). Added IC Funded’s paid rule upgrades at checkout, which FTMO does not sell.
- 2026-07-17: Page published. All rules, prices, country lists, and splits verified against ftmo.com and icfunded.com. Flagged: IC Funded’s FAQ-vs-pricing drawdown discrepancy (queried with support); India absent from FTMO’s live restricted list despite contrary third-party guides.
Next in this series: IC Funded vs FundedNext.