Fast Track Trading - full history from launch to rug pull
Wait ✋🏼
(Update from 11/7/2024 2:30pm) - yup, FTT is officially over. Email refunds@fasttracktrading.net to get refunded if you had ACTIVE accounts. I had some. I guess we’ll see if they really do refund us.
(Update from 11/7/2024 10:30am) - It appears that FTT might be completely shutting down, but we don’t have confirmation yet.
(Update from 10/22/2024) - Fast Track Trading just denied MILLIONS in payouts to traders after retroactively enforcing new rules on already-approved payouts. These traders can get their payouts by continuing to trade under the new rules, but this is not fair by FTT. At all. It’s a terrible and unjust situation for the traders who rightfully earned those payouts.
3 weeks prior to this (prior to 10/22), I updated this review at the top with a “Wait - Stop” proceeded by a warning about: 1) how the firm was a mess, and 2) that I recommended not purchasing any new accounts until they could fix everything.
Months before that, I constantly updated this page when there were issues regarding Rithmic and the significant payout delays. Nothing was ever sugar-coated, and I named MyFundedFutures as my personal recommendation from the very start.
And when I first published this review… I predicted many of the issues that they now admit to and have suffered from as a firm. I called them an extremely high-risk prop firm (with recommendations for safer alternative firms). Instead of deleting this review (which resulted in emails and messages), I will leave it up. Additionally, pink/blue text will be used to add new comments and updates on things that I said in the original review.
My top alternative firm (and personal favorite) right now is MyFundedFutures; see the guide/review here. I received one of my payouts 4 minutes after the initial request. How’s that for speed?
My site and its explanations of the payout policies are completely out-of-date. Go to FTT’s update here.
Important Notes
There is no evaluation; funding is instant with a one-time-purchase
There are no commissions until the live trading account
I hope this lasts, but I doubt it will.
The least amount of trading-restrictions of any firm (scalping, scaling, dca, etc. are allowed)
You can trade up to 20 accounts + copy-trading is allowed
Alright, let’s get started.
Breakdown of the funding costs - more or less affordable than the other firms?
At first, I was shocked by the account prices, but wait a sec…
Let’s say you pass Topstep’s 150k account on the third try. Each evaluation there is $149 (after the discount), and the activation fee is also $149. That comes out to $596. FTT’s 150k account is immediate funding and costs $599 ($419 at 30% off, but check the coupons/discounts at the top of this page to see what’s currently active).
Your true account size is the max drawdown, and Topstep’s is $4,500 while FTT’s is $7,500. On day 1 of FTT’s funded account, you can trade 15 contracts. With Topstep, initially you can only trade 3 contracts because of their scaling plan - so, if you pass on the third try, you’re paying the same amount for a FAR worse account (both in terms of drawdown and position limits). As you can see, there are various instances where FTT is actually cheaper than the other firms (while also being so much better that it becomes an apples vs oranges comparison). However, this is clearly not a firm for beginners. This is a very large investment, and you need to be incredibly calculated and not impulsive about purchases. Since you can have up to 20 accounts, budgeting is particularly important here. Yes, it’s an initial higher price, but that’s what you get for instant funding.
Can we trust Fast Track Trading?
Do any of the concerns about Fast Track Trading really matter as long as they’re paying out? Well… many traders say no, but that’s up to you to decide.
This is a new prop firm model, and payments to them are only done through ACH or crypto for now (*not true anymore). We can never truly know what’s going on internally, but the CEO Scott Trieste appears to be very transparent about FTT’s financials on the FTT Discord server. They’re processing 100s of thousands of dollars worth of payouts to traders every day, and they haven’t introduced any wacky rules like Apex to stop people from getting payouts (yet, at least).
So, if you don’t trust them but still want to take advantage of a funding company with no evaluations… then take withdrawals while you grow the account. When it comes to prop firms, don’t forget to pay yourself. This is especially true for a newer/riskier firm like FTT. There is more information about this further below.
The payout policy rules; pay close attention! (remember, out-of-date)
Since there’s no evaluation, the payout policy is everything. There’s a lot that needs to be kept in mind, so let’s break it down. The minimum withdrawal amount for a payout is $250.
Buffer zone / threshold
First, the account has to hit a 5% gain to become eligible for a payout. You don’t have to keep the balance at or above this 5% level; you just need to hit it, and then that makes you eligible for a payout. The 5% gain amount is listed below for each account.
Rally / 25k
$1,250
Daytona / 50k
$2,500
GT / 150k
$7,500
LeMans / 300k
$15,000
20% consistency rule
To take a payout, your biggest single day’s profit can’t exceed more than 20% of your total profit. Let’s do some easy math and keep this simple so you can avoid making a silly mistake. Let’s say your total profit right now is $2,000. Multiply 2,000 by .2 to see what your biggest single day’s profit can be to meet this requirement. So, that number would be 2,000 * .2 = $400. But, what if you had a $500 day? Well, 500 divided by 2,000 is .25 (25%), so you’re not eligible for a payout. What would your total profit need to raise to in order to meet the 20% consistency rule? Take 500 and divide it by .20, and you’ll get 2,500. $2,500 is the total profit required to make your account follow the 20% consistency rule because of your $500 day. So, plan for this as you grow your account and don’t have 1 atypical/massive winning day.
Phase 1
Honestly, just stop reading what I’m about to say and skip to phase 2. Phase 1 is (almost) nonsense and is (almost) impossible to achieve due to the consistency rule. There’s nothing wrong with the phase-2 payout policy, so I’m not sure why this even exists, lol. I’ve seen people get this, but it’s rare.
If you make exactly 20% of the 5% buffer (explained above) for 5 days in a row, then you qualify for the special phase-1 payout policy. The possibility of getting the 5-day payout policy only applies to the first account(s) you buy. Again, you’d have to make EXACTLY 20% every day for 5 days in a row. Some people will achieve this, but 99% of you should just focus on trading your strategy and on following the phase 2 payout policy. The policy goes to the 10-day model after the first 5-day policy anyways.
Phase 2 - the standard payout policy
You can take a payout every 10 total trading days. A trading day is any day where a trade is taken, and the ten days do not need to be in a row. Here are the maximum amounts per withdrawal per account. Remember, you can have up to 20 accounts (please be smart about this though).
Rally ($25,000): Up to $1,500
Daytona ($50,000): Up to $2,000
GT ($150,000): Up to $3,000
LeMans ($300,000): Up to $4,000
After a trader has received a total of 8 payouts, the payout limit per withdrawal doubles:
Rally ($25,000): Up to $3,000
Daytona ($50,000): Up to $4,000
GT ($150,000): Up to $6,000
LeMans ($300,000): Up to $8,000
After 12 payouts, traders can request any amount they want (even if they are not yet on a live account). Alternatively, they may also be moved to a live account.
As of 10/16 (Monday), the following rules have been implemented (I copied this directly from their Discord announcement)
First Payout
No changes here. Traders will proceed as usual for their first payout.
Second and subsequent payouts
Traders must make at least the same amount as their previous payout to be eligible for the next one. Additionally, each payout cycle must include at least 6 real, non-flipping trading days to ensure meaningful and consistent trading.
Flipping rule
Any payout requests that involve more than 5 days of flipping will be denied, and traders will need to trade for an additional 10 days before requesting a new payout.
Issues, features, and extra information worth mentioning
The trading platforms
Currently, Fast Track Trading supports Rithmic-compatible platforms, including Quantower, R|Trader Pro, ATAS, Motivewave, Jigsaw, and Sierra Chart. According to them, they have plans to implement NinjaTrader and Tradovate, but we’ll see. After writing this review, it appears that Tradovate is a very long ways away from being implemented, but NinjaTrader could be coming soon. That is very good news.
FTT’s “trade journaling” requirement for payouts
When you request a withdrawal, you have to submit a trading journal with it. At first, I was like what the freaking goofy ahh heck?? But, I read more and found out that it’s not really a journal. I don’t know why they do this, but whatever. They provide the tool to do this, and all they want is for you to write the total profit/loss for each trading day. That’s all it is; extremely simple and easy. Click here to read their page about that, and click here for their journal-tool thingy that you have to fill out. Goofy? Yeah. A deal breaker? No. That’d be far more goofy.
Links to helpful tools on their website
Consistency calculator - click here
Buffer calculator - click here
Drawdown calculator - click here
Click this link to go to their faq (https://www.fasttracktrading.net/#faq), but there’s actually far more helpful information on this page here (https://www.fasttracktrading.net/knowledgebase). The second link isn’t linked in the top banner of their website, so a lot of people don’t even know it exists. You can only navigate to it by clicking the “Knowledgebase” button at the bottom of their main page (or by direct link of course).
Oh Rithmic…
Rithmic is the supplier for market data for FTT (there will be more options soon). When Rithmic admits to an outage that caused connection issues, prop firms will reset the affected accounts. When Rithmic doesn’t say anything went wrong, then you could be out of luck if you don’t have anything recorded. So, I recommend recording your trades (which has other benefits too) - OBS is free and easy to use. This firm is growing, and copy-trading on up to 20 accounts is going to put significant stress on the sim servers. Anyways, this is your warning. I’ve seen them reset accounts when they didn’t have to (9/8/24), but you can’t always rely on this.
Major payout delays
FTT’s growth has been unprecedented, and they were not prepared for it. However, they are actively implementing changes as fast as possible in order to catch up on payouts and on customer-service-related inquiries. Some people are waiting on payouts from 3+ weeks ago, but, again, FTT has been prioritizing this and catching up. Remember, delays do not equal denials; people are still getting all of their money, it’s just taking longer than we’d like. This is a problem that will be fixed. FTT has paid out more money to traders than any other firm in the past 30 days (according to payoutjunction.com as of 10/3/2024). If this is a priority to you, then go with MFFU until the problem is fixed. My payouts were approved and sent to Rise within minutes of being requested; I don’t know of any firms that are doing it better than that.
Yap yap yap here’s my most honest assessment of Fast Track Trading
This firm is an unbelievable opportunity for skilled traders while also being a potential financial-nightmare for traders who aren’t ready yet. Yes, that’s true for all firms, but that’s extra true for FTT. This is the highest-risk highest-reward prop firm out there. Never buy evaluations until you’re ready, but definitely don’t make that mistake with a firm this expensive. Even though we learned that the prices are okay when compared to other firms (due to factoring in the attempts it takes to get funded), the total spending can easily and quickly add up. As a guy with “just” a few thousand in profit from funded-account payouts, the idea of spending $1,000 on a couple accounts is quite jarring. I will not be doing that. However, there is some serious money to be made for those who can approach this with the proper skills, discipline, and gameplan. Obviously, you don’t have to buy multiple accounts just because you can, and the 25k account is very good. It costs $179 total, and the profit required to qualify for a withdrawal is $1,250. If you get there or past it while following the 20% consistency rule, then that money is yours. So, I guess my recommendation for the average trader (again, one who is actually ready for funding and can afford it) is this account. For the experts, the bigger accounts are a crazy deal.
Comparisons can’t be accurately made to other firms, because FTT has no evaluations. They have the least amount of trading-style restrictions of any firm that I’ve seen, and the fact that they have no commissions on anything is absurd. The futures trading space has never seen that. We finally have a firm that is 100% okay with scalping (at least for now, lol). Who knows how long the 0-commissions will last, so let’s enjoy it while we can.
I do believe that if regulation comes to the online futures-prop-firms that FTT will be one of the first to get hit hard. Of course, most of you (which I find myself agreeing with more and more lately) will say something like: “Who cares?? Let’s just make our money and get out while we can.” Yeah, I guess so. Anyways, the amount of traders making it a truly live account is / will be extraordinarily small, and, because of this, FTT is essentially acting like a CFD broker (which is illegal in the US). Yes, so is Apex, (edit; this is why Apex just completely revamped their entire business model) but I’m somewhat confident in saying that the bigger prop firms have some type of deal with futures exchanges to give them a cut of those simulated commissions (I might be completely wrong on that, but I’m willing to bet I’m not, lol). Mark my words; if/when government regulation comes to the online futures prop-firms, FTT will be in big trouble. Until then, this is an unbelievable opportunity, so make your money and don’t forget to pay yourself from your funded accounts. Nobody is forcing you to use prop firms instead of trading your own account. Analyze what’s best for you, and always do your own research. Also, getting funded accounts among several firms is what many people do to diversify.
Unless your confidence is high in the investment you’re making with FTT, than my biggest recommendation for a “normal” and safer prop firm is MyFundedFutures. They’re currently the cheapest while also having the easiest evaluations to pass. You can get funded on their 50k account for as little as $76 after using my link here with code Iman. If you want more information about them, you can click here for my full review on them (which includes breaking down the difference between starter and expert plans).
FTT uses an interesting metric here to show how cost-effective each account is in relation to the account’s size. For most prop firms, the 50k account is their most popular and fair account. In this instance, it’s the most cost ineffective account. However, let’s take a step back here and understand that these metrics only mean something in relation to the other FTT accounts. What I mean by that is you should just choose the account that you want based on the sizing you’re used to while also considering proper budgeting for prop firms.
It’s not like we’re shopping for the most cost-effective vacuum cleaner based on how many sucks per dollar you get or something (idk how vacuums work). I’m not going to buy a $6,000 industrial vacuum cleaner just because the suck cost per $1,000 funds ratio is better; I’m going to pick a vacuum cleaner that is best suited for what I need. Get the analogy? Pick what you want and what makes sense for your unique approach/style/budget. A company will obviously want you to go with the most expensive product, so do some thinking about what’s actually smartest for YOU.
Yeah, the LeMans (300k) account is the most cost effective, but you’re also spending $799, lol. Will you ever see me buying the LeMans account? Heck no. However, if you’re a high-level and experienced trader, then that account is incredible! Blah blah blah, buy the right vacuum cleaner.
The controversial CEO and Discord server - refreshing or a red flag?
Some people find it refreshing (and entertaining) to watch the CEO (Scott Trieste) and FTT-support interacting with traders on their Discord server, and some people find it unprofessional. 99.9% of the time, it’s the usual interactions of FTT staff answering the same questions over and over again and being extremely helpful. The .1% of the time is where we get some… entertainment? The best way to describe the situation is that FTT does not tolerate stupidity and time-wasting. It’s what every company wishes they could do - respect and cherish the great members of their community while also sometimes making fun of and banning the bad members. Again, you get to decide if this is hilarious or if it’s unprofessional. Let me show you some examples. Some of you might laugh, and some of you might be horrified at a company who doesn’t bend over for their customers.
Regardless of how you feel about this, just don’t pretend like “being rude” (justifiably so from the limited conversations I’ve personally seen) is AT ALL the same as the Apex Trader Funding situation (they shut down their Discord server after my video on them). Apex had moderators on power trips who were gaslighting traders and directly blaming them for Rithmic connection issues, ghost orders, and more. They were banning members for using certain key words (not offensive ones) and even just for using clown emojis. That is not at all the same as FTT’s server. You are welcome to be disgusted or entertained by this, but, regardless of what you do, definitely don’t join their server and ask a question that you could get the answer to in 15 seconds by checking their website 😉. Also, remember, most conversations on the server don’t go like that, lol. Obviously, it’s full of extremely patient and helpful staff members. Since writing this review, I have seen some unjustified rudeness and reactions that weren’t appropriate or justified, so just remember that FTT is not your typical firm/business. Their Discord is far less moderated in terms of what people are allowed to say, so join that and interact there at your own risk. The best way to describe it as that they are big fans of free speech. If you want to join a community, I have a free Discord server specifically for for my fellow prop-firm traders traders that you can join by clicking here.
Do any of the concerns about Fast Track Trading really matter as long as they’re paying out? Many say no. Some say yes. Ultimately, answering that is up to you.
So, if you don’t trust them but still want to take advantage of a funding company with no evaluations… then just make your money and take it out. When it comes to prop firms, don’t forget to pay yourself. This is especially true for a newer firm. This is also a good time to say that you can always do practice runs of evaluations by using a sim account on your own. Either way, use a sim account until you’re truly ready.
Please @Iman on the prop firm Discord server if you find any errors on this page or if you still have any remaining questions. I fully intend on this page being the most in-depth and coherent guide on FTT, so questions will help me with further updates.
Here is a link to that Discord server if you’d like to join.
Here’s what the CEO had to say about this review
RISK AND AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE - Never risk money you can’t afford to lose!
Futures, foreign currency and options trading contains substantial risk and is not for every investor. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing ones financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading and only those with sufficient risk capital should consider trading. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Most traders do not succeed. The links on this site are primarily affiliate links, which financially supports me at no extra cost to you.