City Traders Imperium: challenge prices, rules and payouts

Challenges from

$29

$2.5K account

Profit split

80%

best on offer

Programs

Instant, 1-step, 2-step

8 challenges

Accounts up to

$100K

Trailing, Static drawdown

Overview

City Traders Imperium, usually called CTI, has been funding traders since 2018. It started in London and now operates from Costa Rica. You trade forex, indices, commodities and crypto CFDs on MT5 or Match-Trader. It suits traders who dislike equity-based drawdowns, since every CTI program measures loss limits from balance.

How the evaluation works

1-Step Challenge: one 8% target, no daily limit, and a 5% maximum loss that trails your highest closed balance. Three profitable days, no time limit.
2-Step Challenge: 10% then 5%, a 5% daily limit taken from each day's starting balance, and a 10% static maximum. Three profitable days per phase, no time limit.
Instant Funding: no evaluation. You start on half the account size with a 6% static limit and earn 50% until you hit a 10% milestone.
Direct Funding: no evaluation and the full balance from day one, with a 6% static limit, no daily limit and a 70% split.

Challenges run from $2.5K to $100K and can scale to $200K per account.

Rules worth knowing

News trading, weekend holds and overnight holds are allowed on every program. Only the 1-Step accepts third-party EAs and Martingale. Everywhere else you're limited to EAs you built yourself, and Martingale is banned. There's no consistency rule on the challenges. A failed account can be reset at a discount.

Getting paid

Funded challenge accounts start at 80% and can reach 100% through the VIP ladder, where Bronze pays 90% with weekly payouts and Silver pays 100% on demand. The first withdrawal is available after seven days, then standard accounts pay twice a month. Direct Funding pays on demand from day five. CTI pays by bank transfer, PayPal or crypto, and says bank transfers carry no fee.

At a glance

Platforms: MetaTrader 5, Match-Trader
Payouts: Bank transfer, Crypto, PayPal
Founded: 2018
Based in: San José, Costa Rica

Good

Drawdown measured on balance, not floating equity
News, weekend and overnight holding allowed
First payout possible after 7 days on the challenges
No time limit on either challenge

Watch for

Third-party EAs and Martingale banned outside the 1-Step
1-Step drawdown trails your highest balance
Higher splits depend on reaching VIP tiers

Challenges

Every account City Traders Imperium sells. Sort by any column.

Program						Drawdown			Payouts
1-Step Challenge1-step	$2.5K	$29	8%	—	5%	Trailing	80%	3 days	14 days
1-Step Challenge1-step	$50K	$299	8%	—	5%	Trailing	80%	3 days	14 days
1-Step Challenge1-step	$100K	$449	8%	—	5%	Trailing	80%	3 days	14 days
2-Step Challenge2-step	$2.5K	$39	10% / 5%	5%	10%	Static	80%	3 days	14 days
2-Step Challenge2-step	$50K	$329	10% / 5%	5%	10%	Static	80%	3 days	14 days
2-Step Challenge2-step	$100K	$549	10% / 5%	5%	10%	Static	80%	3 days	14 days
Direct FundingInstant	$5K	$229	None	—	6%	Static	70%	None	On demand
Direct FundingInstant	$80K	$3,999	None	—	6%	Static	70%	None	On demand

Trading rules

What the funded account lets you do. Restricted means allowed with conditions; check the firm's terms.

News tradingAllowed

Expert advisors / botsRestricted

Copy tradingNot checked yet

Weekend holdingAllowed

Overnight holdingAllowed

HedgingNot checked yet

Payouts

How you get paid

Methods: Bank transfer, Crypto, PayPal
Frequency: 14 days · On demand
First payout: after 5–7 days

Profit split by program

1-Step Challenge: up to 80%
2-Step Challenge: up to 80%
Direct Funding: up to 70%

What traders say

Scores from the sites traders use, and our summary of what they're saying, checked 6 October 2026.

Trustpilot4.2/ 51,627 reviews · checked 6 October 2026 ↗Prop Firm Match4.3/ 557 reviews · checked 6 October 2026 ↗Forex Peace ArmyRead the threadschecked 6 October 2026 ↗Reviews.io1.6/ 529 reviews · checked 6 October 2026 ↗RedditRead the threadschecked 6 October 2026 ↗

City Traders Imperium is one of the older CFD prop firms, running since 2018, and its reviews are mostly positive. It scores 4.2 on Trustpilot from about 1,600 reviews and 4.3 on Prop Firm Match from 57 verified reviews. The one outlier is Reviews.io, where a small pool of 29 reviews averages 1.6. The low reviews tend to be about accounts flagged for risky trading behaviour rather than about payouts going missing.

What traders like

Support. Trustpilot's own summary says customers keep praising helpful, quick and professional support staff, and many individual reviews say the same.
Straightforward challenges. Reviewers on Trustpilot and Prop Firm Match describe the rules as clear and the fees as fair, and like that evaluations have no time limit.
Payouts that arrive. Several reviewers report quick payouts, some within hours of approval.
Track record. Its age comes up often as a reason to trust it.

Common complaints

Accounts flagged for gambling behaviour. Several low reviews come from traders whose accounts were closed or payouts held over one-sided trading, martingale or excess risk. The firm usually replies publicly with its side of the case.
Changes they say weren't announced. One Trustpilot reviewer says a contract size change raised margin use and caused a rule breach without warning.
Mixed payout experiences. Trustpilot's summary calls payment experiences ambiguous, and a Reddit thread mentions strict consistency rules and delays.
Price. A few Prop Firm Match reviewers find the challenges expensive.

Recently

July to September 2026: the firm marked eight years in business in July, and an August review called it a viable option while warning that payout eligibility involves judgement calls on risky exposure, not only fixed limits.