Passing prop firm challenges is quite tricky, as they’re designed to make you fail. These difficulties have created opportunities for prop firm passing services to emerge. These businesses claim to help you pass your evaluation phase. However, are prop firm passing services really worth it? We aim to answer this question in this article.
For those unfamiliar with prop trading firms, make sure to read our article on what prop firms are and how they work first.
Key Takeaways
- Prop firm passing services offer traders assistance in passing prop firm challenges, either through professional traders or automated tools like Expert Advisors (EAs).
- Popular types of passing services include managed services, automated solutions, mentorships, and individual freelance offerings.
- Major risks of using these services include account suspension, lack of success guarantees, scams, and violating prop firm rules.
- Best prop firm passing services have a legitimate track record, clear pricing, compliance with firm rules, and good customer support.
- Alternatives to passing services include relying on your own skills, using internal mentorship from prop trading firms, or opting for instant funding prop firms with no challenge phase.
- Long-term success in retail trading requires personal consistency and skill development, not just passing a challenge through external help.
What Is a Prop Firm Passing Service?
Prop firm passing services are quite a new trend in the retail trading industry. They simply offer you to pass a prop firm challenge for you, and of course, they charge you money for their services.
Prop firm challenges mostly require you to stick to a set of rules while achieving certain profit targets. Some challenge types are also timed, so you should actually reach the profit target within a certain time limit. These difficulties have actually led to the emergence of passing services.
Types of Prop Firm Passing Services
Here’s an overview of the popular types of prop firm passing services in 2024:
- Managed Passing Services: These services offer full management of the challenge account, where professional traders or algorithms (like Expert Advisors or EAs) handle the trading for you. They often guarantee that they will pass the challenge within a specific timeframe.
- EA or Automated Solutions: Some services offer Expert Advisors (EAs) to pass the challenge automatically. These tools trade on behalf of the client based on predefined algorithms. They reduce the need for your direct involvement. This can be ideal for you if you lack the experience to pass a prop firm evaluation on your own.
- Consultation and Training: This type of prop firm passing services focuses on helping traders develop their own skills. They offer strategy development and risk management training. They’re actually mentorships designed to help you pass a prop trading firm challenge.
- Fiverr Gigs and Freelancers: While not businesses, some individual traders on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork offer to pass challenges for you. These are often more affordable but also have a much higher risk of getting scammed.
- HFT-Based Passing Services: Some firms use HFT to pass evaluations quickly. This method uses bots and algorithms to execute large numbers of trades in milliseconds. While efficient, it’s controversial as some prop trading firms may not allow such practices and ban your account.
Read more: Are Forex Prop Firms Legal in the US?
How Do Prop Firm Passing Services Work?
Prop firm passing services mostly take over the trading process during challenges. Clearly, the process starts with you buying a prop trading firm challenge first. So, remember, you pay for your challenge.
Now, the service provider will either use manual or automated solutions to pass the challenge for you. The manual method is quite clear, as a professional trader will trade on your account and try to pass the funding challenge. Yet, for the automated method, the prop firm passing service will utilize Expert Advisors (EAs) or high-frequency trading (HFT) algorithms.
Most prop firm passing services charge you once for both challenge phases. This means that they are obligated to pass the whole evaluation phase and provide you with the funded account. Some service providers guarantee to pass the prop firm challenge; if they don’t, they will usually refund you.
Once the service passes the evaluation, they will usually give you back control of the account. However, some providers may also manage the account temporarily after passing. This is for a limited period, and the goal is to ensure compliance with the firm’s rules, like the consistency rule, and help the trader get started.
What if the Prop Firm Finds Out?
Most popular prop trading firms like FTMO and FundedNext prohibit the trading of a third party on your account, including passing services. Therefore, if the firms find out you are using a passing service, they will either close that specific account or ban you from the firm altogether.
However, the best prop firm passing services use various techniques to avoid detection by the prop trading firm. One of these methods involves using dedicated virtual private servers (VPS) to avoid IP detection, as most firms use IP to detect third-party involvements.
The Appeal of Prop Firm Passing Services
You might find prop firm passing services appealing because of what you’ve read up to this point. Well, you’re not alone. These services are becoming a new trend in the retail trading space.
The reason is that traders who lack the necessary skills, experience, or time can take a shortcut to become funded. Considering the stringent rules firms set in place to make you fail (as it clearly benefits them), such as the strict balance or equity-based drawdown rules, the appeal of passing services is clear.
As already mentioned, prop firm passing services use either manual or automated solutions to pass your challenge. With their advanced algorithms and professional trading strategies, these services are probably much more competent than most traders. Some of these businesses also showcase their high success rate and expertise in passing challenges.
How to Identify the Best Prop Firm Passing Services?
There are a bunch of factors in play when it comes to selecting the best prop firm passing service. Here are some of the most prominent:
- Legitimate Track Record and Reviews: Look for verifiable success stories, reviews, or testimonials from other traders. Reputable services should have a proven track record of passing challenges for various firms and should provide evidence of past successes.
- Clear Pricing and Terms Structure: A good service should be upfront about its pricing structure, refund policies, and any other conditions. Avoid services with vague terms, hidden fees, or no clear refund policies. Make sure you understand the cost, whether they take a percentage of profits, and if refunds are available if they fail.
- Compliance with Prop Firm Rules: Make sure the service follows the rules of the prop trading firm you are aiming to get funded with. For example, providers that use EAs to pass prop firm challenges or high-frequency trading methods may violate the policies of some firms.
- Support and Communication: A reliable provider should offer more than just passing the challenge. They should also provide active communication and customer support, as well as risk management and trading strategy advice.
There might be many more factors that come to mind when trying to identify the best prop firm passing service for you. However, the ones we’ve just mentioned cover most issues you might encounter with a subpar provider.
Risks and Challenges of Using a Prop Firm Passing Service
You might now be thinking that using prop firm passing services is risk-free. Well, I hate to break it to you, but this is not the case at all. The primary risk is the lack of guaranteed success, especially if the service does not offer a refund when failing. Most of these services are also unregulated, so there’s no certainty whether you’ll receive a refund upon failing if they even claim to do so.
Account suspension is another significant risk, as the service provider might go against the rules, or the firm might find out about third-party involvement. This could result in losing a challenge or even getting completely banned from trading with the company.
Finally, you can always get scammed in the trading space. You might pay the fee for the prop firm passing service, and they might never get back to you or do anything at all. In these events, especially if they charge you in crypto, there is nothing you can do to recover your money. Some of these services also add some odd rules and conditions to the agreement they offer you, which could result in a loss for you if you’re not careful.
Alternatives to Prop Firm Passing Services
While prop firm passing services are an attractive shortcut to getting funded, they clearly have their risks. So, if you are serious about trading, you might be better off doing the funding challenges yourself or at least diversifying your funds and effort by trying to become a profitable trader alongside using these services. You can’t go from a losing trader to a winner overnight if they pass the challenge for you.
Additionally, some legitimate prop trading firms offer internal mentorship and guidance. This gives you a more transparent and supportive path toward passing challenges without needing external intervention. Remember, in the long term, the advantages of relying on yourself far outweigh the benefits of using a prop firm passing service.
Another alternative to passing services is using instant funding prop firms. These firms have no challenge phase, and you will be funded straightaway after purchasing an account. However, they also have strict rules that you should be aware of.
Conclusion
So, are prop firm passing services worth it? Some traders have found success using these services, while others believe the risks associated with these services often outweigh the potential benefits. In the end, everything comes down to your personal preferences.
Yet, it’s always better to work on your skills and strategy as a trader. Passing a prop firm challenge should not be your final goal because getting actual payouts requires consistency in the long run. So, whatever path you decide to take in the short term, you should be aware that retail trading is a solo journey in the end.
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