CITY TRADERS IMPERIUM
City Traders Imperium has been around since 2018 and runs a trading education program alongside the prop firm — which either means they genuinely care about trader development or they found a second revenue stream from selling courses. Probably both. Either way, the pass rate tells a more cautious story.
(41% of complaints)
Who Is This Firm For?
About CITY TRADERS IMPERIUM
The catch is a 18.4% pass rate and a hidden rules score of 2.7. Not terrible. Not the kind of number that makes you want to celebrate either. If you're going to spend time with a firm that's been around this long, make sure the rules they've had a decade to write are actually working in your favour.
- Founded
- 2018
- Max Allocation
- $100,000
- Leverage
- 1:100
- Commissions
- $5/lot
Pros
- - News trading fully allowed on all models — no 5-minute windows, no profit caps
- - Overnight and weekend holding permitted — swing traders fully accommodated
- - Copy trading from CTI to personal and other prop firm accounts allowed
- - Stop loss automatically enforced — builds discipline without relying on trader memory
- - VPS allowed for EAs and copy trading
- - Crypto trading allowed on funded accounts
Cons
- - Stop loss must be set within 1 minute of opening — auto-closed if missed, profits void
- - Instant Funding starts at 50% capital — full unlock only after +10% profit reached
- - Minimum 5 profitable days required for first payout on Instant Funding (0.5% each day)
- - VPNs and proxies not allowed — IP changes monitored
- - Maximum 2 devices without approval
- - 30-day inactivity rule — account closed with no trade in 30 days
Support is slow but honest
Had both good and bad moments during my time here. Good documentation on the basics, spotty on the edge cases. Solid middle of the pack. Not a leader, not a lemon.— Verified Trader (optionoli) See all reviews
Set your stop loss before you do anything else after opening a trade — you have 1 minute before the system closes it for you and the profits don't count. On Instant Funding, start your position sizing at 50% of the stated account size — the other half only unlocks after you hit +10% profit. News trading is fully free here, but spreads widen significantly during high-impact events regardless of the rules.
Trading Conditions
Drawdown System
- Margin level cannot exceed 150% — profits from trades above this threshold won't count
- Instant Funding: Level 1 starts at 50% capital — Level 2 unlocks after +10% profit
- Funded accounts: minimum 7 profitable days (1-Step, 2-Step) or 5 days (3-Step, Instant)
- Each profitable day must generate at least 0.5% of account balance
- 30-day inactivity: account closed
High-Frequency & Fast Trading
- Not Allowed:
- Grid trading
- Martingale (except where explicitly allowed per model)
- Bracketing strategies
- Exploiting price feed errors
- Group or coordinated trading
- Third-party EAs without source code (2-Step and Instant models)
- Sharing EAs with other traders
Low Liquidity & Timing
- News trading: fully allowed on all models — no time window restrictions
- Stop loss: must be set within 1 minute of opening every trade
- Trades without SL: auto-closed by system, profits do not count
- VPS: allowed only for EAs or copy trading purposes
- No specific session time restrictions
Loss-Chasing & Gambling
- Not Allowed:
- Taking extreme risk on a single trade
- Martingale strategies (standard restriction)
- Account sharing or reselling
- Third-party account management
- Letting someone else trade your account
- Copying into CTI account from external sources
- Social trading platforms used as signal source
Risk Management
- CTI account must always be the Master in any copy trading setup
- Copying from CTI to personal accounts and other prop firm accounts: allowed
- Copying into CTI from anywhere: not allowed
- VPNs and proxies: not allowed — IP changes monitored
- Maximum 2 devices without prior approval
- Risk team may apply leverage reduction and position size limits if instability detected
- Triggers: multiple breaches, sudden strategy changes, high-risk exposure, large drawdowns
City Traders Imperium – Trading Conditions
Forbidden Trading Practices
- Exploiting price feed errors
- Group or coordinated trading
- Account sharing or reselling
- Third-party account management
- Taking extreme risk on a single trade
- Martingale — except where explicitly allowed
- Grid trading
- Bracketing strategies
- Exceeding 150% margin level — profits won't count
If your strategy depends on "doubling until it works" — this won't be the place for it. That's probably for the best.
News Trading
Trading during news events is fully allowed — no restrictions, no special limitations, no 5-minute windows to navigate.
Which sounds great until spreads widen and your trade starts behaving differently than expected. The freedom is real. The market conditions during high-impact news are also real.
Expert Advisors
The rules here depend on which account type you're on — & the difference matters.
- Third-party EAs without source code → not allowed
- Trade managers and calculators → allowed
- 1-Step & 3-Step challenges → any EA allowed
Flexibility exists. Just not uniformly across all models — worth checking which account you're on before you start the bot.
Copy Trading
City Traders Imperium has one of the more structured copy trading setups in the industry — your CTI account must always be the Master.
Allowed:
- Copying from your CTI account to personal accounts
- Copying from your CTI account to other prop firm accounts
- Copying between your own CTI accounts
Not allowed:
- Copying into your CTI account from elsewhere
- Copying from personal accounts into CTI
- Social trading platforms
- Letting someone else trade for you
- Sharing EAs with other traders
In short: if the strategy isn't yours, it's not allowed.
Challenge Models — Overview
| 1-Step | 2-Step | 3-Step | Instant Funding | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eval Min Profitable Days | 3 per phase | 3 per phase | 3 per phase | 5 profitable days |
| Daily Min for Profitable Day | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| Funded Min Profitable Days | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 |
| EA Restrictions | None | Standard | None | Standard |
| News Trading | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
Instant Funding — How It Actually Works
The name suggests immediate full access. The structure is slightly different.
- Level 1 — you start with half the capital
- Level 2 — after reaching +10% profit, the rest is unlocked
So yes, it's instant. Just not fully unlocked from the start — which is worth knowing before you calculate your position sizes on day one.
First payout requirement:
- Minimum 5 profitable trading days
- Each day must generate at least 0.5% of account balance
On paper, this looks simple. In practice, it's where consistency quietly becomes the main challenge.
Stop-Loss Rule
A stop-loss must be placed shortly after opening a trade — & this one is enforced automatically, not just recommended.
- You have 1 minute to set it after opening
- If not set → the system closes the trade for you
- Profits from trades without a stop-loss → won't count
Most traders think they don't need this until they do. The 1-minute window is tight enough to matter if you're used to setting stops after entry.
Risk Monitoring
If your trading starts looking unstable, the risk team may step in. Possible restrictions include reduced leverage & position size limits.
Usually triggered by:
- Multiple account breaches
- Sudden strategy changes
- High-risk exposure
- Large drawdowns
Consistent traders rarely notice this. Everyone else eventually learns what triggers it.
IP, VPN & Device Rules
- VPNs and proxies → not allowed
- IP changes → allowed, but monitored
- VPS → allowed only for EAs or copy trading
- Maximum 2 devices — more requires approval
Nothing complicated. It just requires you to treat your account like it actually belongs to you.
Inactivity Rule
- At least one trade every 30 days — otherwise the account is closed
You don't need to trade often. Just often enough to prove you didn't forget you have the account.
Holding Trades
- Overnight positions → allowed
- Weekend positions → allowed
- Crypto trading → allowed
Swing traders will feel at home here. No forced closures, no weekend restrictions, no extra fees for holding. The market doesn't pause because you decided to relax — but at least CTI won't force you to close first.
Final Take
City Traders Imperium sits comfortably in the middle of the industry — not the strictest firm on the list, not the most relaxed. The stop-loss rule is enforced automatically which is either a feature or an inconvenience depending on your workflow, & the copy trading setup is more structured than most firms of this size.
The 4.3/5 on Trustpilot across 1,691 reviews & a Hidden Rules Meter of 2.4/10 suggest a firm that does what it says — no major surprises, no red flags worth highlighting.
Hidden Rules Meter: 2.4/10 — Trust Score: 4.3/5 — Trustpilot: 4.3/5.
Restricted Countries
Vietnam is not supported for specific challenge types and instant funding options. Full list of restricted regions available on the City Traders Imperium website.
Features & Support
1-Step
Step 1 8.0%
Step 2 N/A
2-Step
Step 1 10.0%
Step 2 5.0%
Instant
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
Instant Pro
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
1-Step
Step 1 8.0%
Step 2 N/A
2-Step
Step 1 10.0%
Step 2 5.0%
Instant
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
Instant Pro
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
1-Step
Step 1 8.0%
Step 2 N/A
2-Step
Step 1 10.0%
Step 2 5.0%
Instant
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
Instant Pro
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
1-Step
Step 1 8.0%
Step 2 N/A
2-Step
Step 1 10.0%
Step 2 5.0%
Instant
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
Instant Pro
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
1-Step
Step 1 8.0%
Step 2 N/A
2-Step
Step 1 10.0%
Step 2 5.0%
Instant
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
Instant Pro
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
1-Step
Step 1 8.0%
Step 2 N/A
2-Step
Step 1 10.0%
Step 2 5.0%
Instant
Step 1 0.0%
Step 2 0.0%
no complaints really
Wanted lower targets and a calmer ruleset and this fit the bill. the eval took me like 27 trading days total, not fast not slow, just fair. i moved up an account tier and the upgrade process took all of five minutes. their server uptime during the last nfp was flawless from where i sat. the kind of firm you forget about because nothing goes wrong, which is the point.
low key impressed
Took the plunge after lurking their subreddit for a couple weeks. crypto and wire both supported, i did wire and it hit my bank in two business days. the trailing drawdown is reasonable if you size your positions like an adult. spreads are fine, nothing crazy, nothing terrible, it is a prop firm not a charity. spreads widen a touch on the new york session but still nothing to write home about. honestly the rules made my retail trading better too, forced discipline and all that. no notes really, it just works.
In It For The Long Haul
Started with their two step eval because teh one step felt too good to be true. support replied way faster than my actual broker which is kinda sad when you think about it. the challenge timer is generous, i never felt rushed into bad trades. i like that they show your stats in real time instead of a delayed dashboard. the challenge rules are strict but at least they are written in plain english for once. four stars, the missing one is just me being picky about the ui. bro
support actually replies
Jumped in during a 30% off promo … figured worst case i learn something. i had a margin scare during cpi and teh platform held up without freezing. i compared them against three others and they had the best balance of price and rules. idk but there is a discord and staff actually show up in it occasionally. their economic calendar integration is a small thing but i use it daily. not the cheapest … not the flashiest, just reliable, and that is enough.
platform is rock solid
First prop firm i actually stuck with long enough to get funded. pricing is not teh cheapest but you kind of pay for the peace of mind. i scaled twice and each bump was a real size jump not some token gesture. dude payouts are biweekly on funded accounts which is way better than the monthly firms. i requested a payout three times and all three landed inside the promised window. thier dashboard is genuinely useful, learned stuff about my own trading just looking at it. would i recommend? yeah, as long as you can follow rules.
finally a firm that pays
Not gonna lie i went in expecting the worst. had one weird order rejection and they tracked it to a platform bug and credited me back. they refunded my eval fee when i got funded which was a nice surprise. getting verified for a payout needed an id and a selfie, standard stuff, painless. all in all i would point a friend their way without much hesitation.
passed eventually lol
A mentor of mine uses them so i followed his lead. spreads are fine, nothing crazy, nothing terrible, it is a prop firm not a charity. the profit target on phase one is ambitious but not insane. i got a small payout bonus for hitting a milestone which was unexpected. leverage is reasonable, not the reckless stuff that blows beginners up. the funded payout split started at 80/20 and scaled up which felt fair.
mostly good experience
Grabbed an account during their black friday sale, no regrets really. their content creators seem to actually trade the product instead of just reading scripts. the verification email came instantly instead of the usual 24 hour wait. the funded payout split started at 80/20 and scaled up which felt fair. the weekly market recap they send is actually worth reading. consistency rule almost got me once because i did not read the fine print, my bad not theirs.
They Actually Pay
Got in through an affiliate link from a trader i follow, no shame. the news trading rule confused me at first but the faq actually explains why it exists. i like that the daily loss limit resets at a sane hour for my timezone. the scaling plan is actually motivating instead of being some impossible carrot on a stick. no hidden gotchas on the payout page, what they say is what you actually get.
reliable little firm
Finally pulled teh trigger after comparing like six firms on a spreadsheet. slippage outside of high impact news is basically a non issue for me. the consistency rule is generous compared to the firms that cap you hard. they let me run my algo as long as it is not some latency arbitrage exploit. the second phase target was lower than phase one which kept me sane. dude i appreciated that they email you before a rule change instead of springing it. recommend, but read the consistency rule twice before you start.
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