TL;DR — Germany is fully served, and fully unprotected
Every major prop firm we track accepts German residents. The biggest name in the industry operates from Prague, one Schengen border away, and CET puts both the London session and the New York overlap inside a normal German day. What Germany does not offer is protection: none of these products is a licensed investment service, and no German scheme stands behind your fee or your payout.
Here is the verified picture as of July 2026, checked against each firm’s official eligibility pages.
| Firm | Model | Accepts German residents? | Pricing | Profit split |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTMO | FX/CFD, two-step | Yes — Germany not on the official restricted list | $89–$1,080 one-time, refunded with first payout | 80%, up to 90% |
| The5%ers | FX/metals, one-step or instant | Yes — Germany not among the ~34 banned countries | From $95 | 50–100% by program |
| Fintokei | FX/CFD, one/two-step | Yes — Germany not on the restricted list | Varies by plan | 80%, up to 90% |
| Topstep | CME futures | Yes — Germany absent from the ineligible list | $49–$149/mo subscription | 90/10 (pre-2026 accounts: 100% of first $10,000) |
| FundingPips | FX/CFD, 1/2/3-step | Yes | From $19 | Up to 90-tier splits, 5-day payouts |
| FundedNext | FX/CFD, multiple models | Yes | $59–$1,099 | 80–90% |
Eligibility lists change without notice — re-check the official page on the day you pay.
The BaFin and MiFID II reality
The funded-account model — pay a fee, hit targets on a demo account, receive a contractual share of simulated profits — is typically not a licensed investment service under MiFID II. No client money is deposited, no orders are executed for you in a live market the way a licensed broker would, and the firms are generally not authorised by BaFin or any other EU securities supervisor for this activity.
What that means in practice: no deposit guarantee, no investor-compensation scheme, no BaFin complaints route. Your challenge fee is a payment for a service to an unlicensed foreign company, and your funded account is a contract governed by whatever law the firm chose — Czech for FTMO and Fintokei’s operator, elsewhere for others. If a firm refuses a payout, changes rules retroactively, or disappears, you are a contract creditor, not a protected investor.
The perimeter question is not settled, either. Finance Magnates reported in 2024 that European regulators, including the Czech National Bank and ESMA, had conducted preliminary reviews of whether prop trading models might require MiFID authorisation. Nothing binding has emerged as of this writing, but a model whose regulatory status is under review can change shape — pricing, availability, or existence — faster than a regulated product would. One more reason to keep exposure to any single firm modest. Background in prop firm regulation and legality and scam patterns worth knowing.
The honest numbers before you pay anyone
An FPFX Technologies analysis of 300,000+ accounts found that only about 14% of traders pass their evaluation, only about 7% ever reach a payout, and the average payout is roughly 4% of the nominal plan size. These figures come from a technology provider that processes accounts for a large slice of the industry — about as close to ground truth as this market gets.
A challenge is a hard skills test with a fee attached, not an income stream. Budget for more than one attempt, and read the notes on pass rates and risk management for evaluations before you start.
The firms, one by one
FTMO — the Prague neighbour
FTMO has operated from Prague since 2015, and Germany does not appear on its official restricted list. For German traders the geography is a genuine, if modest, advantage: an EU-based counterparty means EU payment rails, EU consumer-law context, and a legal system one border away — closer than any Dubai or offshore operator, even if none of it amounts to supervision.
The product is the orthodox two-step evaluation: 10% profit target in the Challenge, 5% in Verification, 10% maximum loss, 5% daily loss, minimum 4 trading days, no time limit. Fees run $89–$1,080 by account size — euro pricing is also offered at checkout, so verify the current EUR figures there — and the fee is refunded with the first payout. The split is 80%, rising to 90%, on a 14-day cycle, across MT4, MT5, cTrader, and DXtrade. Read the FTMO rules breakdown before paying; setup in how to start with FTMO. US residents are served separately via ftmo.oanda.com — German readers use the regular site.
The5%ers — instant funding and the longest scaling runway
The5%ers, founded in 2016, publishes a banned-country list of roughly 34 countries and territories; Germany is not on it. Three programs — High-Stakes Challenge, Bootcamp, and Instant Funding with no evaluation at all — start from $95, with splits of 50–100% by program and scaling to $4 million, on MT4, MT5, and Match-Trader. Instant Funding trades a higher effective cost for zero evaluation pressure; the rules breakdown and starting guide cover the details.
Fintokei — the other Prague-registered operator
Fintokei launched in 2023 with a Prague-registered operator and a Japan-first market focus. Its official eligibility FAQ restricts by citizenship — US, India, Russia and sanctioned states permanently, a few others temporarily — and Germany is on neither list. Plans run StartTrader, ProTrader, and SwiftTrader with an 80% split rising to 90% and scaling to $400K, on MT4, MT5, and DXtrade. The English-facing side is younger than the Japanese one, so confirm platform and payout specifics on the official site; our plan comparison maps the tracks.
Topstep — futures on a CET-evening schedule
Topstep has run CME futures evaluations from Chicago since 2012; eligibility is based on citizenship and residency, and Germany is absent from the ineligible list. Subscriptions run $49–$149 per month, with a 90/10 profit split for new accounts (accounts predating January 12, 2026 keep 100% of the first $10,000), on NinjaTrader, Tradovate, and TradingView. The CME main session runs roughly 3:30pm to 10pm CET — a workable evening block on top of a day job. Read the Topstep rules breakdown on the trailing drawdown first, and the futures comparison for the wider field.
FundingPips and FundedNext — the honest non-partner picks
Neither firm pays this site a commission, and both verifiably accept German residents. FundingPips (Dubai, 2022) is the cheapest entry in the industry — challenges from $19, 1/2/3-step models, 5-day payouts, on MT5, cTrader, and Match-Trader. FundedNext (Dubai, 2022) runs $59–$1,099 challenges with 80–90% splits on a 14-day cycle. For a German customer, a Dubai counterparty is a longer legal reach than a Czech one — factor that into the price advantage.
Getting paid in Germany
The euro question decides most of the friction. FTMO’s verified payout options: wire transfer from $20 of profit; Visa Direct and Mastercard Send up to $20,000, landing directly on a German debit card; Skrill up to $3,000; and crypto (BTC, ETH, LTC, USDT, USDC) from $50 — with no FTMO-side fee. An EU-based firm paying into an EU bank keeps things close to the SEPA world, but note that most firms denominate in USD: a USD wire into a EUR account can be clipped twice, by intermediary fees and by your bank’s conversion spread. A Wise multi-currency account with USD receiving details is the usual fix, and crypto payouts convert cleanly through a BaFin-registered (MiCA-licensed) exchange, which also keeps the paper trail your Steuerberater will want. Rails by firm are compared in the withdrawal methods overview.
Tax, briefly
Prop payouts are generally taxable income in Germany. Because you are paid a contractual profit share rather than trading your own capital, the flat Abgeltungsteuer on private capital gains typically does not fit, and the honest answer on classification — ordinary income, freelance, or gewerblich with Gewerbesteuer consequences — is that it depends on your facts and is genuinely unsettled at the margins. This is a case where one hour with a Steuerberater before your first payout is worth more than any article, this one included.
Time zones: CET is nearly ideal
The London session opens at 9–10am CET, and the London–New York overlap — the most liquid FX window of the day — runs roughly 2:30pm to 6pm CET. Both fit inside an ordinary German working day, and the CME futures evening block covers the after-work hours. Among prop trading jurisdictions, only the UK itself is better placed on the clock.
How to choose
First, pick the market: FX and CFDs point to FTMO, The5%ers, or Fintokei; CME futures point to Topstep. The choosing guide and the one-step vs two-step vs instant comparison narrow it further. Second, set a hard total budget before the first payment — at a roughly 14% pass rate, most people pay more than once. Third, read the drawdown rules and the payout terms as one package, and check the coupons page before paying list price.
The standing caveat: no prop firm, and no article, can guarantee profits. The product is not a licensed investment service, and no German or EU protection scheme stands behind it. Final decisions — trading and tax alike — are your own, and this site does not provide investment or legal advice.
Recommended prop firms
The links below are affiliate (PR) links — using them supports this site at no cost to you, and the eligibility facts above were checked independently of them.
The5%ers — start small, scale on results
Operating for 10 years (since 2016), with Germany accepted per the official banned-country list. Entry from $95, Instant Funding available, and the profit split scales to 100%.
→ See The5%ers official site (coupon code “HZZS4” for a discount)
FTMO — the industry standard, one border away
Operating from Prague for 11 years (since 2015), with Germany absent from the official restricted list and one of the largest published payout records in the industry.
Fintokei — the other Prague-registered challenger
Launched 2023, German residents accepted per the official FAQ. Splits from 80% rising to 90%, with scaling to $400K.
→ See Fintokei official site (coupon code “FINTO5KEI” for a discount)
More discount codes are on the coupons page.