TL;DR — eligibility first, law second, hype never

Vietnam is a fast-growing audience for prop trading in Southeast Asia, but it is one of the harder markets to get right — and most guides get it wrong. The two facts that matter before you spend a dong: not every major firm accepts Vietnam, and none of them is legal in the sense of holding a Vietnamese license.

What most Vietnam-facing guides skip is the eligibility split. Apex Trader Funding bans Vietnam. Topstep only allows Vietnamese traders onto Express Funded Accounts, not Live Funded ones. Affiliate sites that tell you “all the big firms accept Vietnam” are simply not checking the official pages.

Here is the eligibility picture, verified against each firm’s official restricted-country list as of June 2026.

FirmAccepts Vietnamese residents?Verified againstNotes
FTMOYes — Vietnam is not on FTMO’s restricted listOfficial FTMO FAQFull access; ~70+ restricted countries do not include Vietnam
The5%ersYes — Vietnam is not among the ~34 banned countriesOfficial The5%ers help centerFull access
TopstepPartial — Express Funded Accounts onlyOfficial Topstep help centerNo Live Funded Account; up to $200,000 total payouts
Apex Trader FundingNo — Vietnam is on the restricted listOfficial Apex restricted-countries pageBanned; narrow exception only for approved-country non-residents

Eligibility lists change — re-check the official page on the day you pay. And “accepted” is not “approved”: no prop firm holds any Vietnamese authorization.

This section comes before the firm reviews on purpose.

What Vietnamese law says

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) is the authority over foreign-exchange dealing, and under the foreign-exchange framework only licensed credit institutions may legally provide forex services. The SBV has issued no license or guidance recognizing offshore prop firms or retail CFD platforms, which means these firms operate entirely outside Vietnam’s regulatory perimeter — through affiliates and introducing brokers, not authorized local entities.

What enforcement looks like

Vietnamese authorities have acted against illegal forex operations rather than ignoring them. Police have busted unlicensed forex, gold, and crypto trading floors, including a case reported at roughly $200 million in scale. Enforcement has so far targeted operators running illegal trading floors inside Vietnam, not individual retail traders sending their own money to a foreign platform — but that distinction is a description of past enforcement, not a legal guarantee for you.

What this means in practice

Some affiliate sites tell Vietnamese readers prop trading is “completely legal.” We will not. The honest framing is unregulated and gray: there is no explicit law banning an individual from trading their own money on an offshore platform, but there is also no law authorizing it, no SBV oversight, and no local recourse if a firm refuses a payout. Forex business conducted in Vietnam without authorization from the competent authorities is not permitted, and the entire prop ecosystem sits on that unlicensed footing.

Talk to a Vietnamese lawyer or tax advisor about both the outbound payment and how to declare any payout income, and size your involvement so a total loss of access would not hurt you.

The honesty numbers most Vietnam guides leave out

An FPFX Technologies analysis of 300,000+ prop firm accounts found that only about 14% of traders pass a challenge, and only about 7% ever reach a payout. The same analysis put the average payout at roughly 4% of the plan size. Prop firms are not a salary substitute, and the base rate is against you. More in the prop firm pass-rate breakdown.

If you are new and price-sensitive — which describes most first-time Vietnamese buyers — start your first attempt on the smallest evaluation you can afford to lose entirely, not the largest account a coupon makes reachable.

The firms that verifiably accept Vietnamese traders

FTMO — the industry reference point

FTMO has operated from Prague since 2015, the longest record among CFD-style prop firms, with one of the largest published payout histories in the industry. Vietnam does not appear on FTMO’s restricted-country list (which runs to roughly 70+ countries and territories, including Russia, Indonesia, and Venezuela), per the official FAQ. FTMO’s only blanket nationality bans are Iran, Syria, Myanmar, and North Korea — Vietnam is fully accepted.

  • Two-step evaluation: 10% profit target in the Challenge, then 5% in Verification, with no time limit
  • Maximum loss 10%, daily loss 5%, minimum 4 trading days
  • Fees $89–$1,080 by account size, refunded with the first payout if you pass
  • Profit split 80%, rising to 90% with the scaling plan; payouts on a 14-day cycle
  • Platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, DXtrade

Best for: Vietnamese traders focused on FX and CFDs who want the longest track record and the most-tested payout system. Before paying, read the FTMO rules breakdown — the consistency rule and news-trading restrictions catch more people than the drawdown does.

Note: the FTMO links in this article are for readers outside the United States. US residents cannot purchase on ftmo.com — FTMO’s official FAQ routes them to ftmo.oanda.com. Vietnamese readers use the regular site.

The5%ers — instant funding and the small-ticket entry

The5%ers, founded in 2016, publishes a banned-country list of about 34 countries and territories; Vietnam is not on it, per the official help center. The firm even runs a dedicated Vietnam landing experience, and is one of the industry’s oldest with cumulative payout figures published on an ongoing basis.

  • Three programs: High-Stakes Challenge (one-step evaluation), Bootcamp (step-up funding), and Instant Funding (no evaluation at all)
  • Entry pricing from $95
  • Profit split starts at 50–80% by program and scales to 100% over time
  • Scaling ceiling of $4 million, among the largest published
  • Platforms: MT4, MT5, Match-Trader

Best for: price-sensitive first-timers and traders who want to start small and scale on results. The Bootcamp step-up route is the sensible one for Vietnam: small initial cost, with the account growing only when the trading justifies it.

Topstep — futures, but Express accounts only for Vietnam

Topstep is the oldest futures evaluation, running since 2012 from Chicago. Its eligibility triggers on both citizenship and residency. Vietnam is not on the fully ineligible list (which includes Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, Kenya, Morocco, Lebanon, and others) — but Vietnam is on Topstep’s “Express Funded Account only” tier, per the official help center.

  • Vietnamese traders can join, pass the Trading Combine, and earn Express Funded Accounts, with up to $200,000 in total payouts
  • No Live Funded Account access for Vietnam — this is the key restriction
  • Trading Combine subscription: $49–$149 per month by account size
  • 100% of the first $5,000 in profit, then 90%
  • Trailing maximum drawdown — read the Topstep rules breakdown before paying
  • Platforms: NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView

Best for: Vietnamese futures traders who are comfortable capping at the Express tier and the $200,000 payout ceiling. The CME main session runs through the Vietnamese evening, workable on top of a day job. One caution from Topstep’s own policy — trading while traveling in an ineligible country can trigger a compliance review.

The firm that bans Vietnam: Apex Trader Funding

Apex Trader Funding, founded in 2021, restricts roughly 84 countries and territories as of 2026 — and Vietnam is on that list. This is the single fact most futures-focused Vietnam guides get wrong. Apex attributes its restrictions to platform and data-provider coverage, sanctions, and elevated fraud risk including credit-card fraud.

There is a narrow exception, but it does not help an ordinary resident: a person originally from a non-restricted country who currently lives in Vietnam may still qualify if they hold a valid government-issued ID from an approved country and keep their primary residence, mailing address, and bank account in a non-restricted country. A Vietnamese resident with a Vietnamese ID, address, and bank account does not meet that test.

The Apex list and its exception policy have been in flux, so re-verify the live official help-center page before assuming anything. For the futures alternative that does work for Vietnam, Topstep’s Express tier is the one to compare against — see the futures prop firm comparison and Apex vs Topstep.

Paying in and getting paid from Vietnam

Payment rails are where Vietnam guides go vague, so here are FTMO’s verified specifics, from its official pricing and payout pages.

  • Buying a challenge: card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay carry no fee; Skrill and crypto add 3%
  • PayPal is not an FTMO payment method — do not expect to fund or withdraw via PayPal
  • Payouts: wire transfer from $20 of profit; Visa Direct and Mastercard Send up to $20,000; Skrill up to $3,000; crypto (BTC, ETH, LTC, USDT, USDC) from $50
  • FTMO charges no withdrawal commission on its side; intermediary bank fees can still apply to wires

For Vietnam specifically, the practical rails are international cards (Visa/Mastercard) for buying and either card-based payout or crypto for receiving — crypto is widely used by Vietnamese traders because cross-border card and wire flows can be slow or fee-heavy. The5%ers and Topstep publish their own payout methods on their official pages — check them directly, because rails change faster than articles do.

Why this guide reads differently

Search “best prop firms Vietnam” and much of what ranks is thin — recycled affiliate lists that copy a global “everyone is accepted” template without checking a single official page. That is how you end up reading that Apex accepts Vietnam (it bans it) or that Topstep gives Vietnam full access (it caps Vietnam at Express accounts). Almost none mention the SBV’s licensing position, because a legal-risk section is bad for conversion.

This site earns affiliate commissions too; the recommendation links below are affiliate links and labeled as such. The difference is procedural: eligibility checked against official firm pages, the regulatory position stated honestly, and statistics attributed to their actual sources. Where something could not be verified, it is not on this page. See also how to spot prop firm scams and risk patterns.

How to choose if you proceed

First, decide the market: FX and CFDs point to FTMO or The5%ers; CME futures point to Topstep’s Express tier (and rule Apex out entirely for Vietnam). Second, set a hard total budget before you start — at a 14% pass rate the realistic plan involves more than one attempt. Third, read the drawdown and payout rules as one package; a generous split is worthless if a trailing drawdown ends the account first. The risk-management guide for evaluations covers the mechanics.

The standing caveat applies doubly in an unregulated jurisdiction: no prop firm, and no article, can guarantee profits. Final decisions — trading, remittance, and tax — are your own, and this site does not provide investment or legal advice.

The links below are affiliate links (PR). They do not change the eligibility facts above, and neither firm is authorized by any Vietnamese regulator.

The5%ers — start small, scale on results

Operating for 10 years (since 2016), with Vietnam 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

Operating for 11 years (since 2015), with Vietnam absent from the official restricted list and the industry’s longest published payout record. US residents are served separately via ftmo.oanda.com; this link is for readers outside the US.

→ See FTMO official site

More discount codes are on the coupons page.