City Traders Imperium (CTI) is one of the older names in the prop-firm space, and it has built a niche most rivals do not chase: traders who like to hold positions overnight and over the weekend. This review walks through how CTI actually works in 2026 — the funding models, the drawdown rules, the profit split, the real meaning of its “$4 million” headline, the fees, the payouts, and the complaints — using the firm’s own pages plus independent reviews.
A note up front: like nearly every firm in this industry, CTI sells an evaluation and a simulated (demo) funded account, not a regulated investment product. Nothing here is investment advice. Rules and prices change often, so treat the numbers below as a starting point and confirm the current terms on the official site before you pay.
What City Traders Imperium is
CTI launched in 2018, which puts it among the longer-running prop firms — most competitors are far younger. It is marketed as a London, UK operation, and there is a UK-registered entity (City Traders Imperium Limited, Companies House number 11463147). The corporate picture is more layered than the “London firm” branding suggests: reporting and the firm’s own About page point to a registration under City Traders Imperium Limited in the Comoros Union and an academy division, CTI FZCO, in Dubai Silicon Oasis. The co-founders are named as Daniel Martin and Martin Najat. If the exact legal structure matters to you, verify it directly with the official source and Companies House rather than relying on marketing copy.
What genuinely sets CTI apart is its trading style. Overnight and weekend holds are permitted, which makes it a natural home for swing traders — a group many scalper-oriented firms effectively push away through tight intraday rules.
The three funding models: 1-Step, 2-Step, and Instant Funding
CTI offers three main paths to a funded account (plus an Instant Pro variant and a Direct Funding option). A helpful detail: none of them impose a time limit, so you are not racing a clock.
- 1-Step Challenge: one phase, hit the profit target, get funded.
- 2-Step Challenge: two phases, a higher combined target, the traditional route.
- Instant Funding (and Instant Pro): no profit target to begin trading — you pay more upfront and start straight away.
The trade-off is simple. Evaluations are cheaper and use friendlier drawdown rules, but you must prove yourself first. Instant Funding removes the test but adds cost and a stricter, trailing drawdown. If you want a deeper comparison of these structures in general, see our guide to one-step vs two-step vs instant funding.
Drawdown rules: static evaluations vs trailing Instant Funding
Drawdown — the maximum your account can fall before it is closed — is where the models really differ, so it is worth slowing down here.
The evaluation accounts use a static, balance-based drawdown. The loss limit is fixed against your starting balance and does not move as you profit. That is the trader-friendly version, because the line in the sand stays put.
- 1-Step Challenge: 8% profit target, no daily drawdown, 5% maximum drawdown (static), 3 minimum trading days. CTI marketing and some sources also cite around 10% for certain 1-step configurations, so verify the target for the exact product on the official site.
- 2-Step Challenge: 10% target in phase one and 5% in phase two, a 5% daily drawdown, 10% maximum drawdown (static), 3 minimum trading days.
Instant Funding works differently. It uses a trailing drawdown of 6% tied to your account balance, meaning the loss limit follows your equity upward as you make money — protecting profits but punishing give-backs. Instant Funding accounts also start at roughly half the advertised balance and unlock the full amount only after you reach a 10% profit milestone, and they require 5 minimum trading days.
If the static-versus-trailing distinction is new to you, our explainer on trailing vs static drawdown breaks it down with examples.
Profit targets, minimum trading days, and the Consistency Score
Beyond the targets above, CTI applies a Consistency Score that catches a lot of traders off guard. In plain terms, it compares your single best day of profit (or loss) against your total profit. If one day does most of your work, your trading looks inconsistent, and that affects what you can do next.
A score above 80% lets you scale your account balance up. A score below 80% does not block you — instead, it raises your profit share by 10% at each 10% milestone rather than letting your balance grow. The key point, often misunderstood: consistency is required for scaling, not for taking an ordinary payout. Thresholds can change, so confirm the current consistency rules on the official site. For the wider concept, see consistency rule explained.
Profit split and how it scales to 100%
CTI’s profit split is competitive, and it climbs over time.
- On the evaluation challenges (1-Step and 2-Step), the split starts at 80% and scales up to 100%.
- Instant Funding and Direct Funding start lower — roughly 50% to 70%, with sources diverging on the exact figure — and also scale to 100% through milestones.
So the evaluation route gives you a better starting split, while Instant Funding trades a lower opening split for instant access. Because sources disagree on the precise Instant starting percentage, check the official site for your specific product.
Scaling and maximum funding: the $200K cap vs the $4M headline
This is the most misread part of CTI’s marketing, so it deserves a clear answer.
The “up to $4,000,000” figure is real, but it is a ceiling spread across multiple Instant Funding accounts — not a single account you grow into through one evaluation. Here is the honest breakdown:
- Evaluation accounts (1-Step / 2-Step) effectively cap around $200,000 per account.
- Instant Funding / Direct Funding accounts scale up to about $2,000,000 per account.
- The $4 million headline applies across several Instant Funding accounts combined.
In other words, if your plan is to pass a cheap evaluation and ride it to $4M, that path does not exist — the evaluation ceiling is roughly $200K. The big numbers belong to the more expensive Instant Funding side. For how scaling plans work across the industry, see prop firm scaling plans explained.
Fees, account sizes, and discounts
Evaluation account sizes run $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, and $100,000. Instant Funding uses different advertised balances (for example, $20,000 to $80,000 tiers).
Rough fee ranges before discounts:
- 1-Step: about $29 to $589 (from the $2,500 account up to $100,000).
- 2-Step: about $49 to $689.
- Instant Funding: about $89 to $1,879.
- Instant Pro: about $329 to $5,279.
A 30% discount code is frequently advertised, which materially changes the entry price. Always confirm current pricing on the official site, since promotions and base fees move.
Verified CTI facts (confirm on the official site)
The figures below are drawn from our normalized dataset for CTI. Treat each as a snapshot, not a guarantee, and verify current rules on the official site before you commit:
- Cheapest entry fee: about $29 (the $2,500 1-Step account) — verify current pricing on the official site.
- Maximum profit split: up to 100% — verify the scaling terms on the official site.
- Profit target: around 10% (2-Step phase one; the 1-Step target is lower) — verify on the official site.
- Daily loss limit: 5% on the 2-Step (no daily drawdown on the 1-Step) — verify on the official site.
- Maximum drawdown: about 10% on most evaluation models (5% on the 1-Step, 6% trailing on Instant) — verify on the official site.
- Drawdown model: static and balance-based on evaluations, trailing on Instant Funding — verify on the official site.
- Account sizes: $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000 (evaluation) — verify on the official site.
- Asset classes: forex, indices, commodities, and crypto — verify on the official site.
- Trustpilot snapshot: about 4.3 out of 5 across roughly 1,697 reviews (point-in-time, June 2026) — verify the live page on the official site.
- Status: active.
You can also see CTI alongside rivals on our firm profile and in the side-by-side comparison table.
Payouts: cadence, speed, and withdrawal methods
CTI’s payout terms are tiered. Your first payout typically requires around 10 active, profitable trading days. After that, the cadence depends on your level: Level 1 is roughly monthly (about 30 days), Level 2 moves to bi-weekly, and Level 3 reaches weekly.
Processing is generally fast once a payout is approved — some traders report receiving funds within about 1.5 hours, while crypto (USDT on TRC-20) usually lands in roughly 24 to 48 hours with a fee, and bank transfers can take up to about 14 days. The minimum withdrawal is $100. For context on how payout terms separate stronger firms from weaker ones, see prop firm payout transparency.
Platforms and leverage
CTI runs on MetaTrader 5 and Match-Trader, and some sources also list cTrader and TradingView. An important clarification: CTI is a simulated-funding firm, not a broker, and it does not accept client deposits — what you pay is an evaluation fee, not invested capital. If you want to weigh the platforms, our MetaTrader vs cTrader for prop trading guide helps.
Leverage is roughly 1:30 on forex, 1:10 on indices and commodities, and 1:2 on crypto. Combined with the swing-friendly rules, that is a conservative, position-trading-oriented setup rather than a high-leverage scalping one.
Reputation and trust: the Trustpilot picture
CTI’s Trustpilot sits at about 4.3 out of 5 across roughly 1,685 to 2,000 reviews as of June 2026 — a solid, point-in-time score for a firm of this age. The reviews skew positive on payout speed and support.
But there is a recurring darker thread, and it would be dishonest to omit it: a pattern of complaints about account closures and denied payouts. CTI generally attributes these to rule violations — most often copy trading or high-risk behaviour flagged under its terms. As with most prop firms, you cannot verify from the outside who is right in each dispute, so read the rules carefully before funding and assume the firm will enforce them strictly. For the broader risk landscape, see prop firm scam risks, and for the survival angle, prop firm regulation and legality.
Verdict: who CTI fits, and who should look elsewhere
City Traders Imperium fits a specific trader well. If you swing trade, want to hold over weekends, prefer a static drawdown you can track, and value a long operating history, CTI is a credible choice — and the 80%-to-100% scaling split on evaluations is genuinely attractive.
It fits less well if you are a high-frequency scalper, if you are chasing the $4M headline through a cheap evaluation (that path tops out near $200K), or if you are uncomfortable with the strict-enforcement reputation around payouts. The Consistency Score and the trailing Instant Funding drawdown also reward disciplined, even returns over one-shot heroics.
As always, this is not investment advice, and CTI is unregulated like its peers — the real risk in this industry is a firm’s terms and survival, not a regulator. Verify every current rule on the official site before you commit.
Two long-running firms worth comparing
If a long track record is what draws you to CTI, it is worth lining it up against two of the most established names in our data.
FTMO — the largest operator’s track record
In operation since 2015, with industry-leading published cumulative payouts. A two-step evaluation firm with a static drawdown, which makes it a natural comparison for CTI’s evaluation route.
The5%ers — a 10-year veteran
In operation since 2016, and an instant-funding pioneer for traders who prefer to skip the evaluation — a useful counterpoint to CTI’s Instant Funding model.