We started Optimal Traders to leverage our expertise in the markets and take advantage of the new opportunities in the trading space. Optimal Traders allows us to focus on one of the most dynamic and exciting areas of finance – proprietary trading.
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Launching Optimal Traders was a natural step for us as a hedge fund. By expanding our expertise to include proprietary trading, we are better equipped to navigate the fast-paced and constantly evolving financial landscape.
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At Optimal, we believe that there is no substitute for hard work and dedication. Our team is composed of individuals who are passionate about finance and committed to excellence in everything we do.
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By combining our skills and experience, we are able to deliver results that consistently outperform in every other market.

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This creates a complete financial ecosystem for us. As a fund, we are always seeking new and profitable ways to invest our capital. That’s why we launched Optimal Traders, our proprietary trading firm.

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Our hedge fund is based in Luxembourg, where we strive to generate consistent returns through our innovative investment strategies.

All funded accounts are live with Optimal Traders.

Optimal traders is based out of Cyprus with a registered address: Leontiou A, 159 Maryvonne building, Office 104, 3022 Limassol, Cyprus.

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Optimal Traders also operates an office in Dubai, where we welcome traders to visit upon invitation.

Yes, but only accounts of the same account type and rules. For example:
One-step challenges accounts cannot be merged with two-step accounts.
One-Step ALGO accounts cannot be merged into one.

Payouts are part of a two-step process: firstly submitting a transfer request to your Optimal wallet, with reviews aimed to be completed within three business days. Once approved, funds can be used to make additional purchases, or request to withdraw via bank transfer or crypto.

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The minimum withdrawal amounts are:

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Bank transfer: $100

Crypto $50

There is no restriction on the number of accounts a user can have, as long as the total active capital amount does not exceed the maximum allocation of $400,000. In rare circumstances, users who churn through a large volume of accounts may face restrictions on their future purchase abilities.

Challenge phases are reviewed within 48 business hours of completion. Once the challenge phase of your account has passed the review from our risk department, your funded credentials will be emailed to you alongside the issuance of the trader’s contract and KYC protocol for completion.

Accounts are sent automatically to the customer’s email address directly after purchase and should be with them within a few minutes. If account credentials are not received after 20 minutes, please email accounts@optimal-traders.com.

Optimal Traders offers one of the lowest commissions in the industry. We pass on the direct cost from our broker, Raze Markets. Traders will be charged $3 per side on forex metals and Indices on live-funded accounts. All challenge stages are commission-free, creating an optimal environment focused on trader success.

All our accounts at Optimal Traders are exclusively traded on Meta Trader 5. We do not currently offer access to MT4 or any other trading platform.

US traffic is not permitted at Optimal Traders. New trading platforms will be available soon for US traders.

(APPLICABLE TO ACCOUNTS PURCHASED ON OR AFTER 11/02/25)

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Available add ons:

• News trading enabled (Trade news with no restrictions)

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ACCOUNTS PURCHASED PRIOR TO 11/02/2025 DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ADD ON FEATURES AND NEWS IS PERMITTED AS STANDARD.

(APPLICABLE TO ACCOUNTS PURCHASED ON OR AFTER 11/02/25)

Available add ons:

• News trading enabled (Trade news with no restrictions)
• Daily drawdown removal (Trade more freely without the worry of daily drawdown)
• Payout split increase to 90/10 (Earn more by increasing your payout split)
• Payout interval reduced to 14 days / 7 days (A faster way to earn by reducing your payout interval)
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ACCOUNTS PURCHASED PRIOR TO 11/02/2025 DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ADD ON FEATURES

What add ons are available on 2-Step Evaluation?

(APPLICABLE TO ACCOUNTS PURCHASED ON OR AFTER 11/02/25)

Available add ons:

• News trading enabled (Trade news with no restrictions)
• Extra Drawdown (Trade more freely with extra drawdown)
• Payout split increase to 90/10 (Earn more by increasing your payout split)
• Payout interval reduced to 14 days / 7 days (A faster way to earn by reducing your payout interval)
• EA Enabled (Trade autonomously with the use of an Expert Advisor)

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ACCOUNTS PURCHASED PRIOR TO 11/02/2025 DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ADD ON FEATURES

HFT trading can distort market prices and create artificial supply and demand. By executing a large volume of trades within milliseconds, HFT traders can create false impressions of market activity, influencing other participants' decisions and leading to market manipulation. The excessive trading volumes generated by high-frequency trading can disrupt market stability. The rapid influx and outflow of orders can create volatility, leading to erratic price fluctuations and increased market uncertainty, making it challenging for other traders to make informed decisions. Due to vast amounts of trades in a short period of time, the servers usually freeze and create severe consequences.

Example: An HFT trader places a series of buy orders within milliseconds, artificially raising a market price. Other traders observing this sudden surge may be misled into buying at inflated prices, leading to potential losses when the market corrects itself. An HFT trader also executes a large number of rapid-fire trades within milliseconds, causing rapid price swings in a particular asset. The increased volatility and unpredictability make it difficult for other market participants to assess market conditions and plan their trading strategies accurately.

High-frequency trading (HFT) is a strategy characterised by sophisticated computer algorithms and high-speed telecommunication networks to execute excessive trades within milliseconds. This strategy aims to capitalise on minuscule price fluctuations and exploit market inefficiencies. While HFT may seem enticing due to its potential for rapid profit generation, it poses significant risks and can harm the market.

It is absolutely and unequivocally prohibited to set up a copy trader using an account that does not belong to you, whether owned by a friend, business partner, or any other individual. We will rigorously request verification and proof of account ownership to ensure strict compliance. Any hint or suspicion of account management will be promptly and decisively acted upon and may lead to immediate account termination.

Please note that we do not support using trading ideas that are not yours. Trades must originate from your own analysis and strategies and must not rely on other people's decisions. This ruling includes signals trading, mass market EAs, account management and any other format of trade copying from an external source.

Your trading IPs and devices used to access the accounts must be distinct and not match those of other traders. Matching IP addresses/devices, along with similar trade approaches, will be thoroughly investigated for the potential of breaching rules on account management and copy trading. Your IP access and device must be unique to you, along with your trades. IPs must not fluctuate through multiple access points and countries during a trading session.

Any instances of breaching our Terms of Use or employing prohibited simulated trading strategies may result in the compromise of the account, disqualification of payouts, and potential prohibition from our services.

Optimal Traders do not restrict trading before during or after a news event if the News trading add on is applied. We recognise that news can be a lucrative opportunity and a place for some strategies to thrive, including swing trading, and we do not wish to punish or restrict such traders.

We strongly advise traders to be aware of the risk of news events and the unfavourable trading conditions they can bring. Optimal cannot guarantee ideal price fills and low spreads during news releases as their events naturally bring about less favourable conditions to the market. Traders should note that slippage, spread, poor execution, and TP & SL fills may occur during volatile events.

Optimal Traders permits weekend holding. As a firm with a trading team that trades on our global floors with a long-term macroeconomic view, we understand the importance of weekend holding. Traders should be acutely aware of the risk that weekend holding may present in the form of increased spreads at market close and the first hour of the open and the possibility for market gaps to occur from weekend price movements. Such gaps and spread may lead to trades being filled or stopped beyond their original intention. The onus is on the trader to accept this risk.

Accounts purchased without the news trading add on are restricted in their ability to trade news releases (If the account is purchased post 11/02/2025). In this scenario, red folder news releases are restricted for a window of 5 minutes prior and 5 minutes post the news event. The restrictions apply specifically to correlating releases - for example, a US CPI report at 13:30 would restrict USD specific pairs between 13:25 - 13:35. Pairs that are not exposed to USD, like EURGBP, would not be restricted In such an event.

Trades that breach the news restriction are subject to deductions at the time of request.

Trading styles that are deemed excessively aggressive will result in a thorough review, which may lead to the suspension and termination of services.

We do not have max risk rules or consistency rules on all account types. However, trading an approach that is “make or break” will not be tolerated. We determine this as using excessive margin on trades, going “all-in” on one sole position with the hopes of making a return, using excessive risk and lot sizing with average risk rewards below 1, or exploiting the volatility of news releases in an unsustainable way.

Gambling includes the “all-in mentality” and the process of cross-platform, cross-firm, and account mirror-hedging, with the aim of making profits on one account but losing on another. This trade style includes specific trade behaviours and characteristics that are easily identifiable. Suspicion of such trade activity may lead to warnings, account restrictions, or, in the worst case, account termination and suspension from our services.

Martingale is a methodology that seeks to amplify the chance of recovering from a losing streak by constantly increasing the lot size of new trades to circumvent any loss taken.

Any increase in lot size on a subsequent position, on the same pair and in the same direction as the original trade, with the trades running together is viewed as a martingale breach.

Breaches on martingale rules will lead to possible deductions of trades that fall under this ruling.

Grid trading is when orders are designed to be placed above and below a set price, creating a grid of orders that increase or decrease incrementally along with the chart price. Having two trades open at a time is not considered grid trading. However, once there are three or more positions in the trading session, with each following order stacked as the original position moves into drawdown, this classifies as grid trading.

The process for identifying grid trading, more often than not, follows the below-stated points:

• Grid trading and stacking is where excessive orders are opened on one pair, in the same direction all running simultaneously.
• A grid includes a trader adding subsequent trades to an original position, sometimes adding when moving into drawdown.
• Having 2 open trades on a pair is not classified as grid, however having 3 or more trades open on one pair at any one time, running simultaneously will result in a breach of grid rulings.
• Breaching grid trading rules may lead to deductions, rejection of phases, or account termination

• Demo Account Management Services
• Arbitrage Trading (Latency or Reverse)
• Grid Trading & Martingale
• HFT (High-Frequency Trading) – ONLY accepted in 1-Step ALGO (Evaluation phase)
• Tick scalping of any kind, including in EA format and excessive scalping trading at extremely high speed based on tick-level price movements
• All-in / gambling mentality

We strongly advise against external or publicly accessible Expert Advisors (EAs). It is crucial that the parameters of the EA applied to your Optimal account are distinct, as our internal monitoring systems could potentially identify the account for replicating trades. Such replication constitutes a clear violation of our terms and conditions, prompting an investigative process that may lead to a breach of the Optimal account.

We do allow the use of VPN and VPS. However, we do not permit the use of these services to circumvent the rules regarding copy trading, group trading, and signal trading. If you are found to be violating these rules as outlined in your contract and our Terms of Use, your account will be terminated.

To avoid any complications related to IP addresses, it is highly recommended that traders use a single device with a unique IP address during their trading activities on our platform.

Your IP address must match the same geographical region to verify you didn’t receive outside assistance. If we see that your IP address has changed, we will ask for proof and reasoning of why this has occurred.

Applicable to ALL accounts:

We strongly advise against external or publicly accessible Expert Advisors (EAs). It is crucial that the parameters of the EA applied to your Optimal account are distinct, as our internal monitoring systems could potentially identify the account for replicating trades. Such replication constitutes a clear violation of our terms and conditions, prompting an investigative process that may lead to a breach of the Optimal account.

EAs with a zero-tolerance include:

-Demo Account Management Services
-Arbitrage Trading (Latency or Reverse)
-Grid Trading & Martingale
-HFT (High-Frequency Trading) – ONLY accepted in ALGORITHMIC EVALUATION (phase 1)
-Grid Trading or Grid Trading EAs

Grid trading and stacking is where excessive orders are opened on one pair, in the same direction all running simultaneously.

A grid includes a trader adding subsequent trades to an original position, sometimes adding when moving into drawdown.

Having 2 open trades on a pair is not classified as grid, however having 3 or more trades open on one pair at any one time, running simultaneously will result in a breach of grid rulings.

Breaching grid trading rules may lead to deductions, rejection of phases, or account termination

 
Martingale
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Martingale is a methodology that seeks to amplify the chance of recovering from a losing streak by constantly increasing the lot size of new trades to circumvent any loss taken.

Any increase in lot size on a subsequent position, on the same pair and in the same direction as the original trade, with the trades running together is viewed as a martingale breach.

Breaches on martingale rules will lead to possible deductions at payout, failure of evaluations or account termination.

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High-Frequency Trading:
High-frequency trading (HFT) is a strategy characterised by sophisticated computer algorithms and high-speed telecommunication networks to execute excessive trades within milliseconds. This strategy aims to capitalise on minuscule price fluctuations and exploit market inefficiencies. While HFT may seem enticing due to its potential for rapid profit generation, it poses significant risks and can harm the market.

Here's why HFT is restricted:
HFT trading can distort market prices and create artificial supply and demand. By executing a large volume of trades within milliseconds, HFT traders can create false impressions of market activity, influencing other participants' decisions and leading to market manipulation. Excessive trading volumes generated by high-frequency trading can disrupt market stability. The rapid influx and outflow of orders can create volatility, leading to erratic price fluctuations and increased market uncertainty, making it challenging for other traders to make informed decisions. Due to vast amounts of trades in a short period of time, the servers usually freeze and create consequences.

Example: An HFT trader places a series of buy orders within milliseconds, causing a market price to rise artificially. Observing the sudden surge, other traders may be misled into buying at inflated prices, leading to potential losses when the market corrects itself. An HFT trader also executes a large number of rapid-fire trades within milliseconds, causing rapid price swings in a particular asset. The increased volatility and unpredictability make it difficult for other market participants to assess market conditions and plan their trading strategies accurately.

Accounts will be deactivated on our server if there is no trading activity after 90 days. We encourage traders to make sure that a minimum of 0.01 lots is placed within this period to keep accounts enabled. If disabled, this will be viewed as a breach of account rules, and the account will no longer be available to the trader.

Trading is suspended during this process to allow the risk team to conduct their reviews and accurately judge trading performance. Trading will only be enabled once the request is approved. Upon approval, the trader will receive a confirmation email and have their account balance reset. The trader is then able to continue their trading.

We do not have mandatory stop-loss requirements. We encourage all traders to trade in a safe manner using appropriate risk management and to avoid any form of gambling techniques.

Upon successful approval of the phase, your evaluation will be passed and a new account added to your Dashboard, here you can find the credentials to continue trading.

Payouts are initiated by submitting a transfer request in your dashboard, in order to do this, you must be verified and completed the trading days in the interval.

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Once a transfer request is sent, the trading activity is reviewed by the risk management team to ensure all trading rules have been followed in the trading period. While in review, your account will not be available to trade.

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Upon successful approval of a transfer after review, the profits you have made will be allocated to your Optimal Wallet.

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Within the Optimal Wallet you have the function of using funds to purchase new accounts, and also submit a “withdraw” request. Once submitted, the request will show “Pending” until it is approved and sent to your chosen withdrawal method.

You can locate your account credentials within your optimal dashboard. Simply click on your active account and your credentials can be revealed here. If you haven’t received an email, don’t worry they can still be located inside the dashboard.

Dashboards can be accessed by using the “Sign in with link” function - this will send you a link to access your dashboard via email. If you face difficulties using this on mobile, we recommend trying it on desktop.