Going offshore to escape the CFTC

For FTMO questions… several weeks ago I was reading feedback from new traders on FTMO’s site. I came across one that mentioned he found FTMO through a Youtuber named Hannah Forex. I have been watching her videos; she does a great job answering questions like the ones above. One of her videos she actually goes through the entire process of how to invoice FTMO to get her check. She is brutally honest too–not afraid to show her mistakes and the fact that she failed the challenge last spring. Anyway, you might get some good feedback from her by posting some of your questions when she posts another video.

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Yes… as long as you pass the Physical Presence Test (outside US >330 of 365 days) with foreign lease/RE, bank and utility bills, more doors will open up even without a 2nd pass. My sister was living in Ireland for 2 years and had several EU broker accounts as a US citizen.

You also have the expat tax exemption of first 100K of earned income, Section 988 instead of Section 1256 FX tax treatment may apply.

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I trade USD FX, Nasdaq/S&P, Gold & Oil

FTMO + AMP Futures is my backup disaster plan! That being said, FTMO may not be an option for many. You really need a system that can generate >10% gains under their risk restrictions 6 out of 12 months, otherwise passing challenge will require luck.

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Which is why the banks are terrified of crypto… the end of incoming &/or outgoing wire fees on top of wide exchange rate spreads to send an international wire that takes 3-5 days to post.

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Yes, the challenge was tough, 10% in 30 days, with max 10% drawdown and 5% daily drawdown. Verification you have 60 days to make 5%. Once funded, you could grind out 2-3 % per month, there are no profit requirements, however to get the 25% scaling every 4 months, you need 10% gain over 4 months and 2 of 4 months must be positive. I trade my funded account with 2:1 leverage on low ADR pairs all the way down to .5:1 leverage on high ADR, keeping risk at about .3% per trade. Yes, those are decimals in front of those numbers. IMO, the quickest and least stressful way to pass the challenge is enter large positions, if it goes $300-$400 against, you close it. Get your stop to BE as quick as possible and you can pass with 1-2 trades that gain 100 pips. In hindsight, that is the way I would’ve approached it and when I do my next two, I will implement that strategy.

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It’s 90K until they increase your balance +25% every 4 months you’re +10%!

Interesting strategy for passing. If you have a trend following system, strategically waiting to take the challenge when you can jump onboard a strong trending market (ex. gold earlier in the year) is also an option some have taken.

i have a question about FTMO. le’ts say you have a 100k account and grew it to 150k with in a month and within that same month you break one of the rules, do they still pay you your 70% on the profit you already made or do they just keep it

There’s no mention of that scenario on their website, you should ask them on the site.

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Not sure of the answer to this. The only rule you could break at that point is the $5,000 daily loss limit, as you would have a $60,000 total loss limit.

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i figure the traders here who took the challenge or have got funded would have already ask that question. i won’t be taken the challenge. :upside_down_face:

Inspiring quotes. Thanks for posting.

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Going offshore to escape the CFTC is hard enough. Going offshore to escape the State Department and the IRS is damn-near impossible.

Here’s an article from the Washington Post, which will probably depress and enrage those of you who are talking about leaving the U.S. and becoming permanent residents and citizens of more trader-friendly countries —

How the coronavirus made it nearly impossible to renounce U.S. citizenship

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being a u.s. citizen is like a rich man being marry to a woman with no prenup, when you leave she gets half your money and she wants alimony for the rest of her life. the u.s. is that woman

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Not allowing EA but that is not the issue. My biggest issue with FTMO is their option to pay you. For any reason they can keep the profits if they do not like what you have done. For me why put in the time with an account that is not sure thing. Plus the restrictions on you are like you are trading on a 1:30 account so if you are trading on 1:30 account then why are you here. Everyone that’s here is because 1:30 is way too restrictive. Everyone here is 1:200 to 1:500. If you did the math with their restrictions you would quickly find out a 20K or 40K account would equal 150K FTMO or higher account. Trading your own funds you can use what ever risk management EA you want. You have the option to hedge if you think that is the correct move. FTMO they want you to take the loss. Long term that model will never work. If you cannot adjust with markets then you will never be successful long term. Too many issues for me to even think about FTMO. Others in here are successful with FTMO and I am very happy for them! For me I would suggest take your money and make your monthly stop loss the amount you pay FTMO and see if you can do their RULES on YOUR OWN ACCOUNT vs paying them to see if you can! Then your able to do what they want for a few months then go pay FTMO and join that group. That would be my suggestion anyone thinking about FTMO or groups like them.

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You are very correct about algo’s. Algo’s need manual help sometime.

Simple, I don’t have 300K to deposit.

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That’s a bit of an exaggeration. If they actually did that, they wouldn’t be around anymore.

Not sure where you get 1:30, FTMO is 1:100. IMO 200-500 leverage is for people who wish to depart with their money.

FTMO isn’t an outlier in the virtual prop firms. TopStep has been doing it successfully for years now. If one thinks FTMO is to restrictive then take a look at their rules.

That would be like a 40-60K personal account @ 500:1 if you had 300K FTMO account in my opinion with out the restrictions.