You went looking for a prop firm, FTMO came up first in every list and video, and then the signup form stopped cooperating with your US address. That's the usual way American traders discover that FTMO's international business and its US business are two separate things. FTMO US exists, it's run as a partnership with OANDA, and it isn't the same product as the FTMO challenge sold everywhere else.
This article covers what US residents can actually sign up for, why the split happened, and what the realistic alternatives are if you're trading from the United States, especially if the instrument you care about is equity options rather than forex pairs.
Can US traders use FTMO?
Yes, through FTMO US, which operates on its own site in partnership with OANDA rather than through the global FTMO entity. The two share branding and a broadly similar evaluation model, but they're run by different companies, under different terms, with different platform access.
A few practical consequences of that split:
- You sign up in a different place. The US offering has its own registration, its own accounts and its own support. Buying from the international site with a US address isn't how it works.
- Terms don't automatically match. Account sizes, pricing, reward ratios and rules on the US side are set for the US product. Don't assume a number you saw in an international review applies to you.
- Platform access differs. Platform availability for US clients has been a moving target in retail forex generally, so the platforms offered to US participants may not be the ones the global firm is known for.
- Eligibility can be state-dependent. Some US-facing simulated trading programs exclude residents of particular states. That's worth checking against your own state before you pay for anything.
If you're new to the structure behind all of this, the way evaluation firms make money and allocate simulated capital is explained in our guide to what a prop firm is.
Why FTMO needed a separate US setup
The short version: US regulators treat retail trading programs differently than most other jurisdictions do, and the prop evaluation industry got a lot of attention after enforcement action against one of the larger firms. Several international firms responded by pulling out of the US market, pausing new US registrations, or restructuring so that a US-regulated partner handles part of the business.
FTMO went the restructuring route. Its US presence came together through a strategic partnership with OANDA for the US market, with the evaluation side and the rewards side handled by different entities. That's why the FTMO name appears on a US product while the international site operates separately.
None of this makes FTMO unusual. Plenty of firms in the prop firm reviews space have had to redraw their US availability at some point. What matters for you as a trader is that availability, rules and products can change without the marketing catching up, so the firm's own current terms beat any third-party list.
What FTMO US doesn't offer
Here's the part that sends a lot of American traders looking elsewhere: FTMO's model is built around forex and CFD-style instruments. If your trading is in US-listed equity options, buying calls on NVDA into earnings or working SPX contracts intraday, that's not what the FTMO evaluation is designed around.
CFDs aren't available to US retail clients at all, which is part of why the US version had to be rebuilt rather than exported. And even where an instrument is available, a rulebook written for leveraged currency trading doesn't translate cleanly to a book of defined-risk options positions. Position sizing, drawdown behavior, overnight exposure and expiration risk all behave differently.
So the honest framing isn't "FTMO is bad for Americans." It's that FTMO US is one answer for a currency and index trader, and close to irrelevant for someone whose edge is in options. Our side-by-side look at FTMO versus Vanquish Trader goes deeper on where those two models diverge.
FTMO alternatives for US traders
Rather than a ranked list that goes stale, here's how to sort the field by what you actually trade.
If you trade | What to look for |
|---|---|
Forex and index CFDs | A firm with a US-compliant structure, since CFDs themselves aren't offered to US retail clients |
Futures | Firms built on CME products, with rules written around tick values and session times |
US equity and index options | An options-only firm, where drawdown, consistency and expiration rules were written for contracts |
For the third row, the number of firms shrinks fast. Many "multi-asset" evaluation firms bolt options onto a futures or forex rulebook, which is how traders end up breaching an account over an open-position calculation nobody explained. We break down how to read those differences in our overview of prop firms for options trading, and our Lucid Trading review walks through one firm's rules in detail as a worked example.
Questions worth asking before you buy any evaluation
- Is my state eligible? Ask before payment, not after a failed KYC check.
- Is drawdown intraday or end-of-day, and does it trail? This single rule decides more outcomes than the profit target does.
- Does the profit target count closed trades only? Open profit that evaporates overnight can leave you short of a target you thought you'd hit.
- What triggers a breach? On a clean rulebook, only equity touching the loss limit breaches an account. Consistency shortfalls and activity minimums shouldn't.
- How do payouts actually work? Minimum amount, frequency, split, and whether requests are processed in hours or weeks.
- Can I hold overnight, and when do positions close? Options traders especially need to know the hard close time.
Our broader prop firms section works through the mechanics of evaluations and funded accounts.
Where an options-only firm fits
Vanquish is US-based, in Miami, and trades one asset class: US-listed options. That focus shows up in the rules. Profit targets count closed trades only, there's no daily loss limit and no time limit, all positions close by 3:59 p.m. ET, and the loss limit never moves down. Once equity reaches the Buffer at 5.75% above starting equity, the loss limit locks permanently.
Basic Options, Rapid Express and Rapid Elite cover buying calls and puts on any ticker, whether that's SPY, COIN or a single-name like AMD. Advanced Options adds Level 4 permissions: spreads, iron condors, straddles, cash-secured puts and covered calls. Payouts run on a 100% profit split with a $250 minimum, requested on the Vanquish dashboard and typically processed in about 15 minutes.
Trading is simulated on live market data, and payouts are performance-based rewards. That's the same structure FTMO uses, applied to contracts instead of currency pairs.
FAQs
Can US residents open an FTMO account?
Through FTMO US, yes. It's a separate operation from the international site, run with OANDA, with its own signup, terms and platform lineup. Eligibility can depend on your state, so confirm that before paying.
Why isn't the main FTMO challenge available in the US?
Because the US regulatory framework for retail trading products, particularly CFDs, doesn't allow the international version to be sold to American residents as-is. Restructuring around a US-registered entity and a US-regulated partner was the workaround.
Can I trade options with FTMO?
FTMO's evaluation is built around forex and CFD-style instruments, not US-listed equity options. If options are your strategy, you want a firm whose rulebook was written for contracts, expiration and assignment.
Would a VPN get me into the international version?
No, and it's a bad idea. Misrepresenting your residency breaches the firm's terms, and the consequence usually lands at the worst possible moment: when you request a payout and the identity check fails. Any profit at stake can be forfeited.
What should I compare between FTMO US and other firms?
Asset class first, then drawdown type, then payout mechanics. Those three settle most of the question. Everything else, including price, matters less than whether the rules fit how you actually trade.
FTMO US is a reasonable landing spot for an American forex or index trader who wants a known brand and doesn't mind the smaller US feature set. If your trading lives in options, the firm's structure was never built for you, and the comparison you should be running is between options-specific firms. Vanquish plans are listed, with every rule, drawdown type and payout schedule, on the plans page.
