PROP FIRM REVIEW · 2026 UPDATED
City Traders Imperium explained in one read: programs, rules, payouts and the checks that tell you whether a prop firm is legit.
Up to 100% profit split
Martingale, news trading and weekend holding all permitted.
Claim Offer ↗Opens the firm’s own site · T&Cs apply · 18+Commercial links may be used. Program conditions can change; confirm every rule and price on the firm’s official website before purchasing.
Start with the official rules. City Traders Imperium can update prices, drawdown formulas and payout conditions at any time: confirm the current terms on the program page before purchasing.
City Traders Imperium is one of the prop firms traders shortlist when they compare funded trading programs in 2026. It offers three routes to funding (2-Step Challenge, Instant Funding and Direct Funding), with accounts from $2.5K to $100K and entry fees from $39. This City Traders Imperium review walks through the challenge types, the trading rules, the payout process and the legitimacy checks we run before recommending any funded account. City Traders Imperium is one of the earlier names in retail prop trading and still offers some of the smallest entry accounts in our comparison, from $2.5K.
City Traders Imperium does the basics well (clear program pages, visible pricing, published rules), and the basics are exactly what separate a reliable prop firm from a risky one. Here is the summary before we go into the detail.
We read the full rulebook, compare each program’s objective and loss limits, and check that the payout policy is written down before we recommend a firm. The figures in this review were read on City Traders Imperium’s official pages on September 13, 2026; confirm the live numbers at checkout.
Public City Traders Imperium reviews on Trustpilot, Reddit and YouTube tend to cluster around three themes: payout speed, how clearly the rules are applied, and support response times. Read them next to the rulebook: most negative City Traders Imperium reviews describe a breached rule rather than an unpaid valid request, and most positive ones describe a payout that arrived on the published schedule. This review is built on what City Traders Imperium publishes, not on anecdotes.
Traders ask whether City Traders Imperium is legit before anything else, and the evidence available from the outside is reassuring: the programs are described in detail, the loss limits and objectives are stated before payment, the checkout is standard and the payout process is written down. Legitimacy in prop trading is mostly about transparency and consistency between what is promised and what the terms say, and City Traders Imperium lines up on both. Company details are public too: Incorporated in the Comoros Union; operates from San José, Costa Rica (academy operations in Dubai, UAE). Founding year not stated.
Whatever firm you choose, verify these five points on the official website first. City Traders Imperium makes each of them easy to find:
City Traders Imperium clears that checklist, and that, not marketing claims, is why we are comfortable listing it. Years of operating history count for a lot in a market where many firms are less than three years old.
Here is how City Traders Imperium structures its programs, as published on its official pages. Prices are indicative (promotions change them), so always read the figure at checkout.
| Challenge type | Steps | Account sizes | Price from | Profit target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-Step Challenge | 2 | $2.5K–$100K | $39 (2.5K) | 10% (phase 1) / 5% (phase 2) |
| Instant Funding | 0 (instant) | $2.5K–$80K | $79 (2.5K) | None (funded from day one) |
| Direct Funding | 0 (instant) | $5K–$80K | $229 (5K) | None (funded from day one) |
City Traders Imperium’s routes map to two profiles. Instant funding: pay more, skip the test, trade within the rules immediately. Evaluation: a published objective, a lower fee, the classic path most funded traders have taken at least once. Whichever route you choose, pick the account size you can respect the daily loss limit on; a smaller account traded cleanly beats a large account breached in week one.
City Traders Imperium’s rules follow the structure most funded traders already know, and the firm writes them in plain language on each program page. Here is what the firm publishes, what each rule means in practice and how to trade around it.
| Rule | What City Traders Imperium publishes |
|---|---|
| Maximum drawdown | 10% static overall / 6% static from initial balance depending on route (balance-based, not equity-based) |
| Daily loss limit | 5% of start-of-day balance (2-Step Challenge); no daily drawdown limit on Instant/Direct Funding |
| Profit target | 2-Step Challenge: 10% (phase 1) / 5% (phase 2) |
| Minimum trading days | 3 per phase (2-Step Challenge); none stated for Instant or Direct Funding |
| Consistency rule | None - no minimum profitable trading days or consistency requirement stated on the challenge, instant, or direct funding routes |
| News trading | Allowed |
| Weekend holding | Allowed (overnight trading also allowed) |
| EAs and copy trading | Personal EAs allowed; third-party EAs not permitted; Martingale strategy not allowed |
| Fee refund | Fees are non-refundable except as outlined in the firm's Refund Policy |
| Free reset or retry | Not free - 15% discount offered on reset after failing a challenge |
| Max capital / scaling | Up to $4M advertised firm-wide; 2-Step Challenge caps at $200K/account ($400K total across 2 accounts); Instant/Direct scaling up to $2M/account ($4M across two accounts) |
City Traders Imperium publishes a maximum drawdown of 10% static overall / 6% static from initial balance depending on route (balance-based, not equity-based) and a daily loss limit of 5% of start-of-day balance (2-Step Challenge); the full wording per route is in the table above. The daily limit caps how much you can lose in a single trading day, measured from the day’s starting balance or equity; the maximum drawdown is the account’s overall loss boundary. Check whether the maximum drawdown is static (fixed at the starting balance) or trailing (moving up with your profits) for the program you choose: it changes how much room you have after a good run. Position sizing that keeps a bad day well inside the daily limit is the single most important habit for passing a City Traders Imperium challenge.
The published targets: 2-Step Challenge 10% (phase 1) / 5% (phase 2). Instant funding accounts have no evaluation target, only the loss limits and the payout conditions. Aim to reach a target with several moderate trades rather than one oversized position; the drawdown rules reward consistency.
Minimum trading days, as published: 3 per phase (2-Step Challenge); none stated for Instant or Direct Funding. Consistency rule: None - no minimum profitable trading days or consistency requirement stated on the challenge, instant, or direct funding routes. Note them for the exact account you buy: a consistency condition, in particular, changes how you should size your best days.
News trading: Allowed. Weekend holding: Allowed (overnight trading also allowed). EAs and copy trading: Personal EAs allowed; third-party EAs not permitted; Martingale strategy not allowed. Permitted strategies are the rules that differ most between prop firms, so confirm the current wording for your program before relying on any of them. If your strategy depends on automation or on holding through news, compare these permissions with the firms in our comparison table above before choosing.
Source: City Traders Imperium official rules, checked September 13, 2026.
Daily loss · maximum drawdown (static or trailing) · profit target · minimum days · consistency · news · weekends · EAs and copy trading. Note each one for the exact City Traders Imperium program before checkout.
Payouts are where a prop firm earns or loses its reputation, and City Traders Imperium makes the process easy to understand: the profit split and the payout cadence are published, the first payout has a stated eligibility condition, and withdrawals are requested from the trader dashboard once identity verification is complete.
Profit split: 80% starting, scaling to 100% via VIP ladder (2-Step); 50% starting, 70–100% VIP tiers (Instant); 70% from day 1 scaling to 100% at Silver VIP (Direct). Payout schedule: First payout 7 days (2-Step); 5 days once fully funded (Instant); monthly on-demand standard, weekly at Bronze VIP, anytime at Silver/Gold VIP. Payment methods: VISA, Google Pay, PayPal, Bitcoin, Skrill, Neteller, bank transfer. Scaling: Up to $4M advertised firm-wide; 2-Step Challenge caps at $200K/account ($400K total across 2 accounts); Instant/Direct scaling up to $2M/account ($4M across two accounts). (As published on citytradersimperium.com, September 13, 2026.)
Before your first withdrawal, check how City Traders Imperium handles the account after a payout (whether the balance and drawdown reference reset) and whether the payout cadence improves with a longer track record. Both details are in the payout terms and both shape your plan for the following weeks.
“Passing the evaluation is the start; the payout terms are the finish line.”bolsonweb.com.ar editorial guide
Platforms: MetaTrader 5, Match-Trader. Confirm that your symbols are quoted, that the spread and commission model suits your holding time, and that the leverage per asset class supports your position sizing; a few minutes on a demo login settles all three before you pay for a challenge.
Put City Traders Imperium next to Meridian Funded and the difference is the rulebook length. Meridian Funded, #1 in our comparison, removes the two rules that end most payout requests (consistency and minimum trading days), includes a free reset, allows EAs, bots and copy trading, and pledges rewards within 12 hours at up to 100% profit split. If those conditions are what you are trying to avoid, start there; if you want City Traders Imperium’s specific routes and sizes, it remains a solid, transparent choice with its choice of routes, a published profit split of 80% starting, scaling to 100% via VIP ladder (2-Step) and payouts first payout 7 days (2-Step).
See the Meridian Funded offer ↗Opens the firm’s own site · T&Cs apply · 18+Yes, for traders who want a choice of routes and clear terms. City Traders Imperium offers three routes to funding (2-Step Challenge, Instant Funding and Direct Funding), with accounts from $2.5K to $100K, and the rules are written where you can read them before paying. Read the program page for the exact drawdown, target and payout figures, choose the account size you can trade calmly inside the daily limit, and City Traders Imperium is a solid, transparent way to a funded account.
Visit City Traders Imperium official website ↗
Want to see how City Traders Imperium compares on payout timing, profit split and rule freedom? Go back to the prop firm comparison at the top of this page or browse all 39 prop firm profiles.
Figures in this review were read on City Traders Imperium’s official pages on September 13, 2026: citytradersimperium.com/…, citytradersimperium.com/instant-funding, citytradersimperium.com/direct-funding. Prop firm terms change; the program page and the terms of service govern each account. Our full facts base with one source per figure is kept for every firm in our comparison.
Yes, by the criteria that matter: City Traders Imperium states its rules and prices before purchase and explains how funded traders are paid. The firm publishes its corporate details (Incorporated in the Comoros Union). Trade within those rules and the process is predictable.
Entry fees start from $39 (2-Step Challenge) and depend on the route and the account size ($2.5K to $100K). The live price is shown at checkout on the official website and changes with promotions.
As published on September 13, 2026, City Traders Imperium states a maximum drawdown of 10% static overall / 6% static from initial balance depending on route (balance-based, not equity-based) and a daily loss limit of 5% of start-of-day balance (2-Step Challenge); no daily drawdown limit on Instant/Direct Funding. Check the program page for the exact account you select, including whether the maximum drawdown is static or trailing.
Profit split: 80% starting, scaling to 100% via VIP ladder (2-Step); 50% starting, 70–100% VIP tiers (Instant); 70% from day 1 scaling to 100% at Silver VIP (Direct). Payout schedule: First payout 7 days (2-Step); 5 days once fully funded (Instant); monthly on-demand standard, weekly at Bronze VIP, anytime at Silver/Gold VIP. Payment methods: VISA, Google Pay, PayPal, Bitcoin, Skrill, Neteller, bank transfer. Once funded and within the rules, you request a withdrawal from the City Traders Imperium dashboard after meeting the first-payout condition.
News trading: Allowed. Weekend holding: Allowed (overnight trading also allowed). EAs and copy trading: Personal EAs allowed; third-party EAs not permitted; Martingale strategy not allowed. These are the published positions; check the current wording for your program before relying on any of them.
Yes. City Traders Imperium offers Instant Funding and Direct Funding alongside its evaluation challenges, so you can start on a funded-style account without an evaluation phase.
Up to $4M advertised firm-wide; 2-Step Challenge caps at $200K/account ($400K total across 2 accounts); Instant/Direct scaling up to $2M/account ($4M across two accounts). Growth is earned through the scaling plan described on the official site once you are funded and paid.