The5ers Review

The5ers (also written The 5%ers) is one of the older forex prop firms, selling evaluations since 2016. You trade forex, metals, indices, energies, crypto and stocks as CFDs on MT5, cTrader or TradingView, and once funded you keep between 50% and 80% of the profit at first, depending on the program, rising to 100% as your account scales.

The appeal is cheap entry and a long growth path. A $2,500 two-step costs $19, a $250,000 three-step Bootcamp costs $575 in total, none of the evaluations has a time limit, and every drawdown is static. The catches are in the details: payouts run on a 14-day cycle, every withdrawal carries a 3.5% fee, High Stakes bans placing orders around big news, and the firm sells two versions of its one-step and two-step programs side by side, so the price you compare depends on which toggle you're looking at.

The short version

• Best for: patient forex traders who want a low-cost start, no deadline and a scaling plan that rewards months of steady trading.
• Not for: news scalpers, anyone who wants on-demand payouts, and traders who copy signals or run bought EAs.
• Biggest strength: a long track record, very low entry prices and static drawdown on every plan.
• Biggest risk: the fine print on fees and payouts. The 3.5% withdrawal fee, the 14-day cycle and the payout caps on bigger High Stakes accounts all reduce what reaches you.
• Our score: 4.4 out of 5. Track record and value score highly, while the payout schedule and news rule cost points.

Who runs The5ers

The website and terms name Five Percent Online Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 12553363) with an office at 168 Praed Street, London. The terms name a second company of the same name incorporated in Israel (company number 515864007), based in Raanana. The terms are governed by Israeli law, with disputes going to the courts of Tel Aviv. One quirk: Israel is also on the firm's list of forbidden territories.

The5ers' FAQ says plainly that it isn't regulated: there is "no regulation clause to what we do, because we are not a financial institute". The site disclaimer adds that the company is not a broker and doesn't hold client deposits.

All evaluation and funded trading happens in a simulated environment. The disclaimer describes the simulated balance as fictitious, with no right of withdrawal. Your payouts are real money paid by The5ers; the trading behind them is not executed in live markets.

The rules are spread across three program pages, a large public FAQ and the terms, last updated 20 October 2026. The5ers also runs a separate futures offering, which launched in alpha through a system called BlackArrow in March 2026 and isn't covered here.

Programs and prices

The5ers sells three programs, and the one-step page shows two variants. Prices below are list prices from the program pages, checked on 28 October 2026, before any coupon. A "$200K Only For $249" promo banner was also running; we don't cover promo products.

Two rules apply across the board:

• No time limit on any evaluation, but an account with no activity for more than 30 consecutive days expires (60 days on funded High Stakes accounts).
• Profitable days, where a plan requires them, count only if closed positions make at least 0.5% of the initial balance, measured from the lower of midnight balance or equity.

Pro Growth (1-Step)

The default view on the one-step page. One target, a hard daily limit.

• Make 10% with at least 3 profitable days.
• Daily loss: 3% of the day's starting balance or equity, whichever is higher. Hitting it terminates the account.
• Maximum loss: 6% of the initial balance.
• Leverage 1:30. One account per size, so at most four.
• Funded: same limits; the account grows each time you make 10%, with a 75% split until $300,000, 80% at $350,000 and 80% to 100% from $400,000 up to $500,000.

Worked example, $20,000 Pro Growth. Your floor is $18,800 for the life of the account. On day one you can't drop below $19,400. Reach $22,000 with three days of at least $100 profit each and you pass. Once funded, each 10% gain grows the account by a step, from $20,000 to $25,000 to $30,000, and your 75% share applies to the profit you withdraw.

Hyper Growth (1-Step)

The other toggle on the same page, labeled "Growth". It costs far more, and the account doubles at every target.

• Make 10%, with no minimum days. Level 1 completes the moment you hit the target.
• Daily pause at 3%: open trades are closed and the account is disabled until the next day, but it isn't failed.
• Stop-out 6% below the initial balance.
• Leverage 1:30, and at most $40,000 of evaluation capital per trader.
• Funded: each 10% target doubles the account, up to $4,000,000. The split is 50% up to the $20,000 level, 75% from $40,000 to $320,000 and 80% to 100% from $640,000.

Worked example, $10,000 Hyper Growth. Your stop-out is $9,400. If you lose $300 on day one, trading pauses at $9,700 and resumes the next day. Hit $11,000 and level 1 is done. After that, each 10% target doubles the account, so $10,000 becomes $20,000 and then $40,000. At the $20,000 level a 10% gain is $2,000, and your 50% share is $1,000.

The pause is the real difference between these two variants. On Pro Growth a 3% day ends the account; on Hyper Growth it ends the day.

High Stakes (2-Step)

The classic two-step route: two targets, higher leverage and the fee back.

• Step 1: make 10% ("New" version) or 8% ("Classic"). Step 2: make 5%. At least 3 profitable days in each.
• Daily loss 5% and maximum loss 10% on accounts up to $25,000; 4% and 8% on $50,000 and $100,000, per the program page.
• Daily loss is measured from the higher of the previous day's closing balance or equity, reset at 00:00 server time. Both limits terminate the account.
• Leverage 1:100.
• A small Hub Credit reward after step 1, and the fee returned in stages (see payouts).

Classic costs a little more for an 8% step 1 target instead of 10%. On a $100,000 account that's $8,000 instead of $10,000 for $50 extra.

The firm's own pages disagree on the bigger sizes:

Plan for the stricter 4% and 8%.

Worked example, $100,000 High Stakes (New). Your floor is $92,000. On day one the daily line is $96,000. If you end a day with $105,000 in equity, the next day's line is $105,000 minus $4,200, or $100,800. Step 1 ends at $110,000 and step 2 needs $5,000. Once funded, each 10% gain with 3 profitable days scales the account: $100,000 to $125,000 to $150,000.

Bootcamp (3-Step)

The cheapest way in, with a twist: you're evaluated on smaller balances first, and pay the rest only if you pass.

• Three steps, each with a 6% target and a 5% maximum loss, and no daily limit.
• The funded stage has a 5% target for scaling, a 4% maximum loss and a 3% daily pause.
• Leverage 1:30 throughout. At most four Bootcamp accounts (one $250,000, one $100,000, two $20,000), each with a different strategy.
• Split starts at 50% and rises to 100% as you scale; each 5% of profit moves the account up a level.

Worked example, $100,000 Bootcamp. Step 1 runs on $25,000: make $1,500 without dropping $1,250. Step 2 runs on $50,000: make $3,000, floor $47,500. Step 3 runs on $75,000: make $4,500, floor $71,250. Pay $205 and you get a $100,000 funded account with a $96,000 floor, a $3,000 daily pause and a $5,000 target to scale to $125,000. Your first payouts are at a 50% split.

See all sizes side by side on our The5ers challenges page.

Which The5ers plan should you pick?

For most traders, High Stakes is the one to buy. The $100,000 New version costs $405, or $4.05 per $1,000, gives you 1:100 leverage and an 80% split from the first payout, and most of the fee comes back. If you can only afford a small account, the $10,000 at $69 keeps the full 5% and 10% limits.

The Bootcamp is the cheapest per dollar: $575 all-in for $250,000 is $2.30 per $1,000, and you risk only $225 until you pass. The cost is time (three steps), tighter funded limits and a 50% starting split.

Pro Growth is the quick route for disciplined day traders. At $329 for $50,000 ($6.58 per $1,000) it's reasonably priced, but the 3% daily loss ends the account and the split starts at 75%.

Hyper Growth is expensive up front: $850 for $20,000 is $42.50 per $1,000. You're paying for the daily pause instead of a breach and for an account that doubles at each target. It only makes sense if you're confident of hitting several 10% targets in a row.

Trading rules in practice

Drawdown and the daily reset

Every plan uses static drawdown: the maximum loss is a fixed percentage below the starting balance and never trails your profits.

The daily limit or pause is based on the higher of balance or equity at the start of the day, so open profit at midnight raises the next day's floor. The day resets at 00:00 MT5 server time, which the ProGrowth FAQ gives as GMT+2 in winter and GMT+3 in summer. The daily pause FAQ says 00:00 GMT+3, which only matches in summer, so check the clock on your platform.

Leverage and fees

The asset specifications page lists forex commission at $4 per lot round trip. A 2-lot EUR/USD trade costs $8 in commission, so ten of those a day is $80, or 2% of the $4,000 daily room on a $100,000 High Stakes account. Commissions on other asset classes weren't shown. cTrader costs an extra $10 on top of the program price.

News trading

High Stakes has the strictest rule. You can hold trades through high-impact news, but you can't place any order from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after a red-folder event on Forex Factory. Profit from orders placed in that window is removed and doesn't count toward your target, while losses stay with you. Pending stop-loss and take-profit orders placed earlier can still trigger.

Pro Growth, Hyper Growth and Bootcamp allow news trading, except bracketing (buy and sell pending orders placed either side of a release).

Weekends and overnight

Overnight and weekend holding are allowed on every program. Holding indices over the weekend carries what the firm calls a high swap, so check the cost before you carry a position.

EAs, copy trading and hedging

• EAs are allowed if you own the source code and the EA doesn't copy someone else's signals, tick scalp, run latency or hedge arbitrage, trade at high frequency or use emulators.
• Stop-losses must be visible on the platform. "Stealth" stops are banned.
• Copy trading and coordinated trading with other traders or accounts are banned.
• Hedging inside your own account is fine on MT5 Hedge accounts, but opposite positions across firms or accounts count as prohibited cross-operator trading.

The prohibited practices page also lists vaguer rules: positions "ten times larger" than your usual size, gambling-like trading and consistently one-sided bets. Breaking these can mean a permanent ban with no refund or profit paid.

Consistency

None of the three program pages lists a consistency rule. The general FAQ describes one, with examples of 30% and 50% of total profit, but ties the percentage to account type or region without naming programs. Ask support whether it applies to yours before you buy.

How payouts work

Payouts open 14 days after your funded account is activated, then every 2 weeks from the last approved withdrawal. When the account scales, the 14-day timer restarts from the scaling date.

• Minimum: $150 of profit. High Stakes funded accounts at $50,000 and $100,000 also show minimum withdrawals of $300 and $500.
• Caps: the High Stakes table lists a $3,000 payout cap at $50,000 and $4,000 at $100,000. The FAQ doesn't say whether that's per payout or only the first.
• Large payouts: the terms let The5ers pay anything above its per-transaction threshold in weekly instalments of $10,000.
• Before you request: close all open trades.
• Speed: a review of 24 to 48 business hours, then processing in up to 3 business days.

What the fee costs you. On a $100,000 High Stakes account, a $5,000 profit at 80% is a $4,000 payout. The 3.5% fee takes $140, leaving $3,860. Take it in crypto and you'd need three withdrawals, since each is capped at $1,500.

High Stakes fee refund. The fee comes back in three parts: 10% as Hub Credit after step 1, 20% as Hub Credit after step 2, and 70% added to your funded account and paid with your first payout, once you have $150 in profit and the account is 14 days old. On a $100,000 account bought for $405, that's about $40.50, $81 and $283.50. Hub Credit can only be spent on new accounts. Pro Growth, Hyper Growth and Bootcamp fees aren't refunded.

The firm's own documents don't always line up:

Identity checks. The terms allow KYC at any stage, especially after you pass. The verification may include a video interview, which must be completed within 5 business days of the request, or pending payouts can be denied and accounts cancelled.

Scaling and fixed payouts. On High Stakes, the split is 80% up to $150,000, 85% at $175,000 to $200,000, 90% at $250,000 to $300,000 and 100% from $350,000. At $350,000 you also become eligible for a fixed monthly payout of $4,000, rising to $10,000 at $500,000.

Refunds for unused accounts. Within 5 days of purchase and with no trades placed, you can get your money back. After 5 days, refunds come only as Hub Credit.

Who can sign up

The terms list these forbidden territories: Afghanistan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Cuba, the Republic of the Congo, Crimea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, the Palestinian Territory, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Vanuatu, Venezuela and Yemen. The footer disclaimer on the website uses the same list without Bosnia and Herzegovina, so treat Bosnia as restricted.

US traders can join, but only on TradingView. MT5 isn't offered to US clients, and cTrader is no longer available for new US accounts.

You need to be over 18. Plan for KYC and a possible video interview once you pass, and make sure your payout account is in your own name.

Reputation

On Trustpilot, The5ers scores 4.7 out of 5 from 40,616 reviews, checked on 28 October 2026, with 22,379 of them from the last 12 months. 90% give five stars, 6% four stars, under 1% each three and two stars, and 3% one star. The profile was claimed in October 2019, the firm pays for a Trustpilot subscription, and it had replied to 97% of negative reviews, typically within a week. See the Trustpilot page.

The positive reviews mostly mention fast payouts, quick support and clear rules for beginners. The negative ones mostly describe funded accounts closed or suspended without warning, slow support replies and unresolved technical problems. That fits the vaguer parts of the prohibited practices page, where "abnormal sizing" or "one-sided bets" are judged case by case.

Payout data. Finance Magnates' data team reported on 20 April 2026 that The5ers paid about $14.44 million in crypto payouts in Q1 2026, up 61.4% from $8.95 million a year earlier, based on blockchain data. That covers crypto only, not Rise or bank payouts.

Finance Magnates also reported on 1 July 2026 that The5ers had updated its guidelines to list cTrader as restricted to non-US clients, after cTrader itself restricted US prop traders. We found no regulator action naming The5ers.

Mistakes to avoid at The5ers

1. Mixing up Pro Growth and Hyper Growth. They sit on the same page. On Pro Growth a 3% daily loss ends the account; on Hyper Growth it only pauses the day.
2. Placing orders around news on High Stakes. Any order within 2 minutes of a red-folder release loses its profit, and you keep the loss.
3. Assuming 10% room on a $100,000 High Stakes. The program page shows 8% maximum and 4% daily at $50,000 and $100,000.
4. Choosing crypto for a big payout. Each crypto withdrawal is capped at $1,500, and every method except Hub Credit costs 3.5%.
5. Leaving an account idle. 30 days without activity expires an evaluation, counted from the day you register it.
6. Ignoring the KYC deadline. If The5ers asks for a video interview, you have 5 business days.

Before you buy: checklist

• Pick the program toggle you actually want, and check the price matches it.
• On High Stakes, check you're buying the version you want: New (10% step 1) or Classic (8%).
• Read the prohibited trading practices page, especially the sizing and one-sided rules.
• Check your platform: US residents can only use TradingView, and cTrader costs $10 more.
• Decide how you'll take payouts, and budget for the 3.5% fee.
• Use code SCOUT at checkout. See our The5ers coupon page for how to apply it.

Our verdict

The5ers is a solid, long-running choice for forex traders who don't need fast money. High Stakes gives you a $100,000 account for $405 with most of the fee coming back, the Bootcamp gets you to $250,000 for $575, and the scaling plan genuinely leads to a 100% split.

You pay for that with patience. Payouts come every 14 days with a 3.5% fee, High Stakes blocks orders around news, and some rules, like abnormal sizing, are judged at the firm's discretion. Choose your program and variant carefully, keep your size consistent, and The5ers is one of the steadier firms we track.