The fallout in the prop trading space is continuing.
After FNG exclusively reported earlier this month that prop trading firm The Funded Trader has stopped making payouts to its clients, the company has taken down its website (thefundedtraderprogram.com), which now shows a brief note that states:
The Funded Trader has temporarily paused all operations.
We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding as we are working diligently on the steps to resume our operations and services.
Over the coming week, we will follow up with specifics as we work to resume operations.
Thank you for your continued support and loyalty.
The future of TFT is coming.
There is also a countdown timer on the page, which as at the time of writing is at about 21 days and 4 hours from now.
In a more detailed note on X (formerly Twitter), The Funded Trader CEO Angelo Ciaramello explained:
I wanted to address you all personally. You have been the lifeblood of TFT. You have fought in battle with me day in and day out for years. You have participated in one of the greatest movements in history and have delivered to me what I dreamed of, this community.
Being in the position we are in, it completely floors me to say that we have to pause operations of TFT. What does that mean? The most important thing to us is to deliver to all our existing customers. There is an experience you all have come to love with TFT and that is our main focus. In pausing our operations we will be relaunching the brand but with a slightly different look and feel. Over the coming week we will post updates on what this will look like, and how this decision affects everyone involved.
We know the main pain points of our community and these things are what will be addressed in the coming days and weeks.
The relaunch of TFT is coming and earning your trust will be difficult but we know what it takes. The time for action is now.
I want to again thank you all, for your support, loyalty, and energy.
The future of TFT is coming…
– Angelo
As we reported earlier as per above, popular prop firm comparison service Propfirmmatch.com suspended The Funded Trader from its site in mid March, due to a significant number of complaints and instances of payout denials reported on Trustpilot, through social media, and directly to Propfirmmatch.
The Funded Trader then posted that it was doing a ‘self imposed internal audit’ of all payouts. The prop trading firm said at the time that it will be ‘ensuring all payouts are in line with our terms of service’, and do not violate the gambling policies that the company has in place.
The company also said that due to the [trading platform] migration, in which mistakes were made, it has created a large backlog of tickets for the company to resolve, payouts included.
Belgium’s FSMA recently became the first major EU regulator to warn against the prop trading firms, warning retail traders that prop firms are there to make money by selling Challenges to retail traders, with the possible ‘reward’ of a profit-share from a funded trading account not always materializing.
