In a prop trading world full of empty promises and aggressive marketing, MasterFunders is taking a different route-focused on trust, trader-first design, and operational discipline. In this exclusive interview, Dimitris Exarchos, Co-Founder & Managing Director, walks us through how the firm is challenging the status quo with accessible funding, smart risk controls, and a global vision that prioritizes real trader growth over short-term hype.
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What inspired you to start MasterFunders, and how did your personal trading background influence its creation?
We started MasterFunders because, after many years in the financial industry, we saw the same problem over and over: traders and companies were not really on the same side. Most companies made money when traders lost-either through commissions when traders overtraded or because the company was the other side of the trade and didn’t actually hedge. That creates a conflict of interest, and it didn’t feel right.
We believe that funded trading can fix this. In a real prop firm, the company only makes money if the trader makes money, through a fair profit split. That way, both sides win together. That’s also why we don’t offer extreme profit splits like 95% or more-it may sound attractive, but it can break the balance. We want both the trader and the firm to stay motivated and aligned.
A lot of “funded firms” today are just brokers in disguise. They make their money when traders fail. We created MasterFunders to be different-a true prop firm that backs skilled traders for the long term. We believe the trading community will see that difference.
How does your mission of “fair, flexible funding” come to life in your day-to-day operations?
For us, “fair, flexible funding” isn’t just a slogan-it’s something we think about in every decision we make. Our goal is to build trading challenges that strike the right balance: not too hard to pass, not too expensive to enter, and still realistic enough for us to offer real, reliable funding.
We don’t believe in overpromising and underdelivering. We keep rules minimal and transparent. No time limits. No consistency rules. We don’t penalize strategy changes or creativity. Our payouts are guaranteed with a 100% approval rate.
Some firms might offer extreme terms or flashy payouts, but often they can't follow through. That’s not our approach. We’d rather be honest from the start, even if it means our terms look a bit more conservative at first glance. The traders who pass with us know they can count on actually getting funded and getting paid-no games.
At the same time, we offer different paths to funding so traders can choose what fits their style. Whether someone wants to go for a low-cost Speed Challenge or prefers a more traditional Core Challenge, we want them to have the freedom to succeed in their own way, with the trading strategy that works best for them.
Why did you choose to focus on markets like South Africa, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Malaysia?
These countries were part of our initial focus because they have some of the most passionate and talented traders we’ve seen. There’s a real drive to succeed, and many traders in these regions are looking for fair opportunities to prove themselves and grow-without being taken advantage of.
Unfortunately, a lot of traditional firms either ignore these markets or don’t take them seriously. We saw that as a huge gap-and a chance to build something better. We wanted to create a platform where traders from these countries could compete on equal terms, with funding access that’s realistic, transparent, and trustworthy.
That said, our focus isn’t limited to just these regions. We’ve already expanded into more countries across Africa and Southeast Asia, and we’re also seeing growing interest from Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. The need for honest prop funding is global, and we’re committed to supporting traders wherever that need exists.
What differentiates your Core & Lite Challenges from the $5/$10 Speed Challenges?
Our Core and Lite Challenges are what most traders would recognize as the standard 2-step funded challenges-similar to what other prop firms offer. The Core Challenge gives you wider targets and drawdowns, while the Lite version comes with tighter conditions. But in both cases, we’ve made the terms more competitive than what you’ll find at most other firms. Our goal is always to strike the right balance between being achievable for traders and sustainable for the business.
On the other hand, the Speed Challenges are designed for accessibility. They’re our lowest-cost entry point-just $5 or $10-to give every trader a real shot, even if they can’t afford a full challenge upfront. If you pass the Speed Challenge, you get a free Core Challenge with no extra cost. It’s a way to make sure that skill-not money-is what matters most. We believe every serious trader should have a path to funding, no matter their budget.
How do you balance trader freedom (no time or consistency limits) with solid risk management practices?
At MasterFunders, we believe that traders should be able to use the strategies that suit them best-whether that’s scalping, swing trading, trading the news, or any other approach. Every trading style can be profitable if it's used with proper risk management, so we’ve made it a priority to allow as much freedom as possible. That’s why we don’t place unnecessary restrictions like minimum days, time limits, or banned trading styles.
The only things we don’t allow are behaviors that clearly don’t belong in real trading-like over-leveraging, going “all in,” or abusing the system in ways that would never be possible with a real account. These aren’t just risky-they break the foundation of responsible trading and go against the point of funding traders.
This is also one of the reasons we’ve chosen not to offer a 1-step challenge. If a trader shows signs of risky behavior or poor risk management, we don’t want to immediately reject them from reaching the funded stage. Instead, the space between Step 1 and Step 2 gives us a chance to offer feedback, guide them, and help them improve before they manage real capital. We see this process as part of our responsibility to support serious traders-not just test them.
Could you walk us through your current hedging process and any plans to enhance transparency around liquidity?
We’re currently running a blended hedging model that combines internal aggregation with third-party liquidity providers to manage exposure effectively. While we don’t share exact mechanics-since this is part of our competitive edge-we’re committed to full transparency where it counts.
Our next step includes rolling out on-demand dashboards where funded traders can view real-time insights into our risk book and execution quality. Long term, our goal is full auditability. We’re also working on a broader structure that will take funded accounts beyond traditional payouts, creating long-term opportunities for serious traders-but that’s something we’ll reveal more about when the time is right.
Which trading platforms and instruments do you currently support, and are there plans to expand?
At the moment, we operate exclusively on Match-Trader offering a wide range of FX pairs, indices, crypto, commodities through our branded web app—and that’s by design. We believe that by focusing on a single, high-quality platform, we can keep our operational costs low and pass those savings on to traders through better pricing, low entry fees, and streamlined support.
While many traders are more familiar with names like MetaTrader or cTrader, we’re confident in Match-Trader’s capabilities. It’s a modern, fast, and feature-rich platform that rivals or even outperforms the legacy names, especially when it comes to user experience and execution.
More importantly, having our own branded app gives us the flexibility to build a unified ecosystem. Instead of forcing traders to jump between platforms, portals, and tools-we’re bringing everything under one roof. From tracking your challenge to managing payments, monitoring stats, and eventually accessing new tools and services, it all happens in one place. That integration is a key part of our long-term vision.
How do you measure success-both for your funded traders and for MasterFunders as a company?
For us, success is directly tied to the success of our traders. We built our entire business model around this principle-because we believe it’s the only way to build something sustainable. If our traders are winning, then so are we.
We measure trader success by how often they payout, how long they keep their accounts alive, and how consistently they apply their strategies. For MasterFunders as a company, the key indicators are trader retention, the profitability of our funded accounts, and the ratio of payouts to evaluation sales. We don’t want one-time customers-we want long-term traders who grow with us.
One of the strongest signs we’re on the right path is seeing traders come back to buy more challenges. Not just once, but again and again. That kind of loyalty is only possible when there’s trust, fairness, and real opportunity.
We also remind our community that prop trading isn’t about winning once-it’s about playing the long game. Some challenges you’ll pass, others you won’t. The goal is to build a positive net PnL over time by staying disciplined and covering your challenge costs through funded profits. That’s why we’ve built in scaling plans and career paths to reward consistency and loyalty over time.
What regulatory licenses or approvals are you currently pursuing as part of your global scaling strategy?
We chose to base MasterFunders in Cyprus because it's part of the European Union and has a long-established reputation in financial regulation. Even though proprietary trading firms like ours don’t currently fall under any specific regulatory regime, we’re already operating with the future in mind.
We closely monitor the global regulatory landscape and are preparing for the moment when official oversight arrives. We're taking a proactive approach-implementing internal standards around capital solvency, anti-money laundering (AML) procedures, and operational transparency. We're also in dialogue with regulators in regions like South Africa and the UAE, and evaluating our options in both the EU and Asia-Pacific.
For us, it's not just about complying when the time comes-it’s about building trust from the ground up. We want our traders and partners to know we’re here to stay, and we’re setting up the foundations to prove it.
What upcoming products, features, or partnerships are you most excited about?
We have a lot in the pipeline that we believe will take the trader experience to the next level. One of the things we’re most excited about is a new type of instant funding-something between traditional evaluation and live-funded trading. It’s designed as a hybrid model where traders will trade real capital from the beginning, but within carefully controlled risk limits that expand over time as they demonstrate strong trading behavior. It’s our way of rewarding discipline early on.
We’re also building a robust educational program to help both new and experienced traders sharpen specific areas of their performance. On top of that, we’re working on much deeper challenge customisation-letting traders shape their experience to match their style-and developing unique competition formats that allow people to reach funding with even lower entry costs.
Another major addition will be a trading assistance tool: a system that helps traders identify what they might be doing wrong and guides them to improve, without interfering with their strategy. And that’s just the beginning.
The future at MasterFunders is full of innovation. We’re not just building a prop firm-we’re building a platform where serious traders can grow, improve, and succeed. If you’re looking for more than just another challenge provider, this is the place to be.
Learn more about MasterFunders and their latest challenges at MasterFunders
