Prop firm giveaways
Free accounts, evaluation raffles and seasonal sales — what each format is actually worth, and the terms that quietly make a win worthless.
Giveaways are the loudest marketing channel in prop trading and the least examined. Every week a firm posts a free funded account, a discount event or a leaderboard competition, and the entry mechanics are always the same: follow, repost, tag. What almost nobody reads is the prize description, which is where the difference between a genuine $50,000 funded account and a restricted demo showcase account lives.
We do not run a live feed of every promotion — that page would be stale within a day and would be worth nothing to you. What we do instead is explain the four formats that exist, price the expected value of each honestly, and give you the six checks that separate a giveaway worth ten minutes from one that exists purely to farm engagement. Then we point you at the firms whose payout evidence is strong enough that winning something from them is actually worth having.
The uncomfortable arithmetic: a free-evaluation raffle with 5,000 entries and ten $100 prizes has an expected value of about $0.20 per entry. A seasonal sale that takes 70% off an evaluation you were already going to buy saves you $70 with certainty. If your goal is a funded account rather than a dopamine hit, the sale is worth roughly 350 times more than the raffle — and it is the reason most of our discount coverage sits on the discounts hub rather than here.
That said, funded-account giveaways are the exception. The prize is a live allocation with real withdrawal rights, and the firms that run them tend to be the ones with marketing budgets and payout records to protect. Those are worth entering, provided you verify that the account you win is the same product a paying customer receives.
How we assess a giveaway
- ·Prize type: funded account with withdrawal rights scores far above an evaluation voucher.
- ·Rule parity: the prize account must run the same rulebook as the paid product.
- ·Entry cost: any purchase requirement reclassifies it as a sale, and we price it as one.
- ·Winner transparency: published, verifiable winners or the promotion does not count.
- ·Firm payout evidence: we weight every promotion by the firm's payout-proof score, because a free account at a firm that stalls withdrawals is worth nothing.
- ·Behavioural risk: leaderboard competitions that reward maximum leverage are marked down regardless of prize size.
Assessment framework last reviewed July 20, 2026. We are affiliated with some firms listed on this site; that never changes a payout-proof score.
The four giveaway formats
Free evaluation raffle
How it works. The firm gives away a set number of evaluation accounts, usually via a social post requiring a follow, a repost and a tagged friend. Entry is free and the prize is the challenge fee, not a funded account.
Is it worth it. Worth entering if you were going to buy that evaluation anyway. The prize is typically a $30–$150 product, so the expected value on a 5,000-entry raffle is cents — treat it as a lottery ticket, not a plan.
What to check. Check whether the won evaluation carries the same rules as a purchased one. Some promotional accounts ship with shorter time limits or lower profit caps.
Funded-account giveaway
How it works. A live funded account, usually $25k–$100k, awarded directly without an evaluation. Often run around a launch, a milestone or a partner collaboration.
Is it worth it. The highest-value format and the one most worth chasing. A won $50k funded account with a 90% split is a genuinely free shot at income, provided the payout terms match the paid product.
What to check. Read whether the account is withdrawable. A minority of promotional funded accounts are 'demo showcase' accounts where profits cannot be paid out, or where a payout only unlocks after you buy something.
Trading competition
How it works. A leaderboard event over a fixed window — highest return, best risk-adjusted return, or highest consistency wins. Entry is sometimes free, sometimes tied to owning an account.
Is it worth it. Poor value for most traders and actively dangerous for your process. Leaderboard formats reward maximum leverage over a short window, which is the exact opposite of the behaviour that passes an evaluation.
What to check. Never run competition risk on an account you actually rely on. If you enter, do it on a separate account you are willing to lose.
Seasonal sale (not technically a giveaway)
How it works. Black Friday, New Year and anniversary events where evaluation prices drop 20–90% for a window. Most 'giveaway' traffic in this category is really people searching for these.
Is it worth it. The best expected value of anything on this page. A 70% discount on an evaluation you were already going to buy beats a lottery ticket every time.
What to check. Compare the sale price against the firm's standing affiliate discount. In some cases the permanent code beats the seasonal banner, and the two rarely stack.
Six checks before you enter
- ·Is the prize a funded account with normal withdrawal rights, or an evaluation you still have to pass?
- ·Are the rules on the prize account identical to the paid product, or a restricted promotional variant?
- ·Does entry require a purchase? If so, it is a sale with a raffle attached, and should be judged as a sale.
- ·Is the winner published? Firms that never name winners are not accountable for whether prizes are awarded.
- ·What is the firm's payout evidence score? A free account at a firm that pays slowly is worth less than a paid account at one that pays.
- ·Does entry require you to hand over KYC documents up front? Legitimate giveaways collect ID from the winner, not from every entrant.
Firms whose prizes are actually worth winning
Ranked by payout evidence, because the value of any prize is capped by whether the firm pays. A free account at a firm scoring in the 70s is worth less than a discounted account at one scoring in the 90s.
FTMO
Payout proof 96/100 · 90% split · first payout ~14 days
Topstep
Payout proof 93/100 · 90% split · first payout ~7 days
Apex Trader Funding
Payout proof 88/100 · 100% split · first payout ~8 days
The5ers
Payout proof 87/100 · 100% split · first payout ~14 days
My Funded Futures
Payout proof 86/100 · 90% split · first payout ~5 days
Alpha Futures
Payout proof 86/100 · 90% split · first payout ~7 days
The higher-expected-value alternative
If you are here because you want a cheaper route to a funded account, the discount route beats the raffle route almost every time. We track 9 firms with standing public codes, and the savings are certain rather than probabilistic. Start with the discount hub, then read the offers page for whichever firm you are considering — that page shows the modelled price per account size and the break-even profit you need before the fee pays for itself.