Welcome to 2025, everyone, wishing everyone a prosperous year ahead!
Like many traders, my journey hasn’t been easy, but I’m glad to say 2024 was my first green year after 4-5 years of failing and learning. Moving into 2025, I plan to increase my trading capital using a portfolio of prop accounts.
I will document my experience with each firm to provide insights and guidance for other members. I will also document my research into the firm and audit the rules and restrictions.
The first few sections of the post will examine the firm itself. I will then add periodic updates based on my experience.
Want to join me trading at Bright Funded?
You can take advantage of Bright Funded’s New Year promo, which provides 20% off all accounts plus a 5% profit share from challenge.
Code: JAN20
Bright Funded – Why I Chose to Trade with This Firm
Bright Funded is an Amsterdam-based firm launched in 2023 by brothers Jelle and Syb Dijkstra. They have since grown the firm into a team of 30 members and a second office in South America.
Developments in white-label technology saw a huge rise in prop firms in 2023. Bright Funded, however, built its offering from the ground up and has invested heavily in creating its own technology. This is a key point that separates this firm from the pack.
Another reason Bright Funded stood out to me was its innovative Web3-style loyalty system. Unlike many other loyalty systems, which reward failure (you get points when you purchase a new challenge), this one rewards you for each lot traded.
Some other reasons I joined this firm are:
- Multiple Currency Option – Trading in my own currency (GBP) allows for more straightforward calculations and provides a slight psychological boost (I can’t quite explain why).
- Great TrustPilot Profile – The reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and the negative reviews all seemed to be addressed fairly.
- Fair and Transparent Rules – I’ll cover this in the section below.
How Fair are Bright Funded’s Targets, Rules and Restrictions?
Profit Targets
The profit targets for all Bright Funded’s challenges are a reasonable 8% for phase one and 5% for phase two. From my experience, these are the lowest targets a firm can set whilst remaining sustainable. So, 5/5 for Bright Funded here.
Rules and Restrictions
As always, it’s essential to understand the rules a firm sets fully. Bright Funded makes this easy, as its BrightFunded Help Center contains well-explained descriptions with many examples.
By reading through these, it’s clear that they have made a reasonable effort to accommodate every genuine trader. For example, their news trading rule has a specific clause allowing swing traders to hold trades through news events without worrying about hitting a TP/SL. This is an excellent move by Bright Funded and something I hope more firms adopt.
While on the point of news trading, it’s worth noting that it is only restricted on the funded phase.
On the whole, this firm’s rules are less restrictive than most other firms. They allow all genuine trading strategies such as scalping, swing trading, EAs, etc. A couple of things to be aware of, though, are:
- Negative Margin Rule – All trades will be automatically closed if a trader’s account falls below zero margin. This only counts as a soft breach, though, so the account can continue trading.
- Prohibited Strategies – Under their prohibited strategies, they include poor risk management practices such as overleveraging, overexposure and one-sided betting. You can read more about the specifics here: Which strategies are prohibited at BrightFunded? | BrightFunded Help Center
Progress Update – My First Week with Bright Funded
For my first account with this firm, I opted for their “Venus” option, a £20,000 two-phase challenge. I used their active promotion to receive 30% off and a free second account upon reaching payout. The account cost was 136.50 Euros, which aligns with similar challenges.
The first day, I familiarised myself with their platform and made a small test trade. I found their spreads to be very good, especially for crypto, which often sees large spreads with other firms.
My First Trade – Swing Trade on GBP/USD
For my first trade on the account, I took advantage of their swing trading accommodations and opened a short on GBP/USD going into the new year.
My reasoning for this trade was based on fundamentals and my analysis that the Labour Party’s poor economic policies were not yet fully priced in. I managed to grab 163 pips over three days as the GBP/USD continued to move down.
Crypto Trades – Bringing the account up to 5.5% profit
I began my trading journey with Bitcoin many years ago. I moved away when I started trading with prop firms as the conditions couldn’t match those on the crypto exchanges such as BitMex.
With Bright Funded, the conditions are more favourable than those of other firms with spreads around $15 on bitcoin, so I’ve used this as a chance to hone my crypto trading skills. I’ve taken two trades on BTC/USD using a breakout set-up, which netted me ~2% and ~1.5% profit.
At the end of my first week of trading, I’m up around 5.5%, and the challenge looks to be in great standing.
I will post another update upon reaching phase two (or failing the account).
Want to join me trading at Bright Funded?
You can take advantage of Bright Funded’s New Year promo, which provides 20% off all accounts plus a 5% profit share from challenge.
Code: JAN20
Progress Update #2 – Phase One Passed
I’ve not got too much to share as I managed to finish the rest of the challenge in one trade. I managed to catch another bitcoin breakout which netted me just under £500, passing phase one.
My phase 2 details were sent over immediately so no issues there. I’ll report back next week with progress on phase 2.
