Prove Your Strategy.
Earn Real Rewards.
The ForgeAlpha Challenge is our version of the FTMO prop challenge — built for algo traders. Hit your profit target, respect the risk rules, and collect a cash payout. No lucky trades. Consistent edge only.
Choose Your Challenge
Two tiers. Both use paper trading — no real capital at risk. Only the reward is real.
Starter Challenge
- Min 30 closed trades
- Max 15% drawdown from peak
- Max 5% loss in any single day
- Profit factor ≥ 1.2
Pro Challenge
- Min 50 closed trades
- Max 12% drawdown from peak
- Max 4% loss in any single day
- Profit factor ≥ 1.3
Both challenges run on paper trading mode. No MT5 account deposit required to participate. Bring your own broker account for live data feed.
This Is Not a Lucky Streak Contest
Anyone can get lucky for a week. We're looking for consistent, risk-adjusted edges. Our challenge rules are designed to reward genuine strategy quality — not high-risk gambling patterns.
Minimum Trade Count
You must close at least 30 trades. One lucky position does not make a strategy. We validate your edge across a statistically meaningful sample.
Drawdown Limits
Max 15% drawdown from your equity peak. Max 5% loss in a single day. These mirror institutional risk frameworks — a real edge doesn't need to bet the account.
Positive Profit Factor
Your strategy must achieve a profit factor of at least 1.2 — meaning total gross profit exceeds total gross loss by 20%. Luck and martingale blow-up patterns are excluded.
No Pure Martingale
Strategies that rely solely on doubling lot sizes after losses (classic martingale) are disqualified. Grid/averaging strategies are allowed with a martingale risk factor ≤ 1.5.
Allowed vs Disqualified
- Trend-following with defined SL/TP
- Mean-reversion with controlled exposure
- Grid strategies (max 6 levels, risk factor ≤ 1.5)
- Multi-indicator condition engines
- Time-based entry filters
- Trailing stop strategies
- Basket entries with partial close exits
- Pure martingale (uncapped lot doubling)
- No stop-loss on any position
- Strategies with profit factor < 1.2
- Win rate < 30% with no edge justification
- Fewer than 30 closed trades
- Daily drawdown > 5% of starting capital
- Total drawdown > 15% from peak equity
How the Challenge Works
Build your strategy
Use ForgeAlpha's 74 indicators and no-code rule builder to design your entry and exit logic. Or upload your MT5 trade history and let AI extract the rules for you.
Backtest first
Validate your strategy against historical data with realistic spread, commission, and slippage modeled. Confirm your profit factor and drawdown profile before entering.
Activate your Challenge
Start a Challenge bot on paper trading mode. ForgeAlpha automatically tracks all performance metrics against the challenge criteria in real time.
Run for 60 days
Your bot trades live prices 24/7 in paper mode. Hit the profit target without breaching any risk rules. Every trade, drawdown, and metric is logged transparently.
Claim your reward
Once verified, ForgeAlpha pays out your cash reward. Top performers get featured on the strategy leaderboard and earn Founding Trader status permanently.
You Don't Have to Win
to Be a Founding Trader
Every user who deploys their first strategy during ForgeAlpha's beta receives permanent Founding Trader status — regardless of challenge outcome.
This is our thank-you to the traders who showed up early and helped shape the platform. Founding Traders are recognized in the product, get priority access to new features, and are listed in our early adopter credits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this paper trading or real money?
The challenge runs on ForgeAlpha's paper trading mode — no real capital at risk for you. Paper trading simulates real market prices with realistic slippage and commission. Only the reward payout is real money from ForgeAlpha.
Can I use any symbol or broker?
Yes. The challenge supports any symbol available on your MT5 account — Forex, Deriv synthetic indices (V75, Step Index, etc.), indices, metals, and more. You bring your own MT5 broker account.
What happens if I breach a risk rule?
The challenge ends immediately if you breach a drawdown limit. You can restart a new challenge after a 7-day cooldown. This is by design — consistent risk management is part of the evaluation.
Can I run multiple bots?
Yes, capital isolation means you can split your challenge capital across multiple bots. The total virtual account equity is what's measured against the profit target and drawdown limits — not individual bots.
How are martingale strategies evaluated?
Pure martingale (doubling lots after every loss indefinitely) is disqualified. Grid strategies with capped levels and a martingale risk factor ≤ 1.5 are allowed. ForgeAlpha's cost analysis system automatically flags high-risk martingale configurations.
When does the beta challenge launch?
The ForgeAlpha Challenge is launching with our beta. Sign up now to get notified first and secure Founding Trader status regardless of challenge outcome.
Your Strategy.
Your Edge.
Your Reward.
Sign up for ForgeAlpha beta. Build your strategy, enter the challenge, and prove your edge is real — with no real capital at risk. Cash payout and Founding Trader status on the line.