page title icon SurgeTrader Review: Rules, Pros, Cons, and Promos

October 3, 2024

Overview

Launched in 2021, SurgeTrader went from one of the hottest new prop firms to a troubled prop firm that closed up shop in spring 2024 after losing their trading platforms.

What happened to SurgeTrader?

SurgeTrader was doing pretty well — they were innovative and generally did their best for their traders. Trouble started when they suffered a significant blow to their reputation when the husband of SurgeTrader CEO Jana Seaman was charged with running a Ponzi scheme.

Ordinarily a spouse’s alleged criminal activities wouldn’t hold much bearing, but there did seem to be some connection between SurgeTrader and some of the companies involved in the scheme.

They managed to weather this storm for awhile, but like almost everyone else in the industry, they lost the ability to use MetaQuotes platforms. SurgeTrader migrated to Match-Trader, but lost that license as well, which didn’t sit to well with them:

This announcement/protest didn’t help anyone, and within a week, SurgeTrader had ceased operations:

Pros (What I liked before they ceased operations)

  • Despite their later troubles and ultimate failure, SurgeTrader was pretty innovative and were among the first prop firms to adapt or popularize the following:
    • One-stage evaluation: Literally cuts your evaluation time in half when compared to FTMO and most other prop firms.
    • No minimum trading days: Hit your profit target and you move on to become a funded trader, even if you do it in a single day.
    • Simple trading rules: There’s only one main “hard” rule: Stay above a 4% daily loss limit and a 5% max trailing drawdown.
    • Tons of tradable assets: SurgeTrader allows you to trade crypto, forex, oil, metals, indices, and a number of the “most popular” stocks.
    • Accepts all trading strategies: As long as you abide by the rules, you’re free to trade however you’d like.
    • Three-step evaluation: After initially drawing traders to their one-step program, SurgeTrader become one of the first props to also offer a three-step program.

Cons

  • Pretty big con – they are no longer in business
  • The husband of their CEO and a connected business was accused of operating a Ponzi scheme.
  • Tight trading parameters: The trading rules were simple, but also pretty tight. A 5% overall trailing drawdown didn’t leave much margin for error.
  • Withdrawals could limit your max drawdown: With SurgeTrader, you couldn’t withdraw 100% of your profits unless you wanted to close your account. To keep your account open, you had to leave a certain amount to protect you against a max drawdown breach.
  • Limited leverage: SurgeTrader allowed a maximum leverage of 10:1 on forex, metals, oils and indices; 5:1 on shares; and 2:1 on crypto.
  • They had a hidden rule: If you trade equities, you couldn’t have an open position going into an earnings announcement. Violate this rule and you’d lose your account

Who should sign up with SurgeTrader?

Absolutely no one. They are no longer in business for the reasons listed above.

All things considered . . .

SurgeTrader was a good choice for those who wanted fast capital and a firm that wasn’t afraid to innovate. They ultimately lost a lot of trust with their tangential involvement in a Ponzi scheme, and would go on to lose their trading platform.

SurgeTrader Basics

SurgeTrader origin story

SurgeTrader was launched in September of 2021 by venture capitalist Jana Seaman after a fateful business dinner with a forex broker and institutional trader. The idea for SurgeTrader was born in order to fund traders who have great talent and strategies but lack sufficient capital. 

Seaman is a well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist. Her venture-capital firm Valo Holdings provides the capital for SurgeTrader, runs Solas Wealth, a wealth-management company, and is also behind Seaman’s life-coaching business.

Valo Holdings, was, at least in some way, connected to her husband’s alleged Ponzi scheme.

How does SurgeTrader work?

SurgeTrader was like most prop trading firms, with two notable exceptions: they only required you to pass one evaluation in order to receive a funded account and they had no minimum trading days. 

You could sign up with SurgeTrader, hit your profit target in one day, and if you didn’t breach any of the trading rules, SurgeTrader would give you up to $1 million in capital in record time.

Once you became a funded trader, SurgeTrader would give you the amount of capital you initially signed up for. You kept 75% of your profits, or 90% if you purchased an add-on when you first signed up, and SurgeTrader covered any losses. If you violate any of the trading rules, you lost your funded trader account and had to start over at the evaluation.

SurgeTrader’s website trumpeted the two simple “hard rules” that you must abide by, but there were actually three. Violate any one of them, and you failed your evaluation or lost your funded account. Here were the rules: Don’t lose enough that you violate either the 4% daily loss limit or the 5% overall max trailing drawdown. The third rule only applied to those trading shares: you must be flat going into an earnings release.

There are also some “soft” rules. If you violate these rules you didn’t lose your account, but the trade that’s in violation was immediately closed. You had to close all positions going into the weekend, use a stop loss on every trade, and only trade a specified number of lots.

SurgeTrader payout proof

A lot of traders posted screenshots of their incoming payments from SurgeTrader as proof of payout. You cpould find many of these on SurgeTrader’s Discord, but here’s a few recent screenshots of Deel invoices:

Screenshot showing a Deel invoice as a proof of payout of $1,875 from SurgeTrader to Nathanael A.
Screenshot showing a Deel invoice as a proof of payout of $24,446 from SurgeTrader to Nicholas M.

How much did SurgeTrader cost?

These were the prices when they only offered one-step evaluations:

Account SizeSign-up Fee
$25,000$250
$50,000$400
$100,000$700
$250,000$1,800
$500,000$3,500
$1 million$6,500

For an additional fee of 20% beyond the regular price, you could boost profit sharing to 90%, for an extra 25% you could double your leverage on most assets, and for another 10% you could eliminate mandatory stop losses. Or, if you want to bundle all three add-ons, you could add 40% to the prices.

Screenshot of SurgeTraders checkout screen. Shows Add-Ons such as "No Stop Loss" for 10% more, "90% Profit Split" for 20% more, and "Double Leverage" for 25% more.
SurgeTrader’s checkout screen shows add-ons available for purchase.

My Assessment of SurgeTrader

My prop firm reviews are based on a pretty simple evaluation. I rate each prop firm according to seven critical factors and then average out the score. SurgeTrader scored well enough to make my ten Best Prop Trading Firms for 2023, but they didn’t stay up for long and obviously they are not on my 2024 best prop list.

Here is how they fared before everything went sideways:

Profit splits: 8/10

SurgeTrader advertised “up to 90% profit splits,” but the “up to” is doing a lot of work in that claim. The only way you can actually get 90% profit splits is if you upgrade your account when you first sign up. That upgrade will cost you, of course—20% beyond regular prices.

Despite that, I still rate them 8/10 because the default rate of 75% is actually pretty good when you consider their evaluation is just one stage. Proprietary trading firms that offer instant funding never pay out more than 50%, and firms with typical two-stage evaluations pay out around 80%. Looking at it that way, I think 75% seems generous. SurgeTrader is taking on more risk by allowing such a simple evaluation, so they deserve more of the rewards.

Scaling opportunities: 6/10

SurgeTrader’s scaling plan makes scaling pretty difficult for profitable traders. Here’s how it works: Once you pass your audition, you can accept your funded account in the amount you signed up for or go through the audition again to try to get to the next level. All the same rules apply as the first time you auditioned, so if you hit your drawdown and violate the trading rules, you’re not a funded trader and have to start all over again.

That means that if you pay for a $25,000 audition and pass, you would have to pass the audition five more times consecutively in order to scale that up to a $1 million account. In some sense that’s fair, after all you only paid for a $25K account, but other proprietary trading firms would allow you to begin trading with your $25K account, take out your percentage of profits and scale you up if you kept hitting your targets. 

Trade parameters/profit targets: 7/10

I like SurgeTrader’s trading rules for one reason: simplicity. A lot of prop firms make their rules intentionally complicated in order to trip up traders and close their accounts. Surge Trader doesn’t do that at all. For all accounts, the rules are the same: Don’t violate the daily loss limit or the max trailing drawdown. 

Unfortunately, the daily loss limit and max trailing drawdown leave very little margin for error. The daily loss limit is set at 4% and the max trailing drawdown is currently at 5%. That’s about as stingy as it gets in the prop trading industry.

SurgeTrader can justify the tight parameters because they have only one evaluation stage. Yes, you’ll have to walk a more narrow tightrope with SurgeTrader, but you’ll have only half the distance to cross.

The 10% profit target is pretty close to industry standard. Some prop firms now require only an 8% profit but typically give you a limited time in order to hit your goal.

In many places on their website, SurgeTrader talks about their “two straightforward rules” that you have to be aware of, but there’s actually a third. The only other rule that constitutes a “hard breach,” meaning you’d lose your account if you break it, applies only to equity traders. 

Traders cannot have an equity position going into an earnings release. It’s a pretty simple rule to keep on top of and only applies to certain traders, but I don’t like the fact that it’s hidden in SurgeTrader’s FAQ. As always, make sure you read all the fine print when signing up with a prop firm. 

Affordability/value: 8/10

SurgeTrader is definitely on the expensive side, but still represents a good value when you consider how much less time you’ll spend being evaluated. 

FTMO, the standard bearer, charges less than SurgeTrader, but requires you to pass two stages before you’re eligible for a funded trading account. With SurgeTrader, you’ll pay more, but depending on how you value your time, you’ll probably end up ahead. 

Educational resources: 10/10

Screenshot of SurgeTrader's Trading Resources page shows 8 different ebooks and videos currently offered.
Screenshot of Trading Resources page

It is clear that SurgeTrader has dedicated significant resources to trader education, which is always a good sign of a prop trading company that is actually rooting for its traders’ success.

With downloadable e-books, such as “25 Rules for Becoming a Disciplined Trader” and “The 10 Commandments of Risk Management” you can get a great education just off their website. They also offer cheat sheets for different charting techniques, checklists to keep you organized, and monthly market outlooks. Even if you don’t ultimately sign up with SurgeTrader, going through their trading resources page will be well worth your time.

Beyond all that, SurgeTrader has also developed educational partnerships that focus on the forex market. Traders who sign up with SurgeTrader right now receive a 30-day free membership to BKForex, which offers live trading guidance, trade ideas, webinars, coaching, and much more.

Tradable assets: 10/10

SurgeTrader gives its traders access to more trading instruments than any other prop firm I’ve reviewed. What exactly you can trade varies on whether you use the MT4 or MT5 platform, but either way, you’ll have plenty of options.

I used MT5 and was overwhelmed with the choices. I could trade more than 600 stocks, oil, metals, 46 currency pairs, 17 indices (CFDs), and an insanely long list of cryptocurrencies. For crypto traders or traders who like to trade a little bit of everything, in my experience SurgeTrader has the most markets.

Trustworthiness: 8/10

SurgeTrader is still a pretty new proprietary trading firm, which normally gives me pause. Plenty of new prop firms stumble or fail in their first few years. I have a lot more confidence in SurgeTrader because of Jana Seaman, who founded Surge Capital Ventures LLC. 

Seaman is a well-known leader in the Naples business community, an active philanthropist, and the very public face of SurgeTrader. I don’t believe she would risk her stellar reputation on a prop firm unless she knew she had the capital and staff in place to make it a success.

(UPDATE: This obviously took a serious hit when Jana Seaman’s husband was charged with running a ponzi scheme, and some of Jana’s companies were tangentially involved.)

My overall rating: 8.3/10

What Others Are Saying

TrustPilot

SurgeTrader had an “excellent” rating at TrustPilot. Of the 200+ reviews, nearly 80% have awarded SurgeTrader a full five stars. Most of these very satisfied traders were thrilled at the speed with which they were funded. Other five-star reviews listed great customer service and an easy payout process. 

On the negative side, some traders expressed frustration with Eightcap, through which SurgeTrader runs its MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. Others complained about the tight trading parameters. Overall, however, traders reported very good experiences with SurgeTrader. 

Google Business

Screenshot of SurgeTrader's Google Business listing,  showing a nice Naples, Florida office with a Lexus out in front.

I went through more than 100 SurgeTrader reviews on Google Business and could find only two that were negative. Overall SurgeTrader had a 4.9, which is as high as I’ve seen for a prop firm. Somehow they even have better reviews than their neighbor, Sails Restaurant (4.7), which serves some of the best seafood in all of Florida in my humble opinion. 

As far as SurgeTrader goes, traders cite the simple trading rules and great customer service as the chief reasons for their overwhelmingly positive reviews. More than one trader called SurgeTrader the best prop firm they ever traded with. 

It’s clear that SurgeTrader has a lot of support in the prop trading community and beyond.

SurgeTrader Frequently Asked Questions

Is SurgeTrader Legit?

They were, for awhile. There was substantial proof of profit payouts and a good overall reputation in the prop trading community. When the words “ponzi scheme” became attached to the founder, their reputation took a hit, but they hung on until they were no longer able to find a platform provider to work with them.

How do you pass the SurgeTrader Audition?

For the longest time SurgeTrader only had a one-step evaluation designed to test your trading strategy and skills. It was actually pretty simple, and you could pass the audition in one day or 100. 

Here, for the sake of posterity, are the rules to their one-step program:

Of course, there are rules you have to abide by, or you will fail the audition. In general, SurgeTrader rules are much simpler than those of most other prop firms. The SurgeTrader rules are categorized as “hard” or “soft” rules.

Violate any of the three hard rules and you fail the audition. Here are the rules: 

  1. Stay above the 4% daily loss limit. If your account dips 4% below your balance at the beginning of the trading day, your account is violated. 
  1. Stay above the 5% overall max trailing drawdown. A 5% “trailing drawdown” means you can’t fall 5% below the highwater mark of your account. For example, if you have a $100,000 account, and trade it up to $104,000 (a 4% profit), your trailing drawdown is set at 5% of $104,000, which is $5,200. That sets your minimum account balance at $98,800. Fall below that mark, even though it’s less than a 2% loss on your opening balance, and you’ve failed the audition. The trailing drawdown is removed for traders that have a 5% profit or more. In those cases, your minimum account balance is simply your opening balance.
  1. Equity traders don’t trade around earnings releases. Anyone trading single-share equity CFDs must close their positions by 3:50 p.m. EST before aftermarket earnings releases, or the day before premarket earnings releases.

There are also three soft trading rules that you have to be aware of, even if breaching them won’t fail your audition. Stop losses are required for every trade (unless you pay extra to trade without them), you have to be flat over weekends, and your number of open lots can’t exceed 1/1000th the size of your account. 

Violate any of these rules and the offending trade will be canceled. If you really can’t be bothered with stop losses, you can rid yourself of the requirement by paying an additional fee (10%) when you pay for the audition.

If you follow those rules and hit your 10% profit target, you’ll become a funded trader. SurgeTrader is known for their speed, and some traders have received their funded accounts within a few hours of passing the audition.

Is SurgeTrader regulated?

Like most prop trading firms, SurgeTrader was not regulated because they weren’t technically broker/dealers in that they only offered simulated trading. Things are changing in the prop space, however, and the CFTC has certainly taken notice of prop firms. There is an excellent chance that regulation will be coming to the prop space in the next 2-4 years.

How do I get in contact with SurgeTrader?

SurgeTrader is no longer in business, although I suppose you could try to still reach them indirectly through CEO Jana Seaman’s socials, which are easy to find.

My Surge Trader Review Summarized in Exactly Fifty Words

SurgeTrader had a good reputation due to their trader support, educational resources, innovation, and quick funding. In the end, however, they lost out due to trading platform problems and had to close up shop.

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