FTMO is a European prop trading firm dedicated to identifying, empowering and rewarding experienced users with proven trading skills. Through their FTMO Challenge evaluation products, users demonstrate their performance and risk management capabilities before gaining access to a simulated trading account where they can get rewards paid based on their simulated trading results.
Operating across a global, highly competitive market, FTMO differentiates itself through the quality of its platform, the fairness of its payout structure, and the speed at which users are paid.
Over five years, FTMO's partnership with Nuvei has been central to delivering on that promise, providing the local growth infrastructure needed to power FTMO's expansion into the United States and enabling near real-time user payouts that keep the platform ahead of the competition.
The challenge
The prop trading industry is experiencing rapid growth, with new entrants competing intensely for user attention. From 2020 onwards, it’s evolved from a niche industry into a rapidly booming sector, valued at approximately $20 billion in late 2025. In prop trading, the platforms that win are those that pay users quickly, reliably, and without friction. For FTMO, offering near real-time payouts wasn't just a product feature, it was a core part of their competitive proposition.
Expanding into the US market introduced a further structural challenge. Without an established local entity, FTMO's US traffic was processed on a cross-border basis, directly suppressing approval ratios and undermining the experience for American users. To capture revenue in one of the world's most important markets, FTMO needed a payments partner with genuine local infrastructure, as opposed to a workaround solution.
The solution
Nuvei approached both challenges through one partnership, bringing together instant payout capability and a dedicated domestic acquiring strategy for the US as part of a single, coordinated solution.
To power faster user payouts globally, Nuvei implemented Visa Direct and Mastercard Send, enabling near real-time disbursements that ensure users are rewarded for their performance without delay. In a sector where payout speed is a direct driver of user loyalty and platform choice, this capability gives FTMO a tangible edge.
For the US, Nuvei worked with FTMO to support the launch of JV Prop Corporation - FTMO's new US entity - enabling their traffic to be processed as a local transaction rather than cross-border.
Establishing domestic acquiring in the market required careful groundwork: Nuvei evaluated multiple sponsor bank relationships before selecting Nabco as the right partner to support FTMO's specific processing requirements. The result was a local payments foundation built to scale with FTMO's ambitions in the market.
"Our relationship with Nuvei is built on more than five years of trust. They've supported us around the clock and gone the extra mile to make sure we have the growth infrastructure to scale; whether that's rewarding our users faster or giving us a genuine local presence in the US market."
Milan Flosman, Head of Finance Operations, FTMO
The results
The impact of local acquiring in the US was immediate. By processing traffic as a domestic entity through JV Prop Corporation, FTMO achieved a 20%+ increase on previous approval ratio levels. This is a direct result of routing locally rather than cross-border, and a step-change improvement in performance that benefits both the business and the users it serves.
Globally, users now receive their rewards at near real-time speed via Visa Direct and Mastercard Send, reinforcing FTMO's reputation as the platform that pays without friction.
At a glance:
- 20%+ improvement in US approval ratios through local vs. cross-border routing
- Near real-time user payouts enabled globally via Visa Direct and Mastercard Send
- Successful US market entry through JV Prop Corporation, underpinned by Nuvei's domestic acquiring infrastructure
The future
Nuvei and FTMO remain focused on sustaining the momentum built across five years of partnership, continuing to optimise payment performance, support the growing US operation, and ensure that FTMO's users around the world are paid quickly, locally, and at scale.
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