Head to head · 33 criteria compared City Traders Imperium wins this comparison (7 against 4). E8 Markets stays relevant for traders whose priorities differ from the average.
City Traders Imperium has funded forex traders since 2018 through four routes — 1-Step, 2-Step, Instant Funding and Direct Funding — with no time limit and entry from $29. The profit split starts at 80% and can reach 100%, but the 1-Step allows only 5% trailing drawdown and every trade must carry a stop loss.
Criteria won: 7 / 33
Every E8 Markets product is now single-phase: a 6% target, withdrawals available from day three, and a split running from 80% to 100%. The trade-offs are a 35-40% consistency rule, no scaling plan, and a Trustpilot rating suspended in August 2026 for a breach of the platform's guidelines.
Criteria won: 4 / 33
Cheapest evaluation for a 100 K account.
City Traders Imperium
$449
E8 Markets
$260
| Full comparison | City Traders Imperium | E8 Markets |
|---|---|---|
| Trust | ||
| Score | 83/100 ✓ | 76/100 |
| Trustpilot | 4.2/5 | — |
| Founded | 2018 ✓ | 2021 |
| Headquarters | GB | US |
| Pricing | ||
| Entry price | $29 ✓ | $110 |
| Price for a 100 K account | $449 | $260 ✓ |
| Refundable fee | — | No |
| Reset price | — | — |
| Account sizes | 100 K | 500 K ✓ |
| Rules | ||
| Steps | Instant funding ✓ | 1 |
| Profit target | — | 6 % |
| Max daily loss | — | — |
| Max total drawdown | 6 % | — |
| Drawdown type | Trailing intraday | — |
| Time limit | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Consistency rule | No ✓ | 35 |
| Min trading days | 5 | — |
| Payouts | ||
| Profit split | 80 % | 80 % |
| Max profit split | 100 % | 100 % |
| First payout | 7 days | — |
| Payout frequency | Monthly at level 1, twice monthly at level 2, weekly at level 3; first withdrawal possible after 7 days | On demand (daily on E8 Pro; minimum $100) |
| Payout methods | — | rise |
| Scaling plan | Yes ✓ | No |
| Max allocation | 2 M ✓ | 500 K |
| Trading | ||
| Platforms and instruments | mt5, match-trader | mt5, ctrader, tradelocker, match-trader ✓ |
| Instruments | fx, indices, metals, energy, stocks | fx, indices, metals, energy, crypto, futures ✓ |
| Leverage | 1:30 forex and indices on the 2-Step, 1:20 on Instant Funding, 1:10 indices and commodities, 1:2 crypto | Forex 1:30, indices 1:15, metals 1:15, crypto 1:1 |
| News trading | Yes | Yes |
| Weekend holding | Yes | Yes |
| Expert Advisors | Yes | — |
| Copy trading | Restricted | Restricted |
| Scalping | Yes | — |
| Hedging | — | — |
Choose City Traders Imperium if… Choose E8 Markets if… City Traders Imperium keeps 100 % of profits, allows a first withdrawal after 7 days, then pays Monthly at level 1, twice monthly at level 2, weekly at level 3; first withdrawal possible after 7 days. E8 Markets keeps 100 % of profits, then pays On demand (daily on E8 Pro; minimum $100). Payout frequency deserves as much attention as the split itself: a slightly lower share paid every two weeks compounds faster than a headline percentage locked behind a monthly cycle and a long first-withdrawal delay.
E8 Markets covers ctrader, tradelocker, which its rival does not. Platform choice is not cosmetic: order execution, available order types and the reliability of your automation all depend on it, and switching mid-evaluation is rarely possible.
City Traders Imperium has been running since 2018, 3 years longer than E8 Markets. Our trust pillar scores them 85/100 and 74/100, which weighs age, corporate transparency and public payout evidence. In an industry with no financial regulator overseeing these evaluations, longevity and a verifiable payout history are the closest thing to a guarantee.
City Traders Imperium opens at $29 against $110 for E8 Markets, a substantial gap on the smallest account. At the reference size of 100 K the comparison is $449 for City Traders Imperium against $260 for E8 Markets. The headline fee is rarely the real cost, though: what matters is the price of a reset after a failed attempt, whether the fee comes back on the first payout, and whether an activation fee appears when you move to a funded account. Compare those three lines in the table above before deciding on price alone.
City Traders Imperium applies a trailing intraday drawdown capped at 6 %. E8 Markets does not publish a clear drawdown model. This is the single most consequential difference between the two. A static drawdown is measured once, from the starting balance, and never moves; a trailing drawdown follows your equity upward, so a winning streak raises the floor you can no longer fall below. Intraday trailing is stricter still, because it tracks unrealised peaks reached inside the session — profit you never actually banked can permanently raise your loss threshold.
No discount code is published without being checked on the firm’s own website. An unverified deal does not appear here.
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