Mostly agree All are OTC no central exchange for FX or CFD so although regulated, they can play with the price.... plus monster leverage etc , FXCM was regulated in USA went belly up due to front running or something similar , Refco, and no FINRA protection for client money
Watch this guy talk about FXCM. This channel might look like the typical flashy bullshit that you see on Youtube, but if you remove those stupid ads and listen to the actual conversation you will find that those guys are legit traders.
If the 500K 'funded' account comes with a 10% drawdown limit, it is just a 50K account that comes with 1000:1 leverage plus all the extra restrictions they impose (I noticed the website doesn't actually say anywhere what the exact rules are for the funded account which is another red flag, lots of T&C for the challenge accounts but not much about the actual funded account) If you really are a good trader then you have already made large profits from trading and you don't need these guys. Otherwise you are just in fantasy land where you think you are a good trader. You have no real proof you are any good, and you will just end up paying multiple challenge fees to these firms before giving up.
Then all banks are not honest? All OTC trading is not honest? All sportsboks? What is honest fx trading?
Let's run with your example. Suppose Ninjatrader who also owns Tradovate in the futures space, decides to open a futures prop trading firm in a loosely regulated country such as a tiny island in the Carribbean. They do this for the sole purpose of being able to deny payouts and escape any litigation from angry traders. Do you think Ninjatrader would do this and sacrifice their entire reputation and profits as a futures broker, just to make extra money from their prop trading arm? It doesn't math out.
I have read that Ninjatrader is actually working on starting up a prop firm, not sure if it's true though. However if they were to start one I doubt they would risk their reputation by doing sketchy stuff.
Recently there have been some posts by traders saying they have an edge, but lack capital. Paying $2400 for $50,000,000 of buying power with a $50,000 drawdown may be the fastest way to leverage up and start compounding. Once you get a payout, then start buying more accounts. True, there may be gotcha rules, which you have to be aware of. Though I think if you follow the rules from a reputable prop firm you will get paid. For example, I haven't heard of FTMO denying payouts unfairly. FTMO is the largest prop firm and has been around since 2015. Interestingly, the largest account they offer is only $200,000. Maybe for their risk management purposes. I agree that even if you follow the rules, if the prop firm is shady, they will find a way to deny your payout.
Oanda is a well-known B-Book Forex Broker. Read that again. That means that their primary business is to trade against their clients because they know that the majority of them are losers. It is not about reputation, it is the Forex brokerage business. Now do this as an exercise. Go to Interactive Brokers and try to trade on Forex, they will change the currency for you and apply a commission. They won't open a "position", you will end up with cash in the currency you are trading. They won't have any conflict of interest, they don't offer any leverage on Forex, they just exchange your currency for the final one. That is the only way you can trade Forex honestly. You obviously need the cash for it. If you don't have the cash for it and have to apply leverage to your account you are at the mercy of your broker.